Orkney Islands

The Orkney Islands, usually called simply Orkney, are one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. Orkney consists of about 70 small islands 16 km north of Caithness in northern mainland Scotland. The largest island in the group is known as The Mainland, with approximately 20 being inhabited.

Orkney's administrative capital is Kirkwall on "The Mainland." Home to the St Magnus' Cathedral, it has about 7,500 inhabitants and a large port. The only other burgh is Stromness at the western end of "The Mainland", with a population of only about 2,000. The third largest settlement (c. 550) is St Margaret's Hope, on South Ronaldsay.

Orkney is also a former county, and a Lieutenancy area, and the Orkney constituency of the Scottish Parliament.

Islands

The largest island in Orkney is known as "The Mainland". An older name for it is Hrossey (Horse-island). Other islands can be classified as north or south of "The Mainland." The islands north of "The Mainland" are known collectively as The North Isles, those to the south as The South Isles. The remote Sule Skerry and Sule Stack lie around 60 km west of the archipelago, but form part of the council area.

The North Isles

The northern group of islands is the most extensive and consists of a large number of moderately sized islands, linked to "The Mainland" by ferries. Most of the islands described as "holms" are very small.

The South Isles

The southern group of islands surrounds Scapa Flow. Hoy is the highest of the Orkney Isles, while South Ronaldsay, Burray and Lamb Holm are linked to "The Mainland" by the Churchill Barriers. The Pentland Skerries lie further south, close to the Scottish mainland.

Burray
Calf of Flotta, Cava, Copinsay, Corn Holm
Fara, Flotta
Glims Holm, Graemsay
Hoy, Hunda
Lamb Holm
Rysa Little
South Ronaldsay, Switha, Swona

Geography

The Pentland Firth is a seaway which separates Orkney from the mainland of Scotland. The firth is 11 km wide between Brough Ness on the island of South Ronaldsay and Duncansby Head in Caithness.

Orkney lies between 58° 41' and 59° 24' North, and 2° 22' and 3° 26' West, measures 80 km from northeast to southwest and 47 km from east to west, and covers 973 km². Excepting on the west coasts of the larger islands, which present rugged cliff scenery remarkable both for beauty and for colouring, the group lies somewhat low and is of bleak aspect.

The hilliest island is Hoy; the highest point in Orkney, Ward Hill, is to be found there. The only other islands containing heights of any importance are "The Mainland", with (another) Ward Hill (268 m), and Wideford Hill and Rousay. Nearly all of the islands possess lochs (lakes), and The Loch of Harray and The Loch of Stenness on "The Mainland" attain noteworthy proportions. The rivers are merely streams draining the high land. Excepting on the west fronts of the Mainland, Hoy and Rousay, the coastline of the islands is deeply indented, and the islands themselves are divided from each other by straits generally called "sounds" or "firths", though off the north-east of Hoy the designation "Bring Deeps" is used, south of "The Mainland" is Scapa Flow and to the south-west of Eday is found the Fall of Warness.

The very names of the islands indicate their nature: the terminal "a" or "ay" represents the Norse ey, meaning "island", which is scarcely disguised even in the words "Pomona" (an older alternative name for The Mainland) and "Hoy". The islets are usually styled "holms" and the isolated rocks "skerries".

The tidal currents, or races, or "roost" (as some of them are called locally, from the Icelandic) off many of the isles run with enormous velocity, and whirlpools are of frequent occurrence, and strong enough at times to prove a source of danger to small craft.

The charm of Orkney does not lie in their ordinary physical features, so much as in beautiful atmospheric effects, extraordinary examples of light and shade, and rich coloration of cliff and sea.

The islands are notable for the lack of trees, which is partly accounted for by the amount of wind (although the climate in general is temperate). The formation of peat is evidence that this was not always the case, and deliberate deforestation is believed to have taken place at some stage prior to the Neolithic, the use of stone in settlements such as Skara Brae being evidence of the lack of availability of timber for building.

Most of the land is still taken up by farms, and agriculture is by far the most important sector of the economy, with fishing also being a major occupation. Orkney exports beef, cheese, whisky, beer, fish and seafood.

Geology

All the islands of this group are built up entirely of Old Red Sandstone. As in the neighbouring mainland county of Caithness, these rocks rest upon the metamorphic rocks of the eastern schists, as may be seen on The Mainland, where a narrow strip is exposed between Stromness and Inganess, and again in the small island of Graemsay; they are represented by grey gneiss and granite.

The upper division of the Old Red Sandstone is found only on Hoy, where it forms the Old Man of Hoy and neighbouring cliffs on the northwest coast. The Old Man of Hoy presents a characteristic section, for it exhibits a thick pile of massive, current-bedded red sandstones resting upon a thin bed of amygdaloidal porphyrite near the foot of the pinnacle. This, in its turn, lies unconformably upon steeply inclined flagstones. This bed of volcanic rock may be followed northward in the cliffs, and it may be noticed that it thickens considerably in that direction.

The Lower Old Red Sandstone is represented by well-bedded flagstones over most of the islands; in the south of The Mainland these are faulted against an overlying series of massive red sandstones, but a gradual passage from the flagstones to the sandstones may be followed from Westray southeastwards into Eday. A strong synclinal fold traverses Eday and Shapinsay, the axis being North and South. Near Haco's Ness in Shapinsay there is a small exposure of amygdaloidal diabase, which is (of course) older than that on Hoy.

Many indications of ice action are found on these islands; striated surfaces are to be seen on the cliffs in Eday and Westray, in Kirkwall Bay and on Stennie Hill in Eday; boulder clay, with marine shells, and with many boulders of rocks foreign to the islands (chalk, oolitic limestone, flint, etc), which must have been brought up from the region of Moray Firth, rests upon the old strata in many places. Local moraines are found in some of the valleys in The Mainland and Hoy.

Climate

The climate is remarkably temperate and steady for such a northerly latitude. The average temperature for the year is 8 °C (46 °F), for winter 4 °C (39 °F) and for summer 12 °C (54 °F). The winter months are January, February and March, the last being the coldest. Spring never begins before April, and it is the middle of June before the warmth grows comfortable. September is frequently the finest month, and at the end of October or the beginning of November the "peedie" (or little) summer or milder weather may occur.

The average annual rainfall varies from 850 mm (33 in.) to 940 mm (37 in.). Fogs occur during summer and early autumn, and furious gales may be expected four or five times in the year.

To tourists, one of the fascinations of the islands is their nightless summers. On the longest day, the sun rises at 03:00 and sets at 21:25 — and darkness is unknown, it being possible to read at midnight. Winter, however, is long and depressing. On the shortest day the sun rises at 09:10 and sets at 15:17.

The soil generally is a sandy loam or a strong but friable clay, and very fertile. Large quantities of seaweed as well as lime and marl are available for manure.

Economy

The woollen trade once promised to reach considerable dimensions, but towards the end of the 18th century was superseded by the linen (for which flax came to be largely grown); and when this in turn collapsed before the products of the mills of Dundee, Dunfermline and Glasgow, straw-plaiting was taken up, though only to be killed in due time by the competition of the south. The kelp industry was formerly of at least minor importance.

For several centuries the Dutch practically monopolised the herring fishery, but when their supremacy was destroyed by the salt duty, the Orcadians failed to seize the opportunity thus presented, and George Barry (died 1805) recorded that in his day the fisheries were almost totally neglected. The industry, however, revived, concentrating on herring, cod and ling, but also catching lobsters and crabs.

In recent years, the Orkney economy has seen growth in areas other than the traditional agriculture, livestock farming, and fishing. These include tourism; food and beverage manufacture; jewellery, knitwear, and other crafts production; construction; and oil transportation through the Flotta oil terminal. Public services also play a significant role.

Communications

Frequent ferry services operate on the following routes:

Lerwick to Kirkwall
Aberdeen to Kirkwall
Scrabster to Stromness
John O'Groats to Burwick, South Ronaldsay
Gills Bay to St Margaret's Hope

Most of the larger islands have their own airfield or airstrip. Loganair operates regular services to six islands from Kirkwall. These include the shortest scheduled air service in the world, between the islands of Westray and Papa Westray. The flight is scheduled at two minutes' duration but can take less than a minute if the wind is in the right direction.

There are ideas being discussed to build an undersea tunnel between Orkney and the Scottish mainland, at a length of about 9-10 miles (15-16 km) or (more likely) one connecting the Mainland to Shapinsay. (Links: [http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=261472005 both 2005).

Media

The islands are currently served by two weekly local newspapers,Orkney Todayand The Orcadian, both published every Thursday. In addition, a local radio station operates, with a second hoping to return to the isles in the near future. Radio Orkney, the local opt-out of BBC Radio Scotland, broadcasts twice daily, with local news and entertainment. The Superstation Orkney, Orkney's first commercial radio station, will begin broadcasting on 105.4FM in 2006. The station was granted a community radio licence in September 2005 by Ofcom.

Heritage

Located on Mainland is the 'Heart of Neolithic Orkney' a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site. This comprises a group of Neolithic monuments which consist of a large chambered tomb (Maes Howe), two ceremonial stone circles (the Stones of Stenness and the Ring of Brodgar) and a settlement (Skara Brae), together with a number of unexcavated burial, ceremonial and settlement sites. The group constitutes a major prehistoric cultural landscape which gives a graphic depiction of life in this remote archipelago in the far north of Scotland some 5,000 years ago.

Viking settlers comprehensively occupied Orkney, and the islands became a possession of Norway until being given to Scotland during the 15th century as part of a dowry settlement. Evidence of the Viking presence is widespread, and includes the settlement at the Brough of Birsay, the vast majority of place names, and runic inscriptions at Maeshowe and other ancient sites.

History

Main article: History of the Orkney Islands

The original inhabitants were Picts, evidence of whose occupation still exists in numerous "weems" or underground houses, chambered mounds, barrows or burial mounds, "brochs" or round towers, and stone circles and standing stones. Such implements as have survived are of the rudest description, and include quern-stones for grinding materials including grain, stone whorls and bone combs employed in primitive forms of woollen manufacture, and specimens of simple pottery ware.

The Romans were aware of, and probably circumnavigated, the Orkney Islands, which they called "Orcades". There is evidence that they traded, either directly or indirectly, with the inhabitants. However, they made no attempt to occupy the islands.

If, as seems likely, the Dalriadic Gaels established a footing in the islands towards the beginning of the 6th century, their success was short-lived, and the Picts regained power and kept it until dispossessed by the Norsemen in the 9th century. In the wake of the Scots incursionists followed the Celtic missionaries about 565. They were companions of Saint Columba and their efforts to convert the folk to Christianity seem to have impressed the popular imagination, for several islands bear the epithet "Papa" in commemoration of the preachers.

Vikings having made the islands the headquarters of their buccaneering expeditions (carried out indifferently against their own Norway and the coasts and isles of Scotland), Harold Hårfagre ("Fair Hair") subdued the rovers in 875 and annexed both Orkney and Shetland to Norway. The martyrdom of Earl Magnus resulted in the building of St Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall. The islands remained under the rule of Norse earls until 1231, when the line of the jarls became extinct. In that year the earldom of Caithness was granted to Magnus, second son of the Earl of Angus, whom the king of Norway apparently confirmed in the title. Recent studies from the field of population genetics reveal a significant percentage of Norse ethnic heritage – up to one third of the Y chromosomes on the islands are derived from western Norwegian sources, as opposed to the Shetlands, where over half the male lineage is Norse.

Some jarls of Orkney:

Ragnvald Eysteinsson, 890
Turf-Einar, 910
Thorfinn Turf-Einarsson, Earl of Orkney, 963

In 1468 Orkney and Shetland were pledged by Christian I of Denmark and Norway for the payment of the dowry of his daughter Margaret, betrothed to James III of Scotland, and as the money was never paid, their connection with the crown of Scotland has been perpetual. In 1471 James bestowed the castle and lands of Ravenscraig, in Fife, on William, Earl of Orkney, in exchange for all his rights to the earldom of Orkney, which, by an Act of the Parliament of Scotland, passed on February 20, 1472, was annexed to the Scottish crown.

In 1564 Lord Robert Stewart, natural son of James V of Scotland, who had visited Kirkwall twenty-four years before, was made sheriff of Orkney and Shetland, and received possession of the estates of the udallers; in 1581 he was created earl of Orkney by James VI of Scotland, the charter being ratified ten years later to his son Patrick, but in 1615 the earldom was again annexed to the crown.

The islands were the rendezvous of Montrose's expedition in 1650 which culminated in his imprisonment and death. During the Protectorate they were visited by a detachment of Cromwell's troops, who initiated the inhabitants into various industrial arts and new methods of agriculture.

In 1707 the islands were granted to the earl of Morton in mortgage, redeemable by the Crown on payment of 30,000 pounds, and subject to an annual feu-duty of 500 pounds; but in 1766 his estates were sold to Sir Lawrence Dundas, ancestor of the Earls of Zetland.

In early times both the archbishop of Hamburg and the archbishop of York disputed with the Norwegians ecclesiastical jurisdiction over the Orkneys and the right of consecrating bishops; but ultimately the Norwegian bishops, the first of whom was William the Old (consecrated in 1102), continued the canonical succession. The see remained vacant from 1580 to 1606, and from 1638 till the Restoration, and, after the accession of William III, the episcopacy was finally abolished (1697), although many of the clergy refused to conform.

The toponymy of the Orkneys is wholly Norse, and the Norse tongue, at last extinguished by the constant influx of settlers from Scotland, lingered until the end of the 18th century. Readers of Scott's Pirate will remember the frank contempt which Magnus Troil expressed for the Scots, and his opinions probably accurately reflected the general Norse feeling on the subject. When the islands were given as security for the princess's dowry, there seems reason to believe that it was intended to redeem the pledge, because it was then stipulated that the Norse system of government and the law of Saint Olaf should continue to be observed in Orkney and Shetland. Thus the udal succession and mode of land tenure (that is, absolute freehold as distinguished from feudal tenure) lingered to some extent, and the remaining udallers held their lands and passed them on without written title. By the mid 1800s Orkney was firmly under the rule of Scotland, with absentee sheriffs holding nominal power. For example Lord Neaves, the esteemed Scottish jurist held the sheriff position on Orkney from 1845 to 1852.

During World War I and World War II, the Royal Navy had a major base at Scapa Flow. The base was closed in 1956.

In the Arthurian legend, Orkney is the home to King Lot, Sir Gareth, Sir Gaheris, Sir Gawaine, and Sir Agravain.

Language

The older Norn was replaced by Lowland Scots which in turn is being replaced by Scottish English. However, Orkney does have its own dialect, referred to by the locals as 'Orcadian'.

Orcadian people

Some well-known Orcadians:

Magnus Erlendsson (Saint Magnus) (c1070 – c1117), Earl of Orkney c1105 – 1117
Rognvald Kali Kolssson (Saint Rognvald) (c1103 – 1158), Earl of Orkney 1136 – 1158
James Atkine (1613 – 1687), bishop first of Moray and afterwards of Galloway
Murdoch McKenzie (died 1797), the hydrographer
Malcolm Laing (1762 – 1818), author of the History of Scotland from the Union of the Crowns to the Union of the Kingdoms
William Sinclair (1766 – 1818), Chief Factor at the Hudsons Bay Company
Mary Brunton (1778 – 1818), author of Self-Control, Discipline and other novels
Samuel Laing (1780 – 1868), author of A Residence in Norway, and translator of the Heimskringla, the Icelandic chronicle of the kings of Norway
Thomas Stewart Traill (1781 – 1862), professor of medical jurisprudence at Edinburgh University and editor of the 8th edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica
Samuel Laing (1812 – 1897), chairman of the London, Brighton. & South Coast railway, and introducer of the system of "parliamentary" trains with fares of one penny a mile
Dr. John Rae (1813 – 1893), an Arctic explorer
Rev. Matthew Armour (1820-1903), Sanday’s radical Free Kirk Minister
William Balfour Baikie (1825 – 1864), traveller in Africa
Walter Traill Dennison (1826 - 1894), Orcadian folklorist
Edwin Muir (1887 – 1959), author and poet
Stanley Cursiter (1887 – 1976), artist
Eric Linklater (1899 – 1974), novelist, playwright, journalist, essayist, and poet
George Mackay Brown (1921 – 1996), poet, author, playwright.
Luke Sutherland, writer of novels Jelly Roll, Sweatmeat and Venus as a Boy

Constituencies

The Orkney Islands are represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom as part of the Orkney and Shetland constituency, which elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

In the Scottish Parliament the Orkney Islands are themselves the Orkney constituency, which elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the first past the post system. Also, the Orkney Islands are within the Highlands and Islands electoral region.

External links

Gourt Home::Gourt :: Orkney Islands