Entering Laxey from the south on the A2, follow the main road past the big water wheel, as you leave Laxey look for the burial chamber road sign pointing left down a thin lane, it will quickly appear large and obvious on your right, parking can be tricky.
After a wait that can only be described as too lengthy I finally arrive on the Isle of Man, after a quick stop at a beer selling shop we go straight to King Orry's grave, a site name that to me epitomizes big famous sites Ive yet to see. Upon arrival the five of us pick a seat around the site and settle down for a drink, apparently now a tradition.
Not since Brittany have I seen a such a neatly suburbanised burial chamber, snugly squished into a corner by two very close to houses. The lady who lived in one of the houses was doing some gardening which entailed her walking through the site, she told us it was a nice day for it, we had to guess what "it" was, but agreed that it was anyway.
Neatly and snugly are merely polite ways of saying brutally banged about by uncaring housing and road planners, the back yard of the house to the south and the road through it are a good six feet lower than the stones, who on earth thought it was good idea to gouge a way through it like this?
Across the road and behind a house is what looks like the rest of the site, perhaps a later extension to what was already there, or a totally other site ? who knows ? Not I, but I enjoyed it all the same.
Visited 24th August 2003: Is this one site or two? Nobody seems to know for sure. We parked up right next to the north eastern section of the site, and while Alfie dozed in the car we tried to figure out what went where. Like Cashtal yn Ard there's a forcourt, a clearly visible tomb entrance, and a long denuded cairn with chambers, but in this case the road cuts the end off.
On the other side of the road is the south western section of King Orry's Grave, and this may or may not be part of the same cairn. The solitary standing stone is thought to be the last of the stones that defined the arced wall of yet another forecourt (this suggests to me that the two sites aren't part of the same tomb).
Both parts of the site are difficult to interpret. Luckily there are big information boards on both sides of the road with reconstructive illustrations on them (slightly fanciful, but still useful). If you plan on visiting King Orry's Grave, I'd recommend getting hold of a plan beforehand. It will help.
The Manx National Heritage information board next to the south western part of the site has this to say about King Orry:
King Orry is an almost legendary character revered by the Manx as their greatest king. He was King Godred Crovan, who seized the throne in 1079 and created the kingdom of Man and the Isles stretching from the Irish Sea to the Outer Hebrides. Several monuments are named in deference to him, but there is no connection between the historical figure and these prehistoric remains.
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