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Unst, Haroldswick

Burnt Mound(S) (Prehistoric)(Possible), Cairn(S) (Period Unassigned)

Site Name Unst, Haroldswick

Classification Burnt Mound(S) (Prehistoric)(Possible), Cairn(S) (Period Unassigned)

Alternative Name(s) Clesbo; 'to The North Of Clisboe'

Canmore ID 163

Site Number HP61SW 15

NGR HP 637 126

NGR Description HP c. 637 126

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/163

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
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Administrative Areas

  • Council Shetland Islands
  • Parish Unst
  • Former Region Shetland Islands Area
  • Former District Shetland
  • Former County Shetland

Activities

Field Visit (29 April 1969)

No trace. The area to the N of Clesbo is ideally suited for burnt mounds.

Visited by OS (RL) 29 April 1969.

Desk Based Assessment (1969)

HP61SW 15 c. 637 126

There are half a dozen places on the farm of Clisboe (Clesbo: HP 637 126), where there are mounds of earth and small stones 4 to 6ft in height and generally oval in shape.

Excavation of some of the mounds has exposed graves formed by sometimes two, sometimes four, stones about 2 1/2ft long and 2ft broad. Each grave contains an urn, in which are supposedly human ashes, set on a flat stone and accompanied by stone implements, pieces of quartz, horses' teeth and small pieces of charcoal. Other burials in the mounds consist simply of apparently burnt bones, at a depth of 4 to 7ft, laid on a flat stone, and covered by another.

They, too, are accompanied by similar articles. Many pieces of broken urns, celts, etc are found dispersed through the mounds.

T Edmonston 1873.

Ten axe and club-like implements of mica-schist, and four large, oblong stone vessels from Clisboe are in the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland (NMAS, Accession nos: AC 114-123, BD 1-3 and BD 5 respectively). They were donated by Thomas Edmonstone on behalf of the Rhind Excavation Committee in 1870.

NMAS 1892.

The mounds have disappeared. Local information suggests that some were burnt mounds.

RCAHMS 1946, visited 1933.

Information from OS Index Card.

References

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