This site is entirely user-supported. See how you can help.
We don't have any photos of this monument yet. Why don't you be the first to send us one?
If Google Street View is available, the image is from the best available vantage point looking, if possible, towards the location of the monument. Where it is not available, the satellite view is shown instead.
Latitude: 59.117 / 59°7'1"N
Longitude: -3.306 / 3°18'21"W
OS Eastings: 325320
OS Northings: 1026300
OS Grid: HY253263
Mapcode National: GBR L46M.VNQ
Mapcode Global: WH698.53YP
Entry Name: Wheebin standing stone
Scheduled Date: 21 May 1937
Last Amended: 10 February 2003
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
Source ID: SM1414
Schedule Class: Cultural
Category: Prehistoric ritual and funerary: standing stone
Location: Birsay and Harray
County: Orkney Islands
Electoral Ward: West Mainland
Traditional County: Orkney
The monument comprises an exceptionally tall, single standing stone, known as the Wheebin Stone. The monument was first scheduled in 1937, but an inadequate area was included to protect all of the archaeological remains: the present re-scheduling rectifies this.
The Wheebin Stone stands an impressive 3.5m high. It is about 1.5m wide and 0.4m thick at its base, but gradually reduces in width further up the stone, tapering almost to a point at the top. The broad sides of the stone face NNW-SSE and the stone inclines slightly upslope towards the NNW. The stone shows the effects of severe weathering, with one deep fissure penetrating one of the surfaces from the top of the stone almost to its middle; while rubbing by livestock has polished the surface of the lower half of the stone.
Standing stones such as the Wheebin Stone were normally erected in the later Neolithic period (around 2000 BC), and probably continued to have a ritual or spiritual significance in later times.
The area to be scheduled is a circle 20m in diameter, centred on the Wheebin Stone, to include the stone and an area around it in which evidence relating to its erection and use may survive, as indicated in red on the accompanying map. The above-ground elements of the fence, currently protecting the stone, are excluded from the scheduling to allow for their routine maintenance, but the below-ground portions of the concrete fence posts are specifically included.
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
The monument is of national importance as a fine example of a standing stone, which has the potential to provide important information about the religious or ritual life of past societies. The ground surrounding the standing stone retains the potential to provide important information about the use of the site and changes in landuse before, during and after the erection of the stone.
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
Bibliography
RCAHMS records the monument as HY22NE 3.
RCAHMS 1946, INVENTORY OF THE MONUMENTS OF ORKNEY, Edinburgh: RCAHMS, 22.
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
Other nearby scheduled monuments