Early in the ninth century, the Norse—commonly called Vikings—began to establish settlements on Orkney, an archipelago off the northeast coast of Scotland. According to the Orkneying Saga, written about 1192-1206, claims that Orkney was first settled by Earl Rognvald who fled from Norway in the ninth century.
The Orkney Museum in Kirkwall has a display of the Orkney Norse heritage. According to one display at the Orkney Museum:
“A typical 9th century Norse farm consisted of several oblong buildings grouped together: dwelling-house, barns and byre, built with stone, or stone and turf, walls and thatched or turfed roofs. The idea of combining people and animals under one roof—the true ‘longhouse’ with dwelling and byre together—seems to have developed in the 11th century.”
In The Vikings: A Very Short Introduction, Julian Richards reports:
“Certainly from the mid-9th to the 12th centuries Orkney was the political focus of a semi-independent Norse state, whose ambit extended into Caithness.”
Shown below are photographs of some of the Norse displays at the Orkney Museum.