Orkney Smr Note

Event ID 619971

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Orkney Smr Note

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/619971

' .....originally consisted of a series of standing stones set round the upper margin of a flat-topped mound, outside of which, at a distance of 18 or 20ft from the lower margin, was a circular bank.' Four massive undressed monoliths stand at irregular intervals on the W arc of a circle, which has a radius of 52ft.

Three of them have sloping tops and rise to a height of 17ft, 15ft, and 15ft 6in respectively, while the fourth has a horizontal top and is only about 6ft 3in high. Although the last has obviously been broken off short, the rest are much as they were when first erected. On the other hand, the altar-like construction, which disfigures the interior, is a modern and wholly fanciful addition. [R1]

In the Stones of Stenness and the Ring of Brodgar, rings of upright stones stand round the inner edge of a fosse as in several English examples of this class. [R2]

The Standing Stones of Stenness dominate the W side of the SE promontory. Of what two existing outlying stones, the Watch Stone (OR1371) and the Barnhouse stone (OR1372), may be associated with the monument. The Stone of Odin (OR1395) stood closer to the N tip of the peninsula 'about 150yds to the northward of the Ring of Stenness'. The henge monument comprises an outer bank, an inner ditch with a single causeway in the N quadrant, a stone circle and a central rectangular box-like structure which contained cremated bones, charcoal and sherds of pottery. Cultivation has almost completely removed traces of the bank and ditch. [R3]

Information from Orkney SMR [n.d.]