Echoes from 5 millennia of human habitation are woven throughout Eday's landscape. Many of the island's archaeological sites were excavated over a century ago and the subsequent reclamation by nature since that time, gives an air of new discovery.
One of the most visible and iconic monuments is the Setter Stone which stands proudly to the north of the island, along the Eday Heritage Trail. Its unusual shape bears testament to the elements it has endured since Neolithic peoples erected it, thousands of years ago. Today, despite substantial erosion, it is Orkney's tallest single standing stone and is part of an ancient landscape spanning different eras of pre -historic occupation. With this in mind, The Heritage Trail guides the visitor past Neolithic burial tombs, a Bronze age enclosure and Iron age field boundaries, all set within a landscape blanketed in peat, that may hide many other remnants from the past.
The burial tombs are of different styles with the most impressive being Vinquoy Chambered Cairn, a restored Maeshowe -type tomb made from red Eday sandstone, for which the island is well known. Along the trail you will also see Braeside Chambered Cairn; a stalled or Orkney-Cromarty type cairn which, although open, has its inner layout intact. Nearby is Huntersquoy Chambered Cairn, unusual in that it has two storeys. All that remains of the upper chamber are two upright stones. The lower chamber is intact, but unfortunately water-logged and therefore not accessible.
To the South of the island, near the current Kirk, the ruins of the old secessionist kirk are visible on the hillside. Stone from a nearby Neolithic tomb was used for this building and a portion of an engraved stone, referred to as the 'Eday Sun Symbol' was discovered in the process.
Elsewhere on the island you can see the remains of other tombs and leaflets are available to provide more detailed descriptions and locations.
Until recently, no Neolithic settlement site had been discovered on Eday. However a recent dig at a site near the croft 'Green' has changed this. Since 2007 archaeologists have been excavating a small settlement, discovered by local amateurs. Amongst the items unearthed are, pottery fragments, skaill knives, a diminutive axe head, a piece of soapstone and perhaps most impressive of all, a large inscribed stone. More detailed information on this dig can be provided by the folks at The Red House Croft renovation project.
On the shores of Eday's South coast are the ruins of a Norse strong house, grandly named the 'Castle of Stackelbrae'. Every year that passes sees another chunk of the remaining mound washed on to the beach. Although the gradual erosion is unfortunate, on the bright side it does afford the visitor an opportunity of seeing a 'cross section', revealing the heart of this interesting site. Simple drains and divisions are visible, along with large mounds of midden (waste) containing bone fragments and charred limpet shells. The building may have had several centuries of use in different forms, as late as 1725 the infamous Pirate Gow is believed to have been held in the cellar before being shipped to London for execution.