From 'The Testimony of Tradition' by David MacRitchie, 1890.
Image credit: ?
Images
From 'The Testimony of a Tradition' by David MacRitchie, 1890.
Image credit: ?
In 'The Testimony of Tradition' by David MacRitchie, 1890.
Image credit: ?
12 April 2017 CE
12 April 2017 CE
Roll up! Roll up!
Image credit: A R Cane
Note one of the four corner 'pillars' to left... suggesting the tomb may have incorporated an existing stone setting?
Image credit: Robert Gladstone
Showing one of the enigmatic 'Standing Stones of Stenness-shaped' corner stones, a recess... and the – quite frankly – exceptional quality of Neolithic masonry.
Image credit: Robert Gladstone
Maes Howe seen in distant sun from the bird hut near the Barnhouse settlement
Image credit: wideford
20/06/2013 – Maeshowe
from Kethesgeo Stone area
Image credit: wideford
seen from kirk junction. I feel folk would have been more impressed by the bank across their vision as they approached
Image credit: wideford
Image credit: wideford
echoing an Orphir hilltop
Image credit: wideford
22nd December 07 – going inside for the setting sun
Image credit: Donny McIntyre
Plan of Maes Howe from 1935 Archaeology Report
Image credit: J W Hemp (after A Gibb 1861)
Tormiston side of mound
Image credit: wideford
back of Maes Howe appears to echo hilltop at rear left of frame
Image credit: wideford
Maes Howe complete with bank and ditch
Image credit: wideford
detail view of bank looking across ditch
Image credit: wideford
Maeshowe with the Barnhouse Stone in the foreground. The stone apparently lies on the midwinter solstice entrance/sunrise alignment
Image credit: Tim Clark
Looking up at the tomb from the edge of the ditch
Image credit: Tim Clark
The ditch is MASSIVE
Image credit: Tim Clark
The passage looking in, 'pivoting' blocking stone on left peeking out of its recess (shot through the shut gate, after the guide had gone home – we were the last visitors for the day)
Image credit: Tim Clark
The sharpness and height of the edge of the henge was astonishing.
Image credit: Jane Tomlinson
Its unmissable on the main road from Stromness to Kirkwall and very well signposted :-)
Image credit: Jane Tomlinson
No photography allowed in the tomb, but they couldn't stop me sketching :-)
Image credit: Jane Tomlinson
Neolithic carving inside Maeshowe, similar to those at Skarabrae
Image credit: IH
June 20th 2004, about 11.30pm. Still quite light.
Image credit: IH
Image credit: wideford
I've tried to bring this out a little more so you can see the dragon
Looking down the entracnce to the tomb.
A closer look at the dragon
Another shot of the passage
Dragon inscription
Taken August 1997: This is the modern entrance to Maeshowe. I remember being stupidly excited as we approached the tomb. Just looking at the photo makes me want to go back!
Image credit: Simon Marshall
Taken August 1997: This is a detail from the photo in my previous posting, but I've mucked around with it in Photoshop to try and make the runes clearer.
Here's a translation of what this inscription says:
"It is surely true what I say that treasure was taken away treasure was carried off in three nights before those..."
Image credit: Simon Marshall
Taken August 1997: This shot is taken looking at the 'thin' edge of the upright stone with the runic graffiti on it. You can just make out some of the inscriptions.
The next posting along from this one is a manipulated version of this photo (in detail) and a translation of the runes.
Image credit: Simon Marshall
Taken August 1997: This was taken with a wide angle lens, and me pressed as far back as possible against the guard rail to get the shot. To the right of the entrance passage you can see the upright stone that has a runic inscription running down it (or is it up, I'm not sure).
Image credit: Simon Marshall
A copy of the runes carved inside the monument by Viking invaders.
Image credit: John O'Brien
September 4th 2000
September 4th 2000 – Pictured Within
Maes Howe – Amazed how!!!!! You must go there an essential site. September 4th 2000
12/8/96
Articles
Report from the Orcadian with details of the new visitor centre.
