General

The Ancient Orkney Coastline

Birsay has a long and interesting history dating all the way back to the earliest settlements of the neolithic age as men followed the receding ice floes northwards to the Artic following the last Ice Age.

Traces of these early explorers can still be seen in the landscape with their ancient stone circles and burial cairns casting an air of mystery over the heathered moorland. Every walk you take in this unique landscape confers a sense of being involved in a story that spans the centuries.

Architectural Heritage

Earls’ Palace

Close to the apartment you will find the ruins of the Earl’s Palace built in the late 16th Century by Earl Robert Stewart. Robert, and his son Patrick, were known as the Black Earls in Orkney, for the hardship that their rule brought to the county and its people. Overweening, arrogant and violent, both Patrick and his son, another Robert, were executed for treason in 1615. They were not mourned in Orkney.

St Magnus Church, which is a neighbour to the flat, is reputedly the place where the bones of St Magnus were first interred. Of especial interest is the late Victorian stained glass window.  This depicts a highly romanticised version of two episodes in the Saint’s life: on the left, his refusal to fight for the King of Norway against the Welsh and on the right, his martyrdom.

The Brough of Birsay (an exciting tidal island) was populated at one time by the Picts, a people of whom very little is known. Later it was used by Viking settlers.  The remains of the Viking settlement are among the largest and best preserved in Europe. A walk to the Brough is highly recommended and will take you only 20-30 minutes; just keep an eye on the tide.

Cultural Heritage

The nearby Barony Mills Museum harks back to the days of water-powered meal milling. In the museum you’ll find displays of various stages of bere (the local form of six-grained barley) being ground as well as numerous photographs of the area.

Natural Heritage

Birsay Beach

Orkney’s clean and remote location mean that you can find plants and wildlife here that exist nowhere else in the World. You’ll be very fortunate to spot an Orkney vole or the delicate Primula Scotica but they are here!

Throughout the year the birdlife changes as Orkney is directly on the migratory routes of many species who visit seasonally or pass through on their way to Southern Europe and Africa or back to the Arctic regions.

Holiday Sports

The golfer and the angler will be pleased to know that their passions are well catered for on Orkney and there is nothing that revitalises your enthusiasm for a hobby like trying it out in a new and different environment.

Try your hand at fly fishing for trout and challenge your swing on our testing links. Come in midsummer for the chance to play a round at midnight!