Ancient Orkney

Standing Stones and Outlines of Houses

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Barnhouse Photo - Orkney Islands, Scotland

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The Standing Stones of Stenness and Barnhouse village are located close to the small village of Stenness in Orkney, within sight of the more famous Neolithic site of Maeshowe chambered cairn. Entry is free to both sites.The stones are visible from the road. We had planned to stop and have a look at them, and then continue on to the Ring of Brodgar, just along the road a bit. The Standing Stones of Stenness are one of the oldest stone circles in Britain, dating from around 3100BC. Today there are only four stones remaining, although it is estimated that there were originally twelve. There is also a hearth in the centre of the circle, and some lower stones which may or may not have formed ...Read More

The Standing Stones of Stenness and Barnhouse village are located close to the small village of Stenness in Orkney, within sight of the more famous Neolithic site of Maeshowe chambered cairn. Entry is free to both sites.

The stones are visible from the road. We had planned to stop and have a look at them, and then continue on to the Ring of Brodgar, just along the road a bit. The Standing Stones of Stenness are one of the oldest stone circles in Britain, dating from around 3100BC. Today there are only four stones remaining, although it is estimated that there were originally twelve. There is also a hearth in the centre of the circle, and some lower stones which may or may not have formed a dolmen – archaeologists are in doubt that it was part of the original circle.

Nearby is the solitary Watchstone, positioned between the stones of Stenness and Brodgar, beside the causeway linking the two. The Watchstone is huge, a real megalith. Also nearby, between the stones of Stenness and Maeshowe, is the Barnhouse stone. There was once a stone called the Odin stone, which had a hole in the centre through which couples could hold hands to bless their relationship. The farmer who owned the land in the 19th century got fed up with this and destroyed the stone.

Standing stones are always impressive in my opinion. Thinking of the backbreaking labour that must have gone into getting these things into position and upright, you can’t help but respect the people that built it and wonder at how strong their beliefs must have been to cause them to undertake these tasks. The Standing Stones of Stenness are not quite so impressive as the much larger Ring Brodgar, but the stones themselves are bigger, and the smaller circle gives it a cosier feel. It is also slightly easier to appreciate the sheer size of the stones, as they are clustered closer together.

There is an information board at the stones, and upon reading it we noticed it mentioned the remains of a nearby Neolithic settlement known as Barnhouse, which we had never heard of. There was an aerial photo showing the stones and the village, and we realised it could only be a few minutes walk along a track, so off we went.

Barnhouse village is a Neolithic settlement discovered in 1984. My dad was rather astounded by the fact that this has been discovered since the last time he visited Orkney. I think it is safe to assume that even now we don’t know all of Orkney’s secrets.

The village is located on the shores of the Harray loch. Today all that is visible is very low walls and some remains of hearths and internal fittings, almost like an outline on the ground of what the village was. There are only three or four buildings visible, out of around fifteen. However, what is on the site now are reconstructions – something I didn’t realise until I read it in a guide book later in the week. I possibly should have read the information board on site more carefully.

We visited Barnhouse before the much more famous and more intact Skara Brae, which is perhaps why I was so taken by Barnhouse. In comparison, Skara Brae is much more impressive now, given how much survives, but it is still very clear to see at Barnhouse the layout of the houses and how people would have lived. After I visited Skara Brae, I realised that the houses were laid out in the same way in both villages – clearly a tradition.

