Tomb of the Eagles

Set in a spectacular clifftop position, this 5000-year-old chambered tomb was discovered by local farmers who now run it privately as a visitor attraction. It’s as interesting for their entertaining and informative guided tour and for the unusual access (lying prone on a trolley, you wheel yourself into the low entrance tunnel) as for the tomb itself.

Before taking the mile's airy walk out to the site, an excellent personal explanation is given to you at the visitor centre; you meet a few spooky skulls and get to handle some of the artefacts found in the tomb, including some sea-eagle talons.

On the way you visit a circular Bronze Age stone building with a firepit, indoor well and plenty of seating; orthodox theory suggests it was a communal cooking site (but we reckon it’s the original Orkney pub). Next to it is a 'burnt mound', the shattered remains of stones that were heated in the fire and then used to heat water (whether for cooking or washing is unknown).

The Neolithic tomb itself is an elaborate stone construction that once held the remains of up to 340 people, along with the bones of at least 14 sea eagles. It’s possible that sky burials took place here, with the dead placed on top of wooden platforms outside the tomb entrance for eagles and carrion birds to pick clean.

The visitor centre is a 20-minute walk east from Burwick, and you can continue the walk around the headland to a gloup (seacliff blowhole), less than a mile away, at Halcro Head.