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Ark of Secrets - Neolithic spirit alive in the Middle Ages

A Guide to Stone Circles (New Edition), Aubrey Burl

A Guide to Stone Circles (New Edition), Aubrey Burl

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<< Our Photo Pages >> Samson, North Hill - Burial Chamber or Dolmen in England in Isles of Scilly

Submitted by Andy_Creigh on Thursday, 12 January 2023  Page Views: 10596

Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: Samson, North Hill
Country: England County: Isles of Scilly Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen
 Nearest Village: Island of St Samson
Map Ref: SV87711305  Landranger Map Number: 203
Latitude: 49.935831N  Longitude: 6.353649W
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
3 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
5 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
2 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
5

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I have visited· I would like to visit

DrewParsons elad13 would like to visit

hoya105 visited on 1st Jun 2019 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 1 It is difficult to visit as the island is a protected area for birds. We were given permission as a group. The sites are all fairly easy to find and in good condition for their age and position.

Samson, North Hill
Samson, North Hill submitted by Bladup : Samson, North Hill, Notice the ancient walling within Cairn E, Looking NE over Puffin Island with Tresco behind it (Vote or comment on this photo)
The visible grave on St Samson, Isles of Scilly is perhaps the best example, surrounded by kerbstones and roofed by two capstones. The well-preserved entrance looks in an easterly direction. Excavations in 1930 found no human remains but flints, a possible whetstone, Neolithic pottery and the remains of a saddle quern.

Over eighty entrance graves have been recorded on the isles of Scilly . They vary a great deal in state of preservation. Most date to the late Neolithic period (+2500 BC) and continued in construction and use until as late as 700 BC. They are constructed of stone and earth and are circular in shape. Usually surrounded by a stone kerb, with a rectangular stone chamber constructed of stone and course walling and covered by large capstones. The entrances themselves vary in the direction they face, although the majority face Easterly to catch the rays of the rising sun.

They vary a great deal in size perhaps reflecting the social standing of those buried there, and/or the different functions of the monuments themselves .

From the human remains found in many of the chambers burial was a primary function for these sites. Cremation was the usual form with the bones deposited loose or in urns, occasionally accompanied by grave goods. In three chambers burials span a period of nearly 700 years.

It is also likely that they were used as territorial markers, and places of ritual offering to ensure the fertility of the land, possibly linked to early field boundaries associated with many of the sites.

The Northern Antiquarian (TNA) also features a page for this site - see their entry for North Hill, Samson, Scilly Isles, Cornwall, which quotes from early references which describes this site, and also includes a photograph from 1928.

Pastscape Monument No. 303553 contains extensive notes on this cemetery, and includes grid references for all the different tumuli, cists and a stone circle!
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Samson, North Hill
Samson, North Hill submitted by Bladup : Samson, North Hill, Looking East out of Chambered Cairn E (Vote or comment on this photo)

Samson, North Hill
Samson, North Hill submitted by Andy_Creigh : Image © Andy Creigh (Vote or comment on this photo)

Samson, North Hill
Samson, North Hill submitted by Thorgrim : Revealed at low tide, prehistoric field walls that extend down from North and South Hills on to Samson Flats. This entire area was a fertile plain in the Bronze Age and the distant islands were barrow topped hills on the island that was still one in Roman times when they called it Insula Sillina (Island of Scilly). Can that central linear feature be a road or causeway? Look at the buildings in... (4 comments - Vote or comment on this photo)

Samson, North Hill
Samson, North Hill submitted by Bladup : Samson, North Hill, Chambered Cairn E (Vote or comment on this photo)

Samson, North Hill
Samson, North Hill submitted by Bladup (Vote or comment on this photo)

Samson, North Hill
Samson, North Hill submitted by Bladup : Samson, North Hill, Inside the Cist itself is a very detailed construction, the stone has been carefully dressed, and the ends are rebated to form a flush tenon joint in each corner, As can be seen in this photo (2 comments)

Samson, North Hill
Samson, North Hill submitted by Bladup : Samson, North Hill, Cairn E looking East over Bar Point, I didn't want to leave here (2 comments)

Samson, North Hill
Samson, North Hill submitted by Bladup : Samson, North Hill, The Chamber of Cairn E (1 comment)

Samson, North Hill
Samson, North Hill submitted by Bladup : Samson, North Hill, The wonderful Cairn E

Samson, North Hill
Samson, North Hill submitted by Thorgrim : Perfect Bronze Age cist on the north hill of the deserted island of Samson in 1970. Compare this with the picture taken in 1983 and again last year. Heather, bramble and bracken have made it almost impossible to find now. Few people visit as this is now a semi restricted area because of nesting terns. Do you have any early ORIGINAL unpublished photos? Click here for more information ...

