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Scotland
The Great Sacred Monuments of Stenness
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Sites in this group:
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30 posts
Barnhouse Settlement Ancient Village / Settlement / Misc. Earthwork |
8 posts
Barnhouse Stone Standing Stone / Menhir |
19 posts
Bookan Chambered Cairn |
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24 posts
Bookan Cairns Cairn(s) |
24 posts
Comet Stone Standing Stone / Menhir |
8 posts
Fresh Knowe Chambered Cairn |
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25 posts
Lochview Standing Stones |
61 posts
Maeshowe Chambered Tomb |
15 posts
Ness of Brodgar Ancient Village / Settlement / Misc. Earthwork |
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6 posts
Plumcake Mound Round Barrow(s) |
21 posts
Ring of Bookan Henge |
114 posts
Ring of Brodgar Stone Circle |
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9 posts
Salt Knowe Round Barrow(s) |
11 posts
Skae Frue Cairn(s) |
73 posts
The Standing Stones of Stenness Stone Circle |
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14 posts
Stone of Odin Holed Stone (Destroyed) |
10 posts
Wasbister Cairn Cairn(s) |
16 posts
Wasbister Disc Barrow Round Barrow(s) |
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19 posts
The Watchstone Standing Stone / Menhir |
News |
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Ness of Brodgar 2008 excavation diary nice pics again http://www.orkneyjar.com/archaeology/nessofbrodgar/index.html |
Posted by wideford24th July 2008ce |
Late Sea IngressA radically different picture of the prehistoric landscape around Orkney's World Heritage Site is beginning to emerge – a landscape which perhaps didn't feature the Stenness and Harray lochs... continues... |
Posted by wideford 23rd April 2008ce Edited 24th April 2008ce |
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Ness of Brodgar 2007 Orkneyjar will be posting updates on this season's dig that starts Monday :- http://www.orkneyjar.com/archaeology/brodgar2007/index.html |
Posted by wideford 15th July 2007ce Edited 15th July 2007ce |
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Massive wall at Brodgar car park An enclosure that may have originally been about a hundred metres across found at edge http://www.orkneyjar.com/archaeology/brodgarenclosure.htm |
Posted by wideford 26th September 2006ce |
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| Finally found Fairy Well at HY2943212982. The Ring of Brodgar and knowes are in a large field with a quarry and such at the SW corner. From this corner a short fence forming a Y with it goes towards the loch and 5m from the base of the Y the well is well hidden by undergrowth at the edge of the steep bank here (about a fence post height). Scramble down onto the shore and look back at the 'cliff' face, watching your step as the ground is lumps and bumps and very squishy [so you don't notice your feet sinking in]. All the way up are large stones of varying shapes though at the moment the spring comes from a gap at the base. A man came walking his dog which lapped up the fresh water momentarily revealed. Not a very regular construction and it appears to have collapsed back - a few feet to the east several yards of the bank have been roughly faced with very large slabs etc. to hold the bank up. Removed as much veg as I could, not sure how it would stand wholesale removal in its present state. |
Posted by wideford 3rd May 2010ce Edited 3rd May 2010ce |
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Hello Hob, See some pictures from many sites on Orkney towards the Hoy hills: http://www.iol.ie/~geniet/maeshowe/eng/horizons.htm All the best, Victor |
Posted by geniet2nd October 2006ce |
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I don't know how well accepted the idea that megalithic monuments are placed deliberatly at certain sites to relate to other features in the surrounding landscape is these days. If there's any truth in it, then ones of the main focal points for this bunch of sites has to be the Isle of Hoy. It keeps popping up as you walk from the various monuments, from Maeshowe to Unstan, From the Barnhouse stones up to Bookan, it's always there, as much a part of the setting as the Lochs. If you have the chance to be here, and have the time, leave the car at the first site and walk to the others. Both on the way there and on the way back, each site seems to give out tantalising hints of it's spatial relationship to the others, and to the area around them. This place lives up to the hype. |
Posted by Hob24th June 2004ce Edited 24th June 2004ce |
Folklore |
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The quietly amusing Mr Thomas gives his insight on the stones' folklore:In vol. iii. of Arch. Scot. there is a rude woodcut from a drawing, and extracts from a description of the stones of Stenness, communicated by the Rev. Dr. Henry, in 1784. In the drawing we have an amatory couple exchanging vows at the shrine of Odin, but unfortunately the Odin stone is drawn standing upon the east instead of the west side of the Stenness Ring.Cheeky but no doubt true. From 'Account of some of the Celtic Antiquities of Orkney, including the Stones of Stenness, Tumuli, Picts-houses, &c., with Plans' by F W L Thomas. Chapter 13 in: Archaeologia, Or, Miscellaneous Tracts Relating to Antiquity By the Society of Antiquaries of London (1851). This can be read online courtesy of Google Books. |
Posted by Rhiannon27th January 2007ce Edited 27th January 2007ce |
| Captain McKay, a ferrylouper, the destroyer of the Odin Stone, was finally stopped only after the destruction of of one stone and the toppling of another of the Standing Stones of Stenness. |
Posted by hamish30th December 2002ce Edited 3rd January 2003ce |
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The farmer who in 1814, removed the Stone of Odin because he was fed up of the many visitors to his land, clearly underestimated the attachment that locals had to this stone. The farmer (who also commited the crime of not being a native Orcadian) was almost killed after 2 attempted arson attacks on his property. According to Reverend R. Henry (c.1784), every New Years Day local young folk gathered at the Kirk of Stenness with enough provisions for 4 or 5 days. Couples who wished to be married would leave the group alone and go to the Temple of the Moon (Stones of Stenness) where the woman would pray to Woden. Then they went to the Temple of the Sun (Ring of Brodgar), where the man would pray before the woman, when finally they went to the Stone of Odin where they clasped their right hands through the hole in the stone and exchanged vows. Leslie Grinsell wrote in 1976 (Folklore of Prehistoric Sites in Britain) that babies who were passed through the hole in the Stone of Odin would live long and healthily. Grinsell also wrote that it was customary to leave offerings at the Stone of Odin and that sick people would go round the Stones of Stenness 3 times to become cured. |
Posted by winterjc 3rd December 2001ce Edited 20th November 2002ce |
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"The Stones of Stennis have a perfect setting of wild moorland and loch. There are two main groups- the Ring of Brogar, or Temple of the Sun, and the smaller Ring of Stennis (which is strictly a semi-circle or crescent), or Temple of the Moon." From "The Silver Bough Volume 1: Scottish Folklore and Folk-Belief" by F.Marian McNeill, 1957 page86. |
Posted by Martin 9th September 2001ce |
Miscellaneous |
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| Having noticed photographically that a line from the Barnhouse Stone through Maeshowe passes on to the Setter tumuli below Sordon (NMRS record no.HY31NW 14 at HY34581544 & 34631543, to whit two Bronze Age burial mounds) I wondered about the relative position of the Ke(i)thesgeo stone (HY31SW 41 at HY30351136). Pencilling in the position of the stake showing its former position onto a 1:25,000 map a line passes from it through Maeshowe to the Setter barrows, though missing out the Barnhouse Stone rather. Makes a useful backstop up on the Clouston hillside. |
Posted by wideford 4th August 2010ce Edited 12th August 2010ce |
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Pococke 1760 "[from the Ring of Brodgar] There is a single pillar about 50 yards to the North East, and a barrow to the North and South, one to the South West and another to the North East... another circle of stones [Stones of Stenness] which are 15 feet high, 6 feet broad, the circle is about 30 yards in diameter, and the stones are about 8 yards apart. There are two standing to the South, one is wanting, and there are two stones standing, a third lying down, then three are wanting, there being a space of 27 yards so that there were eight in all : Eighteen yards South East from the circle is a single stone, and 124 yards to the East of that is another [Odin Stone] with a hole in one side towards the bottom, from which going to the circle is another [stone] 73 yards from the fossee [sic], the outer part of which fossee is 16 yards from the circle : there are several small barrows chiefly to the East [Clovy Knowes]." His map shows a large squat stone close to the shore E of the S end of the bridge - this and the possible causeway perhaps a reminder of when the main road went along the driveway to Stenness Kirk. Low ~1774 unpublished ms "History of the Orkneys" quoted in 1879 edition published by William Peace [referring to a lost drawing, that published being one by William Aberdeen from the1760's] "[Stones of Stenness] The drawing shows the stones in their present state, which is four entire and one broken [??recumbent]. It is not ditched about like ... [Ring of Brodgar]..but surrounded with a raised mound partly raised on the live earth, as the other was cut from it... near the circle are several stones set on end without any regular order, or several of them so much broken, hinder us as to the design of them." William Aberdeen's annotated map [donated to Royal Society of London 1784] is the source of observations attributed later to Hibbert "When Oliver Cromwell's men were in this county they dug tolerably deep in the top [of Maeshowe] , but found nothing but earth" also that site used for archery + "[E of Ring of Brodgar] a small mount... still retains the name of Watch Hill or Tower [Plumcake Mound rather than Fresh Knowe I think]." |
