Settlement · Prehistoric
Broch of Gurness
Orkney Islands
The Broch of Gurness is a stone tower and settlement on the north-east coast of Mainland Orkney, overlooking Eynhallow Sound.
- Near Evie
- 141 metres from car park
- Some walking
Scotland · Region
Ancient places in Orkney Islands
53 places in Orkney Islands, from the deepest prehistory to the medieval world.
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Settlement · Pictish & early medieval
Brough of Birsay
Orkney Islands
A tidal island where Pictish metalworkers: people of northern and eastern Scotland from about AD 300 to 900: Norse rulers and medieval pilgrims suc…
- Near Birsay
- 625 metres from car park
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Tomb or burial place · Prehistoric
Cuween Hill Chambered Cairn
Orkney Islands
A crawl into this first-farming-age tomb leads to four side cells and the extraordinary remains of people and twenty-four dogs, evidence of a commu…
- Near Finstown
- 270 metres from car park
- Easy path
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Tomb or burial place · Prehistoric
Dwarfie Stane
Orkney Islands
A chamber tomb carved out of a single glacial erratic of Old Red Sandstone, in a steep valley on Hoy.
- Near Rackwick
- 8 min walk from car park
- Easy path
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Tomb or burial place · Prehistoric
Maeshowe Chambered Cairn
Orkney Islands
The burial mound was built around 2800 BC by farming communities of central Orkney and contains a stone chamber associated with the Grooved Ware po…
- Near Stenness
- 1.6 km from car park
- Easy path
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Tomb or burial place · Prehistoric
Midhowe Chambered Cairn
Orkney Islands
A large burial mound with an internal stone chamber on the south shore of Rousay, named after the drystone tower beside it.
- Near Rousay
- 10 min walk from car park
- Easy path
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Tomb or burial place · Prehistoric
Quoyness Chambered Cairn
Orkney Islands
A tomb mistaken for a broch until 1867, holding at least ten adults and possibly four children in a stone-lined cist: a box grave built of slabs: w…
- Near Sanday
- 20 min walk from car park
- Easy path
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Sacred place · Prehistoric
Ring of Brodgar
Orkney Islands
The Ring of Brodgar is a stone circle on the narrow isthmus between the Lochs of Stenness and Harray on Mainland, Orkney.
- Near Stenness
- 5 min walk from car park
- Easy path
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Settlement · Prehistoric
Skara Brae
Orkney Islands
Ten roofless stone houses survive at Skara Brae with their built-in furniture still in place: hearths, dressers and box-beds. Occupied for roughly…
- Near Stromness
- 5 min walk from car park
- Some walking
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Sacred place · Prehistoric
Stones of Stenness Circle and Henge
Orkney Islands
An ancient monument five miles north-east of Stromness that may be the oldest circular enclosure in the British Isles.
- Near Stenness
- 2 min walk from car park
- Easy path
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Tomb or burial place · Prehistoric
Unstan Chambered Cairn
Orkney Islands
Twenty to thirty bowls were put in here, most of them already broken and already used: one sherd carried the impression of a barley grain.
- Near Stenness
- 2 min walk from car park
- Easy path
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Settlement · Prehistoric
Barnhouse Settlement
Orkney Islands
A settlement of the first farming age on the shore of the Loch of Harray, close to the Standing Stones of Stenness.
- Easy path
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Tomb or burial place · Prehistoric
Blackhammer Chambered Cairn
Orkney Islands
Blackhammer Chambered Cairn preserves a Neolithic, the late Stone Age, burial monument dating from roughly 4000–2500 BC, on Rousay in Orkney.
- Some walking
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Fortified place · Iron Age
Broch of Ayre
Orkney Islands
The Ayre site is a broch, a tall circular tower of unmortared stone found only in Scotland, on Orkney Mainland.
- Easy path
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Fortified place · Iron Age
Broch of Borwick
Orkney Islands
The Broch of Borwick is a tall circular tower of unmortared stone, a type of building found only in Scotland, whose remains illuminate changing com…
- Rough ground
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Fortified place · Iron Age
Broch of Burrian
Orkney Islands
The Broch of Burrian is a tall circular tower of unmortared stone, a type of building found only in Scotland, on the rocky shore of North Ronaldsay.
