Orkney - The Rough Guide to Scottish Highlands and Islands - page 327

Orkney
Orkney is a captivating and fiercely independent archipelago made up
of seventy or so mostly low-lying islands, with a population of around
twenty thousand. The locals tend to refer to themselves first as Orcadians,
regarding Scotland as a separate entity, and proudly flying their own flag.
For an Orcadian, the Mainland invariably means the largest island in
Orkney rather than the rest of Scotland, and throughout their distinctive
history the islands have been linked to lands much further afield,
principally Scandinavia.

7

The islands offer excellent coastal walking , abundant birdlife and beautiful white-sand
beaches. It has two chief settlements: Stromness , an attractive old fishing town on
the far southwestern shore, and the capital, Kirkwall , at the dividing point between
East and West Mainland. The Mainland is relatively heavily populated and farmed
throughout, its green fields dotted with sandstone farmhouses. To the southeast, it's
joined by causeways to a string of islands, the largest of which is South Ronaldsay . he
island of Hoy , the second largest in the archipelago, south of Mainland, presents a
superbly dramatic landscape, with some of the highest sea cliffs in the country. Hoy,
however, is atypical: Orkney's smaller, much quieter northern islands are low-lying,
fertile outcrops of rock and sand, scattered across the ocean.

Brief history
Small communities began to settle in the islands by 4000 BC; Skara Brae on the
Mainland is one of the best-preserved Stone Age settlements in Europe. Elsewhere
the islands are scattered with chambered tombs and stone circles, proof of the
well-developed religious and ceremonial practices taking place here from around
2000 BC. More sophisticated Iron Age inhabitants built fortified villages
incorporating stone towers known as brochs, the finest of which is the Broch of
Gurness . Later, Pictish culture spread to Orkney and the remains of several early
Christian settlements can be seen, the best at the Brough of Birsay . Around the
ninth century, settlers from Scandinavia arrived and the islands became Norse
earldoms, forming outposts of a powerful, expansive culture. The last of the Norse
earls was killed in 1231, but their lasting legacy was not only their language but also
Kirkwall's great medieval St Magnus Cathedral .

Sea trading and whaling
After Norse rule, the islands became the preserve of Scottish earls , who exploited and
abused the islanders, although a steady increase in sea trade did offer some chance
of escape. French and Spanish ships sheltered here in the sixteenth century, and the
ships of the Hudson's Bay Company recruited hundreds of Orcadians to work in the
Canadian fur trade. The islands were also an important staging-post in the whaling
industry and the herring boom, which drew great numbers of Dutch, French and
Scottish boats. The choice of Scapa Flow , Orkney's natural harbour, as the Royal Navy's

Orkney festivals p.333
Kitchener Memorial p.340
Scapa Flow p.345

The Churchill Barriers p.347
North Ronaldsay sheep p.367