The Ring of Brodgar, Orkney

The Ring of Brodgar, Orkney: The Great Henge of the North

Overview

The Ring of Brodgar stands on a narrow spit of land between two lochs — Harray and Stenness — on the Orkney Mainland, and it is one of the largest and most perfect stone circles in the British Isles. A vast ring of thin, angular flagstones set inside a broad rock-cut ditch, it is 104 metres across and, unlike almost every other great henge in Britain, an almost perfect circle. It is the centrepiece of the “Heart of Neolithic Orkney” UNESCO World Heritage Site, and on the treeless Orkney moor, under those enormous northern skies, it is genuinely awe-inspiring.

What you’re looking at

  • A true circle 104 m in diameter — the third-largest stone circle in Britain, after Avebury and the Great Circle at Stanton Drew, and the largest in Scotland.
  • Originally perhaps 60 stones; today 27 stand (more if you count fallen stumps), the tallest over 4 metres, all of thin local Orkney flagstone.
  • A wide ditch cut straight into the solid bedrock, up to 3 metres deep — an astonishing feat with antler and stone tools — encircling the stones with two original entrance causeways.
  • The outlying Comet Stone, a lone monolith on a low platform just to the south-east.

The full history

The Ring is generally dated to around 2500–2000 BC, in the late Neolithic — making it later than the nearby Stones of Stenness, which it seems to echo on a grander scale. It has never been fully excavated, so much about it remains unknown; most of what we understand comes from antiquarian survey and limited modern fieldwork. A lightning strike in 1973 famously split one of the stones. The rock-cut ditch, and the scale of the whole enterprise, tell us this was a place of enormous communal effort and significance — a gathering-place for a society we still know only in fragments.

The heart of Neolithic Orkney

Brodgar does not stand alone. Within a short walk are the Stones of Stenness (older, and possibly the earliest henge in Britain), the great chambered tomb of Maeshowe, and the extraordinary temple complex of the Ness of Brodgar, excavated since 2003 between the two circles. Together with the village of Skara Brae, these make up one of the richest and best-preserved Neolithic landscapes anywhere in Europe — which is why the whole area carries World Heritage status. To visit Brodgar is really to step into the ceremonial centre of Stone Age Orkney.

Folklore

Like much of this landscape, the Ring gathered later traditions. In Orkney folklore the circles were part of a ritual pairing — Stenness the “Temple of the Moon,” Brodgar the “Temple of the Sun” — visited in turn by couples making vows, and long associated with the god Odin and with New Year customs. The nearby (and now destroyed) holed Odin Stone at Stenness was the focus of those oaths.

Seeing it

The Ring of Brodgar is on the Orkney Mainland, roughly 6 miles from Stromness and about 10 from Kirkwall. It is cared for by Historic Environment Scotland, with free, open access at any time and a car park nearby; a path leads around the ring (please keep to it — the surrounding heather is fragile). Orkney is reached by ferry (from Scrabster near Thurso, Aberdeen, or Gills Bay) or by air. Give yourself a full day for the World Heritage sites together — Brodgar, Stenness, Maeshowe and Skara Brae are all within a few miles.

Nearby & linked

Sources

  • Historic Environment Scotland — Ring of Brodgar (site record & visitor information).
  • UNESCO World Heritage — Heart of Neolithic Orkney.
  • Canmore / RCAHMS; Ness of Brodgar excavation project.