Morag Fleming visits Orkney’s ancient sites
Morag Fleming guides us through the historic sites of this beautiful archipelago.
ONE of the biggest reasons to visit Orkney is the sheer number and pristine quality of its historic sites
I defy anyone, history fan or no, not to be blown away by this place and its capacity to transport its visitors through time.
Travelling west from Kirkwall, the first site I come across is one of the big hitters.
Maeshowe is a huge chambered tomb dating from Neolithic times, about 5,000 years ago, and it is in incredibly good condition.
Once in the tomb, the guide shows us how the story of Maeshowe was updated a mere 1,000 years ago when a gaggle of unruly Vikings sheltered in here from a storm.
They took to graffiti to while away the hours and those runic carvings can still be seen today – and it’s fruity at times, I have to tell you!
If you like your archaeology “live”, the
Ness of Brodgar excavation dig really is something else.
The site is huge, to start with, and, they think, ten times the size we see being excavated now.
There is a raised platform which affords a better view of what is going on, and helps me see the layout and scale of the buildings they have found.
Interpretive boards are useful but there are also regular guided tours and volunteers around the site to help with any questions.
They tell me that these foundations are thought to be a complex of ceremonial buildings as they are too large to be domestic dwellings, and that this is the ideal site for it as the low land between two lochs, surrounded by higher land, creates a natural amphitheatre.
This idea is also the reasoning behind the nearby Ring of Brodgar, which is a gigantic stone circle more than a hundred metres across.
The spot is quite bleak and lonely, which only adds to the atmosphere, and even though this is one of the most popular attractions on Orkney, it is possible to find a time with only a few others around.
It’s not long till I’m looking at the lovely Bay of Skaill. It’s not the bay itself that is the big draw here but what they found in the sand dunes during one mammoth storm in 1850 – Skara Brae.
This is an entire village of Neolithic houses more than 5,000 years old and remarkably well preserved.
The houses are below ground, with marked stone walls so we can see clearly where the hearth was, and the partitions and the shelves in the walls.
Next I’m off around the north coast of the mainland as there are a couple of ancient buildings up here that I am keen to see.
The Brough of Birsay is a Norse settlement on a tidal island, and the nearby Broch of Gurness is very well preserved.
The layout of the outbuildings and settlement is so clear that there is a real understanding of how this village must have lived, and the function the broch played in the wider community.
Across the Eynhallow Sound from here is another Iron Age broch, on the island of Rousay, which is where I am headed next.
The Midhowe Broch is just one of the highlights of the mile-long Westness Walk.
Away from the walk but no less impressive is a pair of unusual 5,000-year-old tombs, handily accessible from the road.
Taversöe Tuick is set on two levels – an upstairs and a downstairs.
Blackhammer Tomb is entered now through a hatch in the roof, where you climb down a ladder and into the tomb. All very Indiana Jones!
Just time to mention a couple of historic hotspots on both the southernmost and northernmost islands in the Orkneys.
South Ronaldsay is conveniently joined to the mainland and other islands by a series of causeways. First stop here is the Tomb of the Eagles.
Channelling Indiana
Jones again, I lie face-up on a trolley and pull myself along on a rope to enter the tomb!
Once inside, it is incredible to think that this structure is 5,000 years old and once contained hundreds of human remains, plus a good number of sea eagle talons which lend the tomb its name.
It is thought that the talons were buried with the dead as a status symbol.
The Tomb of the Otters is nearby and literally in the
car park of the wonderful Skerries Bistro.
The landowner came across it by accident as he was preparing the land to build the new restaurant in 2005.
And the otter part? Brace yourself if you are squeamish: the high levels of otter spraint found inside suggest that instead of bodies being left out to be picked clean by birds then interred, here the bodies were put inside and “cleaned” by otters . . .
Don’t let this put you off the bistro, though, where you’ll get a wonderful lunch with great views out to sea.
A ferry or plane takes me to Westray in the north.
The museum in Westray boasts a huge attraction
– the Westray Wife, which is a small stone femaleshaped figure, possibly a doll, found behind Grobust beach (which is a cracker, by the way).
It’s the first Neolithic carving of a human form to be found in Scotland and the earliest depiction of a face to be found in the UK.
The shortest commercial flight in the world takes me across to the smaller Papa Westray and the Knap of Howar where two Neolithic houses, very similar to those found at Skara Brae, were uncovered in a storm.
The difference here is that I am on my own, trying to imagine what it would be like to live here over 5,000 years ago.
To feel even an imagined connection with people from such a long time ago really is quite profound.
I’ve finished my timetravelling tour of ancient sites in Orkney and it really is wonderful. There are so many sites, though, and more being discovered all the time.
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