The Bay of Skaill (from

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...

''Bugr Skála'') is a small bay on the west coast of the

Orkney Orkney (; sco, Orkney; on, Orkneyjar; nrn, Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north ...

Mainland,

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

Visitor attractions

Bay of Skaill is the location of the famous

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...

settlement,

Skara Brae Skara Brae is a stone-built Neolithic settlement, located on the Bay of Skaill on the west coast of Mainland, the largest island in the Orkney archipelago of Scotland. Consisting of ten clustered houses, made of flagstones, in earthen dams t ...

, and a large residence,

Skaill House Skaill House is a historic manor house in Sandwick parish on Mainland, the largest of the Orkney Islands, Scotland. The house overlooks the neolithic site, Skara Brae, and the Bay of Skaill. In 1977, the house was included in the List of Scott ...

, the property of the laird on whose estate Skara Brae was discovered. Skaill House has connections with Captain

James Cook James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean an ...

Skaill Viking hoard

In March 1858, a boy named David Linklater was digging at Muckle Brae, near the Sandwick parish church, when he came across a few pieces of silver lying in the earth. Astounded by the find, Linklater was soon joined by a number of folk. Together they unearthed over one hundred items. This hoard is the largest

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

treasure trove found so far in Scotland.

References

Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Orkney Skaill 1858 archaeological discoveries {{Orkney-geo-stub