Hill forts · Scottish Islands
Quoyness chambered cairn
Quoyness chambered cairn — chambered cairn located on Sanday in Orkney, Scotland.
Wikimedia Commons contributors — see linked file page for photographer and licence licence
Plan your visit
- Typical visit
- 1 h–2 h
- Free entry
- Dog-friendly
About
Quoyness chambered cairn is a hill fort in the United Kingdom. Heritage designation: scheduled monument. Wikidata describes it as: "chambered cairn located on Sanday in Orkney, Scotland". Coordinates: 59.2256°, -2.5682°.
Photo gallery
From Historic Environment Scotland
Get a quick look of Quoyness Chambered Cairn, a megalithic tomb for the dead that bears some resemblance to the houses of the living. Contact Historic Environment Scotland today for more information.
Read more on the official property page.
From the Wikipedia article
Quoyness chambered cairn is a Neolithic burial monument located on the island of Sanday in Orkney, Scotland. Similar to Maeshowe in design, the tomb was probably built around 3000 BC. The skeletal remains of several people were uncovered in the tomb during excavation in 1867. The monument was partially restored and reconstructed after a second excavation during the early 1950s, to display the different original stages of construction of the tomb. The property is now in the care of Historic Environment Scotland as a scheduled monument.
Excerpt from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0. See the source article linked in Sources below.
Background
History
The cairn was excavated by James Farrer and George Petrie in 1867. The site was originally believed to be a broch, but after excavation, the antiquarians determined that the site was a chambered cairn. sherds of pottery and two spiked slate objects and a large bone pin with a knob on the shank. Historic Environment Scotland established the site as a scheduled monument in 1994.
Description
Quoyness chambered cairn is located on the Elsness peninsula, on the island of Sanday in Orkney. It is a large, oval Maeshowe type chambered cairn, probably built around 3000 BC. The cairn sits on a wide, oval-shaped stone platform and was built with a mix of stones, earth and waste material intermixed with horizontal slabs. A stone kerb surrounds the platform on the south and the west ends. The cairn is built with a concentric ring of stones that are now visible. The cairn would have originally been covered with earth and turf.
Sourced from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Coordinates
- 59.2256, -2.5682
- District
- Orkney Islands
- Postcode
- KW17 2BJ
- Parliamentary constituency
- Orkney and Shetland
Sources
- wikidata: Q7272906 (CC0)
- wikipedia: Quoyness chambered cairn (CC BY-SA 4.0)
- commons: Quoyness Chambered Cairn - geograph.org.uk - 86230.jpg (CC BY-SA 4.0)
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Frequently asked questions
- Where is Quoyness chambered cairn?
- Quoyness chambered cairn is in the Scottish Islands, United Kingdom (postcode KW17 2BJ).
- Is Quoyness chambered cairn a listed building?
- Quoyness chambered cairn is officially recognised as scheduled monument listed.
- Is Quoyness chambered cairn free to visit?
- Yes, Quoyness chambered cairn is free to enter.
- How do I get to Quoyness chambered cairn?
- Drivers can navigate to postcode KW17 2BJ. It sits within the Orkney and Shetland parliamentary constituency.