Standing Stones of Stenness: Orkney's 5,000-Year-old Giants
Five hundred years before Stonehenge, a group of Neolithic people arranged twelve stone megaliths, some up to six metres high, to form a circle on the island of Orkney in Scotland.
Beneath these looming giants, our ancestors gathered to perform sacred rites that were part of an extraordinary web of ceremonial sites across this windswept island.
Today, only four of these enormous megaliths survive, standing in enigmatic silence, watched over by sheep, with not a gift shop in sight.
What is possibly the oldest Henge in Britain stands at the heart of the UNESCO World Heritage Site called The Heart of Neolithic Orkney, one of Western Europe’s richest surviving Neolithic landscapes.
The impressive Ring of Brodgar lies less than one mile away.
Visit both sites at sunrise or sunset for a magical experience.
58°59'38.3"N 3°12'28.4"W (opens Google Maps)
Outlying stones in the garden of Lochview, a cottage nearby.
How to GET TO THE Standing Stones of Stenness
Orkney can be reached by ferry or plane. Pentland Ferries and NorthLink Ferries sail from the Scottish mainland, with tickets available via Ferrygogo, while Loganair operates flights to and from the islands, bookable through Skyscanner.
The Standing Stones of Stenness lie just ten minutes’ drive from Stromness, and during the summer months, regular bus services run from both Stromness and Kirkwall.
The site is free to visit and open year-round. Nearby, the Ring of Brodgar is only 1.2 km away, allowing visitors to experience two of the islands’ most iconic monuments in a single journey.
orkney.com offers guided tours and comprehensive information on what else to see and do across the archipelago.
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