Dwarfie Stane | Mysterious & Unique Rock-Cut Tomb on Hoy Island, Orkney, c.3000 BC | Megalithomania

So the Dwarfy Stone or Stane, there's different ways to pronounce it, S-T-A-N-E, is a magnificent site and you can see it down in the hill just behind me. This one isn't it, this is another great sandstone block, but the one behind us, which we're going to have a look at in a moment, is one huge piece of sandstone about 28 feet wide and it's got a western entrance carved out of solid rock and like a hypergeum tomb inside it. Although it looks more like the living quarters of a dwarf than it does that of a tomb. Not much was found in it, there's a blocking stone which fits over the front and the shape and size of it, the interior, is absolutely remarkable. It's like something from the Mediterranean, from Malta or Sardinia or even Menorca. And it's unique in the whole of Britain, most certainly in Scotland, there is a similar rock-cut tomb in Ireland. And so it's a real treat to come here and see such craftsmanship of stone here on the island of Huy in Orkney. Now there are various legends that talk about giants and dwarfs. The Vikings believed it was the residence of a dwarf, hence that's where the name kind of came from. But before that, there's legends of giants and there was a ruling kind of ferocious giant who lived on Huy and a family of giants, a male and a female. And to stop them controlling what was going on on Huy, he blocked them up when they were inside and put the capstone, sorry, put the blocking stone inside the front door. And so they freaked out and the only way they could get out was by creating a hole in the top so they could get out. Actually the hole was created by people who were investigating the stone hundreds of years ago. So you have these legends of giants and dwarfs relating to this particular site in Orkney. So we're here at the famous Dwarfy Stain or stone on the island of Huy. This is an amazing 28 foot wide block of sandstone that came down from the cliffs up there or moved by a glacier that moved through this valley and shaped this valley many millions of years ago. Until the beginning of the 20th century, local people used to leave offerings outside the front. You can see that on the front of the stone here even today. Why that is, we don't know, but it really is the only major sacred site that goes back to the Neolithic time on this whole island. Even in the novel, The Pirate by Sir Walter Scott, there's a quote here I want to read to you. This extraordinary dwelling, which trollied a dwarf famous in the Northern saga, is said to have framed for his favorite residence, suggesting this was indeed the residence of dwarfs, hence the Dwarfy Stain or stone. It's also said by him that up on the hills at certain times of day and certain times of the year, bright lights would appear. People would go and try and find them to see exactly what they were. I'll read this quote to you. It's from the same book. In the months of May, June, and July, about midday, the rays of the sun caught something that shines and sparkles admirably and which is often seen a great way off. It hath shone more brightly than it does now, though many have climbed up the hill and attempted to search for it, yet they could find nothing. What this means is there's some kind of strange light, sunlight is catching some kind of crystalline stone or it could be earth lights where the movement of rocks under the earth create this phenomena which is recorded at length by researchers such as Paul Deveraux. In Hoy, The Dark Enchanted Island, the book by John Bramner, he recalls when he was staying here that he climbed the hills and he found caves throughout the hills around here up on the mountain edges where people probably used to live in prehistoric times and he found this legendary stone which was shaped like an egg, much like the Aberdeenshire and Orkney carved stone spheres that we find all over this part of the world. So if that is the case, then where is it? But it was described as some kind of magical amulet and even though he described it and wrote about it in detail, it has now completely disappeared. No one has a clue at all where it is. Bramner also claimed that he found it along where the caves were in heather and that it was a six inch by five and a half inch piece of polished sandstone and he believed it was related to fertility. So this could have even been a fertility site because we're going to get trapped energies within the entrance here and it just seems like its placement is specific and related to the potential earth lights that you find in this area as well. You have to really question what exactly was going on here. There are other stones in this area that are supposed to have cut marks on them and various carvings on the side here. We find more modern carvings, but I just find it fascinating that it's just here. It's unique. There's nothing like this really in Britain and the only place I've seen anything like this really is in Menorca, Sardinia, Malta and the Mediterranean area where you've got this perfectly cut rock tomb. Even though they think it's definitely a tomb, it could well have been the dwelling place of someone who decided to live here, who was a master stonemason. So one piece of folklore that really intrigues me is that it's a piece of rock that fell from the moon and it was the residence of a fairy and his wife who was a water