Sunday, May 09, 2010
Stenness just prior to Thomas visit reported in Archaeologia IV
William Wilson 1842 "Stones of Stennis... in one case in a vast circle surrounded by a mount, in the other in insulated groups of two or three together, either forming parts of an approach to the circle, or themselves the sole remnants of other corresponding circles...
none of them is very thick in proportion to its height and breadth... The summits are generally diagonal... and they seem also in many cases to be imbedded in the earth by a corresponding sloping corner. Their original position was no doubt
perpendicular although others are leaning to their fall, and not a few are lying flat upon the ground...
Although the gigantic remnants near the Kirkwall road are too few in number to indicate the circular form, yet that... is sufficiently manifested by the distinct traces of a large green mound in which they are enclosed... almost continuous semicircle... the other segment having been ploughrd up... One of the largest of these stones now lies flat... having been loosened it is said... by the plough, and soon after blown over by a gale... A... boy... said they were brought there from a distance long ago by the mytes... he... rather thought "a kind of speerits" [perhaps plural of the Mighty that were of old]
Close to either side of the southern end of the bridge... stands a great sentinel stone. [Pocokes 1760 drawing shows the second as a little further from the roadside and it looks like a recumbent i.e. bulky cuboid on its side. I suppose there's an outside chance this had been a large natural boulder like the Savile Stone on Sanday]
... the completer... circle of the... Stones of Stennis... as you approach them you pass here and there a solitary stone or broken remnant, as if there had been... a connecting range or approach, all the way from the bridge to the great circle. The
latter is encompassed by a still entire mound, surrounded by a foss [sic], and there is a filling up of the foss and a lowering of the mound, just at two entrance places, opposite each other, north and south."
William Wilson 1842 "Stones of Stennis... in one case in a vast circle surrounded by a mount, in the other in insulated groups of two or three together, either forming parts of an approach to the circle, or themselves the sole remnants of other corresponding circles...
none of them is very thick in proportion to its height and breadth... The summits are generally diagonal... and they seem also in many cases to be imbedded in the earth by a corresponding sloping corner. Their original position was no doubt
perpendicular although others are leaning to their fall, and not a few are lying flat upon the ground...
Although the gigantic remnants near the Kirkwall road are too few in number to indicate the circular form, yet that... is sufficiently manifested by the distinct traces of a large green mound in which they are enclosed... almost continuous semicircle... the other segment having been ploughrd up... One of the largest of these stones now lies flat... having been loosened it is said... by the plough, and soon after blown over by a gale... A... boy... said they were brought there from a distance long ago by the mytes... he... rather thought "a kind of speerits" [perhaps plural of the Mighty that were of old]
Close to either side of the southern end of the bridge... stands a great sentinel stone. [Pocokes 1760 drawing shows the second as a little further from the roadside and it looks like a recumbent i.e. bulky cuboid on its side. I suppose there's an outside chance this had been a large natural boulder like the Savile Stone on Sanday]
... the completer... circle of the... Stones of Stennis... as you approach them you pass here and there a solitary stone or broken remnant, as if there had been... a connecting range or approach, all the way from the bridge to the great circle. The
latter is encompassed by a still entire mound, surrounded by a foss [sic], and there is a filling up of the foss and a lowering of the mound, just at two entrance places, opposite each other, north and south."
Labels: Ring of Brodgar, Stones of Stenness, Watch Stone
Saturday, May 01, 2010
18th Century Stenness, mostly lesser circle
Pococke 1760
"[from the Ring of Brdgar] There is a single pillar about 50 yards to the North East, and a barrow to the North and South, one to the South West and another to the North East...
another circle of stones [Stones of Stenness] which are 15 feet high, 6 feet broad, the circle is about 30 yards in diameter, and the stones are about 8 yards apart. There are two standing to the South, one is wanting, and there are two stones standing, a third lying down, then three are wanting, there being a space of 27 yards so that there were eight in all : Eighteen yards South East from the circle is a single stone, and 124 yards to the East of that is another [Odin Stone] with a hole in one side towards the bottom, from which going to the circle is another [stone] 73 yards from the fossee [sic], the outer part of which fossee is 16 yards from the circle : there are several small barrows chiefly to the East [Clovy Knowes]." His map shows a large squat stone close to the shore E of the S end of the bridge - this and the possible causeway perhaps a reminder of when the main road went along the driveway to Stenness Kirk.
