Orkney - The Rough Guide to Scottish Highlands and Islands - page 353

that begins at Westness Farm, four miles west of the ferry terminal. This scramble
along the shore is rewarded with a kaleidoscope of history, with remains of an Iron Age
cairn, a Viking farm, a post-Reformation church, a medieval tower, and crofts from
which the tenants were evicted in the nineteenth century. Half a mile further, you'll
reach the impressive clifftop scenery around Scabra Head , where numerous seabirds
nest in summer.

Midhowe Cairn
Towards the end of the walk, Midhowe Cairn comes as something of a surprise, both for
its immense size - it's known as “the great ship of death” and measures nearly 100ft in
length - and because it's now entirely surrounded by a stone-walled barn with a
corrugated roof. Unfortunately, you can't actually explore the roofless communal burial
chamber, dating back to 3500 BC, but only look down from the overhead walkway.
The central corridor, 25yd long, is partitioned with slabs of rock, with twelve
compartments on each side, where the remains of 25 people were discovered in a
crouched position with their backs to the wall.

7

Midhowe Broch
A couple of hundred yards beyond Midhowe Cairn is Rousay's finest archeological site,
Midhowe Broch , whose compact layout suggests that it was originally built as a sort of
fortified family house, surrounded by a complex series of ditches and ramparts. The
broch itself looks as though it's about to slip into the sea: it was obviously shored up
with flagstone buttresses back in the Iron Age, and has more recently been given extra
sea defences by Historic Scotland. The interior of the broch, entered through an
impressive doorway, is divided into two separate rooms, each with its own hearth,
water tank and quernstone, all of which date from the final phase of occupation around
the second century AD.

Egilsay
Egilsay , the largest of the low-lying islands sheltering close to the eastern shore of
Rousay, makes an easy day-trip. Egilsay is almost entirely inhabited by incomers, and
a large slice of the island's farmland is managed by the RSPB in a vain attempt to
encourage corncrakes. If you're just here for the day, walk due east from the ferry
terminal to the coast, where there's a beautiful sandy bay overlooking Eday.

St Magnus Church
The island is dominated by the ruins of St Magnus Church , with its distinctive round
tower, venue for Egilsay's ever more popular summer-solstice celebrations. Built around
the twelfth century in a prominent position in the middle of the island, probably on
the site of a much earlier version, the roofless church is the only surviving example of
the traditional round-towered churches of Orkney and Shetland. It is possible that it
was built as a shrine to Earl (later Saint) Magnus, who arranged to meet his cousin
Håkon here in 1117, only to be treacherously killed on Håkon's orders by the latter's
cook, Lifolf.

Wyre
The tiny island of Wyre , to the southwest of Egilsay and directly opposite Rousay's ferry
terminal, is another possible day-trip, and is best known for Cubbie Roo's Castle , the
“fine stone fort” and “really solid stronghold” mentioned in the Orkneyinga Saga , and
built around 1150 by local farmer Kolbein Hruga. The castle gets another mention in
Håkon's Saga , when those inside successfully withstood all attacks. The outer defences
have survived well on three sides of the castle, which has a central keep, with walls to