Stones of Stenness: One of the Oldest Stone Circles in Orkney

The Stones of Stenness are a Neolithic stone circle and henge on Mainland, the largest island of Orkney in northern Scotland. Built around 3100 BC, they are among the oldest stone circles in the British Isles, and four of their tall, blade-like stones still stand. Together with nearby monuments they form the core of the Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site.

Background: Neolithic Orkney

Farming communities reached Orkney around 3700 BC. By the late fourth millennium BC the islands supported a remarkably rich culture, with stone-built villages such as Skara Brae, great chambered tombs and a distinctive flat-based pottery known as Grooved Ware, which may have first developed in Orkney before spreading south through Britain.

The Stones of Stenness stand on a narrow strip of land between two lochs, the saltwater Loch of Stenness and the freshwater Loch of Harray. This landscape was a ceremonial centre: the Ring of Brodgar stands about 1.2 kilometres to the north-west, the great tomb of Maeshowe a short distance to the east, and the large complex of buildings at the Ness of Brodgar lies between them.

The monument

The monument consisted of two parts. The outer part was a henge: a circular rock-cut ditch about 2 metres deep and up to 7 metres wide, with an outer bank, enclosing an area roughly 44 metres across. A single causeway on the north side gave access to the interior.

Inside stood an ellipse of 11 or 12 standing stones about 32 metres in diameter. They are thin slabs of local flagstone, a sandstone that splits naturally into sheets. The tallest surviving stone is about 5.7 metres (19 feet) high, making these some of the tallest prehistoric standing stones in Scotland.

At the centre lay a square stone setting about 2 metres across, interpreted as a large hearth. Excavations in 1973–74 led by Graham Ritchie also found cremated bone, animal bones and sherds of Grooved Ware in the ditch and interior.

Dating the circle

Radiocarbon dates from material at the bottom of the henge ditch place its construction in the late fourth millennium BC. The usual figure given is about 3100 BC, and some re-analyses suggest an even earlier start. Because the stone circle and henge appear to be part of one design, Stenness is often described as one of the earliest henges in Britain.

The monument is therefore older than the Ring of Brodgar, which is generally dated to around 2500–2000 BC, and roughly contemporary with the first earthwork enclosure at Stonehenge, built around 3000 BC.

Links to Barnhouse village

In 1984 archaeologist Colin Richards found the remains of a Neolithic settlement at Barnhouse, about 150 metres from the stones on the shore of Loch of Harray. Barnhouse was occupied from around 3300 to 2900 BC, overlapping with the building of the circle.

The village houses had square central hearths, closely resembling the larger hearth inside the Stones of Stenness. A larger, more elaborate building at Barnhouse, known as Structure 8, may have served a communal or ceremonial purpose. Many archaeologists think the people of Barnhouse built and used the monument, and that the hearth inside the circle echoed the home on a monumental, communal scale.

The Odin Stone and its destruction

Several outlying stones once stood around the circle. The most famous was the Odin Stone, a standing stone pierced by a hole, which stood to the north. In local custom couples joined hands through the hole to make binding promises, including marriage vows, and the stone was associated with healing and good fortune. Sir Walter Scott, who visited Orkney in 1814, later drew on these traditions in his novel The Pirate (1822).

In December 1814 the tenant of the land, an incomer usually named as Captain William Mackay, began removing the stones because people crossing his fields to visit them damaged his crops. He broke up the Odin Stone and toppled at least one stone of the circle. Local people were outraged, and legal action stopped him before he could do further damage. The Odin Stone was lost, though fragments may survive in nearby buildings.

The Watch Stone, a tall single stone near the causeway between the lochs, survives as one of the remaining outliers.

Restoration and protection

In 1906–07 the Office of Works re-erected a fallen stone and built a “dolmen” of stones inside the circle, which was not based on prehistoric evidence. It was partly dismantled in the 1970s. In 1999 UNESCO inscribed the Stones of Stenness, the Ring of Brodgar, Maeshowe and Skara Brae together as the Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site.

Timeline

• c. 3700 BC: Farming communities settle in Orkney.
• c. 3300 BC: The Barnhouse settlement is established near the later stone circle.
• c. 3100 BC: The henge ditch and stone circle at Stenness are constructed.
• c. 2500–2000 BC: The nearby Ring of Brodgar is built.
• 1814, December: Captain William Mackay destroys the Odin Stone and topples a circle stone.
• 1906–07: The Office of Works re-erects a stone and builds a modern “dolmen”.
• 1973–74: Graham Ritchie excavates the henge ditch and central hearth.
• 1984: Colin Richards discovers the Barnhouse settlement.
• 1999: The site becomes part of the Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site.

Why it matters

The Stones of Stenness show that some of Britain’s earliest stone circles were raised not in the south but in Orkney, at the far northern edge of Neolithic Europe. Their link with Barnhouse gives a rare view of the people who built such monuments and lived beside them. The loss of the Odin Stone in 1814 is also a reminder of how fragile these ancient landscapes are.