- Rough ground
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Fortified place · Iron Age
Burroughston Broch
Orkney Islands
One of Orkney’s best-preserved brochs, its intact guard chamber, wall gallery and internal well make the defensive engineering of a tower from abou…
- Some walking
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Tomb or burial place · Prehistoric
Castle Bloody
Orkney Islands
An unresolved Shapinsay structure that may be a burial mound or an underground passage connected with settlement, challenging easy readings of how…
- Easy path
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Building or ruin · Medieval
Earl's Palace, Birsay
Orkney Islands
Robert Stewart’s fortress-palace embodies the political ambition of James V’s illegitimate son, combining ceremonial halls with gun-holed defences…
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Sacred place · Prehistoric
Heart of Neolithic Orkney
Orkney Islands
The Orkney World Heritage group is made up of monuments from the closing Stone Age, roughly 4000–2500 BC, whose remains illuminate the islands’ cha…
- Some walking
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Tomb or burial place · Prehistoric
Holm of Papa Westray Chambered Cairn
Orkney Islands
A chambered cairn twenty metres long: a burial tomb of stone-built compartments under a mound: on an uninhabited islet of twenty-one hectares off P…
- Easy path
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Tomb or burial place · Prehistoric
Huntersquoy chambered cairn
Orkney Islands
An exceptionally rare two-storey tomb, its opposed entrances and flooded lower chamber reveal two burial spaces stacked within one small Eday mound.
- Easy path
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Settlement · Prehistoric
Knap of Howar
Orkney Islands
A farmstead of the first farming age on Papa Westray that may be the oldest standing house in northern Europe.
- Easy path
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Ancient place · Prehistoric
Knowe of Swandro
Orkney Islands
Knowe of Swandro is a coastal archaeological site on Rousay, where a burial tomb, settlement remains and Viking-age buildings are being eroded by t…
- Rough ground
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Tomb or burial place · Prehistoric
Knowe of Yarso chambered cairn
Orkney Islands
Knowe of Yarso preserves a burial mound built around a stone chamber, bringing together material remains and documented history that illuminate Ork…
- Rough ground
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Tomb or burial place · Prehistoric
Knowes of Trotty
Orkney Islands
An unusually rich Bronze Age cemetery where imported gold and amber were buried with cremated people, evidence that Orkney elites reached far beyon…
- Easy path
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Ancient place · Prehistoric
Liddle Burnt Mound
Orkney Islands
An excavated cooking complex where a huge watertight tank, heated stones and animal bones make an otherwise disputed type of Bronze Age site unusua…
- Easy path
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Settlement · Prehistoric
Links of Noltland
Orkney Islands
Links of Noltland is a settlement with late Stone Age and early Bronze Age, roughly 2500–800 BC, when metalworking spread, dwellings, protected by…
- Some walking
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Sacred place · Prehistoric
Linton Chapel
Orkney Islands
An enigmatic small coastal chapel whose proximity to the disputed Castle Bloody offers a rare glimpse of medieval worship beside a much older Shapi…
- Easy path
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Fortified place · Iron Age
Loch of Tankerness
Orkney Islands
A shallow loch whose shrinking water exposed a Bronze Age house, while its shores bring together Iron Age, prehistoric and modern water-supply arch…
- Near Kirkwall
- Easy path
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Fortified place · Iron Age
Midhowe Broch
Orkney Islands
An exceptionally well-preserved broch where a spring-fed tank, roasting hearth and converted workshop spaces make everyday life in an Iron Age coas…
- Near Rousay
- Some walking
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Tomb or burial place · Prehistoric
Mine Howe
Orkney Islands
Twenty-nine descending steps and fine stonework lead into an Iron Age chamber whose purpose remains unknown, making Mine Howe as compelling for its…
- Near Kirkwall
- Some walking
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Sacred place · Prehistoric
Mor Stein
Orkney Islands
An isolated three-metre standing stone whose uncarved bulk records the considerable communal labour of quarrying, moving and raising a monument who…
- Near Shapinsay
- Easy path
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Sacred place · Prehistoric
Ness of Brodgar
Orkney Islands
Ness of Brodgar preserves an archaeological site between the Ring of Brodgar and the Stones of Stenness.
- Near Stenness
- Easy path
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Building or ruin · Medieval
Noltland Castle
Orkney Islands
A castle of the later sixteenth century near Pierowall on Westray, never fully completed.
- Near Pierowall
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Sacred place · Prehistoric
Orphir Round Church
Orkney Islands
Orphir Round Church preserves the remains of a circular medieval church dedicated to Saint Nicholas.
- Easy path
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Tomb or burial place · Prehistoric
Quanterness chambered cairn
Orkney Islands
A burial monument on Mainland into which a roundhouse was built about 700 BC, and which held the remains of 157 people.
- Some walking
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Ancient place · Prehistoric
Quoygrew settlement, Westray
Orkney Islands
A medieval Norse settlement on Westray, begun as a small farmstead between about 900 and 1000.
- Near Westray
- Easy path
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Tomb or burial place · Prehistoric
Rennibister Earth House
Orkney Islands
An underground structure on Mainland, probably for storage, found in 1926 when a threshing machine broke through it.
- Some walking
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Ancient place · Prehistoric
Rousay
Orkney Islands
A small hilly island north of Mainland, whose density of remains has earned it a reputation of its own.
- Some walking
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Tomb or burial place · Prehistoric
Scar boat burial
Orkney Islands
A Viking boat burial on Sanday, dating from between 875 and 950.
- Near Sanday
- Some walking
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Sacred place · Medieval
St Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall
Orkney Islands
The oldest cathedral in Scotland, now a Church of Scotland parish church in Kirkwall.
- Near Kirkwall
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Sacred place · Prehistoric
Stone of Setter
Orkney Islands
A Late Neolithic standing stone on the island of Eday.
- Near Eday
- Easy path
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Tomb or burial place · Prehistoric
Taversöe Tuick
Orkney Islands
A burial mound on Rousay of about 4000–2500 BC, with a rare double-tiered chamber.
- Near Rousay
- Some walking
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Ancient place · Prehistoric
Tofts Ness
Orkney Islands
Tofts Ness is a Sanday peninsula with ancient mounds, cairns, enclosures and structural remains, alongside evidence of later shipwrecks.
- Near Sanday
- Some walking
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Tomb or burial place · Prehistoric
Tomb of the Eagles
Orkney Islands
Tomb of the Eagles is a late Stone Age burial chamber on South Ronaldsay, where human remains and eagle bones reveal changing funerary practices.
- Near South Ronaldsay
- Some walking
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Tomb or burial place · Prehistoric
Vinquoy chambered cairn
Orkney Islands
Vinquoy is a restored Stone Age burial monument on Eday, built around a central chamber with four small side-cells and overlooking Calf Sound.
- Near Eday
- Some walking
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Sacred place · Prehistoric
Wheebin standing stone
orkney-islands
Livestock have polished the lower half of this stone smooth by rubbing against it; a deep crevice runs from the middle to the top.
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Tomb or burial place · Prehistoric
Wideford Hill chambered cairn
Orkney Islands
Wideford Hill is a Stone Age burial mound on Mainland Orkney, with a chamber, side chambers and masonry that shows how the tomb was built.
- Near Kirkwall
- Easy path
More places in Orkney Islands
Briefer entries: recorded and worth knowing, with fuller pages to come.
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Building or ruin · Medieval
Italian Chapel
Orkney Islands
Two Nissen huts, joined end to end, decorated by a prisoner of war who stayed behind after his comrades were freed in order to finish the work.
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Ancient place · Prehistoric
Rinyo
Orkney Islands
A settlement of the first farming age on Rousay, discovered in the winter of 1937.
- Near Rousay
- Some walking
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