<< Our Photo Pages >> Knowe of Ramsay - Chambered Cairn in Scotland in Orkney
Submitted by DrewParsons on Saturday, 16 October 2010 Page Views: 6502
Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: Knowe of RamsayCountry: Scotland County: Orkney Type: Chambered Cairn
Nearest Town: Rousay Island Nearest Village: Brinian
Map Ref: HY40042800
Latitude: 59.134562N Longitude: 3.04948W
Condition:
| 5 | Perfect |
| 4 | Almost Perfect |
| 3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
| 2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
| 1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
| 0 | No data. |
| -1 | Completely destroyed |
| 5 | Superb |
| 4 | Good |
| 3 | Ordinary |
| 2 | Not Good |
| 1 | Awful |
| 0 | No data. |
| 5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
| 4 | Short walk on a footpath |
| 3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
| 2 | A long walk |
| 1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
| 0 | No data. |
| 5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
| 4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
| 3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
| 2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
| 1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
| 0 | no data |
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drolaf visited on 9th Jun 2022 - their rating: Cond: 2 Amb: 4 Access: 3
DrewParsons have visited here
This cairn is one of a series set along a ridge on the south side of Rousay Island overlooking Eynhallow Sound and Mainland. It was excavated in 1935. The excavators found that much of the stonework had been robbed for local building purposes over the years and all that remained was a mound some 1.5 metres high and 33 metres long covered in grass. Some slabs were found near the summit indicating that the site was another stalled cairn similar to the nearby Knowe of Yarso. The entrance passage led to a narrow chamber 26 metres long divided into 14 stalls by upright stones. Near the south west corner of stall 5 a small cist with no remains in it was found. The outer walls had a plain construction without the patterned style seen at nearby Yarso and Blackhammer cairns. There were signs of burning in stalls 6 though to 11 although very few finds were made. These included half a dozen sherds of reddish pottery, six pieces of flint, a poorly made scraper, and other flint flakes. The human remains were poorly preserved - an adult from cell 3, an elderly male from cell 5 and two fragments of an arm and a leg in cell 8. Some of the human bones as well as some of the animal and bird bones also found showed signs of scorching. The animal and bird bones included red-deer, sheep, ox, great auk, bittern, comorant, curlew, duck, white tailed eagle, pink footed goose and in the fish department, a conger eel!
To reach the cairn follow the somewhat indistinct trail west from the Knowe of Yarso and contour down until you pass a ruined farm house keeping an eye out for the mound below you. My GPS coordinates were 59.13460N and -03.04944W right at the site. I was unable to locate an entrance and given the description of the state of the site by the excavators I suppose that it is now inaccessible.
Reference: A Stalled Chambered Cairn, Knowe of Ramsay, J Graham Callander Director of the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland, and Walter Grant. Proceedings of the Society May 11 1936
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