Rousay – The Egypt of the North

In just one mile of coastline you can journey from Neolithic times over 5,000 years ago right through to the Clearances of the 1800s.

“Rousay is the ‘Egypt of the North’ with over 150 historic sites,” beams Martin Douglas of Rousay Tours as he hauls back the heavy metal hatch. It’s all that is holding us back from over 5,000 years of human history. Blackhammer Chambered Cairn offers a window into another ancient world; Martin offers one too into another way of living today on the community-driven island of Rousay.

Martin tells me mankind has eked out a living here across Orkney’s Eyeshallow Sound on the rugged isle of Rousay for up to 10,000 years. The ferry may only take half an hour, but Rousay looks and feels much wilder than the smooth well-kept pastures of Orkney Mainland. “Rousay is basically one big wild hill with a narrow strip of good land wrapped round its coast,” explains Martin. “In just one mile of coastline you can journey from Neolithic times over 5,000 years ago right through to the Clearances of the 1800s.”

The Rousay Heritage Centre is the place to start as it colourfully digs into Rousay’s multiple stories. It fires up my interest, as does the newly revamped boat shed next door. Here I learn of connections with Norway and more on the strong maritime traditions of this remarkable island.

Blackhammer is just one of Rousay’s bountiful prehistoric treasures. It’s a long, thin burial cairn housed within a pronounced mound, with its seven burial compartments easy to make out. Its deeply dramatic, but not a patch on Taversoe Tuick, an ancient and highly unusual burial chamber that the laird’s wife used to have picnics above, completely unaware of what lay sleeping below. I’ve seen burial chambers all around Scotland, but none with a smart duplex design.

Taversoe Tuick’s entrance floor gives access to a second level, where the burial chambers lie. The skylight just gives enough light to peer into the heart of our Neolithic ancestors. The concrete dome roof – added for protection when it was first excavated – adds a surreal quality, as if Neolithic man was future proofing it for the Nuclear Age, more Chernobyl than burial cairn.

The Neolithic big hits keep on coming. We ease along the coast, Martin pointing out cairns that have been excavated and then covered back over, as well as other sites he reckons house further intrigue that have yet to be excavated. We yomp down to Midhowe Chambered Cairn. Again, I’m blown away, this time by the sheer scale of a site that sits in a massive hangar built by the man behind Highland Park back in the 1930s, Walter Grant. Delving inside I’m catapulted back almost 5,500 years, when the Neolithic peoples further south hadn’t even begun work on Stonehenge.

Mystery swirls around much of our knowledge of the Neolithic inhabitants of Orkney and it’s glorious to have Martin share his theories of how they would have used this massive rectangular burial cairn. One of his ideas is that the dead were buried crouching in a position on benches, perhaps so relatives could come and commune with them and seek their support and knowledge long after they had begun their journeys into the afterlife.

Midhowe isn’t done with me. Martin leads me blinking back out into the Orcadian big skies. Through a wash of sea spray, he shows me the rock slabs of the coastline that the Neolithic people would have used to build the cairn. They also used those same stones from the shore to erect the drama unfurling right in front of us. It is Midhowe Broch, a mysterious Iron Age Tower, the best preserved of a trio that lie very close together on this ancient site. It was erected in the first century AD. Mindbogglingly when they were busying away building it the cairn next door was already 3,500 years old.

We explore every nook and cranny of Midhowe Broch, examining in detail the large hearth and the strange stone slab on the broch’s sturdy walls that Martin jokes may have been a Neolithic TV. Another surprise unfurls with the wee village that hugs the base of the broch, which looks like it pilfered some of the broch’s stones at a time when the locals felt a bit safer in their surrounds. Martin talks of “Neolithic IKEA-isation”, showing me the type of easy to make out cupboards and storage you find across in Mainland Orkney at Skara Brae. As with all Rousay’s sites it is nothing short of utterly fascinating.

Also fascinating on Rousay is the vibrancy of the local community. The population of around 230 may be vastly reduced from pre-Clearance levels, but it’s much healthier than that of some other Scottish islands island I’ve been to. As important as the number of islanders is the strength of community and I’m delighted to find serious life here, which Martin shares.

As we drive around this spectacular island – with its dramatic views too of other Orcadian isles – Martin points out community projects like a craft hub, community cinema and buildings they’ve secured to renovate and turn into housing; two new builds too that will further boost the population and provide much-needed affordable housing. The heritage centre is community run, but the most essential project in many ways is the Taversoe Inn.

I meet the positive force that is Bill Brown at the Taversoe. “We have a community hub here that just happens to be a pub,” he smiles. It’s hard to disagree when a monthly craft and food fair is in full swing and I witness a canny islander bartering four cucumbers with Bill for two proper coffees. There is Rousay knitwear on sale, alongside garden-grown greens. I’m surprised to find a lovely lady selling grapes, telling me, “they grow really well in my polytunnel and it’s great to enjoy fresh grapes here on Rousay”.

I wonder how tough life gets in autumn and winter. Peering out his beloved ancient landscape Martin says, “If anything it’s even more beautiful then and the island very much still welcomes visitors. Indeed, I’m starting up ‘Winter sagas under Orcadian Skies’ winter tour that make the most of an island with minimal light pollution.”

By Robin McKelvie
Robin McKelvie is an award-winning travel writer and broadcaster who has been published in over 200 magazines and newspapers worldwide.

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