Dale of Corrigall, 30th Jan 2010
Tuesday 26 October 2010
Saturday 23 October 2010
A walk with Laura Drever
Laura Drever has been working on a series of
paintings following a walk to the Dale of Corrigall
with me earlier this year. Laura's work is based
on walking, and explores ideas of landscape,
experience and memory.
http://www.lauradrever.com/
Sunday 17 October 2010
Saturday 16 October 2010
First visit to Dale of Corrigall... after a while
A walk with
Dan Lee and Alistair Peebles
30/01/10
The intention of the walk was to visit somewhere new. The Dale of Corrigall was chosen as neither of us had been there before. The plan was to try and find an archaeological site, 'Dale of Corrigall', a possible Bronze Age homestead located by Raymond Lamb in 1984.
The site is listed in the NMR (HY31NW 55). This contains Lamb's original description:
http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/en/site/2049/details/dale+of+corrigall
It was cold day with blustery snow showers. The roads were icy and we had been in two minds whether to set off. We parked at Corriagall Farm Museum and walked up the old peat track into the dale. The history of peat cutting in the valley is clear to see; multiple scars into the hill. The dale sits in the west side of the range of hills dividing Harray with Rendall and Evie. The deep black peat has been cut here for hundreds of years and the peat lies to a depth of well over 1 meter. The peat banks have now long regenerated with thick heather. Only a handful of banks are still cut.
We located the site after a long search. The vegetation had clearly changed since its discovery and even with GPS it was difficult to find. The site was spotted when another nearby mound was visited. This sits in a large natural bowl cut into the slope and contains very boggy ground. The low spur to the north-west of this mound turned out to be the settlement site.
The stony mound has a series of large upright slabs to the north and south that Lamb describes. Vegetation, moss and heather, obscures the slabs and mound and we were lucky to find them! The mound appears to continue below the surrounding peat suggesting it is larger than the extent visible on the surface. If the mound was sub-peat, it would strengthen the interpretation that it was prehistoric in date as the majority of peat formed in the Bronze Age in Orkney. The site certainly has the appearance of prehistoric remains.
Sketch plan of Dale of Corrigall site.
The mound within the natural bowl to the south-east, that facilitated the location of the archaeological site, looks convincing as a burnt mound in light of the nearby remains. The boggy area is probably a spring; the favoured location of many burnt mounds. The mound is slightly crescentric with a very wet area to the west.
The two sites would benefit from coring to determine their extent below the peat. Magnetic Susceptibility (a geophysical technique that is good at measuring burnt and enhanced material) could be used to establish whether the mounds contained burnt material. Maybe we could find other sites buried below the peat within the dale with a combination of walkover surveys and geophysics?
Dan Lee and Alistair Peebles
30/01/10
The intention of the walk was to visit somewhere new. The Dale of Corrigall was chosen as neither of us had been there before. The plan was to try and find an archaeological site, 'Dale of Corrigall', a possible Bronze Age homestead located by Raymond Lamb in 1984.
The site is listed in the NMR (HY31NW 55). This contains Lamb's original description:
http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/en/site/2049/details/dale+of+corrigall
It was cold day with blustery snow showers. The roads were icy and we had been in two minds whether to set off. We parked at Corriagall Farm Museum and walked up the old peat track into the dale. The history of peat cutting in the valley is clear to see; multiple scars into the hill. The dale sits in the west side of the range of hills dividing Harray with Rendall and Evie. The deep black peat has been cut here for hundreds of years and the peat lies to a depth of well over 1 meter. The peat banks have now long regenerated with thick heather. Only a handful of banks are still cut.
We located the site after a long search. The vegetation had clearly changed since its discovery and even with GPS it was difficult to find. The site was spotted when another nearby mound was visited. This sits in a large natural bowl cut into the slope and contains very boggy ground. The low spur to the north-west of this mound turned out to be the settlement site.
The stony mound has a series of large upright slabs to the north and south that Lamb describes. Vegetation, moss and heather, obscures the slabs and mound and we were lucky to find them! The mound appears to continue below the surrounding peat suggesting it is larger than the extent visible on the surface. If the mound was sub-peat, it would strengthen the interpretation that it was prehistoric in date as the majority of peat formed in the Bronze Age in Orkney. The site certainly has the appearance of prehistoric remains.
Sketch plan of Dale of Corrigall site.
The mound within the natural bowl to the south-east, that facilitated the location of the archaeological site, looks convincing as a burnt mound in light of the nearby remains. The boggy area is probably a spring; the favoured location of many burnt mounds. The mound is slightly crescentric with a very wet area to the west.
The two sites would benefit from coring to determine their extent below the peat. Magnetic Susceptibility (a geophysical technique that is good at measuring burnt and enhanced material) could be used to establish whether the mounds contained burnt material. Maybe we could find other sites buried below the peat within the dale with a combination of walkover surveys and geophysics?
Sunday 19 September 2010
Friday 21 May 2010
First Statistical Account of Scotland
"All the advantage the [Harray] parish has, is being pretty near to the fuel, which is very good of its kind, and nearest to coal of any peats that I ever saw; burns with a clear steady flame, and when charred, will work iron very well."
The Statistical Account of Scotland, 1791-1799 edited by Sir John Sinclair. Vol. 19: Orkney & Shetland
The Statistical Account of Scotland, 1791-1799 edited by Sir John Sinclair. Vol. 19: Orkney & Shetland
Ist edition map of peat cutting area
Link to the National Library of Scotland digital maps
25inch to the mile 1st edition of the peat cutting area
Zoom in with the icons on the left hand side
www.nls.uk/maps/os/25inch/view/?sid=75135903
25inch to the mile 1st edition of the peat cutting area
Zoom in with the icons on the left hand side
www.nls.uk/maps/os/25inch/view/?sid=75135903
Thursday 20 May 2010
Wednesday 12 May 2010
Saturday 1 May 2010
Monday 22 February 2010
Saturday 20 February 2010
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