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Neolithic village
Skara Brae
Village about 5,000 years old, uncovered by a storm in 1850; houses keep stone dressers and box beds, and a replica shows a full interior.
A mini guide to
Stromness & the West Mainland: things to do
Places worth your time in Stromness & the West Mainland
Top places
Things to do in Stromness & the West Mainland
Landmarks, museums, parks and viewpoints in and around the area.
Historic house
Skaill House
House near Skara Brae built in 1620 by Bishop Graham, shown as the 1950s family home, with Captain Cook's dinner service; open since 1997.
Sea cliffs and nature reserve
Marwick Head
RSPB reserve on cliffs nearly 90 metres high south of Birsay, where thousands of seabirds nest in summer; walk up from Marwick Bay.
Brewery
The Orkney Brewery
Brewery at Quoyloo with a visitor centre for tours, a shop and the Tasting Hall café; closed for the season until March 2027.
Stone circle and henge
Ring of Brodgar
Stone circle and henge of the third millennium BC: 36 of the original 60 stones survive, some 4.7 metres tall, inside a rock-cut ditch.
Stone circle and henge
Stones of Stenness
Four upright stones up to 6 metres high from a circle of 12, possibly the earliest henge monument in the British Isles.
Neolithic tomb
Maeshowe Chambered Cairn
Monumental chambered tomb about 5,000 years old on a platform ringed by a ditch; entry is by timed ticket from Historic Environment Scotland.
Directions Website Report a problem with Maeshowe Chambered Cairn
Archaeological site
Ness of Brodgar
Neolithic site of 2.5 hectares between the Ring of Brodgar and the Stones of Stenness, excavated from 2003 to 2024, then covered over.
Neolithic village
Barnhouse Settlement
Neolithic settlement on the shore of the Loch of Harray, a short walk from the Stones of Stenness.
Neolithic tomb
Unstan Chambered Cairn
Round stalled cairn about 5,000 years old with one side cell; the pottery bowls found here gave their name to Unstan Ware.
Directions Website Report a problem with Unstan Chambered Cairn
Museum
Stromness Museum
Independent museum founded in 1837 on Orkney's maritime and natural history, including the scuttling of the German fleet at Scapa Flow in 1919.
Art gallery
Pier Arts Centre
Gallery on the Stromness waterfront, founded in 1979 for Margaret Gardiner's collection of 20th-century art, with changing exhibitions all year.
Coastal battery
Ness Battery
Wartime gun battery on the edge of Stromness that guarded Hoy Sound; guided tours of just over an hour end in the muralled Mess Hall.
Tidal island
Brough of Birsay
Tidal island with Pictish and Norse remains and the church of St Peter, reached by a causeway only at low tide.
Ruined palace
Earl's Palace, Birsay
Courtyard palace built between 1569 and 1574 for Robert Stewart, Earl of Orkney, with gun holes at ground level in every wall.
Directions Website Report a problem with Earl's Palace, Birsay
Iron Age broch village
Broch of Gurness
Iron Age broch and village above Eynhallow Sound, one of the most complete later prehistoric settlements in Scotland; finds are shown on site.
War memorial
Kitchener Memorial
Tower 48 feet high on the clifftop at Marwick Head, raised after the sinking of the cruiser HMS Hampshire.
Sea cliffs
Yesnaby
Old Red Sandstone cliffs south of Skara Brae with sea stacks, blowholes and the two-legged Yesnaby Castle stack; a coastal trail leaves the car park.
Farm museum
Kirbuster Museum
The last unrestored traditional 'firehoose' in Northern Europe, with a central peat hearth and a stone neuk bed; lived in until the 1960s.
Water mill
Click Mill
Horizontal water mill built in the early 1820s and worked until the mid-1880s, the only mill in Orkney with all its machinery.
Iron Age broch
Broch of Borwick
Iron Age broch on the west coast of the Mainland near Yesnaby, a scheduled monument.
Orkney
More areas to explore
13 sights · 7 places to eat
Scapa Flow, the South Isles & Hoy
The Italian Chapel and Churchill Barriers, St Margaret's Hope, and Hoy's hills, Old Man and wartime Lyness
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17 sights · 5 places to eat
North Isles: Rousay, Westray & beyond
Rousay's tombs, Westray's castle and cliffs, the Knap of Howar and the lighthouses of the outer isles
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12 sights · 22 places to eat
Kirkwall & central Mainland
Orkney's main town: St Magnus Cathedral, the palaces, the Orkney Museum and Neolithic tombs close by
Open the mini guide →Photo credits
- Stromness & the West Mainland (area photo): Dr. John F. Burka, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Skara Brae: Chris Downer, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Skaill House: Wojsyl, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Marwick Head: David Wyatt, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- The Orkney Brewery: Andrew Riley, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Ring of Brodgar: Stevekeiretsu, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Stones of Stenness: Otter at Dutch Wikipedia (Original text: Hopmans), CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Maeshowe Chambered Cairn: Otter at Dutch Wikipedia (Original text: Hopmans), CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Ness of Brodgar: genevieveromier profile, CC BY 2.0, source
- Barnhouse Settlement: Otter, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Unstan Chambered Cairn: Bruce McAdam from Reykjavik, Iceland, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Stromness Museum: Unukorno, CC BY 4.0, source
- Pier Arts Centre: John Ireland, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Ness Battery: Bill Boaden, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Brough of Birsay: Chmee2, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Earl's Palace, Birsay: Van de Beek at nl.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Broch of Gurness: Rob Burke, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Kitchener Memorial: Lawrence Jones, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Yesnaby: Renata at English Wikipedia, Public domain, source
- Kirbuster Museum: nick macneill, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Click Mill: August Schwerdfeger, CC BY 4.0, source
- Broch of Borwick: Otter, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Scapa Flow, the South Isles & Hoy: Gregory J Kingsley, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- North Isles: Rousay, Westray & beyond: MichaelMaggs, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Kirkwall & central Mainland: Robert Scarth, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
Photos from Wikimedia Commons, used under the licences shown. All photo credits
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