The Standing Stones of Stenness and the village of Barnhouse are certainly worth a look, along with the bird reserve at Barnhouse (hide is close to the village). It’s not a visit that will take a great deal of time, but combine it with a visit to the Ring of Brodgar and it will be suitable impressive.
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Ring of Brodgar

Attraction | "A Ring of History"

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The Ring of Brodgar is one of Orkney’s more famous and visible Neolithic sites, being as it is a ring of 27 huge standing stones. It is located near the village of Stenness, on the Ness o’Brodgar which separates the Harray and Stenness lochs. The ring is part of the Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site.It is thought that originally the ring contained 60 stones, but this has never been confirmed as the site has never been fully excavated. This also means the age of the ring is not certain either, but it is assumed to date from between 2500 BC and 2000BC.Entry to the monument is free. There is a large car park nearby, but it is still a bit of a walk to the ring. There ar...Read More

The Ring of Brodgar is one of Orkney’s more famous and visible Neolithic sites, being as it is a ring of 27 huge standing stones. It is located near the village of Stenness, on the Ness o’Brodgar which separates the Harray and Stenness lochs. The ring is part of the Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site.

It is thought that originally the ring contained 60 stones, but this has never been confirmed as the site has never been fully excavated. This also means the age of the ring is not certain either, but it is assumed to date from between 2500 BC and 2000BC.

Entry to the monument is free. There is a large car park nearby, but it is still a bit of a walk to the ring. There are disabled spots closer, but access for the disabled would not be easy. The path up to the ring is good quality, but it is on a slope. The path which goes round the ring is reasonable but bumpy and a bit narrow. And full of standing stones.

You can walk right the way round the Ring of Brodgar. The path is grassy, and a noticeable contrast to the heather in the centre of the ring and outside.

The Ring of Brodgar is, quite frankly, incredible. You can see if from far away, and it’s not that imposing due to its position on a slope, but up close it’s beautiful. Having walked up the path to the ring itself, I stood looking at the circle of stones and the huge ditch which surrounds them, and I felt a bit humbled. People created this all those years ago, with no machinery, and for reasons we can only guess at. It’s quite an incredible achievement.

The walk round the ring is pleasant, at least if the weather is nice. We were lucky – sunny and breezy, but not the gales that Orkney is known for. There is a longer one hour walk around the Brodgar RSPB reserve, but we just went round the stones themselves.

Most of the stones are standing, but some are on the ground or broken. One which is on the ground features a plaque stating it was felled by lightening in a summer storm in the 1980s. To think it had survived that long, and then fell in my lifetime.

The Ring of Brodgar is a stunning monument, and iconic of Orkney. It is an absolute "must-see" if you visit the islands.
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Member Rating 5 out of 5 on June 26, 2010

Ring of Brodgar
Mainland Orkney
Orkney Islands, Scotland

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Broch of Gurness

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Attraction | "A Jumble of Rocks and Walls"

Broch of Gurness Photo - Broch of Gurness, Orkney Islands, Scotland

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The Broch of Gurness is located on the east coast of the Orkney mainland. It is one of the many Historic Scotland properties in the islands. Entry is £4.70 for adults, £2.80 for children and £3.80 for concessions. We had purchased two Orkney Explorer passes earlier in the week, which give access to the six sites with entry fees. As my mum chose not to come into the broch as it was an exceptionally windy day, the passes covered entry for me and my dad.Incidentally, last entry is at 5pm. We arrived just after, and tried to open the visitor centre door but it was locked. As we had our passes we weren’t worried about going in without paying, although we were keen to get them stamped (each site...Read More

The Broch of Gurness is located on the east coast of the Orkney mainland. It is one of the many Historic Scotland properties in the islands. Entry is £4.70 for adults, £2.80 for children and £3.80 for concessions. We had purchased two Orkney Explorer passes earlier in the week, which give access to the six sites with entry fees. As my mum chose not to come into the broch as it was an exceptionally windy day, the passes covered entry for me and my dad.

Incidentally, last entry is at 5pm. We arrived just after, and tried to open the visitor centre door but it was locked. As we had our passes we weren’t worried about going in without paying, although we were keen to get them stamped (each site stamps them with a picture of the site, and we wanted the collection). A minute later the warden opened the door to tell us he was closed, but we asked about our passes so he said he’d stamp them for us. What a nice man.

