Folklore & legend

The Thunderstorm at Taversoe Tuick

Taversoe Tuick, Rousay

Early summer 1898

Taversoe Tuick is a rare double-tiered Neolithic cairn, with an upper chamber and a lower one. The 1898 dig uncovered part of the upper chamber and found the lower one intact. It was fully excavated in 1937.

According to a summary of Orkney excavation folklore, the digging in early summer 1898 met some resistance of mood among the men working there, because local people were unhappy about disturbing the dead. A thunderstorm then broke immediately upon the discovery, and locals took it as a sign.

The account is secondhand and I could not trace the original source. It belongs to a set of Orkney stories in which weather follows the opening of a mound, and the 1978 dig at another Orkney mound is said to have been followed by a storm.

Evidence
Single witness account
Access
Open ground
Location
59.131, -3.005 (Sited to the building or field)

Sources: Dig It! Scotland, "Think Twice Before Excavating a Mound: Orkney Folklore and Excavations" [other]; Wikipedia, "Taversoe Tuick" [other]

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