Maesry – another Maeshowe-type chambered cairn in Sanday?

Wednesday, September 3, 2025 (4:17 PM)

“Mount Maesrie, an interesting mound, said earlier to have had an entrance, may yet reveal some ancient structure, but has not been excavated. Now, it bears the (off-putting) name of ‘Mount Misery.’”

Betsy Skea. Island Images: Memories of Sanday (1982)

Maesry is a suspected Maeshowe-type chambered cairn on Start Point – a small tidal island off the north-eastern tip of Sanday.

In 1983, the turf-covered mound survived to a height of 3.6 metres high and had a diameter of 22 to 23 metres [1]. It remains a prominent feature on the flat islet. Like many unexcavated Orcadian sites, however, details of the possible Neolithic structure are scant.

Despite its size and visibility, Maesry is another that seems to have completely escaped antiquarian notice – perhaps due to the fact it is only accessible at low tide. That said, Henshall noted in 1963 that: “Like others in the parish it has been dug into here and there, but the excavations have been inconsiderable.” [2]

She also recorded that “[a]n opening into this chamber, now closed up, is discernible near the top, but this may not have been the original entrance.” [2]

As we will see it was not.

Maesry or Misery?

“The mound on the Start – an old pictshouse – is called Mount Misery on the map, but its old pronunciation was Maisery.”

Hugh Marwick. Antiquarian Notes on Sanday (1923)

Extract from the 1882 OS map of Start Point. (📷 National Library of Scotland) — Extract from the 1882 OS map showing ‘Mount Misery’. (📷 National Library of Scotland)

Around 1880, the site was recorded in the Ordnance Survey (OS) name book as Mount Misery and described as:

“[A] small knoll, the remains of an ancient Brough, situated about one quarter of a mile west of the Lighthouse. It is supposed to be an artificial knoll, but no information could be obtained concerning it, or whether of modern or ancient origin.”

Today the “incorrect” [3] form Misery remains on maps and was undoubtedly an anglicised corruption of Maesry/Maisery/Maesrie. This led to decades of speculation that the maes– element of the placename is the same as that found in Maeshowe.

The problem is that the generally accepted etymology for Maeshowe is “meadow mound”, Maes– deriving from the Old Norse mað, meaning meadow [4]. Although we know Start was cultivated in history, whether the exposed tidal islet falls into the meadow category remains open to debate. Various suggestions have been put forward over the years, e.g. melr (Old Norse sand), but these can’t apply to Maeshowe. So, for now, the placename puzzle remains. [5]

Tattie store

Exposing walling. (📷 Sigurd Towrie) — Exposing walling within the mound. (📷 Sigurd Towrie)

At some point after the OS compiled its gazetteer of names, Maesry was opened but when, and by whom, is not recorded. According to the Royal Commission records, however, the chamber was used as a potato store by a former lighthouse-keeper [6] for “many years before 1928”.

The only documented entry into the “carefully built chamber” was in the 1960s, the Sanday resident describing it as rectangular with a still-intact, lofty corbelled roof and “fairly clear” of debris. The structure, he added, was similar to Quoyness, but smaller, although he did not recall seeing entrances to any side cells. [1]

He also confirmed the c.70-centimetre-high entrance passage was in the south-western side of the cairn, the outer section now marked by stone-filled trench running from the internal wall-face to the edge of the cairn. [1]

Like Quoyness, some 7.5 miles to the south-west, there are the remains of a well-defined platform around the southern-eastern section of the Maesry mound. Without excavation it is not clear how this related to the structure – was it part of the original construction or, as proposed for Quoyness, a later addition?

Maesry, with the Start Point lighthouse in the background. (📷 Sigurd Towrie)

Closer view of the exposed internal masonry. (📷 Sigurd Towrie)

Notes

[1] Davidson, J. L. & Henshall, A. S. (1989). The Chambered Cairns of Orkney. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
[2] Henshall, A S. (1963) The Chambered Tombs of Scotland, Vol. 1. Edinburgh.
[3] Lamb, R.G. (1980) An archaeological survey of two of the North Isles of Orkney: Sanday and North Ronaldsay.
[4] Ljosland, R. (quoting Sandnes, B.)(2016) Mimir’s Well: Cracking the Placename Puzzle. The Orcadian.
[5] There is also a Mount Misery in the West Mainland parish of Birsay – a sandy mound, by the shore, containing no structural remains. Its name is said to be relatively modern but appears on the 1880 OS map.
[6] The Start Point Lighthouse, in operation from 1806, lies 340 metres to the east of Maesry.