(Whal Point)
| Type: | Not known. |
| Location: | Map |
| Notes: | Known locally as “Whal Point”, this feature is close to the track leading to the Holms of Ire. Made up of a ring of earthfast boulders 2m in diameter and 0.8m high, Davidson and Henshall did not include the site in their 1989 inventory of chambered cairns. [1] A lack of mound-related placenames in the vicinity supports Moore and Wilson’s 1999 suggestion that the site may be more recent. If so, the presence of a large stone navigation/marker cairn nearby might explain this feature’s origin. Update: November 2022 Geophysical survey revealed no coherent magnetic signature from the mound, but this absence is only indicative of a lack of enhanced deposits and not a lack of archaeological remains. Geophysical survey of other tomb sites in Orkney, for example, Roeberry, Hoy, produced similarly “quiet” results. In fact, the physical appearance of the mound with a possible stone kerb, may suggest that it represents the remains of a Bronze Age burial mound or barrow. |
| Links: | Geophysical survey. November 2022 Canmore |
| References: | [1] Davidson, J. L. & Henshall, A. S. (1989). The Chambered Cairns of Orkney. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. |
