There are 70 islands in the Scottish archipelago of Orkney with the main inhabited islands described south to north as: South Ronaldsay, Hoy, Flotta, Burray, Mainland, Shapinsay, Stronsay, Wyre, Egilsay, Rousay, Eday, Sanday, Westray, Papa Westray (aka Papay) and North Ronaldsay. They lie 10 miles off the north east coast of Scotland, separated by the Pentland Firth, and sit on a shallow sea-shelf 53 miles long and 23 miles wide. Most islands are low-lying mirages on the horizon, though Hoy rises to a height of 479m and has tremendous cliffs on its north west flank, including the famous Old Man of Hoy sea stack. 20,000 people now live on the various Orkney Islands with Mainland housing the bulk of the population and the two largest towns of Kirkwall and Stromness.
Orkney History
The Orkney archipelago has been occupied for around 9 millenia and the big skies and empty spaces belie a deep and intricate human history. Hunter gatherers first arrived after the Ice Age retreat in around 7000 BCE and society gradually moved through the millenia and ages, from the Mesolithic to the Neolithic to the Bronze and Iron Ages, into the Christian influence around the 580 CE. The islands were invaded and colonised by the Vikings from 780 onwards - they established a kingdom of 'Earls' who ruled the islands on behalf of Norway until 1231 when Earl Jon Haraldsson was murdered, the last of the Norse line. The Scottish noblemen of Angus took over as the Earls of Orkney, though allegiance was still sworn to Norway. Christianity found its greatest Orkney hero in the martyrdom of St. Magnus, who was murdered by his cousin Hakon in 1117. A cathedral in his honour was built in 1137, sited in the islands' capital of Kirkwall. The Islands eventually defaulted to the Scottish Crown in 1472.
Modern Orkney
Kirkwall – originally called Kirkvoe from the Norse for 'Church Bay' – is now the administrative hub and main transport hub for ferries and flights from the Scottish mainland. Stromness is also an important island transport harbour and fishing port with a strong historical connection to the whaling industry and the polar expeditions to the North West passage undertaken by John Rae. Modern Orkney is today a busy Scottish oil hub as well as a tourist mecca - especially for divers seeking the sunken wrecks of the German WW1 Fleet at Scapa Flow. However, it is best known for its atmospheric prehistoric sites nurturing our earliest civilizations.
Ancient Orkney
Any visitor to Orkney goes through a time warp and emerges on the islands amongst the very houses and temples of our ancestors: Knap of Howar, Maes Howe, Brodgar, Stenness, Skara Brae, Broch of Gurness, the Tomb of the Eagles, Mid Howe. It is a recitation of our first places, where our earliest pre-Celtic ancestors walked the sunkissed turf and beaches, or stooped to finger the delicate purple flower of the Scottish Primrose. Indeed, it is one of the ancient wonders of the world to stand in the chamber of Maes Howe at the winter solstice and see the sunrise light up the remarkable architecture of a 5000 year old civilization's burial chamber.
The Orkney archipelago is the Neolithic heartland of Europe, where even today exciting new discoveries are being unearthed from the veil of thin topsoil - archaeologists are yearly revealing a lost world of sophisticated Stone Age life and what appears to be a Neolithic 'centre of power' recently discovered between the iconic stone circles of Stenness and Brodgar. It is becoming apparent that Orkney and its fifteen inhabited islands was once as thriving, populous and sophisticated as the contemporary Egyptian civilization of the Great Pyramids.
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