HY6738 : Path to Quoyness Chambered Cairn
taken 8 years ago, near to Sanday Airport, Sanday, Orkney Islands, Scotland
Quoyness is a very well preserved chambered cairn of the Maeshowe type. It is located on Els Ness on the Orkney isle of Sanday. It dates from the Neolithic (New Stone Age) being about 5,000 years old.
It measures about 67' by 56' (c. 20m x 17m) with the inner chamber about 13' (4m) high. Access to it is by a narrow tunnel about 2'6" (75cm) high - which requires crawling!
The bones of 10 adults and 5 children were removed from the cairn when it was excavated.
It is now in the care of Historic Environment Scotland Link
A lot more information on it on the Canmore website Link
Compare with Maeshowe: Link
With a population of about 500, Sanday is the fourth most populated of the islands of Orkney [as of 2021] after Orkney mainland (c.17,200), South Ronaldsay (which is linked to Mainland by a causeway) (c.900) and the island of Westray (c.600)
At 5043 hectares (12,462 acres) it is the third largest after Mainland and Hoy, being slightly larger than Westray, giving it a population density of c. 9.8 people/km˛ (25.4 / mile˛).
Its highest point above sea level is The Wart at 65m (213') in the southwest of the island.
Its largest settlement is given by Wikipedia as Kettletoft, probably because it has an hotel, but nowhere on Sanday approaches village size and the spread-out settlement of Broughtown may well contain more people.
It has many ancient remains, arguably the most interesting of which is Quoyness Chambered Cairn to be found on the Els Ness peninsula at the south of the island, surrounded by many cairns.