Haltadans
 A picture of the stone circle | |
| Alternative name | Fairy Ring |
|---|---|
| Location | Shetland, Scotland |
| Coordinates | 60°36′36.57″N 0°51′49.95″W / 60.6101583°N 0.8638750°W |
| Type | Stone circle |
| History | |
| Founded | During the Neolithic Period |
| Official name | Haltadans Cairn |
| Type | Prehistoric ritual and funerary: cairn (type uncertain) |
| Designated | 14 February 1955 |
| Reference no. | SM2032 |
Haltadans, also known as Fairy Ring or Haltadans stone circle, is a stone circle on the island of Fetlar in Shetland, Scotland.[1] This site is a ring of 38 stones,[2] of which 22 are still fixed in the soil, and it is 11 metres (37 ft) in diameter.[3] Inside this is an earthen ring 7.9 metres (26 ft) in diameter, with a 1.5 metres (5 ft) gap in the southwest side.[1] In the center of the rings are two rectangular pillars.[1][3]
According to Jakob Jakobsen, the name Haltadans means: "lame or limping dance".[4] This is a reference to the legend that the circle of stones was once a circle of dancing trolls and that the two rock pillars in the centre were once a fiddler and his wife.[3] They had fiddled and danced all night long, and, heedless of the time, were still fiddling and dancing when the sun rose and petrified them all.[2]
See also
History portal- Stone circles in the British Isles and Brittany
- List of stone circles
- Neolithic Europe
References
- ^ a b c "Haltadans". Stone Circle in Scotland in Shetland. Megalithic Portal. Retrieved 12 December 2010.
- ^ a b Smith, Hamish Haswell (16 May 1998). "Fetlar Island of the Week". Scotland Herald. Retrieved 12 December 2010.
- ^ a b c "Fetlar, Gravins, 'Haltadans'". Canmore Site Records. Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. Archived from the original on 21 October 2012. Retrieved 12 December 2010.
- ^ Jakobsen, Jakob (1897). The Dialect and Place-Names of Shetland. pp. 116–117.