The Brough of Birsay is an uninhabited
tidal island
A tidal island is a piece of land that is connected to the mainland by a natural or man-made causeway that is exposed at low tide and submerged at high tide. Because of the mystique surrounding tidal islands, many of them have been sites of ...
off the north-west coast of
The Mainland of
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 ...
, Scotland, in the parish of
Birsay. It is located around 13 miles north of
Stromness
Stromness (, non, Straumnes; nrn, Stromnes) is the second-most populous town in Orkney, Scotland. It is in the southwestern part of Mainland Orkney. It is a burgh with a parish around the outside with the town of Stromness as its capital.
E ...
and features the remains of
Pictish and
Norse settlements as well as a modern light house.
Geography and geology
The island is accessible on foot at low tide via a largely natural
causeway
A causeway is a track, road or railway on the upper point of an embankment across "a low, or wet place, or piece of water". It can be constructed of earth, masonry, wood, or concrete. One of the earliest known wooden causeways is the Sweet Tr ...
. It is separated from the mainland by a stretch of water at high tide: the
Sound of Birsay.
Orkneyjar: ''Ancient seat of Orkney power''.
Retrieved 1 August 2007.
The Norse settlement has been partly removed by coastal erosion
Coastal erosion is the loss or displacement of land, or the long-term removal of sediment and rocks along the coastline due to the action of waves, currents, tides, wind-driven water, waterborne ice, or other impacts of storms. The landwar ...
, and the cliffs are reinforced by concrete rip-rap
Riprap (in North American English), also known as rip rap, rip-rap, shot rock, rock armour (in British English) or rubble, is human-placed rock or other material used to protect shoreline structures against scour and water, wave, or ice erosion ...
to prevent further damage.
Etymology
The Old Norse
Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlement ...
name for the island was "Byrgisey" which means fort island, and gives the parish its name. Brough, indeed, means fort (for etymology, see broch
A broch is an Iron Age drystone hollow-walled structure found in Scotland. Brochs belong to the classification "complex Atlantic roundhouse" devised by Scottish archaeologists in the 1980s. Their origin is a matter of some controversy.
Origin ...
).
History
Earliest settlement of Christians and Picts
The earliest settlement on the island is thought to have been in the 6th century, perhaps by Christian missionaries. In the 7th and 8th centuries it was a significant Pictish fortress, but by the 9th century the Picts had been displaced by Norsemen
The Norsemen (or Norse people) were a North Germanic ethnolinguistic group of the Early Middle Ages, during which they spoke the Old Norse language. The language belongs to the North Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages and is the ...
.
Excavations were first undertaken by Cecil Curle in 1936–1937.
The Pictish settlement is attested by a small well and an important collection of artifacts (now in The Orkney Museum
The Orkney Museum, formerly Tankerness House Museum, is a history museum in Kirkwall, Orkney, Scotland. Run by Orkney Islands Council, the museum covers the history of the Orkney Islands from the Stone Age through the Picts and Vikings to the pres ...
(formerly known as Tankerness House Museum), Kirkwall and in the Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
). Notable among these are a group of moulds for fine metalworking, showing that bronze brooches and other ornaments were being manufactured on the site in the eighth century. The enclosure round the Norse church overlies a Pictish graveyard, and an important Pictish carved stone was found in pieces in this enclosure during site clearance (also on display in Edinburgh: replica on site). The most interesting Pictish artifact found is a stone slab showing three figures and some additional Pictish symbols. It is not known what the subject of this carving is, but it likely shows aristocrat
The aristocracy is historically associated with "hereditary" or "ruling" social class. In many states, the aristocracy included the upper class of people (aristocrats) with hereditary rank and titles. In some, such as ancient Greece, ancient R ...
ic Picts as they wished to be perceived. This early eighth century slab shows a striking procession of three Picts dressed in long robes and bearing spears, swords and square shields. Above the figures are parts of four Pictish symbols. Two simple cross-incised slabs, likely grave-markers, were also found in the graveyard, and are probably Pictish or early medieval in date (displayed on site).
Norse settlement and St Peters chapel
The extensive remains of an excavated Norse settlement and church overlay the earlier Pictish settlement. Before Kirkwall became the centre of power in the 12th century, Birsay was the seat of the rulers of Orkney.
According to the '' Orkneyinga saga'' the main residence of Jarl Thorfinn the Mighty (1014–1065) was located in Birsay. At this time the first Bishop of Orkney was appointed and his cathedral, known as "Christchurch," which later housed the remains of Saint Magnus, probably on the site of the present day Saint Magnus Kirk, nearby on the Mainland. It was once thought that Earl/Jarl Thorfinn's hall could have been located on the brough but it is today thought to have been nearby on the Mainland.
Today, many of the remains of the settlement are visible. The most significant being the remains of a fine, though small Romanesque church. This dates back to the 12th century and was dedicated to St. Peter. The church has a semi-circular apse
In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an '' exedra''. ...
and there are the remains of stone benches for the congregation lining the walls. The red sandstone altar was reconstructed in the 1930s. An enclosure wall surrounding the kirk separated the graveyard from the houses beyond.
The church has an interesting shape; probably with a square tower at one end, and a semi-circular apse at the other. There is some evidence of an earlier, possibly Pictish church on the same site. The church was a place of pilgrimage until the Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
. The remains of adjoining buildings round three sides of an open court suggest that it may once have been a small monastery (though there is no documentation for such a foundation).
There were also a number of Norse dwellings, some of them of considerable size indicating substantial wealth. They included long houses, featuring both heating and drainage systems and some indications that saunas were present. Although not all the houses were likely in use at the same time, there was a significant community living here. The site, and particularly the objects found there, have been central to debates about the nature of Pictish-Norse relations in Northern Scotland.
The site is in the care of Historic Environment Scotland.
Lighthouse
The unmanned Brough of Birsay Lighthouse
The unmanned Brough of Birsay Lighthouse lighthouse was built in 1925 by David A Stevenson. It is located on the Brough of Birsay, an uninhabited tidal island off the north west coast of Mainland in Orkney, Scotland, in the parish of Birsay.
Se ...
lighthouse
A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid, for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways.
Lighthouses m ...
is on the Brough.
Flora and fauna
Sea bird breeding colonies can be found on the brough.
Gallery
File:Brough of Birsay showing causeway.jpg, View to the causeway over the Birsay Sound
File:Footpath to the Brough of Birsay.JPG, The island is connected with Mainland by a concrete pathway
File:Cliffs on Brough of Birsay (3).JPG, Cliffs
File:Brough of Birsay in summer 2012 (4).JPG, View of the whole island
File:Brough of Birsay cormorant nest.jpg, Cormorant rearing young on the cliff ledges
See also
* List of islands of Scotland
* Gurness
* List of Orkney islands
References
External links
Finds from the Brough of Birsay
in the National Museum of Scotland
The National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, Scotland, was formed in 2006 with the merger of the new Museum of Scotland, with collections relating to Scottish antiquities, culture and history, and the adjacent Royal Scottish Museum (opene ...
*
* Historic Environment Scotland
Visitor guide
{{Authority control
Prehistoric Orkney
Tidal islands of Scotland
Historic Scotland properties in Orkney
Picts
Viking Age sites in Scotland
Uninhabited islands of Orkney
Scheduled Ancient Monuments in Orkney