Orkney - The Rough Guide to Scottish Highlands and Islands - page 352

connecting a string of small farms which make use of the more cultivable coastal
fringes. Many visitors come on a day-trip, as it's easy enough to reach the main points
of archeological interest on the south coast by foot from the ferry terminal.
Rousay's diminutive neighbours, Egilsay and Wyre , contain a few medieval
attractions of their own, which can either be visited on a day-trip from Rousay itself,
or from the mainland.

Rousay
Despite its long history of settlement, Rousay today is home to little more than two
hundred people (many of them incomers), as this was one of the few parts of
Orkney to suffer Highland-style Clearances, initially by George William Traill at
Quandale in the northwest. His successor and nephew, Lieutenant General Sir
Frederick William Traill-Burroughs, built a wall to force crofters onto a narrow coastal
strip and eventually provoked so much distress and anger that a gunboat had to be sent
to restore order. You can learn about the history and wildlife of the island from the
well-laid-out display room of the Rousay Heritage Centre housed in the back of the
ferry waiting room.

7

Trumland House
Gardens May-Oct daily 10am-5pm • £2 • T 01856 821322, W trumlandhouse.org
The island's laird, Lieutenant General Traill-Burroughs, built Trumland House , the
forbidding Jacobean-style pile designed by David Bryce in the 1870s, hidden in the
trees half a mile northwest of the ferry terminal. The house is currently undergoing
much-needed restoration, as are the landscaped gardens : the rhododendrons have been
pushed back and there are now lovely wooded walks and a walled garden.

The three cairns
The road west from Trumland House is bordered over the next couple of miles by a trio
of intriguing prehistoric cairns, starting with Taversoe Tuick . Dating back to 3500 BC,
it's remarkable in that it exploits its sloping site by having two storeys, one entered
from the upper side and one from the lower.
A little further west is the Blackhammar Cairn , which is more promising inside than it
looks from the outside. You enter through the roof via a ladder; the long interior is
divided into “stalls” by large flagstones, rather like the more famous cairn at Midhowe
(see p.356).
Finally, there's the Knowe of Yarso , another stalled cairn dating from the same period.
It's worth the stiff climb up the hill from the road, if only for the magnificent view. The
remains of 29 individuals were found inside, with the skulls neatly arranged around the
walls; the bones of 36 deer were also buried here.

Trumland RSPB reserve
A footpath sets off from beside the Taversoe Tuick tomb into the RSPB reserve that
encompasses most of the nearby heather-backed hills, the highest of which is Blotchnie
Fiold (821ft). This high ground offers good hillwalking, with superb panoramic views
of the surrounding islands, as well as excellent birdwatching. If you're lucky, you may
well catch a glimpse of merlins, hen harriers, short-eared owls and red-throated divers,
although the latter are more widespread just outside the reserve on one of the island's
three freshwater lochs, which also offer good trout-fishing.

Westness Walk
The southwestern side of Rousay is home to the most significant and impressive of the
island's archeological remains, strung out along the shores of Eynhallow Sound, which
runs between the island and the Mainland. Most lie on the mile-long Westness Walk