Unst, Uyea Breck
Standing Stone (Prehistoric)
Site Name Unst, Uyea Breck
Classification Standing Stone (Prehistoric)
Canmore ID 137
Site Number HP60SW 5
NGR HP 6061 0071
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/137
- Council Shetland Islands
- Parish Unst
- Former Region Shetland Islands Area
- Former District Shetland
- Former County Shetland
HP60SW 5 6061 0071.
(HP 6058 0074) Standing Stone (OE)
OS 6" map, Shetland, 2nd ed., (1900)
A fine monolith of schist, leaning towards the NE. It rises to a height of 9'10" over the packing of small stones at the base, where it is 2'10" wide by 1'2 1/2" thick, the broader faces aligned almost N-S.
RCAHMS 1946 (visited 1930).
This stone is said to mark the spot where the son of the Viking Harold Harfager was killed about 900AD. He is said to have been buried in the tumulus to the SW (HP60SW 7).
Name Book 1878
As described.
Visited by OS (RL) 2 May 1969.
Publication Account (1997)
Most of the is land's standing stones are squat boulders, but this is a slender monolith of schist, 3m high, set on a slope overlooking Skuda aound and the island of Uyea.
Schist was a good medium for tall stones, and there is another, 2.3m high, known as the Ripple Stone, on Fetlar (HU 627905).
Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Shetland’, (1997).
