WEST MAINLAND - SANDWICK WEST MAINLAND ANDWICK · 2019. 8. 15. · Cruaday Quarry (HY247218) has often been suggested as a possible source of the stones at Brodgar and Stenness. Nearby,

advised that the kirk was aliability, and recommendeddemolition even though itwas an A-listed building. Itwas acquired for £1 in 1998by the Scottish RedundantChurches Trust, which hascompletely renovated thebuilding. Today the churchis open to visitors and hostsconcerts, weddings andother events.

The nearby Knowe ofVerron (HY231198), anIron Age site with evidenceof metal working overlooksthe north side of the Bay ofSkaill. This is probably asmall broch, which has beendug into in the past to reveala flagstone floor, a centralhearth and internal divi-sions. A vitrified stone,thought to be the base of afurnace, has disappeared.

In 1858 David Linklater wasdigging above the shore nearthe kirk, when he cameacross some silver items.Before long 9 brooches, 14necklets, 27 armlets and alarge numbers of coins,ingots and small pieces ofsilver amounting to 7kg inall had been found. TheSkaill Hoard, as it came to

be known, was soon in thehands of the state, and wastransferred to Edinburgh,where it remains.

Kierfiold House overlooksthe Loch of Skaill from thenorth, and has a large walledgarden which is open to thepublic in the summer. Apartfrom the displays of flowersand shrubs, this is an excel-lent place to seek out butter-flies and bumblebees.

The Stones of Via(HY260160) near the Lochof Clumley is a pile of largestones in a shallow depres-sion about 80m in diameter.This enigmatic site may pos-sibly be the remains of a

chambered cairn which hasbeen almost completelyrobbed out.

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Skaill hoard brooch (replica)

The interior is original and dates from 1837St Peter’s Kirk, Bay of Skaill

The Bay of Skaill and Skara Brae from the southeast

WEST MAINLAND - SANDWICK

SANDWICK (ON SandVik, sandy bay) The Bay ofSkaill has a beautiful, ifvariable, beach. This is oneof the best places on thewest side of the Mainlandfor wave-watching, anddepending on winter storms,it may be very sandy or allrounded pebbles and largeboulders. At low tide thesand is exposed, while inwesterly gales a spectacularsurf breaks here. The inter-nationally renowned prehis-toric village of Skara Braeis at the south end of the bay.

Nearby Skaill House datesfrom the 17th century,although there was almostcertainly a large Norse farm-stead near here long beforethat. The Loch of Skaill hasmany wintering wildfowl,while in summer waders areabundant around its edges.The banks beside the roadpast the loch are particularlybeautiful in May with prim-roses in flower, while laterthe loch shores are a sea ofMeadowsweet and Irises inbloom.

Sand Fiold, the area of sanddunes at Skaill has been thesite of several cist graves,the most recent and spectac-ular excavation being in1989. A rock-cut hole 2mdeep and over 3m squarecontained a large flagstonecist, one side of which couldbe opened. Inside were theremains of three burials. Inone corner a large urn con-tained cremated remains andgrass, while a mother andfoetus had been placed inanother corner, but not cre-mated. Finally more cre-mated remains lay in thecentre and had been coveredin something like matting.

The burials were made about2000 BC, and so far thistomb is unique, other cistsbeing much smaller and notre-used. The fact that notvery much tangible evidenceof the Bronze Age in Orkneyhas so far come to light maywell indicate that muchremains to be discovered.

St Peter’s Kirk, at the northend of the Bay of Skaill wasbuilt in 1837 as theSandwick Parish Churchunder the Reverend CharlesClouston, a forebear ofStorer Clouston the authorand historian. It is a rare sur-vival of a 19th century ScotsPresbyterian kirk in its mostaustere form. By the 1960s,St Peter's was used occa-sionally for worship and bythe 1970s, only for funerals,the last being in 1984. A1988 a report by thePresbytery of Orkney

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Excavating the Sandfiold burial cist

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other hand in a winter sstorm the cliffs become darkand brooding as cloudsstreak past and the suncomes and goes on hugewaves.

Just north of the car parkthere is an exposure of stro-matolites, which are fos-silised cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) which lived inthe Devonian period, about350 million years ago.These primitive photosyn-thetic organisms fixed car-bon and released oxygeninto the environment. Someof these stromatolites aresaid to resemble horsesteeth. It should be noted thatthese and all other fossils areprotected by law.

The Castle of Yesnaby(HY218153) stands in its ownbay, Garthna Geo. The OldMan of Hoy can be seenfrom here, dwarfed by thehigher St John’s Head.Yesnaby Castle has oftenbeen used as practice bythose about to climb itslarger brother. On a clearday the Sutherland hills inthe distance extend all theway to Cape Wrath.

