Links of Noltland

PricingFreeFree for all visitors

Free entry for everyone

Entry

Free for everyone

Pricing details

Free entry for everyone; no membership card is needed. Westray is reached on Orkney Ferries' car ferry from Kirkwall to Rapness (adult £6.75 single, car £16.00 single).

ParkingParking not known

The Trust's page does not say how parking is charged.

Parking details

Historic Scotland: the site has no visitor facilities, but there is a small car park about five minutes' walk away; no charge or free statement is published, so the status is recorded as unknown. Paths run east from there along the dunes above Grobust beach to the excavation.

Westray is reached on Orkney Ferries' car ferry from Kirkwall to Rapness at the south of the island; the site is about a five-minute drive from Pierowall at the north end. In the winter timetable (28 September 2026 to 1 May 2027) a day visit works Monday to Saturday, leaving Kirkwall at 07:20 (07:00 on Fridays) and returning from Westray at 17:55; on Sundays there is only an evening sailing. A separate refit timetable runs from 3 January to 6 March 2027. Fares from 1 April 2026: adult £6.75 single, car up to 5.5 m £16.00 single; book a vehicle at least an hour before departure (01856 872044). A private minibus runs on request between Rapness and Pierowall. Driving pin: the car park, 331 m west of Historic Scotland's own pin.

About

Beside Grobust Bay on the Orkney island of Westray, sand dunes hid a farming settlement lived in from about 3300 BC to 800 BC until it was found in the 1800s. Excavations have uncovered a dozen Neolithic buildings and Orkney's largest Bronze Age settlement. Here was found the Westray Wifie, a tiny carved stone figure and the earliest depiction of the human form found in the UK, now shown with two later finds in the Westray Heritage Centre. The Neolithic houses have thick drystone walls, central hearths and stone dressers like Skara Brae's; in one, many cattle skulls were set upside down in the foundations. The Bronze Age buildings come in pairs with shared paved forecourts, beside buried fields still bearing plough marks and a graveyard of at least 50 people. Excavation runs from May to September, when most is uncovered; out of season there is less to see, but the dunes look out to the Atlantic. A small car park is five minutes' walk west.

Check today’s timesSee all times

Links of NoltlandOpen all year; an unstaffed open site, no hours published; the excavation season (May to September) has ended

Opening times may change at short notice.

Historic Scotland: 'Links of Noltland is free to visit and is open year-round.' The excavation season is May to September, when parts of the settlement can be seen uncovered as work continues; out of season there is less to see. No hours or notices on 21 October 2026.

The remains lie in sand dunes above Grobust Bay. Parts of the dunes are being consolidated and replanted to protect buried remains: keep off the areas marked by signs. Three stone figurines found here are shown at the Westray Heritage Centre. No toilets or other facilities at the site.

Photo: The excavated stone walls of the Neolithic settlement at the Links of Noltland in the sand dunes, with Grobust Bay and the sea beyond. Sandy Gerrard, CC BY-SA 2.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Links_Of_Noltland_Neolithic_Settlement_-_geograph.org.uk_-_6733818.jpg. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0. Resized and cropped for display; derivatives retain the source licence.