Photos and the City

Tag: roadtrip

Click Mill

Click Mill

Time for a little visit to Click Mill, a fully restored water mill built in the early 1820s, and was operational until the mid-1880s.

The tradition of horizontal water mills in northern and western Scotland dates back to Norse times. The Click Mill at Dounby is one of the best surviving examples of this kind of mill. (Historic Enviroment Scotland)

Inside the mill, there is still the full machinery. These kinds of mills are quite genius designs, making the best of a low head and volume of water.

Click Mill is quite hidden in the landscape, might that have been intentional to avoid paying the landlord?

Burgar Hill Wind Farm

On my way back to Evie I stopped near the Burgar Hill Wind Farm, to enjoy the views over Orkney.

These windmills are huge!

Sands of Evie

The beach in Evie goes towards the Broch of Gurness – a wonderful place to take a walk and just enjoy the views and sounds.

View towards Rousay, may destination for the next day.

02/06/2022
Earl´s Palace Birsay

It´s been a long day already, but there was one more thing I wanted to do – the Isle of Birsay, which one only can visit during low tide. But right next to the pathway, or better said, nearby is the Earl´s Palace and invites for a short visit.

It was the residence of Robert Stewart, half-brother of Mary Queen of Scots, who became Earl of Orkney in the late 1500s.

The palace’s use was short-lived, however: built between 1569 and 1574, its story effectively ended with the overthrow of the Stewart earls in 1615. An inventory drawn up by Oliver Cromwell’s troops in 1653 suggests neglect had already set in, and by 1700 the palace was roofless and decaying. (Historic Enviroment)

Built between 1569 and 1574 by Robert Stewart who created Earl of Orkney, Lord of Shetland and Knight of Birsay in 1581 by his nephew, James VI.

The palace complex was entered via an elaborate southern entrance, and ranged around the courtyard were four ranges of two-storey buildings. Three-storey towers projected from the corners.

On the ground floor were service rooms, while the upper floors, comprising two halls, chambers and a gallery, were reserved for the earl. (Historic Enviroment)

Robert ruled like a tyrant and in 1593 was succeeded by his son Patrick, who practised similar ruthless tactics until he was arrested in 1609. But again his son Robert tried to cling to power. In 1614 he recaptured the palace and marched on Orkney’s capital, Kirkwall, seizing the Earl’s Palace there.

But Robert was captured too and both men, father and son, were executed om early 1615.

Today the ruins of the Palace are a lovely place to visit and even have a picnic, there is a honesty box (more a cabinet), filled with delicious things, right next to the palace. The views over the Bay of Birsay are stunning.

And maybe you will also meet this lovely watch-cat:

24/05/2022
Ring of Brodgar

The Ring of Brodgar is one of the biggest stone circles in the UK – it is only one of two in the Ness of Brodgar, the heart of the Neolithic Orkney.

The 27 remaining stones have a height between 2 metres to almost 5 metres and form a circle with a diameter of 103.6m. Once there probably stood 60 stones in this circle.

The Ring of Brodgar was surrounded by a ditch that used to be a few metres deep and accessible via two causeways and probably dates from between 3000BC and 2500BC.

The Ness of Brodgar was a meeting and a ceremonial place – surrounded by hills this land between the two lochs feels like a natural amphitheatre.

The Ring of Brodgar may have been involved in ceremonies celebrating the relationship between living and past communities. It’s also been suggested that the sites in the surrounding area were used for observations of the moon from the Ring of Brodgar,
(Historic Environment Scotland)

The Ring of Brodgar is right in the Heart of the Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site. Besides the Ring, the site also includes Maeshow, Skara Brae and the Ring of Stenness and the adjacent standing stones. The Ring of Brodgar is the youngest built and was built about 500 years later than the other ones.

The stones came from seven different quarries in Orkney and it is believed they were transported on a bed of algae.

It is a beautiful walk around the area, there are also 13 burial mounds. And as there is so much more to see at the Ness of Brodgar I came back a few days later.

12/05/2022