Castle Bloody
Castle Bloody ( German "the bloody castle" ) is a basement that is located in a mound in Quholm, near the coast, in the southeast of Shapinsay , an island of the Orkney in Scotland . Older records by the Committee of Inquiry into Historic Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS) still classify the site as the cairn of a chamber tomb. The structure, located on the highest point in the area, was also described as a Pictish fort. It is believed to be older than Burroughston Broch , which is further north, on the east coast of Shapinsay. A detailed analysis did not classify the structure as a basement until 1981. In the case of the basement, a basic distinction is made between "rock-cut", "earth-cut", "stone built" and "mixed" basements.
The earliest mention of the square was in a name book in 1880 and on the six-inch map in 1900. Before 1928 someone removed some of the massive ceiling panels from the main chamber. (RCAHMS report, 1946). The building material provided the outcrops of the cliff in the area of the Lingavi Geo. Although the structure has been roughly studied, the architecture and function remain mysterious.
The cairn, covered with earth and turf, in which the structure lies is about 13 m in diameter. Its height is stated differently in the literature (1.2 or 1.8 m). The hill shape can be compared to Ham in Caithness and the Knowe of Midgarth . The geometry of the basement includes a small subterranean main cell with secondary cells that branch off from the main chamber. The main room with its north-south axis is a little east of the center. The roof of the 1.5 x 0.9 m chamber is covered with large flat stones. The main chamber has a side masonry made of dry stone walls (stone built), which is tapered by corbels.
Two narrow corridors lead to the main cell. The southern entrance is a curved, tiled, longer corridor coming from the southeast. A second, much lower corridor, now blocked by rubble, leads a short straight stretch to the northeast from the north end of the room. The smaller corridor is detectable for about a meter and appears to lead to a hollow that may be another room, but which is filled with loose debris.
Other prehistoric monuments to the northwest are the Menhir Mor Stone (about 1.3 km) and several Cairns (about 0.8 km).
See also
literature
- AS Henshall: RCAHMS Ordinance Survey visit 1981.
- David Fraser: Land and Society in Neolithic Orkney , BAR 1983
- RCAHMS The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. Twelfth report with an inventory of the ancient monuments of Orkney and Shetland , 3v, Edinburgh, 277, No. 786, (1987)
Web links
Coordinates: 59 ° 1 ′ 56.7 " N , 2 ° 48 ′ 37" W.