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Brough of Bigging, Yesnaby

Aerial view of the Brough of Bigging, Yesnaby

Stromatolite at YesnabyPrimula scoticaSpring Squill

Yesnaby Castle with Thrift

South from Skaill TheHole o'Row (HY224190),on the south side of the bay,is a large cave which haspierced right through theheadland, and throughwhich the sea breaks inrough weather. Care shouldbe taken on the slipperyrocks.Row Head (59m) is the startof one of the finest stretchesof cliff scenery in Orkney.

There are good views fromhere both to North and Southalong the coast, and the walkfrom here to Yesnaby is veryfine. Passing the Ness ofRamnageo, we reachBorwick (HY224168), withits ruinous broch, perchedprecariously on the edge ofthe cliffs. This can provideexcellent shelter for wave-watching, but must havebeen a damp and draughty

place to live!

Yesnaby is one of the mostattractive places anywherein Orkney to visit. The lessenergetic can admire theview from their car, or fromthe shelter of the World WarII military buildings, whichwere used for gunnery prac-tice. Primula scotica, Grassof Parnassus and SpringSquill can be seen from theside of the road here.

South from the car park isthe Noust of Bigging(HY220159), where fisher-men used to pull up theirboats, sheltered by theBrough of Bigging, anotherexcellent place to watchhuge Atlantic waves smash-ing into the cliffs on a roughday. Few places give a bet-ter impression of the powerof the sea than this spot dur-ing a northwesterly gale!

The relatively low cliffs,with their dramatic shapesand warm colours, take ondifferent aspects dependingon the weather and season.On a fine summer s eveningall is peace and the coloursof the rocks are enhanced bythe evening light. On the

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WEST MAINLAND - YESNABY TO SKAILL

Row Head, on the south side of the Bay of Skaill

Broch of Borwick, north of Yesnaby, has a settlement on its east side The Hole o'Row is a natural arch


World War II In WorldWar II, two airfields werebuilt in the West Mainland.Much of the area has nowbeen cleared, but some ofthe buildings, including thecontrol tower at Twatt, haveso far not been destroyed.There are plans to turn thisinto an Interpretation Centrein future.

These airfields were impor-tant as staging posts andtraining bases later in theWar, and a large variety ofaircraft types used them.Twatt (HY265230) wascommissioned as HMS Ternon 1st April 1941 and wasgreatly used for disembark-ment of carrier-borne air-craft of many types.

Skeabrae (HY270205) wascommenced by theAdmiralty, but handed overto the Air Ministry in May1940. The first active serv-ice units arrived in August1940, but it was not untilJanuary 1941 thatHurricanes of No3 SquadronRAF were based here.

Air defence remained

important throughout thewar and although there wereonly a few actions latterly,this underlines the effective-ness of the system. Therewas also a Ground ControlInterception Station atSkeabrae.

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Aerial view of Skeabrae from the northwest with the Loch of Harray

Winter light over the Loch of Skaill

SANDWICKATTRACTIONS

Bay of SkaillSkara BraeSkaill HouseHole o'Rowrow HeadRamna GeoBroch of BorwickYesnabyBrough of BiggingYesnaby CastlePrimula scoticaVoyVeron PointBroch of StackrueRing of BookanBurrian BrochLoch of Clumley and BrochStones of ViaSkeabraeCruaday QuarryVestrafiold monolithsSt Peter’s KirkBroch of VerronLoch of Skaill Kierfiold House gardensWalk south to StromnessWalk north to Birsay


Dramatic summer sky over the Loch of Skaill

Ancient igneous rocks out-crop at Yesnaby frombeneath the Stromness flag-stones. Uranium occurs inthese basal beds which arealso exposed at Stromnessand on Graemsay. A vigor-ous campaign was fought inthe late 1970s to preventexploratory drilling of thesedeposits. Few issues haveso galvanised the local com-munity as this and a sign inStromness saying, "NO URANI-UM - Keep Orkney Green andAttractive, Not White andRadioactive" has only recentlybeen replaced by a “Welcome toStromness” one.

Monolith quarries? CruadayQuarry (HY247218) has oftenbeen suggested as a possiblesource of the stones atBrodgar and Stenness.

Nearby, at Vestrafiold,monoliths still lie on the hill-side awaiting transport.There are more on theNorthdyke hill above Huan.

Voy There are good vantagepoints near Voy to watchwaterfowl on the Loch ofStenness, as the road passesclose by the shore. From theroad above the farm ofUpper Voy the view takes ina lovely combination offields, hills, water and skywith the greens, browns andblues so typical of Orkney.

