Brough of Birsay

A small tidal island off the north western tip of the Orkney Mainland containing a lighthouse, a few thousand seabirds and site of a Viking settlement and medieval monastery.

The monastery dominates the remaining ruins, being angular and more than a few courses high. By contrast, the Viking remains and mostly below ground level, yet I found them the more fascinating including what is believed to be a sauna and a drainage system. Remains of an earlier Pictish settlement has also been found.

According to the Orkneyinga Saga, written in about 1200, Earl Thorfinn the Mighty, the most powerful man in Orkney, lived at Birsay. He is credited as bringing Christianity to the islands.

Thorfinn probably had built the first church on the island, but most of the monastery remains visible today date from the 12th-century.

‘Brough’ by the way, I understand it, is pronounced ‘broch’ , similar to the ‘…ch’ in ‘loch’ but more guttural. Definitely not ‘… ow’ as in Slough, or ‘… uff’ as in rough.