The Ancient Codex Knock on the door of the past

Settlement · Prehistoric · Orkney Islands

Barnhouse Settlement

Reached on a public path · About 45 min · Easy going

Photo: Otter / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0Got a better photo of Barnhouse Settlement?

A settlement of the first farming age on the shore of the Loch of Harray, close to the Standing Stones of Stenness.

The houses at Barnhouse stood apart from one another, and that is what separates the place from Skara Brae. The two settlements share almost everything else — central hearths, beds built into the walls, stone dressers, drains running under the floors — but the Skara Brae houses are packed into a single connected mass and these were free-standing.

Colin Richards found the site in 1984 on the shore of the Loch of Harray, a short way from the Standing Stones of Stenness. Excavation between 1986 and 1991 exposed the base courses of at least fifteen houses, dating from about 3000 BC. The pottery is grooved ware, the same as at Stenness and Skara Brae; among the flint and stone tools was a piece of pitchstone that can only have come from Arran.

House 2 was different from the rest. It was double-sized, better built, and rebuilt up to five times while the others were not rebuilt at all, and it stayed in use as long as the settlement did. The houses stood around a central open space that was itself divided up by work — pottery in one part, flint and bone and hides in others.

Barnhouse was abandoned around 2600 BC, and then somebody built Structure 8 partly on top of it: a room seven metres square inside walls three metres thick, its entrance facing north-west so that the midsummer sunset runs up the passage. A clay platform surrounded it, and the way through that platform was aligned on Maeshowe. It is the sort of arrangement found in chambered cairns rather than in houses.

What follows is drawn from published sources, with each claim labelled by how firmly it is established.

History

Colin Richards discovered the settlement in 1984 on the shore of the Loch of Harray, not far from the Standing Stones of Stenness and about five miles north-east of Stromness. Excavation between 1986 and 1991 uncovered the base courses of at least fifteen houses. The buildings resemble the early phase of Skara Brae — central hearths, beds built against the walls, stone dressers and internal drains — but differ in one important respect. The houses here appear to have been free-standing rather than packed together into a single connected mass.

The settlement dates from around 3000 BC. Grooved ware pottery was found, the same type recovered from the Stones of Stenness and Skara Brae, along with flint and stone tools and a piece of pitchstone that must have come from the Isle of Arran. House 2 was the largest of the original buildings, double-sized and built to a higher standard than the rest, and unlike the others it was rebuilt as many as five times. It seems to have stayed in use for the whole life of the settlement.

The houses clustered around a central open area, and that space was itself divided up by activity — one part given over to making pottery, others to working flint, bone and hides. Barnhouse appears to have been abandoned around 2600 BC, after four centuries of use. Something was built here afterwards. Structure 8 went up partly on top of the earlier house sites, with a room about seven metres square inside walls three metres thick, and its entrance faces north-west so the midsummer sunset shines along the passage — an arrangement found in some chambered cairns.

That structure was surrounded by a clay platform, and the entrance through the platform was aligned on Maeshowe. Whatever Structure 8 was for, it was built to look at things, and one of those things was a tomb two miles away.

People

  • Colin Richards

    Discovered Barnhouse Settlement in 1984 and led excavation from 1986 to 1991.

Cultural influences

  • Barnhouse shared Grooved Ware, domestic fittings and connections with the Stones of Stenness and Skara Brae.

  • A piece of pitchstone found at the settlement came from the Isle of Arran.

Connections

  • Rinyo
    Photo: Gordon Hatton / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 2.0

    Rinyo

    Barnhouse and Rinyo are Neolithic settlement sites in Orkney, offering a comparison between domestic communities from the same broad prehistoric world rather than an isolated monument.

  • Stones of Stenness Circle and Henge
    Photo: Otter at Dutch Wikipedia (Original text: Hopmans) / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0

    Stones of Stenness Circle and Henge

    Historic Environment Scotland identifies a close relationship between Barnhouse and the Stones of Stenness: similarities in their interior layouts link the settlement’s domestic architecture with the nearby ceremonial monument.

  • Heart of Neolithic Orkney
    Photo: Dr. John F. Burka / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0

    Heart of Neolithic Orkney

    Barnhouse forms part of the wider Neolithic landscape around the Heart of Neolithic Orkney, where domestic settlements and ritual monuments together reveal the society that built them.

Discovery & excavation

Excavation between 1986 and 1991 exposed the base courses of at least fifteen free-standing Neolithic houses.

What to look for

  • Free-standing houses

    At least fifteen houses were separate buildings rather than joined together as at Skara Brae.

  • House 2

    The largest house was double-sized, rebuilt up to five times and used throughout the settlement’s life.

  • Structure 8

    The later seven-metre square structure has three-metre walls and a north-west entrance aligned on the midsummer sunset.

  • Maeshowe alignment

    The entrance through Structure 8’s clay platform aligns on Maeshowe.

Plan your visit

Location
58.9958°N · 3.2068°W
Access
Reached on a public path
Terrain
Easy going
Time needed
About 45 minutes
Best time
Daylight hours
What survives
Excavated house bases and the later Structure 8 remain on the shore of the Loch of Harray.

Opening & admission

No reliable current admission details are recorded; verify before travelling.

  • Accessible to the public via a footpath from the Standing Stones of Stenness.

Nearby places

The setting

  • Near Barnhouse Settlement, about 4 metres away.

    Photo: Ymblanter / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0

  • Near Barnhouse Settlement, about 6 metres away.

    Photo: Ymblanter / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0

  • Near Barnhouse Settlement, about 6 metres away.

    Photo: N Chadwick / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 2.0

Questions people ask

How does Barnhouse differ from Skara Brae?
The houses were free-standing rather than joined into a single mass, though they share the central hearths, wall-built beds, stone dressers and internal drains of Skara Brae's early phase.
How old is the settlement?
Around 3000 BC. It appears to have been abandoned about 2600 BC.
What was House 2?
The largest of the original buildings — double-sized, built to a higher standard than the others, rebuilt up to five times, and in use throughout the settlement's life.
What is Structure 8?
A later building put up partly on top of the abandoned houses, with a room seven metres square inside three-metre walls. Its entrance faces the midsummer sunset, and the way through its surrounding clay platform is aligned on Maeshowe.

Sources

  1. Historic Environment Scotland scheduled monument SM90352 — Watch Stone, stone settings, Barnhouse settlement and related remains
  2. Wikipedia: Barnhouse Settlement
  3. Wikidata: Q808495
  4. Historic Environment Scotland — Heart of Neolithic Orkney (accessed 2026-08-30)

Explore more: Settlements · Prehistoric · Orkney Islands

The Ancient Codex, in your pocket

Get the Pocket Codex app

Carry the directory with you — Barnhouse Settlement and thousands of ancient places across Britain and Ireland, offline, wherever you roam.

Get the app →