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Whaness Burn enclosure is a post-medieval stone-built enclosure located on the moorland of Hoy, Orkney, approximately 1680 metres north-north-east of the Dwarfie Stane. The monument lies on bedrock of Middle Old Red Sandstone, a mixed sequence of conglomerate, sandstone, siltstone and mudstone deposited during the Middle Devonian period. This underlying geology has shaped both the building materials and landscape of the area for millennia.
The enclosure represents a phase of land organisation and pastoral management during the post-medieval period, when such structures served to contain livestock and define agricultural boundaries on Hoy's challenging terrain. Stone was readily available from the local bedrock and surface outcrops, providing the primary building material for the enclosure walls.
The monument is protected by Historic Environment Scotland under the national record reference SM8663. Its survival on the exposed moorland landscape, within sight of one of Orkney's most significant prehistoric monuments, demonstrates the layered settlement history of this distinctive Orcadian island.
Whaness Burn, enclosure 1680m NNE of Dwarfie Stane, Hoy is a scheduled monument protected by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM8663. View the official record →
Whaness Burn enclosure is a post-medieval stone-built enclosure located on the moorland of Hoy, Orkney, approximately 1680 metres north-north-east of the Dwarfie Stane. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM8663.
Whaness Burn, enclosure 1680m NNE of Dwarfie Stane, Hoy dates from the post-medieval period, and is classified as a enclosure 1680m nne of dwarfie stane, hoy. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Whaness Burn, enclosure 1680m NNE of Dwarfie Stane, Hoy is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, legally protected by Historic Environment Scotland — the body responsible for designating and safeguarding heritage sites in Scotland. The official designation reference is SM8663.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Whaness Burn, enclosure 1620m NNE of Dwarfie Stane, Hoy (0.2 km), Whaness Burn, enclosed settlement 1420m NNE of Dwarfie Stane, Hoy (0.3 km), Dwarfie Stane, rock-cut tomb, Hoy (1.7 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Whaness Burn, enclosure 1680m NNE of Dwarfie Stane, Hoy's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Whaness Burn, enclosure 1680m NNE of Dwarfie Stane, Hoy stands on Middle Old Red Sandstone (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Middle Devonian. The rock here is conglomerate, sandstone, siltstone and mudstone.