The Orkney Fossil and Heritage Centre in its restored farm buildings on the Parish of Burray has been a popular attraction in Orkney since it opened in 1993. While Orkney’s richness in archaeological sites brings visitors from far and near few knew of the richness of fossils contained in the underlying rocks until this Centre opened.

Glancing around today’s Orkney landscape with it undulating hills and surrounding seas gives a misleading impression of the area these fossilised creatures lived in for they lived in a subtropical climate and a vast freshwater lake - Lake Orcadie. These conditions existed in the Devonian period (416 – 359 million years ago). Sediments deposited in the lake formed flagstones and sandstones. These now lie exposed along the Orkney sea cliffs. The lake teemed with life, leaving many fossils, including wonderfully preserved fossilised fish. Cruaday Quarry in the parish of Sandwick provided the basis for the fossil collection. The breadth and quality of the collections are rare and Cruaday quarry is now a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Around the room in display cabinets are slabs split to reveal the fossils. Weird they appear but adapted to the conditions applying millions of years ago. I will just mention a few here. The Pterichthyodes had its head and shoulders encased in boxes of bone with its eyes and nostrils on the top of its head. Dipterus was a lungfish, which can survive out of the water - there are still three species of lungfish alive today. Tristichopterus also probably had a lung and may have been able to walk on land for short distances.

The social history collection upstairs contains objects used in the everyday life of Orcadians. In a woodworking section I recognised many of the tools my grandfather used. He combined joinery with crofting. A collection of antique cameras made me pause as being a member of a photographic society I have an interest in the subject.

A recreated room showed a typical room in Orkney around the beginning of the 20th-century. A boxed bed allowed total privacy by drawing shutters even though the bed is off the living room. Some recreated rooms showed Orkney in World War II. The islands were home to the Northern Fleet and contained more sailors and troops than civilians at the time. Wartime artefacts still dot the landscape and seabed. There is also a large collection of old photographs and books, which the visitor is free to browse through. They cover both peace and war. As an Orcadian I could have spent hours browsing through these.

The café in the Orkney Fossil and Heritage Centre makes a welcome stop for people travelling to or from the car ferry that crosses thrice daily from St Margaret’s Hope in South Ronalsay to Gill’s bay in Caithness. The café serves coffees, teas, home bakes as well as lunches in pleasant and friendly surroundings.

The Fossil Centre is open seven days a week, 10am - 6pm.

Reviewed by Drever 0n 9/27/2005 from iexplore.com