Scheduled Monument
Hundland, settlement mound 270m SW ofSM1284
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
- 24/02/1937
- Last Date Amended
- 04/02/2003
- Type
- Prehistoric domestic and defensive: mound (domestic or defensive, rather than ritual or funerary)
- Local Authority
- Orkney Islands
- Parish
- Birsay And Harray
- NGR
- HY 29789 26362
- Coordinates
- 329789, 1026362
Description
The monument comprises a steep-sided, stony, settlement mound, located on the eastern shore of the Loch of Hundland at approximately 25m OD. The monument was first scheduled in 1937, but an inadequate area was included to protect all of the archaeological remains: the present re-scheduling rectifies this.
The monument survives as a steep-sided oval mound measuring some 35m NW-SE by 30m NE-SW and standing up to 2m high. The upper surface is irregular. A number of earth-fast slabs are exposed on the summit which, together with some ill-defined areas of probable masonry, suggest that the mound contains and conceals a series of contiguous stone-built structures or chambers. The mound is eroding on its western edge where it projects into the Loch of Hundland. Bone and pottery of probable Iron Age date have been recovered from the site.
The mound appears to contain a multi-chambered stone-built structure, possibly a broch (a defensive stone-built tower), and was constructed and occupied probably in the Iron Age (some time between 500 BC and AD 500).
The area to be scheduled is irregular in plan with maximum dimensions of 81m NW-SE by 41m NE-SW, to include the settlement mound and an area around it in which evidence relating to its construction and use is likely to survive. The area is bounded on the NE and SW by post-and-wire fences, and on the SW, W and NW by the shore of the loch, as marked in red on the accompanying map. The post-and-wire fences are excluded from the scheduling to allow for their maintenance. Two small stone-built jetties to the SE of the mound are also excluded from the scheduling.
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).
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