The Broch of Gurness is the remains of an Iron-Age settlement. The broch itself was a tall stone tower which would have housed a family, probably several generations, and their possessions and possibly livestock. It had two outer walls with stairs to upper levels. The broch is surrounded by other dwellings, which would have formed a village around it, so the broch was probably home to the head family of the community.

Having visited Pictish brochs in Glenelg last year, I was keen to see this one. It is different both in construction and what remains, but just as interesting.

The first thing you see on entering the site is the remains of a small house standing alone. This has been moved and reconstructed from its original site, and is known as the Shamrock due to its distinctive shape. Once we moved into the main village I realised that it was very useful to have seen this dwelling on its own, as the rest of the village is not to easy to define.

Prior to visiting, I had seen a picture of the broch and village from the air in a Historic Scotland leaflet. I was quite glad of this, as it showed the layout of the village, which was rather difficult to see at first on ground level. The village appears to be a jumble of low rocks and some upright, clearly walls. It is only once you start to focus on the easily recognisable hearths that you are able to distinguish individual buildings.

The broch itself also has a number of upright stones inside, which must have been interior walls or partitions. In that respect it was different to the brochs at Glenelg, as there was nothing remaining inside them. This gave me a little more of an idea of he layout of the broch. The remains of the external walls are lower, but more complete – the circle is still complete. There is also what looks like a cellar, which is covered by a modern grille to stop people going down. I had to actually kneel down to peer in, and it looked like stairs going down. Perhaps a storage area – I couldn’t find anything on the information boards to tell me.

In addition to the settlement, you also get nice views across to the island of Rousay from the site. But you can get that from the car park, so no need to pay for it!

The site is not very wheelchair friendly. A wheelchair could go around a short perimeter path and see the broch from the sides, but as there are deep ditches all around the village, it could not access the broch and village.

The Broch of Gurness is really very interesting, but my dad and I only spent about 15-20 minutes wandering around. This was in part due to the wind – although we were sheltered inside the broch, we didn’t really want to hang about and get blown over. It’s not somewhere you need to set aside lots of time to visit, and I don’t think we would have paid to go in if we didn’t have the passes. It’s interesting but not worth the £8.50 it would have cost for us both to go in. I’d certainly recommend visiting it with Orkney Explorer passes, but not otherwise unless you’re really interested in the Iron Age.

There was a very small shop and visitor centre, but it was closed as we arrived at 5pm so we didn’t have a chance to look. It looked like the usual Historic Scotland shop though, the same stuff you’d get anywhere else on the island.
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Member Rating 4 out of 5 on June 20, 2010

Broch of Gurness
Overlooking Eynhallow Sound
Orkney Islands, Scotland

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Brough of Birsay

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Attraction | "A Causeway to Picts and Vikings"

Brough of Birsay Photo - Brough of Birsay, Orkney Islands, Scotland

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The Brough of Birsay is an Historic Scotland site located right on the north-west tip of the Orkney Mainland. Access is dependent on the tide, as you have to walk across a narrow causeway and can only do so for two hours either side of low tide. Tide times can be obtained from the visitor centre at Skara Brae. Entry costs are adult £3.20, child £1.90, and concession £2.70. My dad and I visited on our Orkney Explorer passes. Historic Scotland say the site is open mid-June to September, but you can access all year round. You just have to pay entry during these months.The Brough of Birsay is a small tidal island. On the north side there is a lighthouse, but the Historic Scotland site is on th...Read More

The Brough of Birsay is an Historic Scotland site located right on the north-west tip of the Orkney Mainland. Access is dependent on the tide, as you have to walk across a narrow causeway and can only do so for two hours either side of low tide. Tide times can be obtained from the visitor centre at Skara Brae. Entry costs are adult £3.20, child £1.90, and concession £2.70. My dad and I visited on our Orkney Explorer passes. Historic Scotland say the site is open mid-June to September, but you can access all year round. You just have to pay entry during these months.

The Brough of Birsay is a small tidal island. On the north side there is a lighthouse, but the Historic Scotland site is on the south, closest to the mainland and the end of the access causeway. The site comprises of a mixture of settlement remains, 7th and 8th century Pictish settlements, 9th century Viking settlement and a 12th century monastery.

