A chambered cairn twenty metres long — a burial tomb of stone-built compartments under a mound — on an uninhabited islet of twenty-one hectares off Papa Westray.
The Southcairn is a chambered cairn, meaning a tomb built of stone compartments beneath a covering mound, and at twenty metres long it is the largest thing on an island of twenty-one hectares that nobody lives on. It dates from about 3000 BC and was a communal burial place — the bones of a whole community rather than of one family.
What follows is drawn from published sources, with each claim labelled by how firmly it is established.
History
The Holm of Papa (or Holm of Papay, Holm of Papa Westray and known locally as the Papay Holm,) is a very small uninhabited island in the Orkney Islands. It is around 21 hectares (52 acres) in size. It can be visited from its neighbouring island Papa Westray, or Papay, an island less than a hundred metres west of the Holm.
The main sight on the small island is the Southcairn, a 20 metre long chambered cairn dating from approx. 3000 BC on whose stones one can find ancient carvings. The long, stalled cairn, built of local stone, was once a communal burial place for the bones of an ancient community. It is protected by a modern roof and entered by a trapdoor from above. It is possible that the inhabitants of the Knap of Howar buried their dead here. There are three ancient chambered cairns on the holm. Visitors can arrange privately for small boat access through the Co-op shop on Papa Westray. The cairn is readily visible from the larger island. “Eyebrow motif” carvings found in the southernmost chambered cairn bear a resemblance to the "eyes" of the Orkney Venus found at Links of Noltland on Westray.
Cultural influences
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The twenty-metre Southcairn was a stalled chambered tomb used as a communal burial place around 3000 BC.
Connections
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Papa Westray
The Holm of Papa can be visited from its neighbouring island, Papa Westray.
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Photo: Unknown / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0 The inhabitants of the Knap of Howar may have buried their dead at the Holm of Papa.
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Photo: Otter / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0 Carvings at the Holm of Papa resemble the Orkney Venus found at Links of Noltland on Westray.
What to look for
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Southcairn
The long stalled cairn is about twenty metres long, built of local stone as a communal Neolithic burial place around 3000 BC.
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Eyebrow carvings
Carvings in the southernmost cairn resemble the Westray Wife’s eye motif, linking the tomb to an Orkney figurine tradition.
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Modern roof
A modern roof protects the chamber from weather; visitors enter through a trapdoor rather than the original prehistoric passage.
Plan your visit
- Location
- 59.3508°N · 2.8686°W
- Access
- Open access
- Terrain
- Easy going
- Time needed
- About 30 minutes
- Best time
- Daylight hours
- What survives
- The Southcairn survives as a roofed long chambered cairn on the uninhabited Holm of Papa.
- Facilities
- Facilities are limited on the island; check transport and local visitor guidance before travelling.
Opening & admission
No reliable current admission details are recorded; verify before travelling.
- The record is mostly general chambered-cairn background and gives no current access details for this specific cairn.
Nearby places
Settlement · Prehistoric
Knap of Howar
Orkney Islands
A farmstead of the first farming age on Papa Westray that may be the oldest standing house in northern Europe.
- Easy path
Ancient place · Prehistoric
Quoygrew settlement, Westray
Orkney Islands
A medieval Norse settlement on Westray, begun as a small farmstead between about 900 and 1000.
- Near Westray
- Easy path
Settlement · Prehistoric
Links of Noltland
Orkney Islands
Links of Noltland is a settlement with late Stone Age and early Bronze Age, roughly 2500–800 BC, when metalworking spread, dwellings, protected by…
- Some walking
Building or ruin · Medieval
Noltland Castle
Orkney Islands
A castle of the later sixteenth century near Pierowall on Westray, never fully completed.
- Near Pierowall
The setting
Near Holm of Papa Westray Chambered Cairn, about 461 metres away.
Photo: Gunther Tschuch / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0
Questions people ask
- What is the Southcairn?
- A stalled chambered cairn twenty metres long, built of local stone around 3000 BC, once a communal burial place for the bones of a whole community.
- What are the carvings?
- Ancient markings on the stones, including an eyebrow motif in the southernmost cairn that resembles the eyes of the Orkney Venus found at Links of Noltland on Westray.
- How is it entered?
- Through a trapdoor from above. The cairn is protected by a modern roof rather than its original covering.
- How do you get to the island?
- By private arrangement for small boat access, which can be made through the Co-op shop on Papa Westray. The holm lies less than a hundred metres east of that island and the cairn is visible from it.
Sources
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