📌 Bridge of Walls, Shetland Mainland
★★
Even experts are unsure what Stanydale Temple’s purpose once was: perhaps a Neolithic temple, or a village hall, the home of an important person, or indeed something else entirely. The stones surrounding this oval hollow point to a construction date of 2,000 or 3,000 BC, making one of the very oldest structures anywhere on Shetland. There are other prehistoric structures in the wider area. Access involves a rather soggy approach path across remote moorland, but it’s worth it for such an intriguing site.
🌍 Location
📌 Off minor road near Loch Gruting, 3 mi southeast of Bridge of Walls, Shetland Mainland
🧭 O.S. Grid Reference: HU 285502
🛰️ GPS coordinates: 60.235450,-1.486670
❌ No public transport within 1 mi
🚗 Small layby (also a passing place – don’t block all of it) at 🧭 HU 292501 / 🛰️ 60.234438,-1.474880
📝 Key info
⌚ Always open
🎫 Free
💬 From the layby it’s a 15-min walk (each way) to Stanydale Temple on a waymarked but wet, moorland path.
