Dwarfie Stane, Hoy, Orkney

3D Model

As the only chambered tomb known on Hoy. Its carvers, used a huge isolated natural block of sandstone to hollow out of the solid rock a small chamber, with two sidecells. A large boulder lying outside the entrance is the original blocking stone, which is recorded as having been seen in position in the 16th century, but nothing is known of the contents of the tomb. The marks of their stone tools can be seen on the roof of the south cell.

This is the only rock-cut tomb in Britain. The Dwarfie Stane has always caught the imagination of visitors,including Sir Waiter Scott who incorporated it into his novel The Pirate. The earliest of the many names carved on the tomb is that of H Ross in 1735, but the most intriguing is that of Major W Mouncey who in 1850 not only carved his name in Latin backwards but added an inscription in exquisite Persian calligraphy to the effect that ‘I have sat two nights and so learnt patience’.

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