Knowe of Scorn Burnt Mound Birsay and Harray, Scotland

Text courtesy of Historic Environment Scotland. © Crown Copyright, reprinted under the Open Government License.

The monument comprises a grass-covered linear mound, composed of burnt stone and soil, with a central gulley dividing it into two parts. The mound was first scheduled in 1937 but an inadequate area was included to protect all of the archaeological remains: this re-scheduling rectifies this.

The mound is aligned roughly NNE-SSW and measures about 27m by 14m maximum, but tapers at the S end to about 11m wide. It stands up to 1.5m high at its N end (the nearest point to the shore of the Loch of Isbister) and reduces in height to about 0.75m at its southern terminal. The sides of the mound slope fairly steeply in general, but are less clearly defined towards the northern end. A central gulley, up to 0.5m deep, along the long axis of the mound, divides the mound into two parts and opens out into a roughly circular depression at its N end, within which several substantial stone blocks are exposed. Here and there, where the grass cover is broken, burnt stone is visible within a dark soil matrix.

Burnt mounds are generally seen as dating to the 2nd millennium BC, although both earlier and later examples are known. They comprise the waste products of heating water in a nearby stone-lined tank, with the water brought to boiling point by placing hot rocks in the tank. They are usually located close to a water source and consist of one or many heaps of heat-fractured or scorched rock, sometimes rich in charcoal, arranged around three sides of a water tank. On occasion the hearth upon which the stones were heated is also found. The mounds usually display evidence of repeated use over a long period. Two common interpretations of this type of site are that the trough was used either to cook food, or to provide steam for a sauna-like bath.

The area to be scheduled is a rectangle 50m N-S by 40m E-W, centred on the centre of the mound, as marked in red on the accompanying map. It includes the burnt mound and an area of ground around it in which evidence relating to its construction and use is likely to survive. The area is enclosed by a modern post-and-wire fence, which is excluded from the scheduling.