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https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/islands/orkney/1151782/orkney-msp-welcomes-maeshowe-talks/
CLOSED September 26th indefinitely owing to traffic concerns
Maes Howe and Tormiston Mill shut for the next fortnight
It is an excellent video.....
Orkney is world-famous for its spectacular Neolithic archaeology, and now visitors from all over the globe will be able to explore one of its most enigmatic monuments, after a new virtual tour of Maeshowe chambered tomb went live today (29 August).
In a video unveiled yesterday by Scotland’s Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, the structure of the 5,000 year old monument has been recreated using 3D laser-scans carried out by the Scottish Ten project – a collaboration between Historic Scotland, Glasgow School of Art and CyArk, to document Scotland’s five UNESCO World Heritage Sites and five international sites using cutting-edge digital technology. This data will be used to help research and conserve the monuments.
Maeshowe is shown at the winter solstice, when the setting sun shines directly down the monument’s entrance tunnel to illuminate its central chamber. Covering every inch of the inner rooms of the tomb, the animation also tours the outside of the mound and reveals how it was constructed in a detailed cut through.
‘Maeshowe has fascinated people for millennia with its incredible structure, having been built even before Egypt’s great pyramids,’ Nicola Sturgeon said. ‘Now, people on the other side of the world can use this new tour to get a better understanding of the ancient and magical history Scotland has on offer.’
She added: ‘This is a special moment for the Scottish Ten project, which will see all five Scottish World Heritage Sites and five international sites digitally recorded using laser-scanning technology. The work will aid in their conservation and the practical data has also allowed the creation of a beautiful vision of Maeshowe at the Winter Solstice, to educate and inspire people to come to see it for themselves, along with the other treasures of Orkney’s Neolithic World Heritage Site.’
Taken from Current Archaeology
There is a digital photo on line....
EVEN 5000 years ago, Britons were an understated bunch. About 250 years before work began on Egypt's ostentatious Great Pyramid of Giza, the early settlers of Orkney, off the north coast of Scotland, were building impressive stone chambers of their own – and burying them under mounds of dirt. Now, intensive laser scanning makes it possible to virtually peel away the mud, revealing one of those chambers in all its glory.
This is Maeshowe, a 3.8-metre-tall tomb chamber reached via a narrow passage 11 metres long. Maeshowe is one of several Neolithic monuments that comprise the Orkney UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was scanned by a team from the Glasgow School of Art's Digital Design Studio and the government agency Historic Scotland. The team is scanning 10 World Heritage Sites, five of which are in Scotland, for the Scottish Ten project. "We scanned Mount Rushmore [National Memorial] in the US in 2010," says Lyn Wilson of Historic Scotland.
All the sites are tourist attractions, which can make conserving them a challenge. The scans, accurate to within 6 millimetres, will form an invaluable record to monitor future wear and tear.
Not all damage made by visitors is unwelcome, though. A thousand years ago, Orkney was under Norwegian rule and Maeshowe was plundered. The robbers left behind the largest collection of runes known outside Scandinavia, carved into the stone. These, too, have been laser-scanned in sub-millimetre detail. That's pretty impressive for 1000-year-old graffiti
Ancient monuments become giant cameras, catching sunlight in a moment of mystery and wonder.
It is time to pray for the return of the sun. In this deep midwinter, we can start to imagine what the winter solstice meant to the ancient inhabitants of Britain who built Stonehenge and Maeshowe, and who aligned these mysterious buildings to receive the remote rays of the sun on the darkest day of the year.
This is the holiest time of the year – if you happen to share the beliefs of these ancient pagans, which, in fact, are obscure because they left no writings or even much in the way of figurative art. But the winter solstice must have been deeply important to them because on this day, and this day only, sunlight creates startling effects at Britain's late neolithic and early bronze age monuments. Most astonishingly of all, it enters the long narrow entrance passage of the burial mound of Maeshowe on Orkney's Mainland island and glows on the back wall of the inner chamber. The building becomes a giant camera, catching sunlight in a moment of mystery and wonder.
