We visited many sites like that in Orkney, and they had the most striking "presence" you can imagine. I can only compare it to standing in an old cathedral which has seen many centuries of worship - (the best cathedral I know for that is the tiny St David's in West Wales, which has a wonderful atmosphere of peace and warmth)
Not that peace and warmth were the feelings permeating Mine Howe. That felt far more sinister. It is a narrow uneven spiral stair cut down 15 feet or so into the rock and ending in a small still dark pool. Halfway down there is a sort of small gallery where someone could lie hidden. Nearby outside is a complex of iron-age forges where ore was smelted into iron for swords and tools and plunged into water to harden it.
Working with iron was thought to be a magical secret skill and the smiths probably reinforced that by initiating apprentices with a terrifying ordeal where they went down into the earth (iron ore came from underground, though not from right here) heard the voice of the underground gods, and saw or felt the icy water. All in the dark.
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