Low ~1774 unpublished ms "History of the Orkneys" quoted in 1879 edition published by William Peace [referring to a lost drawing, that published being one by William Aberdeen from the1760's]
"[Stones of Stenness] The drawing shows the stones in their present state, which is four entire and one broken [??recumbent]. It is not ditched about like ... [Ring of Brodgar]..but surrounded with a raised mound partly raised on the live earth, as the other was cut from it... near the circle are several stones set on end without any regular order, or several of them so much broken, hinder us as to the design of them."
William Aberdeen's annotated map [donated to Royal Society of London 1784] is the source of observations attributed later to Hibbert
"When Oliver Cromwell's men were in this county they dug tolerably deep in the top [of Maeshowe] , but found nothing but earth" also that site used for archery + "[E of Ring of Brodgar] a small mount... still retains the name of Watch Hill or Tower [Plumcake Mound rather than Fresh Knowe I think]."
Pococke 1760
"[from the Ring of Brdgar] There is a single pillar about 50 yards to the North East, and a barrow to the North and South, one to the South West and another to the North East...
another circle of stones [Stones of Stenness] which are 15 feet high, 6 feet broad, the circle is about 30 yards in diameter, and the stones are about 8 yards apart. There are two standing to the South, one is wanting, and there are two stones standing, a third lying down, then three are wanting, there being a space of 27 yards so that there were eight in all : Eighteen yards South East from the circle is a single stone, and 124 yards to the East of that is another [Odin Stone] with a hole in one side towards the bottom, from which going to the circle is another [stone] 73 yards from the fossee [sic], the outer part of which fossee is 16 yards from the circle : there are several small barrows chiefly to the East [Clovy Knowes]." His map shows a large squat stone close to the shore E of the S end of the bridge - this and the possible causeway perhaps a reminder of when the main road went along the driveway to Stenness Kirk.
Low ~1774 unpublished ms "History of the Orkneys" quoted in 1879 edition published by William Peace [referring to a lost drawing, that published being one by William Aberdeen from the1760's]
"[Stones of Stenness] The drawing shows the stones in their present state, which is four entire and one broken [??recumbent]. It is not ditched about like ... [Ring of Brodgar]..but surrounded with a raised mound partly raised on the live earth, as the other was cut from it... near the circle are several stones set on end without any regular order, or several of them so much broken, hinder us as to the design of them."
William Aberdeen's annotated map [donated to Royal Society of London 1784] is the source of observations attributed later to Hibbert
"When Oliver Cromwell's men were in this county they dug tolerably deep in the top [of Maeshowe] , but found nothing but earth" also that site used for archery + "[E of Ring of Brodgar] a small mount... still retains the name of Watch Hill or Tower [Plumcake Mound rather than Fresh Knowe I think]."
Labels: Knowes of Broidgar, Maes Howe, Ring of Brodgar, Stones of Stenness
Friday, August 14, 2009
COMET STONE
This site shows how size isn't everything. There was a complicated set of ceremonies surrounding matrimony involving all three rings and another Bookan site. Though nothing is recorded for this place, if the early name of Ulie Stane comes from
dialect ullie 'oil' might I suggest a reference to chrism and perhaps ceremonies surrounding childbirth ? Note that this was the way to the Ring of Brodgar on the old track that ran through the "sacred monuments", making it a gatekeeper kind-of - in the 19th century gentlemen still doffed their caps to it.
[My stone measurements are likely accurate but the distances between them and across the mound are as near as I could manage alone. {NMRS converted to metric} ]
The Comet Stone aligns NW/SE and sits in a depression presently measuring 2.7m by 2.3m and 20cm deep. The main stone stands 1.88m at the SE end {1.75m} and 1.97m at the NW, depth 27-28cm {29cm}, width 70cm at base increasing to 73 {76cm}.