The architecture of Maeshowe is one of the marvels of these islands. Inside the earthen mound is a profoundly impressive chamber made of massive blocks of stone arranged in powerful lintels neatly layered, perforated by accurately rectangular openings. There is a precision to the stone construction and its plan, with symmetrical side chambers. When later Viking warriors broke into the chamber they wrote runic inscriptions on its stones, adding to the strange atmosphere. But it is at the winter solstice that Maeshowe consummates its mystery with the astronomical spectacle of the sun piercing its dark sanctum of death.
Light in darkness, life in death, the moment when the sun begins its return journey towards midsummer. Truly the pagan midwinter is a moving celebration. But, as we rush around buying presents, do we remember the true meaning of the winter sun festival?
guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2010/dec/21/light-darkest-day-winter-solstice
http://www.orkneyjar.com/archaeology/ditch2006.htm filled with water [only partial view]
Recently published is a lovely little travel book called Findings, written by the poet Kathleen Jamie based on some eclectic travels around Scotland.
The first chapter, Darkness and Light, is about her visit to Maeshowe for the winter solstice. For anyone who has been, or is intending to go, its an evocative and stimulating read.
Visited 4.6.12
Despite arriving at Tormiston Mill at 10.00am the earliest tour we could get on was 7.00pm! (Twilight tour) We spent the day visiting other sites in the area and duly returned at 6.30pm as requested. Unsurprisingly Dafydd was the only child on the tour and he was the only one with a head light on!
Karen and Sophie stayed and looked around the shop whilst myself and Dafydd followed the painted footprints across the road and to the chamber – just in case we couldn’t find it!
The tour was full (12 people I think) and we were soon joined by Ben our guide – who also had a torch.
A brief introduction talk was given outside and we then all slowly entered the burial chamber. Dafydd and myself hung around at the back so we could walk a bit slower and take in as much as possible. Once inside, the main chamber was larger than I expected and there was plenty of room for all of us. As previously mentioned the stonework is excellent.
Ben then gave a very informative talk and invited questions from the ‘audience’ which he duly answered as best he could. It was then time to see the Viking Runes and the lights were turned off so they could be highlighted by Ben’s torch – which it did superbly.
(I wasn’t expecting to see a dragon/griffin carving)
We took it in turns to have a closer look and before we knew it, it was time to leave.
The time went really quick and everyone seemed to enjoy their visit.
Make sure you book well in advance if you are under time constraints. It must get mega busy in the main holiday period.
I know this type of organised tour is not everyone’s cup of tea but I don’t have a problem with them. At least this way you are guaranteed to be able to have a look in the tomb with a relatively small number of people. Without this system it would be like sardines in the chamber. I don’t know how you would get out once you were inside!
It does also allow the site to be protected for future generations to enjoy.
I was surprised that we had to book in advance as it was hardly tourist season, but we dutifully turned up at 2.45pm and all got slightly hysterical! This was our first real site and there were 9 rather excitable amateur archaeologists just itching to get inside! The first disappointment was the "no photography" warning. Why do they do this? Is it so you will buy the guidebook at the end, so you can have pictures of the place? Grrr. It always really annoys me (having said that, the Historic Scotland "Maes Howe and the heart of Neolithic Orkney" guide book is rather good!)
Anyhoo, the 9 of us and 3 other visitors dutifully filed in and the first thing that struck me was how small it was! I have seen Maes Howe on TV many times and it always seemed so much bigger. When you see in on The Modern Antiquarian, it looks positively roomy – and Julian Cope isn't exactly small, is he? – but once in there with 12 other people, the place seemed really compact. The guide spent a lot of time talking about the inscriptions and less time about how and why it was built but it was generally an interesting visit. There was some discussion as to whether the internal stones had been part of a stone circle- or possible 4 Poster – and the burial mound built around it at some later date, which was thought-provoking and set us amateur archaeos off on one of our rambling debates (more of which to come later!).
