The Watchstone

Also known as:
Sentinel Stone
Nearest town:
Stromness (6km WSW)
OS reference:
HY306126
OS sheet:
6
Latitude:
58° 59' 42.35 N
Longitude:
3° 12' 28.61 W

Images

Image of The Watchstone (Standing Stone / Menhir) by GLADMAN

Watching the Watchstone... the roles are reversed.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Apr 28, 2016
Image of The Watchstone (Standing Stone / Menhir) by Ravenfeather

The Watchstone, looking towards the Loch of Harray, under rare Orcadian winter blue skies.

Image credit: Paul Kesterton
Ravenfeather
Ravenfeather Oct 28, 2012
Image of The Watchstone (Standing Stone / Menhir) by wideford

Stenness Loch side taken as widescreen with spotmeter

Image credit: wideford
wideford
wideford Aug 28, 2010
Image of The Watchstone (Standing Stone / Menhir) by GLADMAN

‘I stood at the isthmus between the lochs when a thought came into my head..’ well, nearly. Watchstone is far right of image.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN May 7, 2010
Image of The Watchstone (Standing Stone / Menhir) by notjamesbond

Good old Orkney and it’s changeable weather. The watchstone stands proud no matter how much it rains.

notjamesbond
notjamesbond Jun 2, 2003
Image of The Watchstone (Standing Stone / Menhir) by Kammer

Taken August 1997: Looking south east towards the Watchstone and the Stones of Stennes. In the distance you can see Barnhouse.

Image credit: Simon Marshall
Kammer
Kammer Jan 9, 2003
Image of The Watchstone (Standing Stone / Menhir) by Kammer

Taken August 1997: This is the Watchstone looking nort west towards Brodgar. I’m not sure what the origins of the smaller stone on the right are.

Image credit: Simon Marshall
Kammer
Kammer Jan 9, 2003

Articles

The Watchstone

Ravenfeather
Ravenfeather Oct 28, 2012

Visited 26th October 2012

As fine a monolith as you’ll ever see, but the Watchstone sometimes gets overlooked amongst the excitement of visiting Stenness and Brodgar. There are clear blue skies over the Ness of Brodgar at the moment, but ominous clouds gather around on the horizon, and we drove through a snow shower on the way here from Kirkwall.

As I stand at the base of the stone in the bitter morning air, I just marvel at the immense menhir in front of me. I love this stone, it’s usually one of the first places I come to when I get to Orkney, in a way the Watchstone is a touchstone for me, a signifier that I’m here, in my favourite place in the heart of Neolithic Orkney. We had a horrendously rough crossing over from Aberdeen last night, seasickness striking Ellen, but standing here, all of the ordeal of the journey up seems worthwhile.

Ellen and I parked the car up at Stenness and walked along the road to the stone, the path continuing along a newly constructed lochside route, which leads you on a lovely walk, onwards from the stone, past the site of the Ness of Brodgar excavations until you get to the Ring of Brodgar itself, a walk well worth taking, just make sure to say hello to the Watchstone on your way, as he keeps a silent watch out across this ancient landscape.

The Watchstone

C
CARL Jul 9, 2012

Visited 4.6.12

This is one large and very impressive stone.
It would not look out of place at Stenness.

I hope someone doesn’t drive into it!

The Watchstone

Hob
Hob Jun 22, 2004

The Watchstone, like the Barnhouse and the Stones of Stenness is clearly visible from the Kirkwall-Stromness road. You cannot miss it.
I couldn’t help but imagine an avenue of stones connecting Stenness and Brogar, though of course, there’s no evidence for this at all.

The Watchstone

notjamesbond
notjamesbond Jun 2, 2003

At 19 feet high, the Watchstone was once one of a pair of standing stones which guarded the causeway leading to the Ring Of Brodgar.

Although it will never really be known what the purpose for the Watchstone ever really was. It has been speculated that it could have formed part of a ceremonial link between the Standing Stones of Stenness and the Brodgar ring.

Folklore

The Watchstone
Standing Stone / Menhir
notjamesbond
notjamesbond Jun 2, 2003

It was once believed that the Watchstone would come alive at midnight every New Year’s Eve and drink from the loch next to which it stands.

This tale of course stems from the time when folk believed that standing stones were petrified giants. I’m not sure how widely believed it is nowadays lol!

Miscellaneous

The Watchstone
Standing Stone / Menhir
wideford
wideford May 9, 2010

1760 Pococke’s drawing shows a second stone on the opposite side of the road a little further away from the roadside. This is longer than it is tall and resembles a recumbent [though I suppose it could be a very large natural boulder like the Savile Stone]. The ‘companion’ stone is actually a diamond shape which if to the same scale as the Watch Stone would come oot as some 14’ high and wide ! As far as I can tell from Pococke’s drawing it would have been about grid ref HY30671275.
Wilson 1842 “Close to either side of the southern end of the bridge... stands a great sentinel stone...
...as you approach [the Ring of Brodgar] you pass here and there a solitary stone or broken remnant, as if there had been... a connecting range or approach, all the way from the bridge to the great circle”

Miscellaneous

The Watchstone
Standing Stone / Menhir
wideford
wideford Sep 7, 2004

14 yards SSW a stone stump aligned NE/SW could possibly now gone could have been all that remained of the arc of a large circle now underwater. It was 4’9” wide, 5” thick and a little over 3’ high. The top was level with the presentday ground surface.

Sites within 20km of The Watchstone

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