The arrangements for accessing Maeshowe in Orkney had changed since the first time we visited. Now you have to take a bus from the visitor centre a few hundred yards along the road. As a result we heard of the Barnhouse Stone which sits in a field a bit west of Maeshowe and lines up with it and one of the solstices.

I later stopped to photograph it:-

Maeshowe from Barnhouse Stone:-

Maeshowe entrance:-

Ness of Brodgar from Maeshowe. The Ness of Brodgar is the spit of land between the two lochs you can see in the photo. Just below the lowest rightmost hill in the background you can make out the Ring of Brodgar:-

View southwest from Maeshowe:-

View from Maeshowe towards Hoy:-

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Maeshowe is another neolithic site in Orkney I’d always wished to visit. It’s a 5,000 years old chambered cairn, with three burial chambers, two of which dog-leg to the right, one to the left. The bodies were exposed to the elements to be stripped down to the bones before being placed in the chamber.

Unlike other sites on Orkney you can only visit Maeshowe on a guided tour. The car park by the access path has been closed and access is only via a bus from the Visitor Centre in nearby Stenness village. The guide said the road was too dangerous to allow cars to turn in and out and pedestrians to cross unsupervised. Apparently someone had been clocked going at 152 miles per hour along the road!

Unfortunately internal photographs are not allowed. The guide said that was for reasons of time.

You have to bend down and stoop for metres to get into the chamber proper through the access tunnel. You’ll find a photo of the tunnel here.

In deepest winter around the winter solstice a shaft of sunlight lights up the passage and enters the large central chamber. There is a webcam site which shows live pictures from November to February. They seem to have had some trouble with it last year though.

In 1153 some Vikings broke in to Maeshowe to get shelter during a snowstorm which lasted for days and spent their time carving runes. These can be dated fairly precisely as this type of runes was only in use for a short time. Some of the runes can be seen on the Orkneyjar web page.

Also inscribed was a fenrir which some people call the Maeshowe dragon.

Maeshowe from access path:-

Maeshowe showing ring rampart:-

From access path, showing entrance:-

Entrance:-

Maeshowe from south:-

From north:-

Stones of Stenness (to left) and Ness and Ring of Brodgar (to right) from Maeshowe. Loch of Harray in middle ground, Loch of Stenness above and to left :-

“The Ring of Brodgar is the finest known truly circular late Neolithic or early Bronze Age stone ring and a later expression of the spirit which gave rise to Maeshowe, Stenness and Skara Brae.”

Earlier this year a BBC TV series called Britain’s Ancient Capital: Secrets of Orkney fronted by Neil Oliver argued convincingly that Orkney was an extremely important cultural centre in neolithic times and that the construction of stone circles originated in Orkney, spreading south from there – eventually to produce Stonehenge.

Unfortunately the path directly round the outside of the Ring was undergoing maintenance when we visited so it was not showing its best appearance. And as you can see we were not the only visitors:-

I did try to get a photo without other people in it:-

Ring of Brodgar from perimeter:-

You’re absolutely tripping over ancient man-made structures in the Stenness area. This mound, by the shores of the Loch of Stenness and not far from the Ring (from where this photo was taken) is called Salt Knowe. The hills in the background are on Hoy:-

Ring from perimeter path, Loch of Harray in the background:-

Single stone, with man to show scale, part of Loch of Harray behind. You can easily see wear to the grass around the stone, emphasising the need for maintenance:-

Looking Towards Ness of Brodgar and Maeshowe from Ring of Brodgar. Loch of Harray to left of Ness of Brodgar, Loch of Stenness to right, Maeshowe just to left of middle of photo:-

Barnhouse Village is a neolithic settlement lying about one hundred and fifty metres or so from the Stones of Stenness in Orkney.

Structure in village, Loch of Harray behind:-

House with hearth, Ness of Brodgar behind over Loch of Harray:-

This is the entrance to what the information board called Structure 8:-

Barnhouse village House:-

Another house, Loch of Harray behind:-

The board called this one House 2:-

Click on below to take you to video on my Flickr, first looking towards Loch of Harray and Ness of Brodgar then sweeping round to look back towards Stones of Stenness:-

The piece of land on which the Stones of Stenness lie contains other neolithic remnants.

One is the Watchstone (which used to have a companion Odin Stone which was destroyed in 1814 by the leaseholder of the land.)

The Watchstone from path round Stones of Stenness, Ness of Brodgar behind:-

The Watchstone and Ness of Brodgar, Loch of Stenness to left, Loch of Harray to right:-

The Watchstone, looking over the Loch of Stenness, Hoy in distance:-

Two hundred yards or so north east of the Stones of Stenness are the remains of a neolithic settlement called Barnhouse Village – of which more later. This photo taken from the edge of the village over the bottom of the Loch of Harray shows how close Maeshowe is (green mound just to right of centre of picture.)

Looking northwest over the Loch of Harray from Barnhouse Village you can also easily see the Ring of Brodgar:-

Closer view of Ring of Brodgar from Barnhouse Village:-