Crantit

Nearest town:
Kirkwall (2km NE)
OS reference:
HY4409
OS sheets:
6, 7
Latitude:
58° 57' 53.04 N
Longitude:
2° 58' 25.83 W
Added to TMA by

Images

Image of Crantit (Souterrain) by wideford

alternative site found at Nether Scapa, stock in field makes further investigation unsafe at present (pre-dates and outwith agricultural improvement, runs diagonally)

Image credit: wideford
wideford
wideford Sep 13, 2006
Image of Crantit (Souterrain) by wideford

inside of other passage, big enought to crouch through, with collapse in far distance

Image credit: wideford
wideford
wideford Sep 13, 2006
Image of Crantit (Souterrain) by wideford

from inside the exposed structure both ends roughly same dimensions

Image credit: wideford
wideford
wideford Dec 11, 2003
Image of Crantit (Souterrain) by wideford

beachward end, another possible void is unseen in turf above

Image credit: wideford
wideford
wideford Nov 25, 2003

Articles

Crantit

wideford
wideford Jan 12, 2004

Grid reference down to a few metres now, RCAHMS will update sometime now I have passed on further details.

Crantit

wideford
wideford Nov 25, 2003

HY 44 09. RCAHMS No. HY40NW 5.
Not being found in the Crantit region RCAHMS have referenced this to a structure in Upper Scapa. Not easy to get to, lying in a valley field. If it isn’t a souterrain it could represent the remains of a chambered cairn. It has been suggested to me that it was made for cattle but I reckon the line of very short stone orthostats along the length would risk their laming.
The reason Ordnance Survey found no memory of the site with the farmer in 1966 is that the Bichan’s only bought Crantit in 1949 .

Miscellaneous

Crantit
Souterrain
wideford
wideford Apr 8, 2005

The 1882 map shows two Hillheads. The second, just before you come to Highland Park Distillery, is no longer extant. It was called Hillhead of Crantit (HY45090927). HY40NW 13 places two balls recovered here (though confusingly also naming it Hillhead House, which is Hillhead of Scapa) .The other side of the house boundary, at HY45090924, was a minor earthwork. Though my photos are of the feature identified by the O.S. as the souterrain it strikes me as a possibility, should our identification prove wrong, that it may have been there instead.

Miscellaneous

Crantit
Souterrain
wideford
wideford Mar 10, 2005

It is possible that the site the O.S. identified with the souterrain is the same as that Old-maps shows to have been marked as one of Orkney’s multitude of wells. Too close to call.

Topics

representational diagram 1
wideford
wideford
Dec 2003

Sites within 20km of Crantit

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