Description

The monument consists of a pair of standing stones and a cairn within an area which is likely to contain remains associated with their construction and use.

The standing stone at HY30341283 is about 2.7m high and the standing stone at HY30351283 is about 1.7m high. The cairn centred at HY30391280 is the remains of a previously substantial cairn in which many unspecified finds have been made at various times and from which it is thought likely that a carved stone ball came.

Although it has been reduced on its SW side by cultivation, and has been damaged by quarrying and road construction to the NE, a substantial swelling in the ground remains and it is likely that burial remains survive, on or inserted into the underlying old ground surface. An access road to Lochview has been excavated into the area between the cairn and the standing stones and a septic tank exists 2.4m or thereabouts from the standing stone at HY30341283.

The area to be protected is irregular on plan, to contain the standing stones, the cairn and an area around them in which remains associated with their construction and use are likely to survive, and measures a maximum of 85m from NW to SE by a maximum of 33m from NE to SW as marked in red on the accompanying map extract. The scheduling excludes the surface of the access road referred to above to a depth of 0.3m, and the septic tank.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

This monument is of national importance as part of the internationally important complex of fourth to second millennium BC remains in the Brodgar Rural Conservation Area. The siting of the stone alignments is related to that of the Watch Stone and its (destroyed) companion and also to that of the stone rings at Ring of Brogar (or Brodgar) and at Standing Stones of Stenness. The cairn is the remains of a prehistoric burial cairn, either of the third or of the second millennium BC.

It is comparable to the four larger burial mounds at the Ring of Brogar. Despite the damage to it, including its possible re-use as an Iron Age structure, a substantial mass remains and it is likely that burials and evidence of funerary practices will survive which have the potential to increase substantially understanding of the funerary and ritual practices of this archaeological highly important part of Scotland.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS records the monument as HY 31 SW 10 and 20.

References:

Noble, J. (1888) 'Notice of a stone, apparently a sinker with incised figures of animals, from a tumulus at Bride of Brogar, Stennis, Orkney', Proc Soc Antiq Scot, Vol. 22, 266-7.

PSAS (1888) 'Donations to and purchases for the Museum and Library, including articles exhibited in the Museum', Proc Soc Antiq Scot, Vol. 22, 210.

PSAS (1885) 'Articles exhibited', Proc Soc Antiq Scot, Vol. 19, 139.

RCAHMS (1946) The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. Twelfth report with an inventory of the ancient monuments of Orkney and Shetland, 3v, Edinburgh, 319, 905.

RCAHMS (1946) The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. Twelfth report with an inventory of the ancient monuments of Orkney and Shetland, 3v, Edinburgh, 304, No. 878.

Thomas, F. W. L. (1852) 'An account of some Celtic antiquities of Orkney, including the stone of Stenness, tumuli, Picts houses & c., with plans', Archaeologia, Vol. 34, 102, 136.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland