The community of South Ronaldsay has launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise cash to reopen the Isbister chambered cairn to the public.
For over 20 years, the Neolithic structure, better known as the Tomb of the Eagles, was a successful family-run visitor attraction and an important Orcadian tourist attraction.
After the Covid-19 pandemic saw the site close to visitors in 2020, it did not reopen and the owners have decided to sell. With their full support, and that of the Scottish Land Fund (SLF), folk in South Ronaldsay are now looking to buy the assets, reopen the stalled cairn, and redevelop the site using sustainable tourism principles.
The goal of the six-week crowdfunder, which runs until April 12, is to raise £20,000 for immediate improvement works that would allow the site to be reopened in late summer 2025.
To make a donation, or for more details, see https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/tomb-of-the-eagles
As an added incentive, the first people who donate £500 or more can join the UHI Archaeology Institute’s Professor Jane Downes and Professor Colin Richards on a tour of the Ring of Brodgar and Stones of Stenness. The first 25 donating £250 or more can claim a signed copy of the latest book from Professors Colin Richards and Vicki Cummings, Stone Circles: A Field Guide.
