What is the Knowe of Rowiegar?
The Knowe of Rowiegar is a Neolithic cairn on the Westness coast, beyond Skaill, now seen as a grassy mound with projecting stones. Part of it was later reused for an Iron Age underground building. Read the coastal approach notes below before including it in your walk.
The Neolithic cairn
Rowiegar was a rectangular cairn about 27.4 metres long. Excavated under Walter Grant’s direction in 1937, it had upright stone partitions dividing the interior. [2] [3]
Part appears to have been reused as an Iron Age earth-house, or souterrain. Other buildings stood beside and above the cairn. [1] [2]
Later use
Later building changed the tomb and obscured its original layout. The excavation plans help you make sense of the remains. [1] [3]
UHI’s account also covers later studies of the human remains. The sources below explore what is known and what remains uncertain. [1] [3]
The shore setting
A few stones project through the rough grass. The records and plans show much more of the building than survives above ground. [1] [2]
The Swandro Trust’s Westness shore route passes Rowiegar after Skaill Farm. [4]
Find out more
- The Knowe of RowiegarNess of Brodgar Project
The cairn’s later reuse and limited visible remains.
- Trove: Knowe of RowiegarHistoric Environment Scotland
The archaeological record, excavation date and structure.
- Tombs of the Isles: Knowe of RowiegarUHI Archaeology Institute
Excavation history, plans and interpretation.
- Westness shore-route directionsSwandro–Orkney Coastal Archaeology Trust
The Westness shore route passing Rowiegar.
Researched by Stay Rousay. Sources checked .