A stone circle 104 metres across on a narrow neck of land between two lochs on Orkney, put up between about 2500 and 2000 BC, the last of the great Neolithic monuments raised in an area that already had Skara Brae, Maeshowe and the Stones of Stenness within sight. Of an original sixty stones, 27 were still standing at the end of the twentieth century. It sits inside a rock-cut ditch that would have taken an enormous amount of work to cut out of Orkney sandstone with antler and stone. UNESCO listed it in 1999 as part of the Heart of Neolithic Orkney and it has been a scheduled monument since 18 August 1882. Historic Environment Scotland manages it; access is free and open, with occasional partial closures to let the footpath recover. Six miles northeast of Stromness.
Mainland, Orkney, Scotland
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