The walk across the causeway is quite fun, the water is shallow and quite still, but we were there on a ridiculously windy day, and my mum, watching from the car back on the mainland, was convinced I was going to get blown into the sea! She chose not to come due to both the wind and accessibility: it would have been too hard a walk for her due to the slopes and rocky beach at either end of the causeway. Wheelchairs would not be able to access the Brough of Birsay.

The building remains themselves are what I would describe as low. The walls are easily definable but what remains is, on the whole, very low, only a few stones high. The most prominent building is the monastery, which still has slightly higher walls and it altar. It is surrounded by courtyard.

Closer to the sea is the remains of a Viking settlement. The walls are easy to see but the layout is harder to figure out, as of course the dwellings were all built close together against the elements. Beside this is a Pictish well, one of the few visible signs of the settlements which are now hidden under the later Viking settlements.

Further up the slope are remains of Viking buildings, which are easiest to see from the mainland. They are really just outlines in the grass, where it covers over what low walls remain.

The most prominent and recognizable object on the Brough of Birsay is the Pictish symbol stone which stands just inside the wall enclosing the monastery and what would have been the graveyard. The stone standing there now is a replica, as the original is in the Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh – I suppose it was too precious to risk the elements (or tourists) spoiling it. However, despite being a replica the stone is impressive and quite powerful, and makes you think about the people, all those centuries ago, who took the time to create it.

There is a small hut on the site which in summer is presumably where you buy tickets, and no doubt where you can purchase a guidebook or the like. This was closed on our visit.

The Brough of Birsay is interesting, but not somewhere we would have paid to go had we not had our passes. In fact, we had decided against visiting it the day before, when we had seen the island from nearby Marwick Head and thought that was enough. We only visited because we were in the area and decided to drive down and look at the island from closer, and then realised we were there shortly before the tide would allow us to cross – we thought we may as well. We only spent about 15 minutes on the island. You could walk over the hill to the lighthouse side, but it was cold and windy and we didn’t want to.

If you have the Orkney Explorer pass I would suggest you aim to be in the area around low tide, because it is worth taking a wander across.
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Member Rating 3 out of 5 on June 20, 2010

Brough of Birsay

Orkney Islands, Scotland

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Maeshowe

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Attraction | "History Through the Ages"

Tormiston Mill Photo - Maeshowe, Orkney Islands, Scotland

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Maeshowe is one of the more famous Neolithic sites on Orkney. It is a chambered tomb constructed around 2700BC, so later than the village of Skara Brae. Visible from the road, Maeshowe from the outside is a large grassy mound. It is located on the Kirkwall to Stromness road, near the small village of Stenness. The site is looked after by Historic Scotland, who have a small visitor centre and shop in the Tormiston Mill building beside the road, opposite Maeshowe.Entry is by prebooked guided tour only. These run on the hour from 10am to 4pm. You can call to book, or drop into the centre. Car parking is fairly limited, there is really only enough space for one tour group at a time...Read More

Maeshowe is one of the more famous Neolithic sites on Orkney. It is a chambered tomb constructed around 2700BC, so later than the village of Skara Brae.

Visible from the road, Maeshowe from the outside is a large grassy mound. It is located on the Kirkwall to Stromness road, near the small village of Stenness. The site is looked after by Historic Scotland, who have a small visitor centre and shop in the Tormiston Mill building beside the road, opposite Maeshowe.

Entry is by prebooked guided tour only. These run on the hour from 10am to 4pm. You can call to book, or drop into the centre. Car parking is fairly limited, there is really only enough space for one tour group at a time to park. The tours are £5.20 for adults, £4.20 concessions and £3.10 children. We used our Orkney Explorer passes, with my dad getting free entry as my mum was using a wheelchair.

