The Great Sacred Monuments of Stenness forum 8 room
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The Great Sacred Monuments of Stenness

A designation is not a name

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wideford W
wideford Apr 18, 2005 09:17:25

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.

K Kammer
Kammer Apr 18, 2005 14:36:09
Replying to wideford

Do we know that the existing names derive from the maps?

L Lianachan
Lianachan Apr 18, 2005 15:09:48
Replying to wideford

In the mid-1800's, up possibly until after the 1930's, they were known as "The Temple Of The Sun" and "The Temple Of The Moon". Probably Victorian romaticism of the sites, though - if they'd been called that for a while before then, I suspect they'd still be called that now (those names most likely to have been a passing fad, I mean).