Maes Howe is spectacular and interesting and worthy of more than a 20 minute tour – I just really wish they would let you have some time in these places to really get a feel for them. Lord only knows what it is like in high season when the tourist coaches are pulling in, one after the other but at least we had a fairly small group and no one else queuing to get in behind us.
Maes Howe...... of all the chambered cairns you'd wish to be teleported to the end of a two mile mountain track, far away from the vaguely interested hordes, it'd be this beauty. But that would be elitist, wouldn't it? And of course remove it from its finely determined position within the Stenness landscape.
Despite only being accessible via (the dreaded) guided tour, there are no carvings or Neolithic art to protect here. Just the – no doubt drunken – braggings of Erik the Viking scrawled on the walls like some 15 year old in the school toilets (no doubt Helga would have disagreed and asserted that he was crap in bed, actually.... ha!). Although not without interest, surely a few slabs of perspex would cater for what are, after all, nothing more than graffiti? In my opinion too much emphasis is placed upon the runes and not nearly enough on what must surely be the finest chambered tomb in the British Isles? But everyone's heard of the Vikings, right?
Everything about the construction of Maes Howe is exquisite, from the unfeasibly long slabs fitted together in a manner that would make a dry-stone wall builder freak out (not to mention an Inca), to the superb entrance passage and blocking stone. But for me the four monoliths built into the corners – more than suggesting an existing stone circle or other arrangement was deliberately incorporated within the design – is the salient point. Never seen this before.
Maes Howe will never possess the atmosphere of, say, Cuween Hill or Wideford Hill just up the road. But it is the crowning achievement of Neolithic Britain and an essential visit.
Standing inside this monument transports one to the very age of the builders and permits for an instant a glimpse of their world and time. As I studied the massive, finely hewn, precision fitted drystone, I had a sensation of the completeness of this simple design: a sensation rarely derived from contemporary architecture. Examining the alignment of the entrance passage, I enjoyed thinking of how incredible it would be at the time of the winter solstice sunset, when a narrow ray of light will pierce the chamber to its back wall. One should examine carefully the interesting side and back cells off of the main chamber, especially the lintel work. Finally be sure to analyze how the blocking stone (still present) would have been moved to seal the main passage.
To get the clearest views of the bank and ditch walk along the side road that leaves the main road as you approach Maes Howe from the east/Kirkwall. They are quite spectacular.
We turned up at Maeshowe visitor centre at Tormiston Mill at 5.10pm hoping to book a time to visit with as few other people as possible. How lucky we got! The last tour was due to go five minutes later and only had two other – rather disinterested – Chermans on it. We paid our £3 each fee and toddled off down the path towards the mound.
The henge was the first thing that surprised me, being so crisp and well defined. As Julian says in the big papery TMA the whole construction really is like a great grassy sombrero! Our guide, a young archaelogy student, met us at the door and showed us down the long passageway, beautifully square, made of single long slabs of sandstone. It felt very like crawling into an Egyptian tomb but without the multicoloured wall paintings. And then the chamber opens up in front of you! Wow-wheeee!
It was wonderful not to have to share the interior space with too many people. You really wouldn't want to be in there with a coach party of 20 garlic-breathed Americans.
Apart from the painstakingly neat, tight corbelling, the sheer height of the pyramid roof and interior proportions of the chamber the thing I found most notable was that the tall corner stones seemed to be the same shape, size and have the same 'angle of slice' on the top as the stones at Brodgar.
The guide gave a very thorough talk, only snippets of which I caught as immediately I sat down on the dry gravel floor and got out my sketchbook. Photography in the chamber is not allowed, but they couldn't stop me drawing. From the bits I heard she seemed to dwell at length about the Vikings ('bloody Vikings') and not enough about construction techniques for my liking. Rather than whinge I just kept scribbling.
