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Wideford Hill

This chambered mound is some 9.5 km east of Maeshowe, build on the west flank of the Wideford Hill mountain. The mound is restored in such a way that not all mound material has been putten back. That is why some internal structures (the walls) can been seen.
This type of internal structure is also found at Maeshowe. Another thing that can been seen at Maeshowe and Wideford Hill is that the passage ways of both buildings are somewhat bend. The differance is that the bend at Wideford Hill is in the differant direction.

The passage way

The azimuths measured at Wideford Hill are (using method magn-true north₅):

the most southern light path (green line)

the most northern light path (purple line)

The altitude of the horizon is -15' +/- 5'

The light patch on the back wall of the chamber could be as follows:

The picture is 120 [cm] long and 100 [cm] high.

Henshall (Part I, 1963) provides an azimuth of around 270^o, accuracy unknown.

Sun shining in at equinox

Looking at the azimuth of the passage, it seems that Wideford Hill is aligned to equinox sunset (March 21 or September 23).
Using a program to calculate the position of the sun, it looks that the sun will shine in from March 18 until March 29 (or Sept. 15 until Sept. 26) around 18:30 local time. All of this are approximate values!!!

The hole under the capstone

It seems that the top of the chamber has been rebuild, so it is not really original. The question is thus if the below is still valid!

The dimension of the hole under the capstone is 100 [cm] by 45 [cm]. The azimuth of the long side of the hole is 172^o 45' +/- 15. The height from the present floor level is 238 +/- 1 [cm] and one long side of the hole is some 20 cm from the back wall and above the centre recess (CR).

According to Henshall (Part I, 1963) the azimuth is around 173^o, accuracy unknown.

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Last major content related changes: February 9, 1997