Scheduled Monument
Augmond Howe cairn and cairn-derived bank, 800m SSE of Els NessSM1236
Status: Designated
Documents
Where documents include maps, the use of this data is subject to terms and conditions (https://portal.historicenvironment.scot/termsandconditions).
The legal document available for download below constitutes the formal designation of the monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. The additional details provided on this page are provided for information purposes only and do not form part of the designation. Historic Environment Scotland accepts no liability for any loss or damages arising from reliance on any inaccuracies within this additional information.
Summary
- Date Added
- 14/10/1949
- Last Date Amended
- 09/10/2001
- Supplementary Information Updated
- 07/06/2018
- Type
- Prehistoric ritual and funerary: cairn (type uncertain); cist; enclosure (ritual or funerary rather than defensive or domestic); mound (ritual or funerary rather than defensive or domestic)
- Local Authority
- Orkney Islands
- Parish
- Lady
- NGR
- HY 67581 37485
- Coordinates
- 367581, 1037485
Description
The monument was first scheduled in 1949, but an inadequate area was included to protect all of the archaeological remains. The present rescheduling rectifies this.
The monument consists of Augmund Howe, a substantial stony mound, surrounded by an arc of eleven smaller mounds inter-linked by a low bank. This extensive group of mounds or cairns lies in a pasture field between 5-13m O.D. The cairn at the centre of the group, Augmund Howe, has suffered from stone robbing and its E part is eroded away by the sea. However, the surviving W half measures c. 23m N-S along the eroded face, by c. 11m transversely and c. 2.2m high. No wall-faces or other signs of careful construction are visible. There is no evidence of a central chamber. The turf-covered mounds, which form an arc around Augmund Howe, vary in size from c.5m to c.10m in diameter, and c. 0.5-0.6m in height, and in shape from circular to oval. Augmund Howe is not central to this arc; distances between it and the cairns vary from 120m to the S, 110m to the W, the nearest cairn lies c. 50m to the NW. The discovery of two cists and human bone during the partial excavation of one of the cairns confirms their function as burial monuments. The interconnecting bank is spread to a breadth of c. 2m, and survives to a maximum height of c. 0.3m. To the N of Augmund Howe, there is no visible trace of the bank between the cliff edge and a point c. 50m to the W. Towards the N end of the enclosed area, the remains of rectangular structure with rounded corners is indicated by an arrangement of low, turf covered banks measuring c. 8m by c. 3.5m.
The area to be scheduled is irregular in shape, with maximum dimensions of 510m N-S by 240m E-W, to include the central cairn of Augmund Howe, the arc of eleven cairns to landward of Augmund Howe, the interconnecting bank, the rectangular enclosure and an area around in which evidence relating to the construction and use of each component and of the whole group may survive as marked in red on the accompanying map extract. The proposed scheduled area is bounded to the W by an existing scheduled area (SAM 1353) and to the N by the scheduled area of the Property in Care/Scheduled Area of the chambered tomb of Quoyness (AMH/90243). The field fences that form the NNW and NW limits of the proposed scheduled area are excluded from the schedule to allow for their maintenance.
References
Bibliography
No Bibliography entries for this designation
About Scheduled Monuments
Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating sites and places at the national level. These designations are Scheduled monuments, Listed buildings, Inventory of gardens and designed landscapes and Inventory of historic battlefields.
We make recommendations to the Scottish Government about historic marine protected areas, and the Scottish Ministers decide whether to designate.
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