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Sorquoy is a Bronze Age standing stone located on the island of Papay in Orkney, Scotland. The monument stands on bedrock of Middle Old Red Sandstone, a conglomerate and sandstone formation laid down during the Middle Devonian period some 380 million years ago. This substantial geological foundation has supported the stone through millennia of Orcadian weather and exposure.
Standing stones of this type proliferated across northern Scotland during the Bronze Age, typically erected between 3000 and 1000 BCE as focal points for ritual, burial or territorial marking. Sorquoy's position on Papay, one of the smaller North Isles, places it within a significant concentration of prehistoric monuments characteristic of Orkney's archaeological landscape. The surrounding geology of sandstone and siltstone provided both the materials and stable foundation necessary for such enduring monuments.
Today Sorquoy is protected as a scheduled monument under the guardianship of Historic Environment Scotland, designated under reference SM1386. This formal protection recognises its importance as evidence of Bronze Age society in the far north of Britain, and ensures the stone's preservation for future understanding of Orkney's deep past.
Sorquoy,standing stone,Papley is a scheduled monument protected by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM1386. View the official record →
Sorquoy is a Bronze Age standing stone located on the island of Papay in Orkney, Scotland. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM1386.
Sorquoy,standing stone,Papley dates from the bronze age period, and is classified as a standing stone,papley. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Sorquoy,standing stone,Papley is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, legally protected by Historic Environment Scotland — the body responsible for designating and safeguarding heritage sites in Scotland. The official designation reference is SM1386.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Clouduhall (or Cloddyhall) standing stone & cairn (3.8 km), Burray Ness, anti-aircraft battery (WW1), Burray (6.1 km), Isbister, chambered cairn 450m ESE of (6.9 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Sorquoy,standing stone,Papley's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Sorquoy,standing stone,Papley stands on Middle Old Red Sandstone (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Middle Devonian. The rock here is conglomerate, sandstone, siltstone and mudstone.