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Ancient monument

Maeshowe

Stenness, Orkney

A Neolithic tomb lit by the midwinter sun, and full of Viking graffiti.

Maeshowe is a grassy mound hiding a stone chamber of extraordinary skill. Around midwinter, the setting sun shines down its passage onto the back wall.

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When
c. 2800 BC
Where
58.9965, -3.1883
Group
Circles & monuments

Visiting

Historic Environment Scotland. Guided tours; book ahead.

Cover of The Ledger of Lost Britain by Cale Mills
From the book

The Ledger of Lost Britain

At the winter solstice, sunlight enters the passage and reaches the back wall of the chamber.

The Romans arrived in AD 43. For most people that is where the history of Britain begins. But by the time the legions landed, people had already been living on these islands for thousands of years. They had hunted, farmed, mined flint, dragged stones across the country, raised a hill by hand, and buried their dead in great tombs. They left no written words. What they left was the ground itself. Every place in this book can be visited, or has been dug up, or is in a museum.

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