Kirkwall Swimming Pool - 4 Things to Know Before Visiting

Grain Earth House is an exceptionally well-built and well-preserved example of an earth house. Its original entrance survives today, leading to a 5m-long passage winding its way to an oval chamber. It’s part of a larger settlement of stone roundhouses, though we don’t know the settlement’s full extent.

A historical museum in Kirkwall, which tells the story of Orkney, from the Stone Age, to the Picts and Vikings, right through to the present day. The archaeology collection, which includes artefacts and environmental material from all periods of Orkney's prehistoric and early medieval past, is recognised as being nationally significant.

This museum comprises of the history of early domestic radio and wartime communications in Orkney with maps, charts, valves, transistors, rare exhibits, wartime memorabilia and photo archive. It was founded in 1983 by the late Jim MacDonald after a lifetime passion working with, investigating and collecting, all things electrical. The displays and photographic archive bear testament to the strategic and military importance of Orkney during World War II.

The Bishop’s and Earl’s Palaces are located in Kirkwall. It is essentially a simple, two-storey hall house and, although little of the first-floor hall remains, the ground level is largely intact. You can also climb to the top of the tower, known locally as the 'Moosie Toor', for views over Kirkwall. Earl's Palace, which was constructed around 1606 by Patrick, Earl of Orkney - one of Orkney's most notorious rulers.

St Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall dominates the skyline of Kirkwall, the main town of Orkney, a group of islands off the north coast of mainland Scotland. It is the most northerly cathedral in the United Kingdom, a fine example of Romanesque architecture built for the bishops of Orkney when the islands were ruled by the Norse Earls of Orkney. It has its own dungeon.

Scapa Flow is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, sheltered by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray,[2] South Ronaldsay and Hoy. Its sheltered waters have played an important role in travel, trade and conflict throughout the centuries. Vikings anchored their longships in Scapa Flow more than a thousand years ago. It was the United Kingdom's chief naval base during the First and Second World Wars, but the facility was closed in 1956.