<< Our Photo Pages >> Harproo - Standing Stone (Menhir) in Scotland in Orkney
Submitted by howar on Sunday, 16 October 2005 Page Views: 5554
Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: HarprooCountry: Scotland
NOTE: This site is 4.308 km away from the location you searched for.
County: Orkney Type: Standing Stone (Menhir)
Nearest Town: Stromness Nearest Village: Orphir
Map Ref: HY33190413
Latitude: 58.919223N Longitude: 3.161896W
Condition:
5 | Perfect |
4 | Almost Perfect |
3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
0 | No data. |
-1 | Completely destroyed |
5 | Superb |
4 | Good |
3 | Ordinary |
2 | Not Good |
1 | Awful |
0 | No data. |
5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
4 | Short walk on a footpath |
3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
2 | A long walk |
1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
0 | No data. |
5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
0 | no data |
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Standing Stone in Orkney
Unproven provenance - possibly modern
Harproo is a stream-name, and at the time of my visit a shallow stream proceeded over the present farmtrack down to the beach from the Bu road. This was an old hill dyke seemingly similar in dimensions to that close by Kongarsknowe, being just over a metre deep and approximately 6m across where it meets the shore.Actually I took the Breck footpath from the kirkyard then rushed across the shallowest bit of the Bu burn. On the cliff-top either side the drystone wall is terminated in lichen-covered stones on the order of a metre high. Fairly standard. But sitting on the base of the 'trench' is a stone of a very different character. It is head and shoulders higher than any other stones in Orphir and also differs from these other stones in being completely devoid of lichen and having the colouration typical of stones that have been in the vicinity of a farmyard all the time. I am firmly of the opinion that this is HY30SW 11, the Bu of Orphir standing stone, transplanted. With the other stones it has several 'loose' modern gates roped across. This stone is 1.9m high and 0.2m thick, is 0.6m across the base (which appears to be stone-packed) tapering to 0.3m at the top.
The site of HY30SW 16 is in the area shown by by Johnston on the two maps between p.12-3 & 14-15 of his private printing, to both of which he has added the name Harproo in the relevant position - it is depicted as a square structure/foundations on the second of these. By the field border of the Bu boundary in the 1980's were found N/S aligned rectangular foundations with cross-wall (HY332042), , near the shoreline. This is being eroded where it meets high tide.Though I was ignorant of it at the time my photos reveal I may have Yarproo in the cliff close to the E terminal stone as several stones about half a metre below the cliff-top in an area about a metre across and ?under half deep.
It is simpler to come down the farmtrack. At the road end is a similar arrangement of two stones aligned plus a third slightly away. As all these are similar it is my guess that the farm stone could have been a replacement for one swept out to sea. My impression is that the W margin of the track is more like the original ?prehistoric bank would have been, but I have not yet walked the track.
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