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Latitude: 59.1252 / 59°7'30"N
Longitude: -3.2233 / 3°13'24"W
OS Eastings: 330071
OS Northings: 1027127
OS Grid: HY300271
Mapcode National: GBR L4DM.451
Mapcode Global: WH693.GW9X
Entry Name: Hundland Hill, enclosure 500m NE of Nisthouse
Scheduled Date: 5 September 2014
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
Source ID: SM13451
Schedule Class: Cultural
Category: Prehistoric ritual and funerary: enclosure (ritual or funerary)
Location: Birsay and Harray
County: Orkney Islands
Electoral Ward: West Mainland
Traditional County: Orkney
The monument comprises the remains of a prehistoric enclosure dating probably to the Neolithic period or Bronze Age (between around 4000 and 1000 BC). It is clearly visible from the air on oblique aerial photographs and can be traced on the ground intermittently as a low earth bank, about 0.5m high. The enclosure is approximately 70m in external diameter, and the bank is 3-4m wide on average, though spread up to 6m wide in places. No entrance is discernible. The interior has two raised areas: in the SSW, a low mound approximately 15m in diameter abuts the enclosing bank; and in the E, a low circular mound is surmounted by an Ordnance Survey triangulation station. The monument occupies the summit of Hundland Hill at around 100m above sea level, on the isthmus between the Loch of Swannay and the Loch of Hundland, with excellent views in all directions.
The scheduled area is circular on plan, 90m in diameter, to include the remains described above and an area around them within which evidence relating to the monument's construction, use and abandonment is expected to survive, as shown in red on the accompanying map. The scheduling specifically excludes the above-ground elements of the triangulation station to allow for its maintenance.
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
The monument is of national importance because of its potential to make a significant addition to our understanding of prehistoric society, specifically, the nature and function of hilltop enclosures, which are relatively rare in Orkney. The monument survives to a marked degree with its earthen bank visible on the ground for most of the circuit. Its hilltop position and the benign nature of later land-use are likely to have preserved important archaeological evidence: the discovery of cramp in the enclosing bank demonstrates this potential. The significance of the monument is enhanced by its hilltop location overlooking a landscape rich in broadly contemporary, funerary and ritual monuments. Our understanding of the form, function and distribution of prehistoric enclosures would be diminished if this monument was to be lost or damaged.
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
Bibliography
RCAHMS records the monument as HY32NW 37.
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
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