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Westray places to visit in the Scottish Highlands

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Last Updated on Saturday, 05 May 2012 17:33

Westray, The main feature of this island is Noltland Castle, reconstructed by Gilbert Balfour, who was Master to the Household of Mary, Queen of Scots.

It was burned by the Covenanters in 1650. The castle, one of the earliest of the Z-plan type, is notable for its over provision for artillery defence.

The ruins of two ancient churches, Holy Cross (12th century) and St Mary's (13th century) are part of the numerous religious settlements erected in the Orkneys soon after the Norsemen adopted Christianity, for political rather than religious reasons at first.

To the north-west of the island is the Gentlemen's Cave, where a number of fugitive Jacobites hid after the disastrous battle of Culloden in 1746. A large cemetery of Viking graves was discovered in the sand dunes during the tenth century near the village of Pierowall, which was once the Vikings' second harbour in Orkney after Kirkwall.