20 Attractions to Explore Near St.John's Head

Cuilags is a summit in the Hoy region or range in Scotland. Cuilags is 435 metres high. A good trekking destination and also there are so many other options too. All the walking routes up Cuilags on Mud and Routes can be found below. The top can be identified by the large cairn (third from E) on possibly man-made mound.

A famous 450 foot sea stack- is perhaps Orkney's most famous landmark. It is one of the tallest sea stacks in the British Isles and possibly the most famous. The Old Man is popular with climbers, and was first climbed in 1966. Created by the erosion of a cliff through hydraulic action some time after 1750, the stack is not more than a few hundred years old, but may soon collapse into the sea.

This 500 years old monument lies in a steep sided valley between Quoys and Rackwick on the island of Hoy. A huge block of hollowed-out red sandstone measuring about 8.5 metres long, the Dwarfie Stane is thought to be Britain’s only example of a rock-cut tomb. It should be stressed, however, that not all archaeologists share this opinion. The stone is a glacial erratic located in desolate peatland. The site is managed by Historic Environment Scotland.

Graemsay is on of the smaller of the Orkney Islands, which was located between the Orkney mainland and Hoy and features plenty of nature and wildlife attractions. The island is 409 ha in area and is mainly crofted. The island's geology is Old Red Sandstone of the Devonian period, with two volcanic faults. On the north coast there is granite-schist, a great rarity in Orkney.

Ness Battery in Stromness is one of Britain's best-preserved wartime sites and a guided tour offers a fascinating insight into the lives of the soldiers who defended Scapa Flow in two World Wars. Several of the original wooden huts which formed the accommodation camp are still intact, and in one of these is a painted mural covering three walls, depicting rural English scenes. An extensive programme of stabilisation and renovation was completed in 2012 and the site is now open for guided tours.

A beautiful small independent museum, which including First World War artefacts from the scuttled German High Seas Fleet, items from Orkney's involvement in the Hudson's Bay Company, and collections brought home from Orcadians travelling abroad. It also houses numerous Victorian natural history collections of birds and eggs, mammals, shells, fossils, butterflies and moths, as well as antiquarian collections of artefacts.

This lighthouse is on the Isle of Graemsay in the Orkney Isles located on the northeast point of the island. It was built in 1851 by Alan Stevenson, together with a keepers residence. It marks the main channel into the Scapa Flow harbour, and along with other lights in the area, known as range lights, they aid navigation through Hoy Sound.

The Pier Arts Centre is a VisitScotland 5 Star Art Gallery and Museum in Stromness established in 1979 to provide a home for an important collection of British fine art donated by the author, peace activist and philanthropist Margaret Gardiner. It is a collaboration of permanent collection and temporary galleries. The project involved the refurbishment of historic pier buildings, along with the creation of a new gallery building.

Copinsay is an uninhabited island in the Orkneys, famous for its large colonies of kittiwakes, guillemots and razorbills. Fulmars and puffins also breed along the cliffs of Copinsay. The island reserve consists of the main island of Copinsay and the four smaller islets of Corn Holm, Ward Holm, Black Holm and the Horse of Copinsay. The historic Copinsay Lighthouse sits atop 250’ high cliffs that extend for a mile along the coast.

This 5000-year-old burial tomb is just one of hundreds of similar sites to be found throughout Orkney, but this site in the West Mainland is in exceptionally good condition and incredibly easy to find. Unstan is notable as an atypical hybrid of the two main types of chambered cairn found in Orkney, and as the location of the first discovery of a type of pottery that now bears the name of the tomb. The site is in the care of Historic Environment Scotland as a scheduled monument.

Yesnaby is one of the most spectacular stretches of coastline in Orkney. It is renowned for its spectacular Old Red Sandstone coastal cliff scenery which includes sea stacks, blowholes, geos and frequently boiling seas. Most visitors to the impressive cliffs at Yesnaby explore the immediate area, and enjoy the stunning views there, but we think there is much to see if you take the less beaten path and walk northwards.

The Loch of Stenness is a large brackish loch on Mainland, Orkney, Scotland and is named for the parish of Stenness. It is a sea loch and is the deepest loch on the Mainland, it is slightly smaller in area and volume than the Loch of Harray. The loch is connected to the Loch of Harray at the Bridge of Brodgar and both lochs together cover an area of 19.3 square kilometres making the two combined the ninth largest loch in Scotland by area.

The remains of the Orphir Round Church, dedicated to Saint Nicholas, are located in Orphir Parish on the Mainland of Orkney, Scotland. It has been a scheduled monument since 2014. It consisted of an apse on the eastern side of its 6-metre wide circular nave. It consisted of a circular nave about six metres in diameter with a semicircular apse with a central window. The walls are one metre thick.

The Ring of Brodgar is an archaeological treasure and without doubt one of the islands' most visited attractions. It is part of the Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site, a series of important domestic and ritual monuments built 5000 years ago in the Orkney Islands.

The Ness of Brodgar is a thin strip of land, in the West Mainland of Orkney, that separates the lochs of Harray and Stenness. The site has provided evidence of decorated stone slabs, a stone wall 6 metres thick with foundations, and a large building described as a Neolithic temple.

The Stones of Stenness today consist of four upright stones up to 6m in height in a circle that originally held 12 stones. This may be the oldest henge site in the British Isles. Various traditions associated with the stones survived into the modern era and they form part of the Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site.

The Barnhouse Settlement is a Neolithic village located in Antaness, Orkney, Scotland, which was inhabited between c. 3300 and 2600 BCE. The early settlement consisted of at least six small houses similar in style to the early circular houses at Skara Brae. These were set around a larger and more elaborate building. Situated on the shore of Harray Loch, and accessed from the Standing Stones of Stenness, Barnhouse is a stone age village.

Fara is a small island in Orkney, Scotland, lying in Scapa Flow between the islands of Flotta and Hoy. It has been uninhabited since the 1960s. Fara always had a good reputation for it's rich pastures but, as with so many other abandoned islands, the people ended up having no choice but to leave due to the poor communications.

Ward Hill is a hill on the island of Hoy in Orkney, Scotland. It is 481 metres high. The hill forms a curved ridge, reminiscent of a 'J' in shape. The lower slopes are covered in heather and grass, though the top of the ridge is covered in small stones with bare sandy soil. The highest summit is towards the northern end and is crowned by a trig point.

This is a majestic 17th century mansion, which will give a valuable insight into Orkney's diverse and exciting past. It was home of the man who unearthed Skara Brae in 1850, and covering thousands of years of Orkney history. The house overlooks the neolithic site, Skara Brae, and the Bay of Skaill. In 1977, the house was included in the List of Scottish Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest.