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.
Shapinsay is one of the Orkney Islands off the north coast of mainland Scotland. There is one village on the island, Balfour, from which roll-on/roll-off car ferries sail to Kirkwall on the Orkney Mainland. Balfour Castle, built in the Scottish Baronial style, is one of the island's most prominent features, a reminder of the Balfour family's domination of Shapinsay during the 18th and 19th centuries; the Balfours transformed life on the island by introducing new agricultural techniques. Other landmarks include a standing stone, an Iron Age broch, a souterrain and a salt-water shower.
Birsay is a parish in the north west corner of The Mainland of Orkney, Scotland. Almost all the land in the parish is devoted to agriculture: chiefly grassland used to rear beef cattle. There are various ancient monuments in the parish.
Humans have inhabited Orkney, an archipelago in the north of Scotland, for about 8,800 years: Archeological evidence dates from Mesolithic times. Scandinavian clans dominated the area from the 8th century CE, using the islands as a base for further incursions. In the late 14th century the archipelago became part of Scotland.
Burroughston Broch is an Iron Age broch located on the island of Shapinsay in the Orkney Islands, in Scotland. The site overlooks the North Sea on the northeast part of Shapinsay. Excavated in the mid 19th century, Burroughston Broch is still well-preserved. The drystone walls are up to four metres thick in some parts and there is a complete chamber intact off the entrance passage. Some remains of stone fittings are evident in the interior.
The Ouse is a tidal estuary in northern Shapinsay, Orkney Islands. This water body has been shown on early maps of the island in a very similar shape to its current geometry. The Ouse is fed by small rivulets and upland springs that rise on the western part of the island's northeast spur. pH levels of these feed waters are moderately alkaline, in the range of 9.1.
Vasa Loch is a brackish lagoon in southwestern Shapinsay, Orkney Islands. This water body has been shown on early maps of the island in a very similar shape and size to its current geometry, separated from the North Sea by a narrow strip of raised beach.(Masters, 1840) Vasa Loch is fed by small rivulets and upland springs that rise on the western part of the island's western spur. pH levels of the loch are strongly alkaline, in the range of 10.15.
Mill Dam is a wetland in western Shapinsay, in Orkney, Scotland.
Balfour Castle is a historic building on the southwest of Shapinsay, Orkney Islands. Though built around an older structure that dates at least from the 18th century, the present castle was built in 1847, commissioned by Colonel David Balfour, and designed by Edinburgh architect David Bryce. It is a Category A listed building and the landscape and formal gardens are listed in the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland.
Helliar Holm is an uninhabited island off the coast of Shapinsay in the Orkney Islands, Scotland. It is home to a 42-foot-tall (13 m) lighthouse, which was built in 1893 and automated in 1967. It is a tidal island that used to be connected to Shapinsay. It is still possible to walk across from the mainland during very low tides.
The Bay of Linton is a bay on the east coast on the island of Shapinsay in the Orkney Islands, Scotland. To the north of Linton Bay are the headlands of Ness of Ork, and to the south is The Foot. The ancient monument the Broch of Burroughston is slightly north of Linton Bay.
The Geo of Ork is a narrow and deep cleft in the cliff face of the northernmost point on the island of Shapinsay in the Orkney islands. The term geo or gya derives from Old Norse gjá. This landform was created by the wave driven erosion of cliffs along faults or bedding planes in the rock. A well-preserved prehistoric broch lies slightly to the south of Geo of Ork on the eastern coast of Shapinsay. This drystone broch has extant remains of ancient stone furniture inside.
Lairo Water is a surface water body known as an ayre situated on the western coast of Shapinsay in the Orkney Islands. This brackish water body is separated by a narrow bar of land from Veantro Bay. This wetland is an area where a variety of bird species may be found. Hogan has suggested that the Lairo Water may have been a source of subsistence food for prehistoric inhabitants of Shapinsay at Burroughston Broch.
Veantro Bay is a bay on the northwest coast of Shapinsay in the Orkney Islands, Scotland.
Castle Bloody is a prehistoric feature on the island of Shapinsay, Orkney, Scotland. Hogan observes that while the feature is marked as a chambered mound on the UK Ordnance Survey map, the structure is more properly and specifically classified as a souterrain or earth house. Slightly to the north is located the ruined historic Linton Chapel.
Linton Chapel is a ruined chapel on the east coast of Shapinsay, Orkney. The chapel is thought to date as early as the 12th century AD. Slightly to the south is a megalithic monument, Castle Bloody.
Quholm is a hamlet in the northeast of Shapinsay, in the islands of Orkney, Scotland. William Irving, the father of Washington Irving, noted American author, was born in Quholm. Innsker Beach is situated very close by at the northwest edge of Quholm. Slightly to the south along Shapinsay's northwest coast are located the coastal ayres of Lairo Water and the Ouse situated within Veantro Bay. There are significant archaeological sites not distant from Quholm, including Odin's Stone, Burroughston Broch, Linton Chapel, Castle Bloody and Mor Stein.
Prehistoric Orkney refers only to the prehistory of the Orkney archipelago of Scotland that begins with human occupation. Although some records referring to Orkney survive that were written during the Roman invasions of Scotland, “prehistory” in northern Scotland is defined as lasting until the start of Scotland's Early Historic Period.
Broch is a type of Iron Age drystone hollow-walled structure found in Scotland.