Posted by wideford 1st May 2010ce |
| The Dyke o'Sean, aka the Dyke of Seean 'line' [i.e. boundary dyke] RCAHMS NMRS record no. HY21SE 68 presently runs from HY28901367 to HY29431362 (across the parish boundary as it now is) but formerly ran from loch to loch with the Loch of Stenness end "built on each side" , with a cart once being with difficulty extracted therefrom. Close by the dyke's north side is the Wasbister Disc Barrow and to its east a mound now not classified as burnt, then a whole settlement. The paucity of sites between it and the Ring of Brodgar complex would appear to indicate a prehistoric date, especially seeing how busy that landscape is N of the dyke. The nearest found by geophsics are two possible ring ditches HY21SE 93 somewhere in the field to the south's southern half. At some remove, near the complex at HY29051322, by Stenness loch is an L-shaped cropmark some 55m long and ending at the shoreline. RCAHMS NMRS record no. HY21SE 89 is seen as a drain and/or enclosure but may be compared to a feature (HY465131) in the Carness Brecks below Blackhall. |
Posted by wideford 30th April 2010ce Edited 30th April 2010ce |
| In a talk today Euan MacKie mentioned that two of the Ring of Brodgar stones align almost exactly N/S, which is the same as the central hearth of the Standing Stones of Stenness. In neither case do these point to other archaeological sites. |
Posted by wideford 8th September 2009ce |
| The possible henge site I mentioned is named after the nearby cottage, where the legend for Staney Hill is shown i.e. the other side of the road from the standing stone field. I am informed that the ditch is clear to see, being water-filled, but my informant found on the first O.S. that the track previous to the present Grimeston road runs through where the possible entrance is shown. |
Posted by wideford 3rd May 2009ce Edited 3rd May 2009ce |
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In a talk tonight Colin Richards said (using insight from Andrew Appleby)that the Staney Hill area was probably another source of the stones for the Ring of Brodgar and that he will be investigating this summer s.s http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/post/48685/images/staney_hill.html ?quarry below cairn http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/post/67427/images/staney_hill.html |
Posted by wideford 14th May 2008ce Edited 15th May 2008ce |
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A fantastic vicar's sermon reported in "The Orcadian" 20/7/1801 ties the whole area together in fleshing out the alleged planetary correspondence :- Maeshowe as the place where the Druids kept the symbols of sun, moon and serpent. On the main festival of Beltane the sun sets on the Barnhouse Stone, From there slightly north to the circle of the moon, Then a little east to that of the serpent, the Odin Stone, Now to the stone of mercury [? Watch Stone] at the Ring of Brogar, Next to the height north that is the temple/house of the moon, North again to the stones of Saturn & Jupiter [? Comet Stone] Finally near the circle of the sun the stone of venus the King of Brogar. At the last all go home to light the fires. On the summer solstice the symbol of the serpent is taken to the mound [? Skae Frue] near the ring of Bhokin to be condemned to death. After which it goes to the King of Bhokin where it is pulled to pieces and eaten. |
Posted by wideford 9th February 2006ce |
| A newspaper report ("Orkney Herald" July 16th 1861) says that besides the Stones of Stenness (then used for the Ring of Brodgar) there were other stones still standing, both singletons and pairs, as well as the remains of a nearly destroyed circle (presumably the Comet Stone site). A week later Farrar reports that the two tumuli at the entrances to the Ring of Brodgar originally supported structures because of the amount of earthfast stone about their bases, though burial mounds encircled by stones are known from elsewhere. However only animal bones were found, and these from their upper parts. |
Posted by wideford 5th December 2005ce |
| In the very latest book on Stenness, a tome mainly concerned with the Barnhouse Settlement [price forty nicker], it is proposed that the Ring of Brodgar and the Standing Stones of Stenness and Maes Howe were specifically constructed so as to be encircled by moats. If it were not for the road Fresh Knowe would seem another possible candidate. |
Posted by wideford 25th April 2005ce |
