Vinquoy Hill Chambered Cairn, Eday Eday, Scotland

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

The monument is a Maeshowe type chambered cairn, dating to the Neolithic period (probably early third millennium BC). It survives as a circular heather-covered mound, measuring approximately 18m in diameter and standing up to 3m high. The cairn was excavated in 1857 by Farrer and Hebden, who broke into the chamber through the top and cleared the entrance passage. The tomb contains an irregular-shaped central chamber, which originally had a corbelled roof, and four side compartments entered from the NW, SW, SE and NE sides of the chamber. The entrance is on the S (lower) side and the 5m-long passage and chamber are partly subterranean, cut back into the hill. Unlike most Orcadian chambered cairns, the tomb is built of sandstone. The monument has been restored to enable public access and is now part of the Eday Heritage Trail. The monument occupies a conspicuous position, almost at the highest point in the island, atop Vinquoy Hill on the N side of Eday, at 74m above sea level, overlooking Calf Sound. The monument was originally scheduled in 1936, but the documentation did not meet modern standards: the present amendment rectifies this.

The scheduled area is circular on plan, measuring 30m in diameter, to include the remains described above and an area around them within which evidence relating to the monument's construction, use and abandonment is expected to survive, as shown in red on the accompanying map.