Carefully Selected Scottish Holiday Homes in Beautiful Locations
Rousay
Just over half a mile from the Mainland's northern shore, the hilly island of Rousay is home to a number of intriguing prehistoric sites. The group of a dozen or so houses above the ferry terminal is the only settlement of any size, but a single road runs around the edge of the island, connecting a string of small farms which make use of the more cultivable coastal fringes. It's easy enough to reach the main points of interest on the south coast by foot or bike from the ferry terminal.
The first trio of archeological sights is spread out over a couple of miles, on and off the road that leads west from the ferry terminal. Taversoe Tuick, the nearest chambered cairn, is unusual in that it exploits its sloping site by having two storeys, one entered from the upper side and one from the lower. A little further west is the Blackhammar Cairn, which is divided into "stalls" by large flagstones, rather like the more famous cairn at Midhowe. Finally, there's the Knowe of Yarso, another stalled cairn dating from the same period that's a stiff climb up the hill from the road, worth it if only for the magnificent view.
The southwestern side of Rousay is home to the most significant of the island's archeological remains. Most lie on the Westness Walk, a mile-long heritage trail that begins at Westness Farm, four miles west of the ferry terminal. Midhowe Cairn, about a mile on from the farm, comes as something of a surprise, both for its immense size - it's known as "the great ship of death", and measures nearly 100ft in length - and for the fact that it's now entirely surrounded by a stone-walled barn with a corrugated roof. Unfortunately, you can't actually explore the roofless communal burial chamber, dating back to 3500 BC, but only look down from the overhead walkway. A couple of hundred yards beyond Midhowe Cairn is Midhowe Broch, built as a sort of fortified family house, surrounded by a complex series of ditches and ramparts. The interior of the broch is divided into two separate rooms, each with their own hearth, water tank and quernstone, all of which date from the final phase of occupation around the second century AD.
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