20 October - part 1: Norwegian flags in 'The heart of Neolithic Orkney'

After a lovely breakfast at The INN Guesthouse (and booking our rooms for another night), we headed off to the old Stone Age settlement of Skara Brae (pronounced ˈskærə ˈbreɪ), one of the best preserved groups of prehistoric houses in Western Europe.

The flag of Orkney

As we were getting tickets in the Skara Brae Visitor centre, we discovered pins, armbands and tea towels with the Norwegian flag. There was lots of Viking stuff for sale too, but I still found it very strange that they were selling pins with the Norwegian flag, so I asked. It turned out it was the Orkney flag - what I thought was an inaccurate shade of white, was actually yellow. The flags are so similar, I was fooled at first.

 The flag of Orkney symbolises the islands' Scottish and Norwegian heritage. There was controversy when the flag was first launched in 2007, but it now seems Orkney finally has an official flag after years with only an unofficial flag. According to our sources, people here are very proud of their heritage and regard themselves as first Orcadians, then British.

We were also fascinated by the Orkney accent, which has got more of a melody than the Scottish accent. I would say it resembles the accent we Norwegians have when we speak English. It seems the Norwegian connections are very strong even today - they do a parade in Kirkwall every 17 May and the ladies we spoke to knew that this is the Norwegian Constitution Day.

The Neolithic village of Skara Brae

Skara Brae was uncovered by a storm in the winter of 1850. The protection offered by the sand that covered the settlement for 4000 years left the buildings and their contents incredibly well-preserved. The walls of the structures are still standing and the passages are roofed with their original stone slabs. Even more impressively, the interior fittings of each house are intact and give an unparalleled glimpse of life as it was in Neolithic Orkney.

After watching a short video about the village and looking at the exhibition at the visitor centre, we went outside to look at a replica of one of the houses.

This ancient home was fitted with stone beds, dressers and seats around the central hearth. Despite the fact that everything was made from stone, the house still felt like a home.

From the replica house we followed a short footpath to Skara Brae. Along the footpath were stones inscribed with a number of historic events. The stones were spaced according to their distance in time and accentuated the feeling of traveling back in time.

A close knit community

All the eight houses at Skara Brae were well-built of closely-fitting flat stone slabs. They were set into large mounds of  household refuse and linked by covered passages. I was charmed by the way the village was built to protect its inhabitants from the weather, which I imagine can be quite rough out on the coast of Orkney. 

Each house shares the same basic design, consisting of a large square room (36 square metres), with a central hearth, a fitted box-bed on either side and a shelved dresser on the wall opposite the doorway. The dresser was probably used for storing and displaying prized objects. In addition there were small tanks set into the floor, perhaps for preparing fish bait.

What fascinated me most about the artefacts found at Skara Brae, was rather what had not been found: No weapons have been found. In addition the settlement was not in a readily defended location, suggesting a peaceful life. This is the first time we've heard a story about peaceful life while we've been in Scotland. I guess they were too busy keeping warm and gathering food to be fighting.

To give you a better impression of the Neolithic village, I have added a YouTube video below.

"The Heart of Neolithic Orkney" was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage site in December 1999. In addition to Skara Brae, the site includes Maeshowe, the Ring of Brodgar, the Standing Stones of Stenness and other nearby sites.

Skaill House - twice a museum

After a wild winter storm had hit Orkney in 1850, William Watt, 7th Laird of Skaill, went to the shoreline to inspect the damage. The laird discovered the remains of an ancient dwelling and he spent the next few years excavating the site. What he had discovered were the remains of Skara Brae.

As part of the excavations, many artefacts were discovered and William Watt set up a private museum at Skaill House, in what is now the dining room. On our way back from Skara Brae we visited the house, where we also could get an impression of how this family home was in the 1950’s.

The house was nice, though not as impressive as some of the big castles and stately homes we've visited while we've been here. A couple of the things that fascinated me in the house were the big tiger on the carpet in the drawing room and the hidden compartment in the book case in the library.