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drolaf visited on 13th Jun 2022 - their rating: Cond: 3 Access: 3

Estrela visited on 31st May 2014 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 5 Access: 3 I thought we had missed the chance to visit the Knap of Howar. We had only 24 hours in Westray and the likelihood of getting to Papa Westray at the weekend seemed impossible. However on the ferry to Westray from Kirkwall I got talking to a local girl who was returning from college in Glasgow to play at a wedding in Papa Westray and stay with her grandparents. She said there would be a couple of extra ferries going over and to ask the bus driver. Michael phoned his boss who also ran the ferry to Papa Westray and it was arranged that we would leave our bags at our B&B whilst he waited and then took us straight round to the other ferry for the trip over. So we landed in Papa Westray at 7 pm with no food, drink or coats, and walked from the pier at the south end of the island to the Knap of Howar, a couple of miles north to the Knap of Howar. We were lucky with weather and it was a light dry evening and only at about ten o'clock on our way back to catch the return ferry at 11.30 we began to get cold. If we had flown in we would have been extremely close to the Knap of Howar at the airfield. It was a manageable walk for us oldies but that would depend on your health and fitness. The site is stunning, along a footpath across a field, close to the shore. Part of the 'workshop' portion of the site was covered with a plastic tent and signs to keep out as it is being dug at present, although not when we were there in the evening. The site was unattended and we could go in through the low doorway and walk around in the house, and the near end of the workshop. I was impressed by the quality of the building work, with a curved outer wall and alcoves built into the walls. I imagine it may well have been roofed with flagstones, similar to the wall material. In many bays on Westray we saw the 'pavements' of stratified rock that splits easily and still is used to roof houses today, the flagstones outlasting even slate. We passed such a cottage on our way to and from the Knap of Howar. It is amazing to think that many of the techniques used with stone building remain unchanged after 7,000 years. I am including a picture of the cottage with the flagstone roof. We had encountered one near the Ring of Brodgar and the Stones of Stenness and had been told by the tenant that the roofer was resident on Westray. At the time the Knap of Howar was built a thin causeway would still have connected Papa Westray to Westray island.

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Average ratings for this site from all visit loggers: Condition: 3.5 Access: 3

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