Once the Cherman visitors had seen enough to be able to 'tick it off' their list, they departed leaving just the three of us. Suddenly it felt very big in there! And very, VERY tall, as I was still sitting cross legged on the floor. The guide seemed happy to have someone to talk about it to that took her away from her usual spiel. Moth discussed the chronology of the tomb with the guide who didn't know enough about other British sites to be able to accurately place it against West Kennett, for example.
It may cost £3 and you may have to share it, but it IS worth it.
Pretty impressive engineering! Big stones, especially the one in the entrance passage. Each of the side chamber blocking stones in isolation are a bit hefty, can't see that they were shifted in and out very often.
Having said that, the presence of a tombful of other tourists sort of reduced the atmosphere a bit. It had more gravitas the previous evening in the dark, even though the entrance was locked.
Be prepared to crouch on the way in and out.
Maes Howe, Orkney Mainland
Monday 12/8/96
We got up early this morning for a day of exploring megaliths. First stop however was the stores in Finstown called Binkies to stock up on their rather excellent butteries! Next stop- Maes Howe. After landing on Orkney and on our way to the van we're staying in we passed Maes Howe and many other megalithic sites and I got very excited at the prospect of seeing them all at long last. Parked next to the exhibition house/gift shoppie type place, paid our money and waited to be escorted over the road and on to the tomb. It was like being back at a school trip! The tomb has a fantastic entrance chamber and once inside it's most impressive- there's some huge slabs of stone went into the building of that place. Okay- so you get herded about by the (very good) guide and not much time to sit and ponder, but this really pales into insignificance in such a powerful place. Imagine being in there watching the sun set at the Winter SolsticeÉ.
Maes Howe or Maeshowe is among the finest chambered tombs in Europe, dating from around 2700 BCE. It was said to be inhabited by a creature known as a Hogboy, but human beings too left their mark on the site. When it was excavated in 1861, the archaeologists found they were not the first on the scene: Vikings had broken, about 700 years earlier, and left graffiti on the walls. The presence of the twelfth-century vandals is recorded in twenty-four runic inscriptions, two of which refer to 'Jorsalafara' – literally, 'Jerusalem-farers', or crusaders.
The sort of things prople write on walls hasn't changed all that much over the centuries.
Thorny bedded; Helgi writes it'
-perhaps the tomb, macabre though it might seem, was where the locals did their courting, or perhaps the men were thinking of happier times:
Ingigerd is the most beautiful of women',
says one inscription.
Also carved here is a picture of an animal usually interpreted as a dragon, and some of the writings relate to buried treasure.. the poem Beowulf tells of a hoard guarded by a dragon in a barrow containing a secret passage, and it has been suggested that on entering Maes Howe the Vikings drew the dragon and wrote the runes because they were vividly reminded of the episode. There may, however, have been some factual element: one of the inscriptions states that the treasure was concealed north-west of the barrow, and in 1858 a cache of Viking silver ornaments was found at Sandwick, some way north from Maes Howe.
Particularly interesting is an inscription in large, even runes, informing us that these were cut,
'with the axe which belonged to Gaukr Trandilsson in the South of Iceland'.
The carver does not add his name, but, Hermann Palsson of Edinburgh University has used centuries old Icelandic poetry to establish his identity:
he was Thorhallr Asgrimsson, named in the Orkneyinga Saga as captain of the ship that brought Earl Rognvaldr Kali back from the crusade to Orkney late in 1153, and great-great-great-grandson of Asgrimr Ellitha-Grimsson, named in Njals Saga as the slayer of Gaukt Trandilsson. The axe of the victim was kept as an heirloom by the killer's family for six generations, around 200 years, and was brought to Orkney by a direct descendant of Asgrimr.
The tracing of its history is an astounding example of archaeological and scholarly detective work.
The Lore Of Scotland – A Guide To Scottish Legends
Westwood & Kingshill
Excavation work began on the Brough of Birsay last week. Mr Drever is again in charge of the operations, and most of the workmen who worked there in previous seasons have been re-engaged. A good area has now been excavated on this site, but there is still a considerable area to explore, and one never knows what discoveries may be brought to light. It is an old belief that the treasure of Maeshowe was carried off in a north-westerly direction and hidden in some secret place, and, if there is any truth in the old legend, that treasure still remains to be discovered.A weirdly geographically specific tale from the Orkney Herald, 23rd June 1937.
Maeshowe, or the maiden's mound, as it has been translated, was formerly known to the Orcadians by the euphonius name of "the abode of the Hog-boy." Hog-boy, however, is simply a perversion of the Norse Haug-bui or mound dweller.From p150 of
Orkneys and Shetland
Chas. Sprague Smith
Journal of the American Geographical Society of New York, Vol. 23. (1891), pp. 131-155.
In 1888 Geo.Marwick recalls when a boy being told by an old gentleman that after sunset on a full moon the able-bodied married women would take a 'caisy' of ashes and earth, which being dumped on the top or sides of "Mae-howe" would stengthen the mound to keep the bad folk in. And to show their contempt they would also leave their excrement there !
Nick Card very excited to find a standing stone marked on Thomas' map north of Maes Howe [though this could always have been part of a burial mound]
Latest findings are that it could have been built where a house used to be and possibly by/incorporating a stone circle. The passage includes four stones. Four standing stones form the chamber and the corbelled roof had to start above their level. As with the Howe tomb the socket for a standing stone has been found at the back of the mound, and it is suggested that these came afterwards.
Visitor information
To visit Maeshowe you now have to buy a ticket and book your time. Tours leave Tormiston Mill at: 0945, 1030, 1115, 1200, 1245, 1330, 1415, 1500, 1545, 1630, 1715.
In winter last tour leaves at 1545.
(Maximum of 20 persons on one tour, but you REALLY want to avoid this many!)
Phone to book: 01856 761606
Cost: £3.
It's possible that the inscription relating to the treasure was ironic.
Treasure to vikings was usually in the form of gold and jewels.Gold wasn't really discovered by the Neolithic people so this bit of graffiti may well have been written with sense of wit.
As it says '....Lucky will be he who can find the great fortune....' cos there sure as hell isn't any that I've seen!!
A couple of weeks before I visited Maes Howe a film crew had just finsihed making a documentary involving the tomb (according to the guide). So watch out for it. Although the last time Maes Howe was filmed it didn't reach the TV for 2 years aparently.
Here is some information about the 12th century Viking inscriptions at Maeshowe:
There are some pictures – a dragon, a walrus and a serpent, but also also quite a lot of graffiti, in runes. I say graffiti because most of it recalls the type of thing you find written on modern bus shelters: 'Thorfinn wrote these runes.'; 'Thorni fucked. Helgi carved'; 'Ingigerth is the most beautiful of all women'; 'These runes were carved by the man most skilled in runes on the Western Ocean with the axe that killed Gaukr Trandkill's son in the South of Iceland.' Though there is some that sounds a bit more exciting: "A long time ago was a great treasure hidden here. Lucky will be he who can find the great fortune. Hákon single-handed bore treasure from this howe."
Maeshowe is also mentioned in one of the Viking sagas from the same period – the Orkneyinga Saga (this version in penguin translated by Hermann Palsson and Paul Edward):
"Earl Harald set out for Orkney at Christmas with four ships and a hundred men. He lay for two days off Graemsay, then put in at Hamna Voe on Mainland (Stromness), and on the thirteenth day of Christmas they travelled on foot over to Firth. During a snow storm they took shelter in Maeshowe and there two of them went insane, which slowed them down badly, so that by the time they reached Firth it was night-time."
Perhaps it's best not to spend too long in there, eh.
Winter Solstice at Maes Howe Cairn. Interesting information to be listened to from the professor and the expert on Scandinavian runes. But it is 41 minutes long.
New 3D exploration app for Maes Howe from Historic Scotland.
The official site – webcam on the tomb showing the winter solstice sun appearing down the passage into the chamber
Once you've scrolled past a lot of horrible sponsored listings, this page has some good background information about Maeshowe, and (best of all) an interesting engraving of the tomb with no 'lid' on it as seen in 1861.
