Neolithc Orkney

Orkney is a fascinating place, you will soon see why that is. The ancient people raised huge flagstone slabs, some stones stand alone, others are in a ring. There is no way we can know what the stones meant to the ancient people, but they must certainly have represented something in their culture.

It was a pretty awful day weather-wise with strong winds and rain but we could not wait to visit the stones. We parked at the site of an old mill and went on foot to see the stones in the landscape and to see them slowly appear in the distance, the mist certainly helped with that. Normally you can see the stones for quite some distance as they are in an area surrounded by low hills. The sheer size and the force needed to erect these huge monoliths is mind boggling. It does not matter that we don’t know what they mean, that they are still here after thousands of years is enough. Carbon dating of The Stones of Stenness suggests the stones have been there since 3,100 BC. The stones...

The Barnhouse Stone



This is the first stone we saw when walking along the side of the road, it is just there, alone. However, the Barnhouse Stone is aligned with the centre axis of the inner entrance passage of Maeshowe Chambered Cairn. At midwinter solstice, when the final rays of the sun shine down the passage of Maeshowe, the sun shines directly overtop Barnhouse Stone.

The Standing Stones of Stenness





These stones are huge, it is difficult to demonstrate their size in photos, the largest is 19 feet high. It is written that there were originally 12 stones, but archeological investigation suggests the ring was never completed, now 4 stones remain. They were erected in the shape of an ellipse with a stone hearth in the centre.

The Watchstone



This is an imposing stone standing a short distance away from the Stones of Stenness, to the NW. It stands where the Stenness and Harray lochs meet, in between the Stones of Stenness and the Ring of Brodgar.

Stone Farm Building



Carrying on down the road, there are two small standing stones in the yard of a home. Further on is an interesting farm yard with stone buildings with slab stone roofing.

Comet Stone



This stone stands on an oval platform to the SE of the Ring of Brodgar, we passed by this stone while walking across country to the Ring of Brodgar. It is an excellent vantage point with which to view the Ring of Brodgar.

Ring of Brodgar







This stone circle is a true circle and is incredible to experience. It is thought that there were once 60 stones in this ring, 27 remain, two were felled by lightening strikes since 1906. The stone circle is enclosed by a huge rock cut ditch, the ditch was originally 9.8 feet deep, it is estimated that 11,000 tonnes of rock had to be quarried to build the ditch.

There are two avenues to gain access to the stone circle, interestingly, everybody there, including us, walked the circle in a counter clockwise direction. The inside of the circle is covered in heather and you are not allowed to cut through, you are not supposed to cut through the ditch either but we did so before seeing the sign as we came in from across the field rather than from the parking lot across the road.

Knowe of Onston






(John, coerced to write a blog entry, writes about construction)
The location of this site was weird as the road leads right into someone’s yard, at first you think, “This is the wrong road, someone lives here.” However, once you round the corner and see the entrance, it’s fine. These structures really stand out on the landscape, as they are huge distinctive mounds. After entering the low passageway (in a low crouching position) we marvelled at the precision of the stone placement and how the walls perfectly curve inward to the ceiling. The construction techniques are sound as even the entry passage has a header stone. The inside is divided into five sections, with several side chambers.

Cuween Chambered Cairn







This cairn is on top of a high hill, and the winds were amazingly strong, to the point that we were weaving in the wind on top of the hill. The whole countryside is loaded with sheep and cattle - thus the structures are usually fenced off. The remarkable entry to this site is a double staircase up and over the fence. With our headlamps turned on, we crawled (yes, on our hands and knees) into the cairn and observed the structure. Here again we marvelled at how well the stones were placed - no gaps and no mortar, just precisely placed stones. The ceiling is made of large stones that had water droplets on them (the white dots in the picture).

Smart cattle hiding behind a rock wall out of the blast of the wind