The Brough of Birsay

Up to the Brough of Birsay and across the causeway at low tide. A glorious day; blue skies and crystal clear water.

 The site itself was excellent - I must say that Historic Scotland do good interpretation on their sites!

For over five hundred years this site was an important settlement for two different cultures, the Picts and the Norse, before being abandoned for more easily accessible sites. As it was never redeveloped, large parts of those settlements are visible on the ground. The solitary symbol stone found on the Brough o' Birsay, is probably the best-known piece of Pictish art found in Orkney.Thought to date from the eighth century AD, it paints a vivid and intriguing picture of the Pictish nobility who lived in the area.Originally over six feet tall, the Birsay stone was found in fragments during the 1935 excavation. The replica is now found within the graveyard, at the head of a triple grave, this is nothing more than "artistic licence" - the original stone was found in an area outside the kirkyard wall and is unlikely to have had anything to do with the graveyard.