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Ancient monument

Skara Brae

Bay of Skaill, Orkney

A Stone Age village revealed by a storm, with stone beds and dressers.

In 1850 a storm stripped the sand from a grassy mound and revealed small stone houses. Skara Brae was lived in for about 600 years.

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When
c. 3180–2500 BC
Where
59.0480, -3.3430
Group
Circles & monuments

Visiting

Historic Environment Scotland, open all year.

Cover of The Ledger of Lost Britain by Cale Mills
From the book

The Ledger of Lost Britain

In the winter of 1850 a severe storm struck Scotland. In the Bay of Skaill, on the west coast of Mainland Orkney, it stripped the earth from a large grassy knoll, and the villagers found the outlines of several small houses, roofless and full of sand.

The Romans arrived in AD 43. For most people that is where the history of Britain begins. But by the time the legions landed, people had already been living on these islands for thousands of years. They had hunted, farmed, mined flint, dragged stones across the country, raised a hill by hand, and buried their dead in great tombs. They left no written words. What they left was the ground itself. Every place in this book can be visited, or has been dug up, or is in a museum.

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