Find Nearest History & Heritage in Orkney Islands
Our History and Heritage category brings all Coast Radar’s Orkney Islands listings related to looking for something to do or a place to visit together where they offer some form of historic or heritage based activity.
Finding the best things to see and do on a Orkney Islands day out with your family or friends is easy – simply explore the historic and heritage links below, hit the jump to my location button or use the search bar to plan your next Orkney Islands activity.
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Showing History & Heritage 1-12 of 18
St Mary’s Chapel is a twelfth-century roofless, but largely complete chapel in the centre of Wyre in the Orkney islands. The Chapel architecture is Romanesque and demonstrates that the Norsemen, best known for their Viking raids, also had a cosmopolitan cultural influence. Read more…
The Standing Stone is over 13 feet high and three feet wide, the stone tapers from its base, narrowing slightly towards the top. It has been suggested that this solitary monolith was once an outlier for a stone circle. Read more…
The Italian Chapel is a highly ornate Catholic chapel built by Italian prisoners of war captured in North Africa during World War II, who were housed on Lamb Holm while they constructed the Churchill Barriers to the east of Scapa Flow. Only the concrete foundations of the other buildings of the prisoner-of-war camp survive. It was not completed until after Read more…
Noltland Castle is a 16th century heavily fortified castle. Built from local, grey sandstone, the castle follows as a typical “Z” plan layout, with a rectangular central structure with a square tower position at diagonally opposite corners. The castle has 7 ft thick walls and the lower floors have no accessible windows. Today, access to the castle is via this Read more…
Earl’s Palace is a ruined palace close to St Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall, Orkney. Described as a fine example of French Renaissance architecture in Scotland, the palace was built by Patrick Stewart, the 2nd Earl of Orkney, in the early 1600s after he decided that the Bishop’s Palace accommodation wasn’t adequate for his needs. The palace fell into ruin in Read more…
St Magnus Cathedral is situated in the town of Kirkwall, the main town of the Orkney Islands. This magnificent cathedral, a fine example of Romanesque architecture, dominates the skyline of the town. Founded in 1137 by the Viking, Earl Rognvald, the cathedral was added to over the following 300 years and even has its own dungeon! It is known for Read more…
The Westray Heritage Centre is a museum, archive and information centre located in the island’s main village of Pierowall. The centre is also the home of the 5,000-year-old ‘Westray Wife’ found at the Links of Noltland, and the Westray Stone a large decorated stone with Neolithic carving thought to be to be 4000 – 5000 years old. The centre is Open May – September. Read more…
Mor Stein is a neolithic standing stone on the island of Shapinsay, Orkney Islands. Mor Stein is a vertical standing stone of approximately 3.2 metres (10 ft) in height, which is unshaped and uncarved. Read more…
At the same time as St Magnus Cathedral was being constructed, the Bishop’s Palace was built nearby for William the Old, with a large rectangular hall above vaulted storerooms. The palace fell into ruins, but after 1540 was restored by Bishop Robert Reid who added a round tower, the “Moosie Toor”. He presided at St. Magnus from 1541 to 1558. Read more…
The Tomb of the Eagles is a Chambered Cairn thought to have been built around 3000 BC, and used for approximately 800 years. The Cairn is 3.5 metres high and consists of a rectangular main chamber, divided into stalls and side cells. Read more…
The Links of Noltland Neolithic and Bronze Age site near Grobust Bay on the north coast of Westray in the Orkney Islands contains the remains of both a Neolithic village and later Bronze Age dwellings. As well as the buildings the ‘Westray Wife’ was discovered, a lozenge-shaped figurine that is believed to be the earliest representation of a human face ever Read more…
Balfour Castle is located on Shapinsay, one of the Orkney Islands, the current castle was built in 1847, commissioned by Colonel David Balfour, and designed by Edinburgh architect David Bryce. The castle is built around an older structure that dates from at least the early 18th century. The castle has large grounds extending to the shore of Shapinsay and into Read more…
Showing History & Heritage 1-12 of 18