Measured height differs enough from NMRS to indicate surface erosion [there is a long scrape in the northern half too]. "Lines on the Landscape, Circles from the Sky" by Trevor Garnham gives an alignment to Maes Howe. but unless my compass reading is absolutely useless is incorrect this is not so, explaining why the meticulous antiquarians would miss such a thing- the alignment would seem, rather, to carry on to the Ring of Bookan [though this is on the hillslope invisible from here unless it stood higher formerly or had a superstructure such as a stone ring or posts] and perhaps ? to something roughly in the Dowsgarth region in the other direction. This NW/SE alignment is shared by the Stanerandy Tumulus (for a long while thought to be standing stones) and the Deepdale Stones, both on Mainland, and the Langsteeen on Rousay - we know so few s.s. orientations that there could well be more. The relationship with the recorded 'stubs' is striking, forming a geometric unequal tee-formation.
Following the alignment 2.97m {2.67m} brings you to the western edge of Stub i and from that 2.75m takes you to the eastern edge of Stub ii. These define the mound's axes. Axis A , defined by Comet to Stub i 'W', is perpendicular to Axis B which is along the line of the two stubs (a NE/SW alignment shared with the Watch Stone stump and the Spurdagrove s.s. pair). Using 'mound' for the area currently left rough then the mound is 16~16.5m along Axis A and ~11m along Axis B - NMRS gives approximate size of 13.7x12.8 and ~80cm high. At the edge, 6.5m from the Comet Stone's SE end only a few inches away [<5deg] from where Axis A meets the SE periphery, there can be seen the top of another stone, call it Stub iii, that is probably like to Stub i except that only the very top is showing - careful ground prodding proves the top extends beyond the visible surface and I imagine if more were exposed the axial fit might be closer still (Stub iii is level with the grass and has a smooth appearance, not layered like the other three recorded stones). Similarly a few inches off Axis B , though roughly a metre short of where this meets the NE periphery, there is a roughly rectangular prostrate Slab 3.98m from Stub i 'E'. There's a slight space underneath where the lower surface has 'flaked' loose fragments [I presume they are from this leastways]. Careful search failed to disclose any further stones, so the fact that these appear to mark the axes ends is fascinating (though what of the other ends ?).
Used the 10x zoom on my digital camera [380mm equivalent] to examine three of the directions - for even if the indication from the stubs to the SW was a particular one of the lesser mounds without knowledge of any specific importance it is only presently referrable to chance. Looking along the Comet Stone in conjunction with stub i the Ness of Brodgar is perfectly framed, like looking down the barrel of a gun. From the Comet Stone alone to the SE, apart from the Orphir area, the only possibilty is the putative lost stone circle incorporating the Watch Stone. Viewing along the stubs to the NE confirms that it has Staney Hill in its sights, the standing stone being fractionally left of centre with the 'new' site of Henge to its right [both sides of the Grimeston road]. Disappointed to find the white cottage in the NW direction, which means disregard my previous photo info as the Ring of Bookan is on the LH side of the cottage to its left ! As this alignment passes to the east of the Ring of Brodgar I had read this as an ignoring that circle, but someone could instead read the two axes NW and SW directions marking out the area about it instead.
Stub i 73 x 23 and 16 & 19cm exposed height at ends, depth unknown - evidence of post-mediaeval [?modern] break at NE end [Stub i 'E']
Stub ii 29 x 30 and 29cm exposed height, depth unknown [still whole ??]
Stub iii minimum 20cm down in mound, surface 23 [19 visible] by 15cm, depth unknown
Slab almost entirely exposed, 40x36 cm and 6cm thick at least (stone fragments in 4cm space beneath it)
This site shows how size isn't everything. There was a complicated set of ceremonies surrounding matrimony involving all three rings and another Bookan site. Though nothing is recorded for this place, if the early name of Ulie Stane comes from
dialect ullie 'oil' might I suggest a reference to chrism and perhaps ceremonies surrounding childbirth ? Note that this was the way to the Ring of Brodgar on the old track that ran through the "sacred monuments", making it a gatekeeper kind-of - in the 19th century gentlemen still doffed their caps to it.
