Access I walked along the coastal path from Warebeth beach towards Breckness. I'd guess it's a mile or so on a reasonably good path, but it's probably only good if you're OK on your feet - it undulates and has been damaged by subsidence in a few places.
The stones are easily visible from the path but a real struggle to reach. I ended up being a bit naughty and nipping through the barbed wire and walking up the field margin - you'd have to get through the fence to reach them anyway....
Friday 25 June 2004
As Wideford has said, Orkney is littered with stones, often in pairs, some of which seem to be acknowledged as 'bona fide' standing stones, and some that don't.
These are in a lovely spot and it's a really nice walk from Warebeth beach, round the 'corner' from Stromness.
The nearby stone that Wideford has mentioned looks every bit as much a 'real' standing stone as these, though many others seem maybe less convincing. Bottom line is that unless proved otherwise, many could be ancient boundary markers, and many might not be.
I passed a big pile of at least 5 or 6 similar stones stacked by the coastal path on the way up from the beach. Were they 'old ones' taken down & stacked by a farmer, or 'new ones' ready for use? Or both?
It was by going up a wide ditch, presently dry, knee-deep in vegatation that I reached the end of the field with the Leafea stones. From here I could fill my camera with their image. After getting back I realised that the way chosen was the worst of several to reach Leafea and Brockan (it strikes me with hindsight that the best way is likely to be not to go down the turnoff to Warebeth but instead continue along to where the Outertown road takes a sharp turn and go around the field edges at that point). The two standing stones (1 & 1.2m high) are at right angles to the coast, earthfast. Not part of the arrangement were a couple of natural boulders of which one filled the gap.The story goes that a dog unearthed human bones at the stones' base. Now the uppermost stone is part of the barb-wire fence. It is often difficult to fathom why some stones are chosen and loads of others aren't. Just behind where I stood (HY23040928) is one of decent height, either side of where ditch meets coast are another two (HY22980917,HY22990917) and I think I remember another on the way up. All these ones differ from Leafea by being the usual taller than they are broad.
When Stromness was planked in 1765 Innertoun was divided from Outertoun by "a line from the March Stone at the goe of Stinnigar and upwards to the March Stone at the west corner of Pressquoy, and from that in a crook eastward to the top of the Green Hillock, and from thence upwards through the middle of the Green Gate leading up to John Stout's house called Gentle June [Gentlejohnshouse a.k.a. Castle (near Hillcrest) croft now abandoned HY236101]." At first I though the Green Hillock must be Brockan chambered mound, but that is westward. Another possibility is a mound S of Wester Leafea. But this is a "natural sandy knoll" rather (site of the Innertown cist HY20NW 3. Which leaves the Leafea standing stone pair as the only candidate for Green Hillock, the march stones those I saw coming up.
Though now given the name of a place in the hill above this was the original site of Stenigar 'stones-farm', which might be including stones other than this pair.
Looked this up again, RCAHMS NMRS no. HY20NW 4 lists it as 3 stones that may have been from something bigger but not a stone circle. After Friday I'm thinking Stones of Via ?? Will see.
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