After driving through the dense fog the night, I was pleasantly surprised by my view the next morning. My lovely little cottage had a beautiful view of the sea and I could even see the Broch of Gurness from there sitting on the coastline vis a vis from the island Rousay.
I already had booked my ticket and started my stay in Orkney with a visit to one of Scotland´s finest broch. The Broch of Gurness was an Iron Age settlement with a small village surrounding a massive broch tower.
The first settlement started between 500 and 200 BC, later a causeway was added and the broch was built, surrounded by small stone houses with attached yards and sheds.
But the broch then again was abandoned after 100 AD and the ditches filled in. The site continued as a single farmstead until around the 8th century. In the 9th century, a Viking woman was buried here, which became the last activity on this very spot.
The broch was probably the home of the chief family of the community and probably was also a defensive refuge for the village.
The broch originally had a central hearth, stone-built cupboards, sunken water basins used as wells but also for rituals, and a stairway going to the upper floors.
The broch is surrounded by numerous houses which each had a large living and sleeping room with smaller side rooms. Again we find stone-built cupboards and shelves, sleeping spaces and a large tank set into the floor.