Samson, North Hill
Samson, North Hill submitted by Thorgrim : Interior wall of a collapsed entrance cairn

Samson, North Hill
Samson, North Hill submitted by Thorgrim : Superb entrance grave taken in the summer of 1970. Access is now very difficult and officially discouraged. Photograph by Psandra

Samson, North Hill
Samson, North Hill submitted by Bladup : Samson, North Hill, The curved Capstone of Chambered Cairn E

Samson, North Hill
Samson, North Hill submitted by Bladup : Samson, North Hill, Inside Chambered Cairn E

Samson, North Hill
Samson, North Hill submitted by Bladup : Samson, North Hill, Sunlight on the Ancient walling in Chambered Cairn E

Samson, North Hill
Samson, North Hill submitted by Bladup : Samson, North Hill, Ancient Walling in Chambered Cairn E

Samson, North Hill
Samson, North Hill submitted by Bladup : Samson, North Hill, The backstone of Chambered Cairn E

Samson, North Hill
Samson, North Hill submitted by Bladup : Samson, North Hill, Under the capstone and some walling within Chambered Cairn E

Samson, North Hill
Samson, North Hill submitted by Bladup : Samson, North Hill, Chambered Cairn E

Samson, North Hill
Samson, North Hill submitted by Bladup : Samson, North Hill, Looking down Chambered Cairn E's Chamber

Samson, North Hill
Samson, North Hill submitted by Bladup : Samson, North Hill, The Summit Cairn H, You can just see the coverstone to the fantastic cist within the Cairn

Samson, North Hill
Samson, North Hill submitted by Bladup : North Hill, Samson

Samson, North Hill
Samson, North Hill submitted by Bladup : North Hill from the slope of South Hill

Samson, North Hill
Samson, North Hill submitted by Bladup : Part of a Kerb around the Summit Cairn H with it's stunning cist

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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 190m N 357° Ballard Point Entrance Grave* Chambered Cairn (SV87711324)
 325m ESE 114° Samson Flats Intertidal Remains* Ancient Village or Settlement (SV880129)
 655m S 169° Samson, South Hill* Chambered Cairn (SV878124)
 1.1km N 2° Works Carn, Bryher* Chambered Cairn (SV87821413)
 1.2km N 1° Samson Hill, Bryher* Chambered Tomb (SV878142)
 1.2km N 7° Bonfire Carn, Bryher* Chambered Cairn (SV87931424)
 1.2km N 1° Top Rock Entrance Grave and Cairn* Chambered Cairn (SV8779914266)
 1.4km NNW 342° Heathy Hill Settlement* Ancient Village or Settlement (SV87361437)
 1.5km N 0° Hillside Farm, Bryher* Chambered Tomb (SV878145)
 1.5km ENE 66° Appletree Bay prehistoric field system* Ancient Village or Settlement (SV89101358)
 1.6km N 5° Green Bay Prehistoric field system and Cist* Ancient Village or Settlement (SV87951465)
 1.8km ENE 70° Bathinghouse Porth prehistoric field system and hut circle settlement* Ancient Village or Settlement (SV8942013561)
 1.8km NE 43° Abbey Hill Cairns* Barrow Cemetery (SV89051431)
 1.9km NE 49° Roman Altar at Tresco Gardens* Sculptured Stone (SV892142)
 1.9km NNW 340° Gweal Hill, Bryher* Chambered Tomb (SV87151492)
 2.3km N 354° Shipman Head Chambered Cairn* Chambered Cairn (SV87621540)
 2.5km NNE 29° Vane Hill Cairns* Barrow Cemetery (SV89091519)
 2.5km N 356° Shipman Head Down cairn cemetery* Cairn (SV877156)
 2.6km NNE 16° New Grimsby Cairn* Cairn (SV88601553)
 2.8km NE 44° Borough Cairn* Cairn (SV89761491)
 2.8km NE 35° Middle Down Cairn* Cairn (SV89431524)
 2.8km NNE 22° Dials Rocks Settlement* Ancient Village or Settlement (SV88911559)
 2.9km NNE 15° Castle Down, Tresco* Chambered Tomb (SV886158)
 3.0km N 355° Shipman Head Down, Bryher* Hillfort (SV87601605)
 3.1km ESE 110° Carn Morval Down (3) Misc. Earthwork (SV90581182)
View more nearby sites and additional images

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Heathy Hill Settlement >>

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