Shapinsay, Mor Stein
Standing Stone (Prehistoric)
Site Name Shapinsay, Mor Stein
Classification Standing Stone (Prehistoric)
Canmore ID 3065
Site Number HY51NW 1
NGR HY 5240 1685
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/3065
- Council Orkney Islands
- Parish Shapinsay
- Former Region Orkney Islands Area
- Former District Orkney
- Former County Orkney
HY51NW 1 5240 1685.
(HY 5238 1686) Mor Stein (NAT)
OS 6"map, Orkney, 2nd ed., (1900).
"Mor Stein", also known as "The Standing Stone of Shapinsay", is 10ft high and is believed to have been higher. A few years ago it was over thrown and broken at the top but was re-positioned in its original site. Its major axis is now E-W and it is 3ft 1in. wide and on average
1ft 8in. thick.
RCAHMS 1946, visited 1928.
"Mor Stein" a standing stone as described by RCAHMS.
Visited by OS(AA) 3 October 1972
The stone occupies a small patch of unimproved moorland near the highest point in the SE part of the island. A few years before 1928 it was overthrown and re-erected, losing a portion of its upper part in the process. Recorded as 12 feet (3.66m) high in 1796, it is now 2.9m high measured from the surface of the grassy tump on which it is set; the width averages 0.95m and thickness 0.45m, the major axis being E-W.
Statistical Account (OSA) 1796; RCAHMS 1946; 1987, visited July 1984
