Maeshowe

Maeshowe is one of the most impressive chambered tombs in Orkney.Thought to date from around 2700BC, it is constructed from Orkney flagstones some of which weigh up to 30 tonnes and clay.There is a low entrance passage on the south-west side of the mound which leads into a large central chamber.Three smaller side-cells branch off from the main chamber.

It appears from the outside as a large grassy mound in a field....

Information board......

View from the entrance....

For a few days each year as the midwinter sun drops below the horizon,its rays shine directly on the rear wall of the central chamber-aptly described in George Mackay Brown's poem 'Maeshowe:Midwinter'..

George Mackay Brown was born in Stromness in the Orkney islands in 1921.His first book was published in 1954 and he went on to write many books including plays,novels,short stories and poetry.

His  book of poetry entitled 'Following a Lark' was 'written mainly in praise of the light, and to glorify in a small way the Light behind the light,that gives life and meaning to all the creatures of earth......:

'Maeshowe:Midwinter'

Equinox to Hallowmas,darkness

falls like the leaves. The

tree of the sun is stark.

On the loom of winter,shadows

gather in a web;then the 

shuttle of St Lucy makes a 

pause;a dark weave

fills the loom.

The blackness is solid as a 

stone that locks a tomb.

No star shines there.

Then begins the true ceremony of 

the sun,when the one

last fleeting solstice flame

is caught up by a

midnight candle.

Children sing under a street

lamp,their voices like

leaves of light.

George Mackay Brown Poems

'Following a Lark'

1996

John Murray Publishers,London.