The Comet Stone, Stenness

Around 140 metres to the south-east of the Ring o' Brodgar is the monolith known as the Comet Stone.

Standing 1.75 metres high (5ft 9in), the Comet Stone stands on a low oval platform measuring around 14 metres (45ft) in diameter and about 80cm (31.5 inches).

The monolith appears to have once been part of a group of stones, the only evidence of which are the stumps of two broken stones.

Whether these stumps are the remains of separate standing stones or actually formed a structure of some sort is unclear. It has been suggested that the Comet Stone was once part of a table-like construction, similar to the one once thought to stand in the centre of the Standing Stones o' Stenness.

The stone's position in relation to the Ring o' Brodgar's south-eastern entrance hints that it was once part of the ceremonial procession way between the Brodgar ring and the Standing Stones o' Stenness.

It is also marks a superb vantage point for viewing the entire Brodgar ring and the expanse of landscape and sky surrounding it.

Click here for a selection of panoramic photographs.

This position may be significant, as viewing the Ring o' Brodgar from from the Comet stone appears to mark specific alignments, in particular the observation that the setting sun at the spring and autumn equinoxes touch the most westerly stone of the ring.

Poetic title or corruption?

The Comet Stone with the Harray Loch in the background. The stumps of the two other stones can be seen in the foreground

The monolith's rather poetic name - Comet Stone - is more than likely fairly modern, perhaps coined by the 19th century antiquarians who saw the outlying standing stone as "orbiting" the Ring o' Brodgar, or the Temple of the Sun as they called it.

For more on these names, click here.

I have wondered, however, whether the stone's name might be closer to the true Orcadian name than is currently thought.

I suggest that the stone may once have been referred to locally as the Cummistane - the mound stone. Standing at the Comet Stone the Bronze Age cairns to the west are clearly visible on the skyline.

Derived from the Old Norse kuml meaning mound, it is not inconceivable that it, like many other Orkney placenames, was simply misunderstood by those unfamiliar with the dialect.