Topics
Sites within 20km of Maeshowe
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Barnhouse Stone
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Barnhouse Settlement
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Stone of Odin
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The Standing Stones of Stenness
photo 104 forum 2 description 18 link 3 -
The Watchstone
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Lower Hobbister
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Vola
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Lochview
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Ness of Brodgar
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Harray Viewpoint
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Grimston
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Standing Stones Hotel
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Nether Bigging
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Pickaquoy
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Comet Stone
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Fresh Knowe
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Ness of Brodgar Cairns
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Plumcake Mound
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Ring of Brodgar
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Salt Knowe
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Feolquoy
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Henge
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Hill of Heddle
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Staney Hill
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Dale
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Wasbister Disc Barrow
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Bookan Cairns
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Wasdale
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Staney Hill
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Howe Harper
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Wasbister Cairn
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Bookan
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The Brecks
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Appiehouse
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Unstan
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Point of Onston
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Knowe of Gullow
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Ring of Bookan
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Maesquoy
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Rowamo Cottage
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Snaba Hill
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Burrian Broch
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Skae Frue
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Corn Hillock
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Knowe of Burrian (Garth Farm)
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Cummi Howe
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The Hillock
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The Howe
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The Howe
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The Howe
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The Fairy Knowe
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Nettletar
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Deepdale
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Ward Hill
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Stackrue-Lyking Mound
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Knowes of Trotty
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Stackrue Broch
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Shennar Howe
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Lyde Road
description 1 -
Rosemount and Easthouse
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Linga Fold
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Burrian (Russland)
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Voy
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Quoyelsh
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Via Mound
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Via Mound
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Stones of Via
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Burrian (Corrigall)
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Voy
photo 4 description 1 -
Via Barrow
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Sower
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Quholm, Burn of Una
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Burn of Cruland
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Ingshowe Broch
photo 19 description 2 -
Nabban
photo 6 description 1 -
North Biggin
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Stockan
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Graystane
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Hourston
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Chapel Knowe
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Loch of Clumly
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Vetquoy
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Rennibister
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Konger’s Knowe
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Hurkisgarth
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Gyre
