Incredible Historical Sites on Orkney Island

Orkney Island, Scotland

Following our incredible time on Shetland, we hailed* a ferry heading south, to Orkney. (*um, I mean, we booked tickets). The journey is a solid eight hours long, and I’m not thrilled to say that this ferry ride was the closest I’ve come to needing a barf bag in many years. However! We arrived on Orkney and spent the following four days exploring all the incredible historical sites on Orkney Island. I thought we had learned a thing or two about pre-history on Shetland. Oh, how wrong I was…

Historical Sites on Orkney Island

There are around 70 islands in the archipelago of Orkney, 20 of which are inhabited. These islands were first populated more than 8500 years ago!!! 8500!! With this in mind, it’s easy to see why there are so many historical sites on Orkney Island. We took advantage of the Orkney Explorer Pass we purchased and did a grand tour of the islands and all of their archaeological sites.

Orkney Explorer Pass

Skara Brae

This Neolithic settlement is comprised of eight clustered stone houses. Its excellent preservation has earned it status as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Skara Brae was occupied between 3180BC – 2500BC, and only discovered in 1850 after a storm blew sand off the site.

Unfortunately we arrived at Skara Brae at the same time as a tour bus, so our visit was a bit crowded. But it was pretty incredible to see the site as in tact as it was. After touring the site, we checked out Skaill House – the building where the main archaeologist lived during the late 1800’s.

The Broch of Gurness

Remember broches? They were typical round towers common in Northern Scotland. The Broch of Gurness is not only the site of a rather impressive broch, but a surrounding stone village as well. Occupied in the Iron Age, the Broch of Gurness is one of many that line the northern coast of the Mainland of Orkney.

Bishop’s & Earl’s Palaces

Located right in the centre of Orkney’s biggest village, Kirkwall, the Bishop’s and Earl’s Palaces are two incredibly intact buildings from the Medieval Ages. Way back when Orkney was still part of Norway, these buildings were part of a huge complex. Dating back to the 1200’s and 1600’s respectively, the Bishop’s & Earl’s Palaces contrast beautifully with the nearby St Magnus’ Cathedral.

Brough of Birsay

We tried going to see the Brough of Birsay, but Storm Ali had other plans. The Brough of Birsay is on an island accessible only by a causeway at low tide. We arrived at the causeway in an incredible wind storm – the car felt like it was going to be blown away! Water was still covering the causeway and the nearby shores were being pummelled by insanely forceful waves. The wind was so strong that we had a hard time standing up straight! There was no way we were going to risk our safety by crossing the causeway (though some brave/senseless souls did). Instead, we admired the island from the shores of the Mainland before returning to the safety of the car.

Maeshowe

Maeshowe is a chambered cairn/tomb built some 5000 years ago. It’s not much to look at from the outside (a grassy hill more or less), but the inside is quite impressive. Considering the lack of tools and infrastructure 5000 years ago, the stonework and engineering of this tomb is hard to conceptualize! Vikings broke into Maeshowe in the mid-1100s and left their mark in the form of graffiti in Runes.

There were no pictures allowed in Maeshowe, but I’ll remember the feeling of awe I felt in this structure for a long time.

Other Sites on Orkney

The Explorer Pass grants you access to a number of historical sites on Orkney Island, but there are loads of other things to explore too!

Standing Stones of Stenness & The Ring of Brodgar

Just down the road from Skara Brae are two sites of standing stones. Stenness has four stones (up to six metres in height!), but was originally home to a circle of 12 stones. This henge monument dates back over 5000 years ago and are considered to be part of an ancient ceremonial site.

A short walk away is the larger Ring of Brodgar. This massive circle was once home to more than 60 standing stones. Only 36 remain today. The Ring of Brodgar also dates back 5000 years and contains more than a dozen prehistoric burial grounds.

Churchill Barriers

Now for something a little more modern. In October 1939, a German U-boat navigated the islands of Orkney into Scapa Flow (a natural harbour) and sunk a Royal Navy battleship and almost 900 crew members at its moorings. Following this attack, Winston Churchill ordered the construction of four barriers that would permanently close off Scapa Flow and prevent future attacks. The barriers span a total length of 2.4km (1.5miles) and were completed in 1945, four days after the end of the war.

Today they remain and serve as through roads connecting the mainland to once-distant islands. Nearly half a million tons of rock and almost a million cubic metres of material were used to construct these barriers. Labour shortages became an issue during construction of the barriers, so Churchill decided to use Prisoners of War to aid with the building.

The Italian Chapel

The Italian Chapel was built during the construction of the barriers by Italian POWs. The near-200 POWs agreed on the benefits of having a place to worship, and were granted permission to construct a chapel. The chapel is made of two huts of corrugated steel which doesn’t sound all that impressive. But the ornate level of detail and craftsmanship that went into designing this chapel is just incredible.

The chapel was completed after the war, but efforts were made in the 1960’s and 1990’s to preserve the chapel and keep it functioning as a tourist attraction today.

Mull Head & Deerness

Way out on the east side of the Mainland of Orkney are Mull Head and Deerness. We arrived on the coast nearing sunset and the golden hour provided us with some pretty incredible lighting of the cliffs. There is a whole network of trails here and we spent a bit of time exploring the area and admiring the vastness of the sea beyond.

It’s hard for me to not sound like a boring textbook when describing all the historical sites on Orkney. I’m no archaeologist and it’s almost beyond my realm of comprehension to envision societies from so many thousands of years ago. To look down on a settlement with its stone walls, gravel flooring, and primitive tools and compare it with all the luxuries we live with today was pretty overwhelming.

We can get almost any fruit or vegetable we want, any time of the year. We have big, cushy mattresses with multiple sheets and blankets (and even more in storage). Our homes are heated in the winters and cooled in the summers, and our cars can take us anywhere we want to go.

It was fascinating for me to walk amongst these historical sites on Orkney and learn about periods of time I previously knew nothing about. Seeing these sites definitely makes me appreciate my modern comforts a lot more.

What’s the oldest structure you’ve ever seen?

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