{"id":154,"date":"2026-07-04T13:32:56","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T13:32:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/northronaldsay.co.uk\/?page_id=154"},"modified":"2026-07-09T09:28:05","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T09:28:05","slug":"standing-stone-stan-stane","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/northronaldsay.co.uk\/?page_id=154","title":{"rendered":"The Standing Stone (Stan Stane)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A short distance from Nouster Pier stands the <strong><em>Stan Stane<\/em><\/strong>, a striking holed monolith rising around thirteen feet from the flat island landscape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The stone is thought to date from the <strong>Neolithic period<\/strong>, and its most distinctive feature is the small hole in its upper half. Its purpose is still uncertain. It may once have been an outlier for a wider stone circle, or the hole may have been used as part of a prehistoric calendar or sighting point connected to the sun or another celestial event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Local folklore gives a more colourful explanation, with one Orkney tale proclaiming that a giant woman found the stone on the beach, pushed her finger through it, carried it inland and planted it in the ground where it still stands today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There are also later traditions attached to the stone. The Orkney International Science Festival notes that gatherings at the Stan Stane have been linked with New Year customs, and records discussion of a possible alignment between the hole and the setting sun around New Year or the winter solstice, a possible archaeo-astronomical connection that adds to the stone\u2019s fascination and mystery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Stan Stane can be visited on foot, but stands in a field. so visitors should take care around livestock and follow the Scottish Outdoor Access Code.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A short distance from Nouster Pier stands the Stan Stane, a striking holed monolith rising around thirteen feet from the flat island landscape. The stone is thought to date from the Neolithic period, and its most distinctive feature is the small hole in its upper half. Its purpose is still uncertain. It may once have [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":264,"parent":73,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-154","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/northronaldsay.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/northronaldsay.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/northronaldsay.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/northronaldsay.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/northronaldsay.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=154"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/northronaldsay.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/154\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":265,"href":"https:\/\/northronaldsay.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/154\/revisions\/265"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/northronaldsay.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/73"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/northronaldsay.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/northronaldsay.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}