Four tall thin slabs and a low bank on an Orkney isthmus, part of one of the oldest stone circles in Britain
Open to visitorsa Historic Environment Scotland site — many are free to wander; staffed ones charge and keep set hours
Standing remainssubstantial fabric survives to stand in front of
Only four of the original stones still stand at Stenness, but they are worth the trip north — tall, narrow slabs of flagstone, the tallest around six metres, set inside a shallow bank-and-ditch ring that archaeologists call a henge. People raised them around 3100 BC, which makes the Stones of Stenness one of the earliest stone circles known in Britain, older than the sarsen ring at Stonehenge. The stones sit on a narrow neck of land between two lochs, Loch of Stenness and Loch of Harray, in the heart of prehistoric Orkney. The bigger Ring of Brodgar is a short walk up the road, and Maes Howe, a grassy mound with a stone burial chamber inside, sits just to the east. Together they form part of the Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site. Historic Environment Scotland looks after the stones and there is no charge to walk among them.
