Scheduled Monument
Hall of Ireland, cairns 320m NW ofSM1248
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
- 31/10/2000
- Supplementary Information Updated
- 07/06/2018
- Type
- Prehistoric ritual and funerary: cairn (type uncertain)
- Local Authority
- Orkney Islands
- Parish
- Stenness
- NGR
- HY 29055 09871
- Coordinates
- 329055, 1009871
Description
The monument comprises a dispersed group of small surface features, many of stone, in an area of uncultivated and overgrown ground. The monument was first scheduled in 1949, but an inadequate area was included to protect all of the archaeological remains: this rescheduling rectifies this.
The monument is located in uneven ground on the seaward edge of cultivated land. Numerous irregular stony mounds are visible but recent survey has clarified the nature of the site and it is now likely that the site represents the remains of a substantial structure with an enclosed yard to seaward. Some of the smaller mounds or cairns may be the result of field clearance. The yard is bounded by a large irregular mound - the remains of the structure - on the E. Two irregular banks, extending, respectively, from the NW and SW corners of the mound, form the N and S boundaries to the yard. The fourth side of the yard is now formed by the eroding sea cliff. A deep, dark soil is exposed in the weathered section indicating soil enrichment within this yard area. A further, smaller mound has been identified in the recent survey to landward of the main mound. There is also a record, dating to the RCAHMS' visit in 1928, that several bone pins may have come from the site.
The area to be scheduled is bounded by a low sea cliff on the SW but is irregular in plan, with a maximum dimension of 135m SSE-NNW by 75m SW-NE, to include all of the surface features and an area around in which evidence relating to the construction and use may survive, as marked in red on the accompanying map extract.
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.
Scheduling is the process that identifies, designates and provides statutory protection for monuments and archaeological sites of national importance as set out in the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979.
We schedule sites and monuments that are found to be of national importance using the selection guidance published in Designation Policy and Selection Guidance (2019)
Scheduled monument records provide an indication of the national importance of the
scheduled monument which has been identified by the description and map. The description and map (see ‘legal documents’ above) showing the scheduled area is the designation of the monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. The statement of national importance and additional information provided are supplementary and provided for general information purposes only. Historic Environment Scotland accepts no liability for any loss or damages arising from reliance on any inaccuracies within the statement of national importance or additional information. These records are not definitive historical or archaeological accounts or a complete description of the monument(s).
The format of scheduled monument records has changed over time. Earlier records will usually be brief. Some information will not have been recorded and the map will not be to current standards. Even if what is described and what is mapped has changed, the monument is still scheduled.
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