When you book the tour, you're asked to turn up 15 minutes prior to the start time in order to get tickets processed and walk to the tomb - they say it's a 10 minute walk, but for an average person it will take only a few minutes. Perhaps on a nice day you could have a leisurely stroll, but we were there in typical Orkney winds so we went as fast as possible to get out of the wind sooner. The path to Maeshowe is well maintained, gravelly and a bit bumpy but fine for wheelchairs. The last 10 metres are tricky as they are over the ditch surrounding the tomb, and the path is strangely corrugated.

We were told at the centre that wheelchairs were now permitted inside Maeshowe itself, but being permitted and actually getting in are separate matters. The entrance tunnel is rough and bumpy, with some large dips you can't push the chair back out of - wheelchair access was not a consideration in Neolithic times. My mum is able to walk, using a wheelchair enables her to get about more, so she got out and walked through the tunnel, but this of course is not an option for many wheelchair users. Another point to note about the tunnel is that you really do have to stoop quite a lot to get through.

Having studies Maeshowe at school, I had ideas in my head of what it was like. First impression on reaching the end of the entrance tunnel...a LOT smaller than I expected. It looks much bigger on the outside than it does on the inside (a kind of anti-TARDIS then), but also I was sure I remembered images of a much bigger space from what I had learned at school. Our tour group was approximately 12-14, and while everyone fit in comfortably, any more and it would have been feeling cramped.

The interior of the tomb comprises of one main chamber, and three side chambers or cells. There is a barrier around the main chamber so people don't go climbing into the smaller side chambers, but you can see into them quite easily.

Our tour guide had a very informal manner, and I suspect she wasn't at ease with speaking to groups and so developed this to cover nerves. She did however give us plenty of interesting information, some of which I will share here.

It is of course hard to know exactly what many Neolithic sites were used for. Maeshowe was a tomb, but not much else is certain about how it was used. On fascinating fact however is that the entrance tunnel is perfectly aligned so that on the Midwinter Solstice and for a few weeks either side, the sun shines directly onto the back wall of the main chamber.

In the twelth century Norsemen broke into Maeshowe, and may have removed any human remains still there. However they left behind a large number of Runic carvings, which are now part of the history of Maeshowe. These are basically ancient graffiti - some amount to little more than "Thorfinn woz ere"! One sings the praises of a woman named Ingibiorg - "call Ingibiorg for a good time!" - while another, carved high up, points out how great the carver is for managing to write so high on the wall.

Much later the Victorians excavated the tomb, with more enthusiasm than knowledge. Any evidence still there was lost, except one piece of human skull taken by the lead excavator, who later left it on a train. The Victorians also built a new roof, as the original had been smashed, which looks very out of place - it reminded me of roofs seen in some London Underground stations.

Maeshowe is a truly fascinating place. I love that within this Neolithic monument is evidence from other periods of history. It's a very peaceful place, especially with the wind howling outside. A visit to Orkney is not complete without a tour of Maeshowe.
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Member Rating 5 out of 5 on June 7, 2010

Maeshowe

Orkney Islands, Scotland
+44 (0)1856 761 606

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Skara Brae/Skaill House

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Attraction | "Orkney's Magic Village"

Skara Brae Photo - Skara Brae/Skaill House, Orkney Islands, Scotland

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Skara Brae is a name that should be evocative to anyone who went to school in Scotland. I don't know how well it is known outside archaeological circles in the rest of the world. I remember being fascinated learning about the people and their life there, and wondering what happened to them. Skara Brae is a place I have wanted to visit for years, and finally I have.Skara Brae is an incredibly well preserved Neolithic village on the Western shore of the Orkney Mainland. It is estimated that it was built 5000 years ago. After its inhabitants left it became buried in the sand on the windswept coast, and remained hidden until a storm in 1850 lifted the turf off and exposed the remains of the dw...Read More

Member Rating 5 out of 5 on June 8, 2010

Skara Brae/Skaill House
Sandwick
Orkney, Scotland KW16 3LR

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