Hjaltadans

Hjaltadans
Native name: Fairy Ring
A picture of the stone circle
Location: Shetland, Scotland
Coordinates:
Built: During the Neolithic Period
Architectural style(s): British pre-Roman Architecture
Hjaltadans shown within Shetland

Hjaltadans, 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 J. 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 center 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

References

  1. ^ a b c "Hjaltadans". Stone Circle in Scotland in Shetland. Megalithic Portal. http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=3285. Retrieved 12 December 2010. 
  2. ^ a b Smith, Hamish Haswell (May 16, 1998). "Fetlar Island of the Week". Scotland Herald. http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/spl/aberdeen/fetlar-island-of-the-week-1.343563. Retrieved 12 December 2010. 
  3. ^ a b c "Fetlar, Gravins, 'Haltadans'". Canmore Site Records. Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/en/site/1463/details/fetlar+gravins+haltadans/. Retrieved 12 December 2010. 
  4. ^ Jakobsen, J. (1897). The Dialect and Place-Names of Shetland. pp. 116–117. 
Neolithic
Funzie Girt  · Hjaltadans Stone Circle · Staneydale Temple · Scord of Brouster ·
Iron Age
Pictish
Multi-period