We both have a love of history and as far as Scotland goes, this particular area is very well endowed !
An early wakeup call this morning for a 7am breakfast to ensure we were at the ferry port at nearby Scrabster on time !
It was another yummy breakfast -if you have never had blackpudding or haggis you should try it, but make sure it is fresh/local – the tinned stuff is pretty ordinary. Stornoway Black Pudding is said to be the best however some of the “made by our local butcher” varieties have been excellent !
On the ferry – looking back at our B&B, Pennyland House
The ferry trip to Stromness on Orkney takes about 90 minutes and there weren’t that many cars, campervans and trucks so not many passengers for our trip over. We arrived on time by 10.15am and set off on a pretty tight schedule to be back for check-in time for our 4.45pm return ferry.
Orkney has a wide range of history and we were covering a lot of that range on our list. First was Yesnaby Cliffs which basically overlook the vastness of the North Atlanic Sea. There is some dramatic sea cliff scenery here as well as remnants of old anti- aircraft batteries from WWII.
The spectacular coastline at Yeasnaby
Not far north is Scara Brae – it is a stone-built Neolithic settlement, located on the Bay of Skaill on the west coast. Consisting of eight clustered houses, it was occupied from roughly 3180 BC to about 2500 BC. Europe’s most complete Neolithic village, Skara Brae gained UNESCO World Heritage Site status as one of four sites making up “The Heart of Neolithic Orkney”. Older than Stonehenge and the Great Pyramids, it has been called the “Scottish Pompeii” because of its excellent preservation. It came to light in the winter of 1850 when a severe storm hit the area and literally stripped the earth, revealing it. To think this is 5,000 years old is just amazing !
The incredible site of Skara Brae
In the same location nearby is Skaill House – a manor house dating back to the early 1600’s and still in the family of the Bishop of Orkney who was given the land in 1615. His decendents have been the lairds ever since. As we entered and the guide asked where we were from, he quickly took us into the first room. “All the Australians who visit want to see this” he said, pointing to a large dinner set displayed in the cabinet. It just happens to be the set used by Captain James Cook on his Endeavour voyage – given to the lady of the house as they stopped in the bay in Orkney as they sailed past on their return (minus Cook who had been killed in Hawaii !).
Skaill House
Captain Cook’s dinner set
…and the living room rug – a trophy from India
We made a quick stop at the small Orkney Brewery – I had sampled their “Northern Light” ale at dinner the night before and as it was on the way we decided to have a look. They have quite a range of brews – I sampled another variety “Red MacGregor” on the ferry on the way back to Thurso in the afternoon.
In the north of the island is an Iron Age village called the Broch of Gurness. It is believed to have been used some time between 500 and 200 BC. At the centre of the settlement is a stone tower or broch, which once probably reached a height of around 10 metres. The remains of the central tower are up to 3.5 metres and the stone walls are up to 4 metres thick in some arts.
The Broch of Gurness
The main town on Orkney “mainland” (there are other smaller islands making up the group) is Kirkwall. The town has a massive, soaring, multi-hued sandstone church – St Magnus Cathedral – which is known as the “Light in the North”. It was founded in 1137 by a viking, Earl Rognvald, in honour of his uncle St Magnus. From its beginning, it was added to for over 300 years – much like Sydney’s road system I suppose ! 😂 It is quite an unusual church in that the colour of the stonework is quite red and not the usual lighter colours of stone you generally associate with the stone of castles, cathedrals etc.
St Magnus Cathedral
And the islands do not lack a bit of recent history –
Scarpa Flow is a body of water, sheltered by some of the islands of Orkney. Its sheltered waters have been used by ships since prehistory and it has played an important role in travel, trade and conflict throughout the centuries – especially during both World Wars. The main British naval bases had traditionally been near the English Channel – to counter the traditional rivals. However when Germany started to build its fleet in the early 1900’s, it was decided there needed to be protection of the North Sea. However by WWI, none of the bases had been built and it was decided to use the natural protection as the British Fleet had used the area for exercises. After the war, the German Fleet was interned here pending the outcome of the Treaty of Versailles. However, the German commander decided to take things into his own hands and skuttled the fleet to avoid it ending up in British hands. Although the British managed to beach some, 53 of the 74 ships sunk in these waters.
In WWII, primarily because of its great distance from German airfields, Scapa Flow was again selected as the main British naval base. The strong defences built during World War I had fallen into disrepair. Defence against air attack was inadequate and blockships sunk to stop U-boats from penetrating had largely collapsed. While there were anti-submarine nets in place over the three main entrances, they were made only of single-stranded looped wire; there was also a severe lack of the patrolling destroyers and other anti-submarine craft that had previously been available. Efforts began belatedly to repair peacetime neglect, but were not completed in time to prevent a successful penetration by enemy forces.
Following 2 German attacks early in the war, new blockships were sunk, booms and mines were placed over the main entrances, coast defence and anti-aircraft batteries were installed at crucial points, and Winston Churchill ordered the construction of a series of causeways to block the eastern approaches to Scapa Flow. Today they allow traffic to cross between the islands.
One of the barriers – with a still visible wreck in the channel
Barriers connecting across 3 channels
The “Churchill Barriers” were built by Italian prisoners of war held in Orkney. They also built the Italian Chapel – a small church with an ornate church facade in front of wartime Nissan huts. The interior of the huts are covered in plasterboard however were intricately and meticulously decorated by the prisoners painting mosiacs, tiles etc by hand to resemble the real thing.
The Italian Chapel built by Italian POW’s
All the interior painted by hand to look like tiles etc
Jumping back in time again, our last 2 stops go back thousands of years – the Ring of Brodgar and Standing Stones of Stenness. The Ring of Brodgar is a Neolithic henge thought to be from around 2000 – 2500 BC. There are 27 of the original 60 stones in the circle, surrounded by a ditch.
The Standing Stones of Stenness are thought to date back to 3000 BC – a millennium older than Stonehenge – and thought to be the oldest henge in the British Isles. The area is certainly a Neolithic treasure trove – nearby is another site we didn’t have time to see – Maeshowe – which is a chambered cairn, a type only found on Orkney.
From here we made our way back to Stromness to board our ferry back to Thurso. It was a very interesting and unique day. Dotted amongst these sites spanning thousands of years of historic significance, farming life goes on – the whole area probably more rural than we had really expected. We were very lucky with the weather as can be seen from our photos !
On the way back on the ferry, we passed an impressive series of cliffs on one of the other islands, one notably called the “Old Man of Hoy” – with the low sun in the west reflecting off the cliffs.
It was blowing quite a gale as we stood on the deck trying to take photos ! We decided to have our dinner on the ferry on the way back so we could spend some time packing up as we move on to our last stop in Scotland tomorrow.
Today’s Tour Trivia – Orkney was forcibly annexed by Norway in 875 and re-annexed by the Scottish Parliament in 1472 following the failed payment of a dowry for James III’s bride, Margaret of Denmark.