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<< Our Photo Pages >> Mark Stone of Gaitnip - Standing Stone (Menhir) in Scotland in Orkney

Submitted by howar on Thursday, 03 June 2004  Page Views: 4194

Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: Mark Stone of Gaitnip
Country: Scotland County: Orkney Type: Standing Stone (Menhir)
Nearest Town: Kirkwall
Map Ref: HY458048  Landranger Map Number: 6
Latitude: 58.927021N  Longitude: 2.943124W
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
1 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
3 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
2 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
3

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Mark Stone of Gaitnip
Mark Stone of Gaitnip submitted by howar : Shattered fragments of 3rd slab ? Orkney HY458048 (Vote or comment on this photo)
Standing Stone in Orkney


Coming from Kirkwall you will come across an unmarked isolated set of (minor) stately home type gates and this is, I guess the long and winding road that leads to Gaitnip. The site is marked beside the track behind Gaitnip coming from this direction. Alternatively I chose to avoid habitation and go down the track that runs down from alongside Works. This way you have to be fit because of the various kinds of gate and fence along the way. Somewhere on the left before you reach the burn there used to be a cairn called Sir Hugh's Seat (HY456060). Coming up the hill there is a dogleg that goes to the right. Inside this junction is what looks for all the world like a grassed-over broch's remains but CANMORE only has this as where the OS used to show an unroofed structure (Burn of Deepdale HY452057). Next up a set of small portable fences lies across the way - just managed to step over them with care. After this the track is blocked by agricultural stuff, but fortunately the field alongside is not fenced there if a trifle muddy. This track ends at a crack in the earth going down to the sea, and you turn right here. Along the field edge is a broad and deeply rutted trackway. From here you look across three fields to Gaitnip, and the middle one of those on your right is marked on the map as Mark Stone of Gaitnip. This is at HY448061, the present TMA grid reference of HY446061 is actually the lower boundary of the field beneath this. Regardless I could find no standing stones anywhere apart from the very small ones that were part of the (mostly) turfed-over drystone walls and a possible set of short wall ends. This absence is likely enough why there is no more info on the site. But all may not be lost. For a third of the way through the first field a short bridge runs across the track (at HY458048) and apart fron the innermost end it is comprised of two slabs of stone over four inches deep. I think one or both of these are the Mark Stone of Gaitnip re-used. One is 1.3m x 1.2m and the other 0.9m x 1.9m. This isn't the first of these (?foot) bridges in Orkney, often quite far away from habitation and of incongruously huge blocks. It strikes me that standing stones are being re-used simply because they were close at hand, I don't think any farmer would willingly cart megaliths all that way out, a waste of time and energy otherwise.

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Mark Stone of Gaitnip
Mark Stone of Gaitnip submitted by howar : lined 'drain' overwhelmed by covering slabs (Vote or comment on this photo)

Mark Stone of Gaitnip
Mark Stone of Gaitnip submitted by howar : Orkney HY458048 (Vote or comment on this photo)

Mark Stone of Gaitnip
Mark Stone of Gaitnip submitted by howar : Re-used as bridge, rough diagram but dimenensions of two main stones accurate Orkney HY458048 (Vote or comment on this photo)

Do not use the above information on other web sites or publications without permission of the contributor.

Nearby Images from Geograph Britain and Ireland:
HY4505 : The Burn of Deepdale by Ian Balcombe
by Ian Balcombe
©2009(licence)
HY4504 : Deepdale Farm, Scapa Flow and Scottish Mainland to the South. by Ian Balcombe
by Ian Balcombe
©2006(licence)
HY4605 : Rashieburn looking NNE by Ian Balcombe
by Ian Balcombe
©2008(licence)
HY4604 : House north of St Mary's on Mainland, Orkney by Eirian Evans
by Eirian Evans
©2023(licence)
HY4604 : Bungalow north of St Mary's by Eirian Evans
by Eirian Evans
©2023(licence)

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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 587m NNE 17° The Five Hillocks* Barrow Cemetery (HY45980536)
 1.1km NW 326° Burn of Deepdale* Ancient Village or Settlement (HY452057)
 1.7km SSE 147° Gutterpool* Misc. Earthwork (HY467034)
 2.1km SE 134° Holm Chambered Tomb* Chambered Tomb (HY473033)
 2.5km NE 49° Heathery Howes* Round Barrow(s) (HY477064)
 3.3km SE 131° Laughton's Knowe* Round Barrow(s) (HY48260258)
 3.3km NE 48° Staneloof* Cairn (HY48330698)
 3.4km SE 129° Hall of Gorn* Round Barrow(s) (HY484026)
 3.6km SSE 160° St Mary's Broch* Broch or Nuraghe (HY470014)
 3.9km NNW 343° Hillhead* Ancient Village or Settlement (HY44720855)
 3.9km ENE 57° Craw Howe* Cairn (HY491069)
 4.0km NNE 21° Grimsquoy* Round Barrow(s) (HY473085)
 4.3km SE 124° Crearhowe* Artificial Mound (HY49300235)
 4.3km NNW 345° Scapa* Barrow Cemetery (HY447090)
 4.4km SE 132° Mass Howe* Misc. Earthwork (HY49090181)
 4.6km NNW 336° Crantit* Souterrain (Fogou, Earth House) (HY440090)
 4.6km NW 325° Lingrow* Chambered Tomb (HY43240863)
 4.6km NNW 329° Broch of Lingro* Broch or Nuraghe (HY435088)
 4.6km ENE 74° Brymer* Round Barrow(s) (HY503060)
 4.8km NNE 12° Tower Hill (Orkney)* Round Barrow(s) (HY469095)
 4.8km SE 130° Tower of Clett* Artificial Mound (HY4949701654)
 5.0km ENE 77° Burn of Langskaill* Ancient Village or Settlement (HY507059)
 5.0km SSE 148° Lamb Holm* Ancient Village or Settlement (HY484005)
 5.1km NNW 330° Nevada Cott* Artificial Mound (HY433092)
 5.1km ENE 77° Round Howe* Broch or Nuraghe (HY50780591)
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