Heel-shaped cairn

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The heel-shaped cairn is a type of ancient Scottish tomb. It is mainly found in Caithness and Sutherland, with many examples in Shetland, and Isbister Cairn in Orkney is the only similar site there.

The tomb sits on a round core of broken stones, often surrounded by a platform up to about 20 metres wide at the front and 1 to 1.5 metres high, edged by large kerbstones. The front face has a gentle concave exedra.

Inside, the chambers are usually cruciform (cross-shaped) and reached by a short passage, with a large recess at the head and two smaller side recesses. They were covered by corbelled vaults, now mostly ruined.

In Shetland, well-known examples include Gillaburn, Hill of Caldback, Hill of Dale, Mangaster, Muckle Heog, Pettigarth's Field, Punds Water, Turdale Water, Vementry, Viville Loch, Ward of Silwicks and Wind Hamars.

Cairn o' Get (Garrywhin) has a round base covered by a horned long cairn with a circular chamber. At Vementry, a heel-shaped chamber sits atop a round cairn, with an exedra about 10.6 metres wide.