TAP Field Report No. 5 A survey of Shetland's gallow hills Joris ...

Gallow hillssouth, where we can see parts of Trondra,East and West Burra and the west coast ofsouthern Mainland, and even Fitful Head inthe far distance.5) Gallow Hill, Tingwall, MainlandHU 4105 4279Figure 13 Topography of Gallow Hill, Tingwall.(Data: Ordnance Survey. © Crown copyright/database right 2010).Figure 14 Outcrop knoll on the summit ofGallow Hill, Tingwall. View towards the north.The Gallow Hill of Tingwall is located westof Loch Tingwall (Fig. 13). The summit lies atthe edge of the moorland behind the farm Kirkasetter.It is formed by a small knoll markedby a cairn (Fig. 14). The summit of Gallow Hilllies at slightly over 100m ODN, more than90m above the water level of Loch Tingwall.Some interesting structures can be seenabout 400m south of the cairn. 12 At HU 40934242, there is a group of big stones, whichseems to consist of various features (Fig. 15 &16). The major concentration (Fig. 16, A) maybe the remnants of a chambered cairn. About15m to the southwest, there is a derelict, rectangularenclosure of about 10 x 5m (Fig 16,B). It consists of a single row of stones and isoriented WNW-ESE. It seems to be open atthe NW side. A local amateur archaeologistreports to have dug two small ‘test pits’ on theinside of the enclosure several years ago, andto have found pieces of charcoal at six inchesdepth. 13ABCDFigure 15 Remnants of a cairn and stonelinedenclosure, possibly of prehistoric age,on Gallow Hill, Tingwall. View towards thenortheast.Figure 16 Aerial photograph showing theremnants of a cairn (A), enclosure (B), oldield wall (C) and modern clearing for feedingsheep (D) on Gallow Hill, Tingwall. (Photo: ARSF/ NERC, courtesy of Alexandra Sanmark / TAP.)13