The Modern Antiquarian. Stone Circles, Ancient Sites, Neolithic Monuments, Ancient Monuments, Prehistoric Sites, Megalithic MysteriesThe Modern Antiquarian

     

Sower

Ancient Village / Settlement / Misc. Earthwork

<b>Sower</b>Posted by widefordImage © wideford
Also known as:
  • Castle of Sooer
  • Hillock of Hoose-ha

Nearest Town:Stromness (5km WNW)
OS Ref (GB):   HY294062 / Sheets: 6, 7
Latitude:58° 56' 15.13" N
Longitude:   3° 13' 36.44" W

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<b>Sower</b>Posted by wideford <b>Sower</b>Posted by wideford <b>Sower</b>Posted by wideford <b>Sower</b>Posted by wideford <b>Sower</b>Posted by wideford

Fieldnotes

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Coming down the road I first thought it to be the large mound I saw first, but this is a Great War battery. Further downhill a slightly lower mound is the castle A few have proposed this a a possible broch, but it lacks the usual outline. There was a cow with calf in the field and so I contented myself with photos taken with my ultrazoom camera. Fortunately this showed me a couple of the exposures of mound material. And it appears to me that there are two levels to the mound. Probably nothing, but I was minded on of one of the mounds in the site of The Cairns up the coast at Ireland. This too had been given a military designation, that of 'Danish fort'. Whence came Hoose-ha ? Perhaps some modern fancied it as being a house platform 'house hall' ? Likely to remain an enigma forever and a day. wideford Posted by wideford
2nd August 2021ce

Miscellaneous

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RCAHMS NMRS record no.HY20NE 5
Close to the shore on the north side of the Sower Road is a large unopened mound of earth and stones which the Name Book states locals called an old castle and appears on the 25" as a castle site. By 1928 it was known locally as the "Hillock of Hoose-ha" and a visit by the commission records "traces of a large indeterminate structure". Nowadays thought to be a settlement mound, it is roughly rectangular - some 24m E/W by 19m - and about 2m high. No walling has been seen but stone is exposed in places around the periphery and cairn-like material shows in two "mutilations" at the centre.
wideford Posted by wideford
2nd August 2021ce