Tour Scotland Travel Video Pictish And Viking Settlements Brough of Birsay Orkney Islands

Tour Scotland travel Blog video of Pictish and Norse settlements on Brough of Birsay an uninhabited tidal island off the north west coast off the mainland on ancestry visit to the Orkney Islands, Scotland. The earliest settlement on the island is thought to have been in the 6th century, perhaps by Christian missionaries. In the 7th and 8th centuries it was a significant Pictish fortress, but by the 9th century the Picts had been displaced by Norsemen or Vikings. The extensive remains of an excavated Norse settlement and church overlay the earlier Pictish settlement. Before Kirkwall became the centre of power in the 12th century, Birsay was the seat of the rulers of Orkney. Norse dwellings included long houses, featuring both heating and drainage systems and some indications that saunas were present. Although not all the houses were likely in use at the same time, there was a significant community living here.

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