Rousay is one of the Orkney Islands, separated by a mile-wide strait from Orkney Mainland. Its name is Norse, Hrólfsey meaning Rolf's Island, and it's small and hilly, only 5 by 3 miles, with a population of 219 in 2011. Its terrain and land-use are in some ways more Hebridean than Orcadian, including a sad history of Clearances. The reason to visit is for its remarkable collection of prehistoric sites, and it's also a Site of Special Scientific Interest because of its geology, wildflowers and bird life.

You also come via Rousay to reach the islands of Wyre (population 5) and Egilsay (population 14) which are green, low-lying and look more typically Orcadian.

Get in

1 Trumland Pier is the landing point for Orkney Ferries ro-ro from Tingwall on Mainland. This takes 30 min, with six M-Sa and four on Sunday; most sailings continue to Egilsay and Wyre (usually in that order) then back to Rousay before returning to Tingwall. Until April 2025, the return fare is adult £6.10, conc £4.60, child £3, car £19.40. Cars reverse onto the ferry, so you park in the marshalling area facing away from the slipway.

Bus 6 runs every couple of hours from Kirkwall via Finstown to meet the ferries at Tingwall, 20 min. In summer the first and last buses of the day continue round the Mainland coast to Birsay.

Get around

B9064 is a single narrow lane making a 13-mile circuit of the island. The best of the prehistoric sites, Midhowe Cairn and Broch, are a 5-mile hike along the lane west from the ferry pier. Cycling is a good way to get around and bikes are free on the ferry.

Rousay Tours is Patrick Macguire in his spare time, using an 8-seater Renault Trafic to give guided tours of the island. ☏ +44 1856 821234.

See

• Trumland House is a baronial mansion overlooking the pier, a smaller version of Balfour Castle on Shapinsay and built by the same architect. Its museum and gardens remain closed in 2024.
• 1 Taversöe Tuick half a mile west of the ferry pier is an unusual two-storey neolithic cairn. The upper level is covered by a concrete dome and you climb down to the lower level. It's free to access 24 hours.
• 2 Blackhammer Chambered Cairn. 24 hours. A long-stalled neolithic chambered cairn with seven compartments, spoiled slightly by the concrete roof. Free. (updated Jul 2024)
• Knowe of Yarso is on the hill above Taversöe Hotel. It's another long 4-stalled cairn with a less intrusive roof.
• Knowe of Lairo a quarter mile west has been badly damaged.
• 3 Midhowe Cairn (5 miles west of pier). 24 hours. This is a huge stalled tomb, lying parallel to the shore on the west coast. Known by archaeologists as The Great Ship of Death it's one of the most significant prehistoric sites in Orkney. The cairn's outer wall-face was carefully arranged in a herringbone pattern. The tomb is now protected under a shed and its sophisticated structure can also be viewed from an overhead walkway. The rectangular burial chamber, 23.4 m long, is divided by pairs of upright slabs into 12 compartments. Along the eastern wall of the compartments the remains of 25 people were found. Some of them had been exposed prior to burial to remove the flesh. Several compartments are provided with stone benches. Pottery recovered from the chamber is of the "Unstan" type. Access to some areas is restricted to protect the structure. Free. (updated Jul 2024)
• Midhowe Broch (next to Midhowe Cairn). 24 hours. The best example of a broch in Orkney, standing over 4 metres high and originally 13 m high. By it are the remains of a small village. It differs from most brochs in having two large "rooms" protected within its fortified walls, each with their own hearth, beds and other signs of domesticity. There is a communal well beneath the floor of the more westerly room. Free. (updated Jul 2024)
• Sea cliffs and rugged inlets are reached by a short walk west from Midhowe: Quern of Wisber, Knoe of Scabra and Hole of the Horses.
• 4 Memorial to James Leonard commemorates one victim of the clearances. These were already under way when Rousay came to be owned by General Frederick William Traill-Burroughs (1831-1905), who'd made his name at Lucknow. He built Trumland House and the ferry pier, but hiked rents to unaffordable levels. The Napier Commission on crofting in 1883 took evidence from many landowners and small farmers about local conditions, and for Rousay they pressed the General for an assurance of no reprisals against any tenant that gave evidence. This he flatly refused, claiming absolute power as landowner. Leonard (1835-1913) was one who testified regardless and sure enough was evicted, but so too were others.
• 5 Yetnasteen Stone is a 2-m-tall slab. In Old Norse Jotunna-steinn indicated "giant stone"; he was turned to stone when exposed to daylight, but at the stroke of midnight at New Year he's released for just long enough to take a drink from the nearby freshwater loch. Actually the stone looks more like something that came out of Finn McCool's pop-up toaster.

St Magnus Church on Egilsay

• 6 Wyre is the small inhabited island just south of Rousay, and served by the same ferry. Here are the remains of Cubbie Roo's Castle, built around 1150 AD, and of St Mary's Chapel of similar date. The poet Edwin Muir (1887-1959) spent much of his childhood on Wyre.
• 7 Egilsay is the island a mile east of Rousay. It's inhabited and served by the same ferry. It's the site of the murder of St Magnus; the church dedicated to him is ruined but retains a prominent round bell-tower.
• Kili Holm is a tidal islet connected to the north of Egilsay. Its name suggests an early Christian hermitage but there's no trace of that, just a cairn.
• Holm of Scockness is an islet between Egilsay and Rousay. Nothing here but sheep.
• 8 Eynhallow is the uninhabited islet west of Rousay. It has the ruins of a 12th-century church: no ferries call here, but there are occasional sight-seeing trips.
• 9 Gairsay south of Wyre is a sheep farm, with no ferry.

Do

• Birdlife: RSPB Trumland Reserve is by the ferry pier.

Buy

Highland cattle on Rousay

• Rousay Stores, House Bay, Essaquoy KW17 2PR (northeast corner of island), ☏ +44 1856 821365. M W F 2-5PM, Su 2-4PM. Well-stocked convenience store with fresh, frozen, dry and tinned goods. (updated Jul 2024)

Eat and drink

• The Taversöe has a public bar and restaurant, see below.

Sleep

• Peedie Farm above the ferry pier has hard-standing for motorhomes.
• Trumland Farm 200 yards west of the ferry pier may have self-catering rooms or camping pitches.
• 1 The Taversöe, Gripps KW17 2PT, ☏ +44 1856 821325. Comfy small hotel a mile west of ferry pier, open April-Nov with one twin, two doubles, one twin-double. All en suite with views over the Eynhallow Sound towards Mainland. With lounge, public bar and restaurant. Dogs welcome. B&B double £100. (updated Jul 2024)

Connect

As of July 2024, there is no mobile signal on Rousay, Wyre or Egilsay, nor at the Mainland ferry pier.

Go next

Back to Orkney Mainland it must be.