Tomb or burial place · Prehistoric · Orkney Islands
Tofts Ness
Banks, mounds, cairns, and old soils cover a windswept Sanday peninsula. Tofts Ness is a prehistoric settlement and landscape complex on the north-east tip of Sanday, with occupation from the late Neolithic to the Iron Age.
The site brings together farming evidence and maritime history. Surveys and excavation recorded cultivation soils, a roundhouse, clearance cairns, middens, old rubbish layers used as manure, enclosures, structural remains, possible burial mounds, a possible broch (an Iron Age drystone round tower), and several later shipwrecks along the same exposed coast.
What follows is drawn from published sources, with each claim labelled by how firmly it is established.
History
Tofts Ness is a peninsula at the north-east tip of Sanday.
The scheduled monument includes mounds, cairns, enclosures, ancient soils, and structural remains.
Human occupation began in the late Neolithic and continued through the Iron Age.
The site contains more than 300 mounds and cairns, many probably burial monuments.
Excavation and geophysical survey in the 1980s suggested the site was a settlement, probably a farm and/or kelp-working complex.
Two main occupation phases ran from the Neolithic to early Bronze Age and from the late Bronze Age to early Iron Age.
Excavation found a roundhouse and connected structure surrounded by cultivated soil.
Historic Environment Scotland first scheduled Tofts Ness in 1991 and later enlarged the protected area.
What to look for
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Mounds and cairns
The site contains more than 300 mounds and cairns.
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Cultivation evidence
Excavation found soils improved with manure, ash, and midden material.
Plan your visit
- Location
- 59.3091°N · 2.4224°W
- Access
- Open access
- Terrain
- Moderate walking
Opening & admission
The source pack does not provide reliable current admission details; verify before travelling.
- The pack describes a scheduled peninsula landscape but gives no current public access details.
Nearby places
Tomb or burial place · Prehistoric
Quoyness Chambered Cairn
Orkney Islands
Quoyness is a Neolithic chambered cairn on the Elsness peninsula of Sanday, Orkney, of the Maeshowe type and probably built around 3000 BC. Origina…
- Near Sanday
- 20 min walk from car park
- Easy path
Questions people ask
- What is Tofts Ness?
- It is a prehistoric landscape and settlement complex on a peninsula at the north-east tip of Sanday.
- What survives there?
- The pack records mounds, cairns, banks, enclosures, ancient soils, and structural remains.
- Was it a settlement?
- Excavation and geophysical survey suggested it was probably a farm and/or kelp-working complex.
- Are there shipwrecks too?
- Yes. The source pack lists multiple later shipwrecks associated with Tofts Ness.
Sources
- Wikipedia article
- Source pack: Tofts Ness
Explore more: Tomb or burial places · Prehistoric · Orkney Islands
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