kelpie, which is the type of sprite, I guess, in the fairy tradition. We don't just have dwarfs, giants and other such things related to this. The whole fairy lore seems to fit in with this and perhaps that's related to the so-called lights that are seen at certain times of year in the summer at midday. We're actually here at midday now, so we're keeping an eye on the horizon to see if we see any strange lights. And this is from Memoranda from the Notebook of a Traveller and it was in the Edinburgh magazine in January to June 1822. At the west of the stone stands an exceeding high mountain of a steep ascent called the Ward Hill of Hoy, near the top of which in the months of May, June and July, and we're in July now, about midnight, not midday in this version, it is seen something that shines and sparkles admirably, and which is often seen a great way off, it hath shined more brightly than it does now, and though many have climbed up the hill and attempted to search for it, yet they could find nothing. The vulgar talk of it is some enchanted carbuncle, but I take it rather to be some water sliding down the face of a smooth rock, which, when the sun at such a time shines upon, the reflection causeth the admirable splendour. This is Dr. Wallace's description of the islands of Orkney from the 1700, page 52. So this talks about sunlight at midnight, now this could happen here on Orkney, it hasn't been known to happen because of the high latitude here. It's also said to be the resting place of a recluse, or someone who just had enough of life on the mainland and wanted to find peace and harmony and live, and he lived here, he carved it out and spent the rest of his life here, and he actually slept, he made stone beds here, probably used the heather and the grass to pad it out with sheepskin and so forth, so it's got very interesting stories, but let's get, I wanna have a good look inside, and let's take a look at some of this beautiful carving. So this is the famous blocking stone that was placed over the entrance originally, and supposedly, you can see the way that would fit in there quite neatly actually, almost perfectly, and that the ferocious giant who wanted to rule the land blocked this up so the giants could not get out, and we'll go on top in a minute and actually see where the hole they escaped from is. This is the interior, and you can see it's very much like the hypogeums of ancient Sardinia and other Mediterranean countries. You can just see the roof here, the way it's carved out, and then you've got like a small bed area just in there, but over here it's the most impressive, and it's almost got like slats carved in the roof as well, and like a pillow at the back where the person's head would sleep no doubt, so it's amazing, it's got it all, it's got it all in here, if you just look above the door there, you can see it's kind of got a rim around it, it's like perfectly cut, perfectly created, and this is so similar to the Mediterranean tombs, and if you could just hear the echo in here as well, I wonder if this was an acoustic chamber and it was used for ceremonial purposes, and maybe it was a retreat for the Orkney megalith builders, and they would come here and have ceremonial, perhaps even initiations, where they would lock themselves in, and the stone at the entrance, they would block themselves in and it would be some kind of initiation ceremony, maybe a coming of age thing, it's really quite remarkable. So we're just looking out westwards, slightly southwest, God, and you can really hear the echo, it's quite amazing, so we're looking really towards a summer solstice sunset, and you can see that it could have been a line, it could have been recording stuff, making observations of the stars, the moon, and the sun throughout the year from this particular spot, just like this, almost like a bedside, and up here, this is carved out of solid sandstone, and you've got even this bit up here as well, really quite amazing. But let's have a look around it, see if we can see any carvings, see any cut marks and things like that, because I'm sure there are some here. So we can't find the hole on top here where the giant was supposed to have escaped from, so maybe this has been placed, this kind of looks like concrete or something, which they've kind of put over the top, so maybe they've covered it back up. To the east of the stone, about maybe 100 yards, we have what looks like cut marks here, you can just see the stone in the distance there in the centre, so I wonder if this was related to the site, or if this is a natural kind of cut mark. You can see the stone, there's another stone here, it's got some kind of markings on it, I wonder if they're carved or if they're natural, and again, a dwarfie stone over there in the distance. I mean this stone here really does look like it's a plug, it almost looks like it's the correct shape, and it certainly looks like it's been carved. This maybe could have been the original plug stone, the door stone to the dwarfie stone. I wonder if that is the case, I wonder if this is related to the site, very interesting, there's some theories that this may be the case, there's supposed to be carvings on this but I can't really see any, there's some kind of little markings, striations, but I think they're natural. That is strange, that end piece there, or perhaps that's the cut mark, just at the bottom there, I'm not too sure.