The Cairns – Windwick – 2025
by Bernie Bell - 06:59 on 21 June 2025
The Cairns – Windwick – 2025
We missed last year’s dig and were prepared to see some changes on the site, and there have been! Areas which were underground have revealed structures, some with intriguing shapes such as the ‘U’ cells.
I’m getting ahead of myself – we drove down to Windwick Bay and carefully approached the site along a track which is very uppy-downy.
First view of the dig …
And then, turning round to overlook the Bay…
We were given a very informative tour by Kevin who brought the place to life as only a true enthusiast can!
The Broch interior, with busy diggers…
Central to the Broch is a holey stone – a stone with a hole, which aligns with the souterrain…
Which I’ve written of previously…..
http://www.spanglefish.com/berniesblog/blog.asp?blogid=17192
Carrying on round the edge of the site, we see a wonderful example of walling – I’m going to say it - a Wonder-wall…
And then…one of the ‘U’ cells….
Judy, the lass in the green T-shirt, was working on un-earthing a couple of pot-rims and a fragment of pot and was kind enough to help me out with some close-ups….
…including Judy’s trowel – a vital element of any dig!
This is where the archaeology becomes real – pot rims, in situ for the last two thousand years - right there, being un-earthed.
More Periwinkles!....
Which I’ve also written of previously…
http://www.spanglefish.com/berniesblog/blog.asp?blogid=16370
And, from this angle, an even better view of the souterrain and the holey stone from the opposite direction - where it’s even easier to picture an alignment with the sun over the sea…
And finally – this work can't be done without funding – so Mike slipped some dosh in the donations bucket…..
And then to round off a wonder-full morning – we went to the recently re-opened Relic Café at The Fossil & Heritage Centre…….
It was good to be back there, eating yummy grub again….
I intend to work my way through the menu.
https://theorkneynews.scot/2019/08/16/the-fossil-heritage-centre-burray-exactly-what-it-says-it-is/
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