[My stone measurements are likely accurate but the distances between them and across the mound are as near as I could manage alone. {NMRS converted to metric} ]
The Comet Stone aligns NW/SE and sits in a depression presently measuring 2.7m by 2.3m and 20cm deep. The main stone stands 1.88m at the SE end {1.75m} and 1.97m at the NW, depth 27-28cm {29cm}, width 70cm at base increasing to 73 {76cm}.
Measured height differs enough from NMRS to indicate surface erosion [there is a long scrape in the northern half too]. "Lines on the Landscape, Circles from the Sky" by Trevor Garnham gives an alignment to Maes Howe. but unless my compass reading is absolutely useless is incorrect this is not so, explaining why the meticulous antiquarians would miss such a thing- the alignment would seem, rather, to carry on to the Ring of Bookan [though this is on the hillslope invisible from here unless it stood higher formerly or had a superstructure such as a stone ring or posts] and perhaps ? to something roughly in the Dowsgarth region in the other direction. This NW/SE alignment is shared by the Stanerandy Tumulus (for a long while thought to be standing stones) and the Deepdale Stones, both on Mainland, and the Langsteeen on Rousay - we know so few s.s. orientations that there could well be more. The relationship with the recorded 'stubs' is striking, forming a geometric unequal tee-formation.
Following the alignment 2.97m {2.67m} brings you to the western edge of Stub i and from that 2.75m takes you to the eastern edge of Stub ii. These define the mound's axes. Axis A , defined by Comet to Stub i 'W', is perpendicular to Axis B which is along the line of the two stubs (a NE/SW alignment shared with the Watch Stone stump and the Spurdagrove s.s. pair). Using 'mound' for the area currently left rough then the mound is 16~16.5m along Axis A and ~11m along Axis B - NMRS gives approximate size of 13.7x12.8 and ~80cm high. At the edge, 6.5m from the Comet Stone's SE end only a few inches away [<5deg] from where Axis A meets the SE periphery, there can be seen the top of another stone, call it Stub iii, that is probably like to Stub i except that only the very top is showing - careful ground prodding proves the top extends beyond the visible surface and I imagine if more were exposed the axial fit might be closer still (Stub iii is level with the grass and has a smooth appearance, not layered like the other three recorded stones). Similarly a few inches off Axis B , though roughly a metre short of where this meets the NE periphery, there is a roughly rectangular prostrate Slab 3.98m from Stub i 'E'. There's a slight space underneath where the lower surface has 'flaked' loose fragments [I presume they are from this leastways]. Careful search failed to disclose any further stones, so the fact that these appear to mark the axes ends is fascinating (though what of the other ends ?).
Used the 10x zoom on my digital camera [380mm equivalent] to examine three of the directions - for even if the indication from the stubs to the SW was a particular one of the lesser mounds without knowledge of any specific importance it is only presently referrable to chance. Looking along the Comet Stone in conjunction with stub i the Ness of Brodgar is perfectly framed, like looking down the barrel of a gun. From the Comet Stone alone to the SE, apart from the Orphir area, the only possibilty is the putative lost stone circle incorporating the Watch Stone. Viewing along the stubs to the NE confirms that it has Staney Hill in its sights, the standing stone being fractionally left of centre with the 'new' site of Henge to its right [both sides of the Grimeston road]. Disappointed to find the white cottage in the NW direction, which means disregard my previous photo info as the Ring of Bookan is on the LH side of the cottage to its left ! As this alignment passes to the east of the Ring of Brodgar I had read this as an ignoring that circle, but someone could instead read the two axes NW and SW directions marking out the area about it instead.
Stub i 73 x 23 and 16 & 19cm exposed height at ends, depth unknown - evidence of post-mediaeval [?modern] break at NE end [Stub i 'E']
Stub ii 29 x 30 and 29cm exposed height, depth unknown [still whole ??]
Stub iii minimum 20cm down in mound, surface 23 [19 visible] by 15cm, depth unknown
Slab almost entirely exposed, 40x36 cm and 6cm thick at least (stone fragments in 4cm space beneath it)
Labels: Henge, Ness of Brodgar, Ring of Bookan, Ring of Brodgar, Staneyhill, Stoney Hill, Watch Stone
