Ring of Brodgar

Quick facts

Date

Main stone circle probably c. 2600–2400 BC; surrounding monuments c. 2500–1500 BC

Architect / designer

Neolithic communities; individual builders unknown

Type

Stone circle, rock-cut henge and associated prehistoric monuments

Designation

Scheduled monument SM90042; part of the Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site

OS grid reference

HY 294 134

Architecture and continuing use

The surviving stones form a vast near-circle around 104 metres in diameter, set inside a circular rock-cut ditch. Twenty-seven uprights remain from a ring that may once have numbered about sixty. The ditch, stone setting and broad interior use the natural basin between the lochs and surrounding hills as part of the monument’s architecture. Nearby burial mounds and the Comet Stone extend that designed prehistoric landscape beyond the circle itself.

Its story

The ring was raised late in Orkney’s Neolithic period, after communities had already built major monuments at Stenness and Maeshowe. Cutting the ditch through bedrock and moving the monoliths required sustained communal labour. Later generations placed burial mounds around it, keeping this place important long after the circle was complete. Antiquarian investigation and modern conservation have changed how visitors move through the site, but its great scale and relationship to the wider ceremonial landscape remain immediately legible.

Why it is included

Brodgar is one of the defining monuments of the Heart of Neolithic Orkney. It connects the settlement evidence at Skara Brae and Ness of Brodgar with the great ceremonial and funerary sites around Stenness, showing how architecture organised movement, gathering and memory at landscape scale.

What to notice

• The irregular shapes and spacing of the surviving uprights, rather than an artificially uniform ring.
• The broad ditch outside the stones and the entrances that interrupt it.
• Views along the loch corridor towards the Stones of Stenness, Maeshowe and the Ness of Brodgar.

Reading the surroundings

The monument is free to visit and is normally open throughout the year. Use the signed paths and heed temporary closures: saturated ground and erosion can require Historic Environment Scotland to restrict access. Do not climb or touch the stones, cut across protected ground or enter closed parts of the ditch. Parking is limited beside the B9055, so allow for exposed weather and moving traffic.

Timeline

1. c. 2600–2400 BC The main stone circle and henge were probably constructed.
2. c. 2500–1500 BC Burial mounds and other monuments accumulated around the ring.
3. 1882 The monument received statutory protection as a scheduled ancient monument.
4. 1999 Brodgar became part of the Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site.
5. Present Historic Environment Scotland manages the open-air monument and protects vulnerable paths.

What we know — and what remains uncertain

No excavation has fixed a single construction date for every part of the complex, and the original number of stones remains uncertain. The broad chronology and monument sequence come from archaeology and comparison with nearby sites; interpretations of ceremonies, processions and astronomical meaning remain hypotheses rather than observed fact.

Sources & further reading

• Historic Environment Scotland: Ring of Brodgar — history and stories — Construction dates, stone circle, ditch and wider prehistoric landscape.
• Historic Environment Scotland: Ring of Brogar, SM90042 — Statutory designation, scheduled extent and associated monuments.
• Historic Environment Scotland: Ring of Brodgar — plan your visit — Current access, grid reference, parking and ground-protection advice.
• UNESCO World Heritage Centre: Heart of Neolithic Orkney — World Heritage context and landscape significance.