Print

MHG2181 - Cairn with burial etc. - Broughwhin

Summary

No summary available.

Type and Period (2)

Protected Status

Full Description

ND34SW 16 3136 4112.
Cairns & Cists (NR) OS 1:10,000 map, (1976)

A circular structure, excavated by Anderson in 1866, and comprising a stone wall, 13-14ft internal diameter, and 3-4ft thick. From N an inner wall, 2ft 6ins thick and 1ft 5ins high, ran segmentally for about 9ft. Between end of this wall and outer was found a human skeleton laid on a stone slab, 2ft by 9ins. On the undisturbed soil beneath the structure small fragments of pottery and wood charcoal were found.
In an arc to NW lie four short cists, one of which may have originally been covered by a small cairn, which were excavated prior to 1865. Between them, a few thin stone slabs protrude.
It is possible that this is site referred to in ONB (1871) as 'a number of small hillocks of loose stones and earth some of which have been opened, discovering small stone graves of slabs of stones about 4.5-5ft in length. Remains of skeletons found in some of them'. RCAHMS 1911, visited 1910; J Anderson 1869; Name Book 1871; Information from Sir Henry Dryden and Mr Anderson, NMAS.

The cairn and cists were Scheduled in 1934.

A circular, stone-built feature and four adjacent cists. That this structure is a hut circle as asserted by DoE is doubtful due to the close proximity of cists, and of presence nearby of stone rows and other cairns (ND34SW 4, 18-20, 23), and also unsuitability of area for cultivation. It is probably the remains of a small burial cairn.
Nearby and to N of group is a small heather-covered cairn, 10m in diameter and 0.6m high, which has been partly excavated, but not noted by RCAHMS. It contains the remains of a cist-like structure about 1.2m long and 0.4m wide, oriented NE-SW, with no end-slabs.
Resurveyed at 1:2500. Visited by OS (N K B) 2 May 1967.

The structure excavated by Anderson is comparable, in some respects, to round cairns at Keiss (ND36SW 5) and Ackergill (ND35SW 12), and together with covered graves or cists and low oval cairn, could represent a pre-Viking Iron Age cemetery combining circular burial cairns with horizontally coursed kerbs and adjacent cists. It is admitted that evidence for nature of structure and of its relationship to cists and other oval cairn is ambiguous.
P Ashmore 1981.

Cairns with cists, long cairns noted by Mercer not evident.
R J Mercer 1985; J L Davidson and A S Henshall 1991.

One open short cist right beside access track to PiC. The sites lie on top of another knoll slightly lower than that of cairn of Get. This hill under heather and small trees might indicate site of other cists. Flat slabs lying might indicate cover stones. However, there are also further structures built against the slope of the hill to the NE outside the scheduled area - HAW 24/05/2004

The original Scheduling was revoked by Historic Environment Scotland in 2016, but it was re-scheduled and included with the adjacent Cairn of Get under SM90048 (see also MHG2210). <1>

Sources/Archives (7)

Map

Location

Grid reference	Centred ND 3136 4110 (46m by 46m) (2 map features)
Map sheet	ND34SW
Civil Parish	WICK
Geographical Area	CAITHNESS

Finds (1)

Related Monuments/Buildings (1)

Related Investigations/Events (0)

External Links (2)