The Broch of Stackrue(HY271151) near Lyking iscut through by the road, andwas no doubt used as a quar-ry. Much of the surroundingditch and rampart remains,as well as substantial

walling, which includesmany large stones. In thefield opposite the outline ofan ancient chapel and grave-yard can be made out.

Several brochs and burntmounds line the shores ofthe Loch of Stenness,including those at the Nessof Voy and Redland. Thereare also broch sites belowTenston and Burrian on thewest side Loch of Harray.Ruins on the Holm ofKirkness may be a chapel.

The Broch of Clumley isunusual for Orkney in beingsituated on a small inlandloch on an islet with step-ping stones. Although noneof the Sandwick brochs arevery large, most have ofstructures around them.

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The Ness, Voy, at the northwest of the Loch of Stenness

The Loch of Stenness from Upper Voy, looking southeast towards the Orphir Hills

The Broch of Stackrue, near Lyking



system of stone-lined drains,which connect to several ofthe side-cells, serves the vil-lage, to remove rainwater,and no doubt domestic wasteof various types. Childedescribes “green slime”being found in the drains,but unfortunately none waskept for later analysis.

Each house has a centralfireplace and a doorwayexiting to the main passage.These doorways were small,about 1.1m high by 0.6m

wide, and very carefullyconstructed. There was pro-vision to fasten the doorsfrom the inside. Thedressers are prominentlyplaced facing the entrance,while stone box beds standbeside the sidewalls. Theinteriors are surprisinglyspacious with a floor area ofup to 36 square metres.Damp-proof courses hadalso been invented over5,000 years ago. The foun-dations of the houses have alayer of blue clay in the bot-

tom course, which wouldhave worked as well as poly-thene does today.

The earliest houses resemblethose at Barnhouse, withbeds recessed in the walls,while the later ones are larg-er with freestandingboxbeds. During the 500years of primary occupationthe buildings were repaired,modified and rebuilt, apartfrom hut 7, which is built ona clay base directly on thesand. Two older women

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ORKNEY’S NEOLITHIC VILLAGE

Excavator’s plan of the village

Hut 1 before being taken into State careCarved stone object

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Skara Brae (HY232188),by the south shore of theBay of Skaill, is virtuallyunique. This remarkablywell-preserved Neolithicvillage is one of very fewarcheological sites where itis actually possible to imag-ine the life-style of theinhabitants. It was firstrevealed after a severenorthwesterly storm andextremely high tide in 1850.Recent work has shown thatthis prehistoric communitywas occupied for at least 500years, from before 3100BCto about 2500BC.Secondary usage continueduntil about 2200BC.

Four houses were clearedout in the 1860s, but no fur-ther work was done until thesite was taken into state carein 1925. In the meantimefurther storms washed awaymost of hut 3 and part of hut1. A sea wall was built toprotect the site from furtherdamage and ProfessorGordon Childe was broughtin to supervise its recordingand conservation. The com-plexity of the ruins and theneed to preserve the struc-tures made a proper strati-graphic excavation impossi-ble, but clear evidence ofseveral phases of occupationwere revealed.

The name Skara Brae is arecent 20th century corrup-tion of Skerrabrae, as it isstill known locally, (perhapsfrom ON Skjaldbreiðr,“broad shield”, or perhapsON Skerabreiðr, referring tothe large nearby skerrywhich protects the site fromthe west). In former timesthe settlement was probablyseparated from the sea bysand dunes and dune slacks,which have since been erod-ed away.

Having been protected with-in a large dune for over4,000 years, the village isremarkably preserved. Thegroup of seven houses isconnected by a coveredclose, all of which wereburied to the tops of thewalls by midden. This clay-like mixture of refuse con-sists of ashes, shells, bones,sand and other domesticdetritus and together hasbeen a major factor in pro-tecting the site from erosion.It seems that the occupantsbuilt the midden aroundtheir houses intentionally asan integral part of the con-struction. It appears to havebeen stored and used delib-erately rather than simplypiled round existing houses.

The houses vary in sizefrom over 6m square tobarely 4m square, with amaximum surviving wallheight of 2.4m. The designsare quite similar with beds,dressers, tanks in the floor,cupboards in the walls andcells off the main room. A

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WEST MAINLAND - SKARA BRAE

Aerial view of Skara Brae

Professor Gordon Childe with visitors in the 1930s


of the Maeshowe-typechambered cairns (but not inMaeshowe).

The porch on the east endhas opposing doors and hasbeen interpreted as an areafor winnowing of corn,while the building was prob-ably also a grain storage andprocessing area, and mayhave been used to malt bar-ley. The large pots couldhold at least 100 litres andwould have been used forstorage, but may well alsohave functioned as contain-ers for making ale. Apartfrom this usage, malted bar-ley is very nutritious, andmuch more palatable to peo-ple and ruminants than thegrain. Once dried, maltstores very well.

Lifestyle The inhabitantskept cattle, pigs and sheep.They grew barley and somewheat, fished the nearbywaters, caught birds andgathered shellfish. Bone wasmuch used for tools and jew-ellry, but wood was alsoused. Red ochre made fromhaematite was found insmall stone and whalebonecontainers, suggesting thatdecoration was also used.

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Hut 1 is the most complete apart can be studied from all angles

Burnt stones in hut 8The porch of hut 8 from “The Street”

The north entrance to hut 8

Cells in the southeast corner of hut 1 showing quality of construction

were buried under one wall,perhaps before the housewas built. It has been sug-gested that this was a “foun-dation burial” and that thehut had a different use to theothers. Although no drainshave been found leadingfrom hut 7, two of the com-partments had thick layers of“green sludge”.

What remains today is likean animal skeleton. Therewould have been driftwoodfrom America available forfurnishings and materialssuch as animal sheepskins,leather and eider down, aswell as caisies, cubbies andthe original Orkney chairs.

There is no evidence of fab-rics being used and noremains of anything to dowith weaving. No spindlesor whorls were found.However fibres from Nettlestems were probably used tomake fishing lines and nets,and perhaps clothes.Heather stems would haveprovided ropes and woolwas undoubtedly used tomake cloth, perhaps by felt-ing rather than weaving.

The roofs would have beensupported by couples madeof driftwood or whalebonesand covered with skins orturf, and using heather ropesand straw simmons. There

was probably a central holeto let out the smoke and letin some light. House 7 hasholes in the top courses ofstones, which look like theyare for the fitting of joists.As whales were much moreabundant, strandings wouldhave been more frequent5,000 years ago.

One blue whale ashore in theBay of Skaill would haveprovided enough rafters fora village much bigger thanthis. Since the “street” andentrances to the houses arenarrow, there may easilyhave been roof entrances tofacilitate the moving of largeobjects like pots. There maywell also have been a galleryfor storage and sleeping.

“The Workshop” Onebuilding, hut 8, was appar-ently the workshop, as it hasno beds and is differentlyarranged. It is to the southof the houses and was notsurrounded by midden.Many fragments of chert,which had been heated, werefound on the floor. In theabsence of flint this stonewas used to make cuttingand scraping tools.

There was a kiln probablyfor firing pottery, and fordrying grain and malt.Large pots were made insizes up to 60cm diameter,which were often decoratedwith geometric patterns.This is classed as GroovedWare, which was also foundat Barnhouse, the StandingStones, Rinyo and in some

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Hut 7 is covered with a glass roof and is the lowest level

Hut 8 is different and was probably the workshop, kiln and barn


today. The inhabitants ofSkara Brae were well-estab-lished farmers, who proba-bly lived comfortably intheir substantial houses in amanner not dissimilar to thatof many Orcadians untilquite recent times.

Abandonment of the settle-ment was very likely causedby encroaching sand, per-haps because of a greatstorm which set the sanddunes in motion and partial-ly overwhelmed the villageand surrounding farmland ina short time. However someof the houses continued inuse for some time after this,as there were multiple occu-pation layers in the sandwhich filled them.

Visitor Centre The nearbyVisitor Centre has a goodintroductory video and inter-pretative displays with sev-eral hands-on things to do.The replica of house 7 givesa good idea of just how cosyand spacious they were.There is also a café andinteresting shop.

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“The Street” is built from large stones and covered by lintels

Carved stone ball (replica)Carved stone ball (replica)

Incised design in hut 8

Doorway to hut 1 from insidePendants with incised markings

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The soil conditions were notfavourable for the preserva-tion of wood and thus verylittle has survived. Howeverthere would have been plen-ty of driftwood from NorthAmerica and it is very likelythat it was used for manypurposes. The villagersmust have had reasonablygood boats to go fishing asthey did. No doubt thesecraft had wooden frameswith leather covering, sownand strengthened with nettlefibre.

Many interesting artefactswere discovered at SkaraBrae including numerouscircular stone pot lids, bonetools and jewellry. Four

carved stone objects werealso found, similar to othersfound in Orkney and else-where in Scotland. It hasalways been assumed thatthese “special objects” hadsome significant purposeassociated with “ritual” andthat somehow the inhabi-tants were “totally different”to people today.