| The map on the cover of the research agenda has the Ring of Brodgar legend but shows the present Standing Stones of Stenness as the Ring of Stenness. The slightly later 1st edition of the O.S. only has the latter as 'Lesser Standing Stones'. More importantly it is the present Ring of Brodgar that has the legend Standing Stones of Stenness! Unless the whole area originally had this designation it would seem we do not know what Orcadians called these circles, so must be careful in attaching folklore and earlier reports to either one or the other when this latter is the referred name. |
Posted by wideford 18th April 2005ce Edited 18th April 2005ce |
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Details of the putative avenues between the Stones of Stenness and the Ring of Brodgar (from the resarch agenda) ; Watch Stone, Lochview, Stone of Odin, Comet Stone. Also suggested the pairs of stones (indicated at sockets alongside) at the Watch Stone and the Stone of Odin as symbolic doorways linking the circles. Against the first of these the possibility that the Watch Stone and its companion socket are fragments of a circle now under the loch waters. Contra the second that they actually found three sockets from the Stone of Odin location, the third a few metres away. |
Posted by wideford 10th April 2005ce |
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About midway between the stone circles five cists were found HY302129. Four 3'x2'x1' were aligned E/W and one at the end was 6"x6"x1'. Across the E ends of the middle two was a 2'6" triangular stone, incised with eight varying symbols, now at the national museum. Five foot below all of this was another cist. P.S. April 2005, Nick Card is of the opinion that calling these cists is probably misleading as in the light of work at the Ness of Brodgar these could well be settlement features and the stone associated instead with the possible chambered tomb shown on the geophysics. |
Posted by wideford 7th September 2004ce Edited 24th April 2005ce |
| There were at least three wells of notes in the Stenness region. The sacred well stood in a marshy field with many springs below a farm (HY33721048 ?). This describes a different location from that ascribed to Bigswell which is on a slope across from the modern farm (Upper Bigswell). Both these are well SSE of Maes Howe however. But at the lochshore below the Ring of Brodgar is/was placed the "fairy well" (HY29541300). |
Posted by wideford 3rd September 2004ce Edited 24th April 2005ce |
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ARCHwayProceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, vol 107 (1975/6) A large document with many illustrations which surely must tell you almost everything there is to know about 'The Stones of Stenness, Orkney'. |
Posted by Rhiannon 17th July 2006ce Edited 17th July 2006ce |
Latest posts for the Great Sacred Monuments of Stenness |
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The Watchstone (Standing Stone / Menhir) — Images (click to view fullsize) |
 
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Posted by wideford 28th August 2010ce |
Ness of Brodgar (Ancient Village / Settlement / Misc. Earthwork) — Fieldnotes |
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August 24th 2010 Went to Brodgar day before end of dig as though they have made lovely discoveries on last days much will be be going back under black plastic early on the day. Past Bridgend went around the back of the Kokna-Cumming mound to come upon the Lesser Wall of Brodgar from behind by a gentler slope. Glad they have realised that this is a late feature as otherwise what would one make of the Brodgar standing stone pair straddling its view eastwards and the tomb outside its supposed remit. To me the point of it is to face the Staneyhill Tomb - I forget what they call it in political science but it is like gardeners "borrowing a view" by bringing a further vista into the visitor's eyeline. What does this mean for the hypothesis that the Greater Wall of Brodgar was meant to form a northern boundary to the whole Ness assemblage ? It doesn't seem to have any similar alignment [and perhaps too thick to find a statistically valid one anyhow] but is it equally late, performing a non-liminal function yet to be identified. At the bottom of the Lesser Wall's southern side there is now a pavement just under the level of the Wall base by the remains of what is to my eye another wall at a slight angle to the later Wall. Near the bottom of the Wall it looks to me as if there are what is left of two cruder walls parallel to one another over and at right angles to my putative earlier wall, and hence the pavement below. To my dismay the area of trench behind the Wall has still not been dug below the level of its top. Probably a "health and safety" thing. Here there are two arcs of collapsed wall, perhaps an inner and outer section. Not that this necessarily means one or both had not been straight when still standing. Oh, I can barely wait for their investigation. And then maybe sometime they can go down to the Wall base here to see if the Lesser Wall might be part of some other structure yet. On to the main Ness of Brodgar site a bit of height not only gains you perspective but also frees you of photographing beige stone against beige stone and having to decipher it later ! First up is the new to this season next-to-roadside observation platform with a long ramp for wheelchair access. Then there are the large spoil heaps by the northern and western sides, as long as you don't mind the shifting soil underfoot in places. The space between Lochview and the dig is too smaa for anything but a photographic tower for the bosses, so you can't use that. It amazes me that at first glance it all looks practically the same as last time. Up on the platform on this side of the site the bulk is taken up by Structure 10 on your left with its, ahem, standing stone. No work is ongoing in the 'cathedral' now. In front of the platform's near end Structure 8 is divine. Along the western edge are what I see as three sub-square interior cells but on plan I see are duplicated on the opposite side, forming two rectangular and one long oval sub-divisions of the whole. This is basically how it has looked since last year. But on my third visit of the season exterior to the northern wall at the trenches edge are (I think) three small strucures that make you think of mini-roundhouses. All this mixing of linear and circular or sub-circular forms throughout the site strike me as less a striving for a practical form [and/or effective ritual space] and more the search for an artistic vision, squaring the circle to put the art into architecture. Very nice, whatever. Next is the small Structure 7, pinned between 8 and the Structure 1+9 combo. The latter can be seen from the first spoil heap. Up here the first thing you spot is a large circular wall arc [?9 - the structure plan on Orkneyjar is from the season's start] in front of which work has been going on in a linear structure apparently leading up and terminating before it with what I take to be either a wide facade (pehaps fronting a courtyard entrance) or two flanking ?guard-cells. Looking left from this by the edge of the trench is a short length of low parallel orthostats that catch my eye but have been left behind for now. From the top of the next spoil heap is a clear view of Structure 1, a large structure (oval or semi figure-of-eight) with rectangular niches or cells scattered along the interior edge. These are formed by the drystane walling (but multi-coloured) and tall thin orthostats. Near the trench edge to the right a double wall or pair of walls with pavement between them is nicely exposed. At the far end of the mound I look south to Structure 12, a large clean-looking oval with a couple of long cells. On my previous visit I only noticed the one nearest the spoil heap after I got back from an image taken near Lochview. That nearest the road looked as if someone had taken the Great Wall of Brodgar and removed the flesh to leave a rectangular skin. The space between 12 and 10, or in 10, has three or four standing stones. I think they are roughly in a square. It is remarkable how many odd stones are scattered about the site, different in colour (red maks a change from beige) or shape (proper looking standing stones or blocky forms mostly). Not too much rhyme or reason for the most part, so I am thinking this is just a monumental version of picking up a pebble on a beach and taking it home. All the above is only how I have this eclectic site in my mind's eye. Carefully as they excavate still there are different stages in any season's dig, structure's co-mingle and turn out to be part of other's. During an extended period of experimentation you can't even sort features out by materials used. And any single structure can be such a glorious mix of drystane walls, slabs, orthostats and standing stones, along with what I might call exhibition pieces. By the time I am done with all three cameras there are still twenty minutes until the next tour and I give a moment's thought to tagging along for the display of new finds at its end. You are never sure what will be displayed or whether you will be able to take piccies, the latter depends on the group more than the presenter. |
Posted by wideford 25th August 2010ce |
Ring of Brodgar (Stone Circle) — Images |
    
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Posted by wideford 14th August 2010ce |
Ness of Brodgar (Ancient Village / Settlement / Misc. Earthwork) — Fieldnotes |
| On the one hand there is a viewing platform at the east side of the dig, on the other a light fence has started going up around the dig itself. Finally the Lesser Wall is exposed again. They think they have reached the bottom, where there is a fine paved area revealed on the south side i.e. outside the archaeologists gargantuan temenos. Looking along the wall between the standing stone pair with my new super-duper camera I can confirm a definite alignment with the Staney Hill Tomb [there may be another site between them and some tumuli beyond but I shall stay with the certain] |
Posted by wideford 13th August 2010ce |
The Standing Stones of Stenness (Stone Circle) — Images |
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Posted by GLADMAN7th August 2010ce |
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