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Hillock of Breakna
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Dounby House
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East House
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Knowe of Makerhouse
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Harproo
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South Seatter
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Wideford Hill
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Oyce of Isbister
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Loch of Skaill Niche
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Wideford Hill
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Harraymen’s Graves
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Brockan
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Toy Ness
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Quinni Moan
description 1 -
Grind
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Leafea
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Knowe of Angerow
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Knowe of Nebigarth
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Broch of Borwick
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Quanterness
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Breckness
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St Mary’s Kirk (Isbister)
photo 7 description 1 -
Millhouse
description 1 -
Russel Howe
photo 10 description 3 -
Wideford
photo 5 description 3 -
Skaill road
photo 1 description 2 -
Brough of Bigging
photo 6 description 3 -
Knowe of Geoso
photo 8 description 4 -
Knowes of Howana
description 1 -
Sandyhall
photo 4 description 2 -
Skara Brae
photo 65 forum 6 description 21 link 5 -
Crossiecrown
photo 2 description 1 -
Seven Knowes
photo 8 description 2 -
Skaill Church
photo 1 description 2 -
Knowe of Verron
photo 21 forum 2 description 3 -
Linnahowe
photo 7 description 5 -
Upper Garson
photo 1 description 1 -
Saverock
photo 7 description 4 -
Saverock
photo 9 description 6 -
Green Hill of Quoyness
photo 7 description 2 -
Vestrafiold
description 1 -
Lingrow
photo 7 description 3 -
Knowes of Yonbell
description 1 -
Broch of Lingro
photo 17 description 8 -
Pickaquoy
photo 7 description 3 -
Grain Souterrain
photo 24 description 6 link 1 -
Crantit
photo 18 forum 1 description 4 -
Brough of Braebister
photo 15 description 2 -
Nether Crantit
photo 5 description 1 -
Knowe of Dishero
photo 13 description 2 -
Loch of Boardhouse
photo 4 description 5 -
Knowe of Skorn
description 1 -
Tingwall
photo 23 description 5 -
Berrydale
description 1 -
Queena Fjold
photo 15 description 4 -
Spurdagrove
photo 3 description 3 -
Ravie Hill
photo 1 description 3 -
Scapa
photo 2 description 3 -
Knowe of Midgarth
photo 10 description 2 -
Hillhead Well
photo 4 -
Hillhead Enclosure
photo 16 description 5 -
Knowe of Nesthouse
description 2 -
Redland South
photo 12 description 4 -
Quoys
description 1 -
Redland North
description 1 -
Dwarfie Hamars
photo 6 description 1 -
Kirbister Hill
description 1 -
Hundland Hill
description 1 -
The Dwarfie Stane
photo 46 description 18 link 4 -
Patrick Stone
photo 3 description 1 -
Ness of Woodwick
photo 10 description 2 -
Knowe of Stenso
photo 11 description 2 -
Wheebin
photo 9 description 6 -
Knowe of Grugar
photo 12 description 3 -
Twi Ness
photo 3 description 2 -
Broch of Burgar
photo 5 description 1 -
Burgar
photo 10 description 2 -
Oxtro Broch
photo 11 description 3 link 1 -
Broch of Gurness
photo 37 description 8 link 2 -
Mittens
photo 1 description 3 -
Newan
photo 4 description 3 -
Stanerandy
photo 11 description 7 -
Setter Noost
photo 11 description 1 link 1 -
Berstane Broch
photo 9 description 1 -
The Five Hillocks
photo 5 description 3 -
St. Magnus’s Well
photo 4 description 2 -
Lower Arsdale
description 2 -
Peterkirk
photo 5 description 2 -
Long Cairn
photo 49 description 13 -
Knowes of Lingro
photo 7 forum 1 description 5 -
Knowes of Lingro
photo 2 description 1 -
Knowe of Crustan
photo 8 description 5 -
Costa Hill
photo 2 description 3 -
Knowe of Burrian
photo 5 description 1 -
Crustan
photo 2 description 3 -
Long Stone
photo 8 forum 1 description 3 -
Knowe of Buckquoy
photo 6 description 6 -
Knowe of Lairo
photo 12 description 6 link 2 -
Point of Buckquoy
photo 7 description 4 -
Point of Buckquoy
photo 4 description 1 -
Howe of Staneloof
description 1 -
Knowe of Hunclett
photo 6 description 1 -
Staneloof
photo 3 description 1 -
Knowe of Ramsay
photo 3 description 1 -
Knowe of Yarso
photo 28 description 5 -
Ston Loe
photo 1 description 2 -
Westness
description 1 -
Blackhammer
photo 23 description 3 link 1 -
Knowe of Rowiegar
photo 4 description 1 link 1 -
Knowe Of Swandro
description 1 link 2 -
Craw Howe
photo 1 description 4 -
Taversoe Tuick
photo 45 description 4 link 2 -
The Five Hillocks
photo 6 description 3 -
South Howe
photo 1 description 3 link 1 -
Broch of Steiro
photo 19 description 2 link 1 -
Midhowe
photo 12 description 4 link 1 -
Broch of Midhowe
photo 14 description 2 -
North Howe
description 1 -
St. Mary’s Broch
photo 6 description 2 -
Yinstay
description 1 -
Whoom
description 1 -
Laughton’s Knowe
photo 4 description 2 -
Hall of Gorn
photo 3 description 3 -
Cubbie Roo’s Burden
photo 4 description 2 -
Tammaskirk
photo 14 description 1 link 1 -
Knitchen Hill
photo 3 description 1 -
Howe Hill
photo 4 description 1 link 1 -
Quendal
description 1 -
Whitecleat
photo 4 description 2 -
Nearhouse
photo 3 description 1 -
The Howie of The Manse
photo 3 description 2