Orkney - The Rough Guide to Scottish Highlands and Islands - page 350

The Longhope Lifeboat capsized in strong gale-force winds in 1969 on its way to
the aid of a Liberian freighter. The entire eight-man crew died, leaving seven widows
and ten fatherless children; the crew of the freighter, by contrast, survived. There's a
moving memorial to the men - six of whom came from just two families - in Kirkhope
churchyard on the road to Cantick Head Lighthouse.

Hackness Martello Tower
April-Oct daily 9.30am-5.30pm • £4.50; HS • T 01856 701727
Longhope's strategic importance during the Napoleonic Wars is evident at the Point of
Hackness, where the Hackness Martello Tower stands guard over the entrance to the
bay, with a matching tower on the opposite promontory of Crockness. Built in 1815,
these two circular, sandstone Martello towers are the northernmost in Britain, and
protected merchant ships from American and French privateers. You enter Hackness
Tower via a steep ladder connected to the upper floor, where nine men and one officer
shared the circular room. The walls are up to 9ft high on the seaward side, and the
tower even had its own water supply.
ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE LONGHOPE
By ferry The car ferry from Houton on the Mainland to Lyness begins and ends its daily schedule at Longhope.

7

ACCOMMODATION
Stromabank Hotel T 01856 701494, W stromabank
.co.uk. This small, unpretentious hotel is housed in an old
schoolhouse on the hill above Longhope, with views over

the Pentland Firth . Bar food available in the evening
(closed Thurs). £64

Shapinsay
Just a few miles northeast of Kirkwall, Shapinsay is the most accessible of Orkney's
northern isles. A gently undulating grid-plan patchwork of rich farmland, it's a bit like
an island suburb of Kirkwall, which is clearly visible across the bay.

Balfour
The only village on Shapinsay is BALFOUR , named after the family who owned the local
castle and the island, reformed the island's agricultural system and rebuilt the village
- previously known as Shoreside - as a neat and disciplined cottage development, to
house their estate workers. The family's grandiose efforts in estate management have
left some appealingly eccentric relics around the village. Melodramatic fortifications
around the harbour include the huge and ornate gatehouse , which now serves as the
local pub. There's also a stone-built coal-fired gasometer , which once supplied castle
and harbour with electricity and, southwest of the pier, the castellated Douche or
Dishan Tower, a seventeenth-century doocot, converted into a saltwater toilet and
shower in Victorian times.

Balfour Castle
Guided tour and tea Sun afternoons in Aug • £22 • T 01856 711282
Shapinsay's chief landmark is Balfour Castle , an imposing baronial pile visible as you
approach on the ferry and a short walk from the village. Designed by David Bryce,
it was completed in 1848 by the Balfour family of Westray, who had made a small
fortune in India the previous century. The Balfours died out in 1960 and nowadays the
castle is an exclusive-use holiday retreat, but open for guided tours and afternoon teas
on Sundays in August.