Skara Brae, bump in the road and the Italian Chapel

There's more to Orkney than Fudge, day 4 - 17 September 2014

While all the residents of Orkey were making their last minute decisions about whether to remain in the Union or notwe were heading back in time 5,000 years.
It was Skara Brae that brought us to Orkney.  Ever since I first saw Simon Schma's History of Britain I've wanted to visit and it didn't disappoint.  

Skara Brae is one of many surviving Neolithic monuments that remain unaltered I imagine this is due to the remote location and sparse population and because the Romans never occupied Scotland or its islands.
The settlement hugs a dramatic coastline now but when it was inhabited it was further away from the sea and there was a freshwater lake in between.

It doesn't look much in a photograph but the dry walls that survive have survived show a primitive but quite comfortable settlement with stone furniture and built in beds.
The local laird William Watt of Skaill discovered the remains on his land in 1850 after a violent storm uncovered them.




The laird's home Skaill House, built in 1620 for Bishop Graham who was the bishop of Kirkwall Cathedral,  is also open to visitors, there is holiday accommodation there but we didn't see it so I have no idea what it's like.  To modern eyes it feels as though the house is placed in a very remote and inaccessible location but when it was built the sea was the highway which puts a different perspective on it's location.
The house has been renovated and presented as a family home of the 1950s.  In the library there is a bookcase that opens to reveal a secret hiding place for valuables.

After leaving Skara Brae we headed back towards Kirkwall.  We stopped on the way at this bumpred tomb.  This bump in the road doesn't look very exciting from this view but it is amazing inside.  You enter through a low tunnel and have to be very careful not to bang your head on the enormous stones that from the tunnel.
in the 12th century Norsemen had entered the tomb, probably to shelter from the Orkney weather.  While they were in there they made several graffiti including the famous dragon.

A few miles and 5,000 years forward we stopped at the Italian chapel.  Built by Italian prisoners of war during WWII the chapel is beautiful from the front and inside but a side view reveals that it is a converted Romney hut - very enterprising prisoners.

We finished off the day with a stroll into Kirkwall and a drink at The Reel where one of the people we had met at the dance on Monday came and chatted to us.
We left it a bit late for dinner where everywhere we tried was closed except the Dil Se Indian restaurant where we had a lovely, inexpensive meal served by charming staff.