More information : There is an extensive system of linear cairn
cemeteries on Shipman Head Down. A few of the small cairns are
in the positions given to them on the OS 6in map.
(SV 877156) Shown on OS 25" as small cairns connected by
boulder walls. The main system, see illustration, consists of a
series of branches, their extremities being at the following
references: SV 87771581; SV 87881574; SV 87861552; SV 87801547;
SV 87621561.
Other cairns surrounding the system appear to form connecting
lines but no boulder walls between them are indicated on the
map.
The system is not clearly defined on air photographs.
(Name: SV 877156) Tumuli (NR)
('A' SV 87781580; 'B' SV 87781579; 'C' SV 87791578;
'D' SV 87801576; 'E' SV 87861573; 'F' SV 87881574;
'G' SV 87841571; 'H' SV 87831569; 'J' SV 87851570;
'K' SV 87861568; 'L' SV 87811566; 'M' SV 87881566;
'N' SV 87801566; 'P' SV 87891563; 'Q' SV 87871562;
'R' SV 87861561; 'S' SV 87861560; 'T' SV 87851559;
'U' SV 87851557; 'V' SV 87841556; 'W' SV 87841555;
'X' SV 87841554; 'Y' SV 87841551; 'Z' SV 87861552;
'AA' SV 87771560; 'BB' SV 87771559; 'CC' SV 87771558;
'DD' SV 87781553; 'EE' SV 87781552; 'FF' SV 87781551;
'GG' SV 87791550; 'HH' SV 87791549; 'JJ' SV 87811547;
'KK' SV 87761561; 'LL' SV 87741561; 'MM' SV 87721560;
'NN' SV 87721560; 'PP' SV 87701560).
All noted as mounds, 'E', 'F' and 'J' having part-kerbs. At
SV 877160 Russell notes four huts (three marked on OS as
barrows) but does not specifiy which of the above.
Shipman Head Down occupies the north end of Bryher which is the
most northwesterly of the Scillies archipelago and fully
exposed to the Atlantic on both west and north. Borlase (1756)
described it as "... mostly laid bare by the violent spray of
the sea, and the little soil which the weather has spared is
cut up for turf as fuel". Borlase's description is still apt;
the plateau top of the down is decayed granite, deeply scored,
with a sparse heather growth. The only upstanding features are
natural cairns and boulders and an extensive spread of cairns
through which one threaded a number of boulder walls of
prehistoric type. The problem of the interelationship between
these cairns and walls on Shipman Head Down is a microcosm of
the problem presented by the Scillies cairn groups as a whole,
that is, which cairns are sepulchrual and which, if any, are
the result of agricultural clearance; also whether there is
more than just a physical relationship between cairns and
boulder walls.
Shipman Head Down covers some 16 ha and contains altogether
about 150 cairns (for convenience these have been divided into
groups SV 81 NE 1-10). Some of them contained cists and a few
have kerbs but most are nondescript platforms and mounds
ranging from 4-7m in diameter and up to 0.5m in height (for
type site see SV 80 NE 15 - a group of 18 cairns on St Agnes).
Most are scattered irregularly but within them the linear
arrangement noted by Ashbee is clearly recognisable as it
occurs in relationship with boulder walls. These are simple
lines of irregularly spaced boulders protruding through the
granite sand but with no surviving evidence of one stone placed
upon another.
Generally they link the irregularly spaced cairns aiming
roughly centre to centre but occasionally passing to one side
or between pairs; they often continue beyond the limits of the
cairn concentrations. The degraded condition of the complex
makes it impossible to determine with certainty the
chronological sequence but it seems more likely that the walls
post-date the cairns.
There is a strong tendency towards linear grouping of cairns on
the Scillies, particularly where there are well defined spiral
ridges (eg Samson, Gugh and Tresco)
These groups all contain unquestionably sepulchral cairns also
linked by boulder walls. In some instances these single walls
have been developed to form fields/enclosures. On the other
hand boulder wall/systems exist with no evidence whatsoever of
cairns. With these observations as a starting point and bearing
in mind the fact that the great majority of nondescript cairns
occur in areas where there is not a scrap of evidence for
cultivation but they are in association with undoubted
sepulchral cairns, a likely sequence is as follows:
1. Sepulchral cairns built along the prominent ridges perhaps
fulfilling a dual purpose of burial and land demarcation.
2. The linking of these cairns with boulder walls to reinforce
the land demarcation aspect (perhaps as a result of the advent
of the sinking process still going on today).
3. The development of the boulder wall system into a
recognisable field system independent of the cairns but
incorporating them where they existed.
This is not to say that 'clearance' cairns do not exist on the
Scillies or indeed on Shipman Head Down, in fact it is highly
probable that they do, nor that clearance cairns were not
utilised for burial, perhaps by constructing a single cist
within them, but under the circumstances, and particularly as
all the cairns on Shipman Head Down are scheduled, all have
been surveyed (with the boulder walls) at 1:2500.
Note Cairns H,L,W,Y,LL,NN,PP, FF and GG were not found.
Cairns QQ,RR,SS and TT were discovered during field
investigations at SV 87871573, SV 87871566, SV 87801548 and
SV 87681560 respectively.
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