On the southern shore of the Bay o' Skaill, in the West Mainland parish of Sandwick, is the Neolithic village of Skara Brae - one of Orkney's most-visited ancient sites and regarded by many as one of the most remarkable monuments in Europe.415
In the winter of 1850, a great storm battered Orkney.
There was nothing particularly unusual about that, but on this occasion, the combination of wind and and extremely high tides stripped the grass from a large mound, then known as "Skerrabra".
This revealed the outline of a number of stone buildings — something that intrigued the local laird, William Watt of Skaill, who embarked on an excavation of the site.
In 1868, after the remains of four ancient houses had been unearthed, work at Skerrabra was abandoned. The settlement remained undisturbed until 1925, when another storm damaged some of the previously-excavated structures.