Neolithic art also appears inthe many motifs which havebeen scratched on stones atSkara Brae, especially inhuts 7 and 8 and in the“street” near hut 2. Theymay be seen by visitors onthe east side of hut 8 and atthe south entrance to the“street”. Made up of

lozenges, chevrons, crossesand triangles, these motifsresemble those on GroovedWare pots and similarinscriptions from Brodgarand Barnhouse as well asMaeshowe, Quoyness,Cuween and Wideford Hillcairns. Perhaps the mostfamous is the unique spiraldecoration much used by20th century jewellers.

No evidence has been foundof anything which could nothave come from Orkney,suggesting a self-sufficientlife-style. This does notexclude contacts with othergroups, or even withMainland Scotland, whichcan be seen from Sandwick.Boats good enough to fishoff to the west of Orkney arecertainly adequate to crossthe Pentland Firth.

The design of the “housesfor the living” echoes thatof the “houses for the dead”,the chambered cairns, withtheir entrance passages,main chambers, stone furni-ture and side cells, all cov-ered with turf. There is nodoubt that the ancestorswere important to Neolithicsociety, just as they are

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Hut 5 is earlier and has the beds built into the walls

Replica of hut 7 at the Visitor Centre

Modern “Skara Brae” ear ring


The Countess Temple ofStowe attributed this to theghost of “Ubby”, who manyyears ago built the smallisland in the middle of SkaillLoch by rowing out anddumping stones which canstill be seen there. He isreputed to have died on theisland. Two recent tenantsof the flats have also hadstrange experiences, oneswearing someone sat on hisbed beside him, the otherthat their dog went berserkone night.

And one day cleaners saw awoman with a shawl overher head standing inside thedoorway of the top flat -only later did they discoverthat there was no-one in theflat at the time. But all of thestories agree that the ghostor ghosts of Skaill arefriendly.

The house makes an fasci-nating visit, with its diverseexhibits and historical asso-ciations. The shop stocks agood variety of interestingthings, mostly local andsome unique to Skaill.

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A HAUNTED 17TH CENTURY LAIRD’S HOUSE

The spacious upstairs Drawing Room

The Dining Room features some of Captain Cook’s dinner service

SKAILL HOUSE

Graham armorial panel

Skaill House is open from April to September from 9.30am to6.30pm every day. Joint tickets for Skara Brae and SkaillHouse are available from the Visitor Centre. Visits out of sea-son can be arranged by appointment.

[email protected]

Tel (01856) 841501 Fax (01856) 841668

Skaill House is just inlandfrom Skara Brae and the Bayof Skaill. It was first builtfor Bishop George Grahamin about 1620 on the site ofan older hall. There arestone fragments fromBreckness House atStromness, including anarmorial panel of theGraham family. The Bishopin 1638 due to alleged irreg-ularities, but the BrecknessEstate still ended up in thehands of his youngest son.

It has been added to by suc-cessive Lairds over the cen-turies, with major buildingwork in the 1770s, 1880sand 1950s, culminating inthe addition of the north

tower and wing which givesthe house its characteristicprofile seen today.

Visitors can now enjoy thisLaird’s family home. TheDining Room with CaptainCook's dinner service fromhis ship the Resolution andthe Library with its circularwindow are downstairs. Thelarge Drawing Room andBishop Graham's bedroom,with his bed are upstairs,while the Gun Room andHall have sporting and mili-tary memorabilia as well asmany other items collectedduring the lives of the pastlairds.

The present Laird, Major

Malcolm Macrae, restoredand opened it to the publicas a museum and visitorattraction. During the reno-vation the house, fifteenskeletons were discoverednext to the south wing andunder the gravel in front ofthe east porch.

These are from earlyChristian, possibly 7th centu-ry Pictish, times. No tradi-tion predicted this discovery,or that of the skeletonsfound under the hall in the1930s, so it can only be sup-posed that the first buildersof Skaill were eitherunaware of or indifferent tothis ancient burial ground.

Skaill House abounds withghost stories. The presentLaird, a winner of the Swordof Honour at Sandhurst, andno believer in the supernatu-ral, swears that he and hisdog heard footsteps late onenight when he was doing upthe flats around the court-yard. His dog raised herhackles and, barking loudly,ran out of the room. Butthere was no one there.

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WEST MAINLAND - SKAILL HOUSE

Skaill House from the southwest

Skaill House and Skara Brae from the east

Bishop Graham’s Bedroom with his original bed


Documents

WEST MAINLAND - SANDWICK WEST MAINLAND ANDWICK · 2019. 8. 15. · Cruaday Quarry (HY247218) has often been suggested as a possible source of the stones at Brodgar and Stenness. Nearby,