On 28 November 2003 23:17, Grumpy wrote: > Is there any record of how many monolith's lay beneath the > lochs and is there any theory as to what the water levels of > the lochs would have been during the period when Brodgar was erected?. Unfortunately not. As far as I'm aware no investigations have been made in the water of the lochs, although local tradition has it that there are a number at the bottom of the Harray loch. Regarding water levels, I was just discussing this the other week in relation to the Stenness loch. Unfortunately, there have been no studies done of this either, although a renewed zeal in investigating Mesolithic landscape could remedy this in the near future. > I noted an old postcard for sale on Ebay UK, it showed the > Stone's O Stenness at a time when there was a table top/alter > adjacent to the Standing Stones. I remember this slab of > stone supported by the stone pillars as a child, but can't > recall when or why this was dismantled., can you throw any > light on the subject. The 'altar' was erected in 1907 from a number of stones that had been lying prone at the site. It stood until 1972 when it was toppled. At the time it was declared mindless vandalism - a drunken prank. But there's always been ripple of feeling that it was deliberate and that the structure never belonged there in the first place. There's more here: http://www.orkneyjar.com/history/standingstones/altar.htm > On the Orkneyjar is states that Orkney was given as a dowry > in marriage, which is what I have always been led to believe, > but C. Tait seems to disagree, and that it was mortgaged. > Can you throw any light on the situation, so far all the > searches I have done on the subject confirm the dowry. The islands were pawned in lieu of a dowry. Christian I agreed to provide his daughter with a 60,000 Rhenish florin dowry. Something he could certainly not afford. Orkney was therefore mortgaged to Scotland for 50,000 and would be returned when the king was in a position to stump up the cash. However, this left him with 10,000 to be paid. He raised some himself and then mortgaged Shetland for the remainder. -- Sigurd Towrie Blackhall - Kirbister - Stromness - Orkney Heritage of Orkney: www.orkneyjar.com Home: sigurd@orkneyjar.com Work: sigurd.towrie@orcadian.co.uk