Around the Ness: Maeshowe
By Sigurd Towrie Part One “But the most remarkable tumulus in Orkney is situated to the north-east of the Ring of Stenness and is called M’eshoo or Meashowe (sic).” Lieutenant F. W. L. Thomas....
Category: Around the Ness
Around the Ness: The Stones of Stenness – part two
Destruction and reconstruction By Sigurd Towrie “Each of the remaining pillars is about 18 feet above ground: one was lately thrown down, but has not been broken; three were, in the month of December...
Around the Ness: The Stones of Stenness
Part One By Sigurd Towrie “At Stennis, where the Loch is narrowest, in the midle, having a Causey of stons over it for a bridge, there is, at the South end of the bridge,...
Around the Ness: The Ring of Bookan
By Sigurd Towrie “The Ring of Bookan, in the same neighbourhood [as the Ring of Brodgar], appears to be a similar platform, but it is enclosed with an earthen vallum, and exhibits abundant traces...
Around the Ness: Howastedgarth
By Sigurd Towrie We finished last week with George Marwick’s claimed “old name” for the Ring of Brodgar – Howastedgarth. I first stumbled across it in 2012, in a transcription of a talk given...
Around the Ness: The Ring of Brodgar
By Sigurd Towrie “[In Stenness] beside the lake are stones high and broad, in height equal to a spear, and in an equal circle of half a mile.” Jo Ben. Descriptio Insularum Orchadiarum. c1529...
Around the Ness: Unstan Cairn
By Sigurd Towrie In the late 19th century, a grassy mound on a headland jutting into the Stenness loch attracted the attention of one of the many antiquarians with their sights on Orkney’s suspected...
Around the Ness: ‘Little Barnhouse’ mound
By Sigurd Towrie Most visitors to the Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site will be familiar with Maeshowe. Few, however, will know that what appears to be an equally large chambered cairn stands...
Around the Ness: the Comet Stone
“The old track now passes by a small, solitary standing stone slab, encircled in green for some distance around its base and finally merging again into heather.” George Marwick. The Standing Stones of Stenness...
A natural cursus? Water, walls and walking the Ness
“Seven thousand years ago, Mesolithic hunter gatherers walked the long ridge of land in the heart of Orkney, known today as the Ness of Brodgar. Later, Neolithic farmers chose that land to erect massive...