"A perforated standing stone on Orkney's northernmost island, aligned to midwinter solstice and once the centre of New Year dancing by moonlight"
Standing Stone of Hollandstoun
North Ronaldsay, Orkney Islands, United Kingdom
On North Ronaldsay, the most northerly of Orkney's inhabited islands, a standing stone known as the Stan Stane rises approximately four metres from the ground. What distinguishes this stone from Orkney's many menhirs is a small hole pierced through its body, possibly a sighting hole aligned to a celestial event or to another, now-vanished stone. A parish minister recorded that until the early eighteenth century, islanders gathered at the stone to dance on the first day of the year by moonlight. The stone appears to have a midwinter solstice connection, making it one of the most remarkable standing stones in northern Europe for its combination of astronomical alignment and documented folk practice.
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Quick Facts
Location
North Ronaldsay, Orkney Islands, United Kingdom
Tradition
Site Type
Coordinates
59.3670, -2.4330
Last Updated
Feb 6, 2026
The Stan Stane belongs to Orkney's Neolithic tradition of standing stone erection, but its perforated hole and documented folk traditions set it apart from most Orcadian menhirs. The recorded New Year dancing tradition, combined with the possible midwinter solstice alignment, suggests a connection between the stone and the marking of temporal cycles that persisted from prehistory into the early modern period.
Origin Story
No origin narrative survives from the Neolithic builders. The stone's style and construction are consistent with the Neolithic period, approximately five thousand years ago. The New Year dancing tradition, documented in the early eighteenth century, is the oldest recorded cultural practice associated with the stone, but it is unlikely to represent the original purpose of the monument.
Key Figures
Parish Minister (unnamed)
Spiritual Lineage
The lineage connecting the stone's original builders to the documented New Year dancers spans approximately four and a half thousand years. Whether any continuous thread of practice ran through this period is unknowable. The parish minister's record suggests that the stone retained cultural significance into the early modern period, long after its original meaning had been lost.
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