Beyondships Cruise Destinations
  • Cruise Destinations and Ports
  • Beyondships Home Page
  • Cruise Travel News
  • Beyondships Cruise FAQs
  • What's New
  • Cruise Ship Profiles
  • Cruise Articles
  • Cruise Interviews
  • Cruise Links
  • Cruise Home Page
  • Canada New England Cruise Destinations
  • Caribbean Cruise Destinations
  • Cruise Ship Tours
  • Notices
  • Beyondships Art
  • Privacy Policy
  • Althorp
  • Blenheim Palace
  • Broadlands
  • Stratfield Saye
  • Hever Castle
  • Hatfield House
  • The Vyne
  • Osterley Park
  • Chatsworth
  • Highclere Castle
  • Beyond Downton Abby
  • Chiswick House
  • Royal Botanic Gardens Kew
  • Kew Palace
Orkney Overview
Orkney Cruise Ports 
Orkney Kirkwall
Orkney Standing Stones of Stenness
Orkney Ring of Brodgar
Orkney Skara Brae
Orkney Skaill House  
Edinburgh
​Stirling Castle
​
Scotland home page
CRUISING TO SCOTLAND:



ORKNEY

Skaill House, Orkney

Skaill House

Skaill House is a manor house that was home to the Lairds of Skaill for 400 years. The mansion has been restored to how it would have looked when the family was living there in the 1950s.

The house was begun by Bishop George Graham in the 17th century. He was Bishop of Orkney but had to resign as he was considered too soft on witches and adulterers. His son became the 1st Laird of Skaill.

Each of the 12 Lairds of Skaill, altered the house. As a result, it expanded over the centuries. Some sections are two stories high while others are three.

After a storm in 1850, William Watt, 7th Earl of Skaill, discovered the Neolithic village of Skara Brae. The remains of the village are about 200 meters in front of the house.

In 1991, the last Laird of Skaill died and the house was inherited by Major Malcolm Macrae, 12th Laid of Breckness. He had the house restored to the way it looked in the 1950s and opened it to the public.

The house provides a glimpse of upper class life on Orkney in the mid-20th century. Among those who visited the family during that period was Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. The rooms are fully furnished and contain treasures such as the Bishop's bed, paintings by Stanley Cursiter and Captain Cook's dinner service, which the explorer gave to the family.

Built on an old Norse graveyard, the house is said to have a number of ghosts.

For more information on visiting Skaill House, see the Skaill House website.
Skaill House, Orkney
Skaill House, Orkney
Skaill House, Orkney
For more about cruising to Scotland:

Click here for our Edinburgh cruise ports page
Click here for our shore excursions and other links
Click here for our article on visiting Holyroodhouse
Click here for our photo feature on the Royal Mile
Click here for our article on the Royal Yacht Britannia
Click here for our article on Edinburgh Castle
Click here for our article on the Edinburgh Military Tattoo
Click here for our article on visiting Stirling Castle
Cruise destination - Scotland - Orkney - Skaill House
Beyondships.com
​(Cruise ship profiles, pictorials, reviews and interviews).

BeyondshipsArt.com
(Museum profiles, Art reviews, and Original art)
Beyondships LLC
Notices
Privacy Policy
Beyondships Cruise Ship Pictorials and Reviews
(Photos, videos and reviews of cruise ships)
Beyondships Cruise Ship Photo Tours
(Photo tours inside cruise ships)