About this place
Extraordinary site layering 4,000 years of settlement from Bronze Age to Viking times.
What makes Jarlshof remarkable is how many different periods of settlement sit stacked on top of each other on one small headland: Bronze Age houses, an Iron Age broch and wheelhouses, Norse longhouses, a medieval farmstead and, at the top, a 16th-century laird's house. The site lay buried under sand until a storm in 1897 tore away the dunes and exposed the walls beneath. Historic Environment Scotland has laid out clear paths and information boards between the different eras, so children can walk from the Bronze Age to the 1600s in a few minutes. There's no cafe on site, so it works best paired with a stop in nearby Sumburgh. Sturdy shoes help, as the ground is uneven throughout.
Visit website →Make a day of it — within 5km
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59.8693, -1.2909