Register here - as a registered user you get more features and fewer ads.
The cairn is a Maes Howe type cairn built into the hillside of Wideford Hill. From the road to Kirkwall the whole hill appears to be a huge cairn and the site for the actual cairn is enhanced by this positioning to create a sense of domination over the surrounding countryside.
Nowadays three concentric rings of tiered stonework are exposed after the site was taken into State care in the 1900's when the earthen mounmd was removed. The original excavation was undertaken in 1849 and produced animal bones and rubble infilling but no pottery or identifiable human remains.
Entry today is via a roof trap door and ladder into the central chamber off of which run three side chambers and the now disused 5 metre long passage which leads to the original entrance which faced west.
The site is accessed from the road to the transmitter tower. Some two thirds of the way up there is a small car park and site sign and map from where a track leads 800 metres across the hillside to the cairn. There should be a clockwork torch in a box by the site but it was missing when I visited in September 2010 so it would pay to carry a small torch with you for the visit to this excellent site.
Something is not right. This message is just to keep things from messing up down the road