Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Even the stone furniture - beds, boxes and dressers - has survived the 5000 years since
a community lived and breathed here. It was hidden until 1850, when waves whipped up
by a severe storm eroded the sand and grass above the beach, exposing the houses under-
neath. There's an excellent interactive exhibit and short video, arming visitors with facts
and theory, which will enhance the impact of the site. You then enter a reconstructed
house, giving the excavation, which you head on to next, more meaning. The official
guidebook, available from the visitors centre, includes a good self-guided tour.
The joint ticket also gets you into
Skaill House
(HS; Apr-Sep)
, a mansion built for
the bishop in 1620. It's a bit anticlimactic catapulting straight from the Neolithic to the
1950s decor, but you can see a smart hidden compartment in the library as well as the
bishop's original 17th-century four-poster bed.
Buses run to Skara Brae from Kirkwall and Stromness a few times weekly in summer,
but not all are useful to visit the site. It's possible to walk along the coast from Stromness
to Skara Brae via Yesnaby Sea Stacks and the Broch of Borwick (9 miles).
BIRSAY
The small village of Birsay is 6 miles north of Skara Brae.
Sights & Activities
RUINS
Earl's Palace
(
24hr)
The ruins of this palace, built in the 16th century by the despotic Robert Stew-
art, earl of Orkney, dominate the village of Birsay. Today it's a mass of half walls and
crumbling columns that look like dilapidated chimney stacks. Nevertheless, the size of the
palace is impressive, matching the reputed ego and tyranny of its former inhabitant.
Brough of Birsay
(HS;
www.historic-scotland.gov.uk
; adult/child £4/2.40; 9.30am-5.30pm mid-Jun-Sep)
At low tide (check tide times at the shop in Earl's Palace (
Click here
)
you can walk out
to this windswept island, site of extensive Norse ruins, including a number of longhouses
and the 12th-century
St Peter's Church
. There's also a replica of a Pictish stone which
was found here, carved with an eagle and human figures. St Magnus was buried here after
his murder on Egilsay in 1117, and the island was long a place of pilgrimage. The attract-
ive lighthouse has fantastic views along the coast.
ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE
