Description

The monument is a standing stone, a ritual or ceremonial monument dating probably to the late Neolithic or Bronze Age (late third or second millennium BC). The stone is earth-fast and in its original location. It stands approximately 2m high and is 0.8m wide by 0.3m thick at the base, tapering to 0.6m wide and 0.18m thick at the top. The stone is situated on a grassy verge directly N of the road above a gentle slope down to the sea. It stands about 20m above sea level and has wide views across Eynhallow Sound to the S. The monument was first scheduled in 1936, but the documentation did not meet modern standards: the present amendment rectifies this.

The scheduled area is circular on plan, 2m in diameter, centred on the stone. The scheduling includes the stone described above and an area around it within which evidence relating to the monument's erection and use is expected to survive, as shown in red on the accompanying map. The scheduling excludes the top 50cm of the road surface and make-up to allow for its maintenance.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

This monument is of national importance as a well-preserved and impressive example of an individual, prehistoric standing stone. It is a large example, but is otherwise typical of its class in Orkney. Although broken and repaired in the past, the stone still stands in its original location and there is high potential for the presence of buried archaeological deposits and features in the socket and around the base of the stone, including possibly burials. This monument has the potential to enhance our understanding of ritual and ceremonial activities in the prehistoric period, and specifically, the beliefs of the people who erected standing stones, the activities carried out around standing stones, and the relationship between standing stones in an area. This standing stone also has the potential to inform us about the value attributed to such monuments in later times, for example, in marking a routeway or territory. The stone forms part of the wider archaeological landscape in Rousay which is particularly rich in prehistoric monuments, many of them funerary or ceremonial in function. The loss of this monument would diminish our ability to understand the nature of prehistoric belief and ritual in Orkney and the placing and function of standing stones within the landscape.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS records the monument as HY42NW 7.

References

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, 202, no 559.

RCAHMS 1982, The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. The archaeological sites and monuments of Rousay, Egilsay and Wyre, Orkney Islands Area, The archaeological sites and monuments of Scotland series no 16, Edinburgh, 20, no 50.

Ritchie, A 1996, Orkney and Shetland, in Ritchie, A (ed) Exploring Scotland's Heritage series, Edinburgh.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland