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Bu of Orphir, burnt mound and mill dam 250m north west of Bu Farm

A Scheduled Monument in Kirkwall West and Orphir, Orkney Islands

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Coordinates

Latitude: 58.9242 / 58°55'27"N

Longitude: -3.16 / 3°9'36"W

OS Eastings: 333305

OS Northings: 1004679

OS Grid: HY333046

Mapcode National: GBR L5K4.H5B

Mapcode Global: WH6B3.FYFJ

Entry Name: Bu of Orphir, burnt mound and mill dam 250m NW of Bu Farm

Scheduled Date: 31 January 1938

Last Amended: 26 February 1996

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Source ID: SM4725

Schedule Class: Cultural

Category: Industrial: farming, food production; Prehistoric domestic and defensive: burnt mound

Location: Orphir

County: Orkney Islands

Electoral Ward: Kirkwall West and Orphir

Traditional County: Orkney

Description

The monument comprises a burnt mound (a cooking place, probably of Bronze Age date) and a disused mill dam of recent date but occupying an older site, together with their surrounding area.

The burnt mound is largely grass-covered, and is crescentic on plan, with the concavity facing NNW. This element of the monument is already scheduled. The mill dam takes the form of a sub-rectangular hollow aligned NNW-SSE, with the SW side and S corner excavated and the NE side and E angle embanked. The mill lade flowed from the dam SE to the now disused mill at Bu of Orphir Farm, and formerly fed this buildings' predecessors, which originated in a Norse period mill recently identified by excavation just S of the public road. Geophysical survey has indicated the presence of archaeological deposits, including traces of former structures, in the area to the S and SE of the mill dam and burnt mound.

The area to be scheduled is irregular, bounded on the W by a modern fenceline and on the NE by the W bank of a small stream. Its other boundaries are not defined by visible features on the ground. The area has maximum dimensions of 190m NNW-SSE by 110m, to include the mill dam, burnt mound and area of archaeological potential as defined by geophysical survey, and is marked in red on the accompanying map extract.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography
No Bibliography entries for this designation

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

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