Watchstone
The Watchstone , one of the most imposing menhirs ( English Standing Stone ) of the Orkney , stands in the northwest of the Stones of Stenness at the southern end of the "Bridge of Brodgar", in Stenness on the Orkney island of Mainland in Scotland .
The stone, more than 5.6 meters high, stands near the point where the Lakes of Stenness and Harray meet.
James Wilson wrote in: A voyage round the coasts of Scotland and the isles in 1842: "On both sides of the southern end of the bridge that leads to the northern promontory, there is a large sentry stone ...". In 1875 Walter Hugh Patton drew only one stone.
The Watchstone was a stone of a stone pair that was either outlier ( English outlier ) of the stone circle Stones of Stenness, or marked a gate-like entrance to the Ness of Brodgar . The stump of the second stone was excavated in a wall at the roadside in 1930. The 0.9 m high, 1.45 m wide and very thin stump was about 13.0 meters southwest of the Watchstone on the edge of the Loch of Stenness.
His discovery led to the theory that the two stones were remnants of the southeastern section of a large stone circle, the remainder of which has disappeared as the level of the hole rose. It has long been believed that the megaliths were once part of a stone-flanked ceremonial route between the Ring of Brodgar and the Stones of Stenness. Megaliths that are said to have been part of this processional street are the Odin Stone , the Comet Stone and two unnamed stones in front of the House of Lochview. However, geophysical surveys on the Ness of Brodgar have found no evidence of a stone path.
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Coordinates: 58 ° 59 ′ 42.7 " N , 3 ° 12 ′ 37.3" W.