On The History Trail Again

A short sail from Kirkwall to the island of Egilsay continued our trail to discover more of Orkney's history and there is certainly A LOT of it!

Anchored off the Pier at Egilsay

We rowed ashore to climb the hill up to Saint Magnus' Church, built in 1136 to mark the spot where he had been murdered.

Saint Magnus' Church on Egilsay

The church is roofless now but is remarkably complete otherwise and has an unusually tall circular tower attached to it.

View from Egilsay to Neighbouring Rousay - a typically beautiful Orkney panorama :)

Later in the day, we up-anchored and crossed the Sound to pick up the visitor's buoy at Rousay Island.

Rapport on the Visitor's Buoy at Rousay

At short notice, we were luckily able to book ourselves onto an island tour for the next day.

Our host was Paddy Maguire, a well informed local resident, who drove us round the island stopping his minibus to show us the many sights from local landmarks, to wildlife and of course, the historical sites.  And as Rousay is apparently known worldwide as "The Egypt of the North" we had quite a few of these to see :)

We were taken to Midhowe "Stalled Cairn", which was built 3000 years BC.  This is a very large example of a Neolithic burial chamber and is 23 metres long.

Midhowe Stalled Cairn on Rousay

A View of the Cairn from Above

And then the Broch of Midhowe from Iron-Age times.  This was built about 1000 years BC and was a defensive dwelling to protect against water-borne invaders as well as other islanders.


The Broch of Midhowe



Living Quarters Inside the Broch

As trees are pretty rare in Orkney, their furniture was made from stone.

Part of an Iron Age Door Hinge

Even the door hinges were made of stone!

We stopped off at further burial cairns including Taversoe Tuick from 3000 years BC that has two separate levels.

Doug Inside Taversoe Tuick Burial Cairn - upper level

The Way Down to the Lower Level at Taversoe - too spooky for some on the tour :)

We were finally well versed in ancient burial cairns and were dropped off at our pier to row back to the boat while others caught the ferry back to Mainland Island (an Orkney naming oddity).


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