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Latitude: 58.9862 / 58°59'10"N
Longitude: -3.2153 / 3°12'54"W
OS Eastings: 330251
OS Northings: 1011645
OS Grid: HY302116
Mapcode National: GBR L4FZ.FTR
Mapcode Global: WH69W.LD4F
Entry Name: Little Barnhouse, mound, 160m NE of
Scheduled Date: 23 January 2002
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
Source ID: SM10233
Schedule Class: Cultural
Category: Prehistoric ritual and funerary: mound (ritual or funerary)
Location: Stenness
County: Orkney Islands
Electoral Ward: West Mainland
Traditional County: Orkney
The monument consists of a large turf-covered mound, which is recorded as containing a chamber accessed by a passage. Resistivity survey has located a geophysical anomaly, which may correspond to the chamber, and a possible ditch feature encircling the mound.
The mound measures approximately 50m N-S by 42m E-W and stands up to about 4m in height. The mound profile is gently convex with a slightly flattened summit. No other features are visible. The field was last ploughed for improvement in the 1970s but the farmer deliberately excluded the mound from the ploughing. The chamber is first recorded in an itinerary published in 1899. This report refers to its discovery some four years earlier.
Geophysical survey in 2001 has shown that the mound is encircled by what appears to be a substantial ditch and a distinct anomaly towards the northern end of the summit of the mound is likely to represent the chamber. The northern edge of the mound is thought to have been removed when the road was first made.
The area to be scheduled is roughly circular, flattened on its N side where it abuts the road. It has maximum dimensions of 70m E-W by 55m N-S, to include the mound, the probable ditch and a surrounding area in which evidence relating to its construction and use may survive, as marked in red on the accompanying map extract. The boundary wall adjacent to the road is excluded from the schedule.
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
The site is of national importance as a prehistoric burial monument, probably a chambered cairn. As well as the 19th century discovery of a chamber and passage, recent geophysical survey has indicated the presence of a surrounding ditch. The site has the potential to provide important evidence about prehistoric ritual and burial practices.
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
Bibliography
RCAHMS records the monument as HY 31 SW 24.
Reference:
RCAHMS (1946) The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. Twelfth report with an inventory of the ancient monuments of Orkney and Shetland, 3v, Edinburgh, 317-8.
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
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