Transcriber’s Note
Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
Text enclosed by equal signs is in bold face (=bold=).
Changes that have been made are listed at the end of the book.
[Illustration: PHYSICAL MAP OF SHETLAND]
[Illustration: PHYSICAL MAP OF ORKNEY]
Parishes in Shetland:
1 _Unst_
2 _Fetlar_
3 _Yell_
4 _Northmavine_
5 _Delting_
6 _Walls_
7 _Sandsting_
8 _Nesting_
9 _Tingwall_
10 _Lerwick_
11 _Bressay_
12 _Dunrossness_
Parishes in Orkney:
1 _Papa Westray_
1b. _Westray & Papa Westray_
2 _Cross & Burness_
3 _Lady_
4 _Stronsay_
5 _Rowsay & Egilshay_
6 _Evie & Rendall_
7 _Harray & Birsay_
8 _Sandwick_
9 _Stromness_
10 _Firth_
11 _Orphir_
12 _Kirkwall & St. Ola_
13 _Shapinshay_
14 _Deerness & St. Andrews_
15 _Holm_
16 _Hoy & Graemsay_
17 _Walls & Flotta_
18 _South Ronaldshay_
19 _Stenness_
20 _Eday & Pharay_
_The Cambridge University Press_ _Copyright. George Philip & Son
L{td.}_
Cambridge County Geographies Scotland
General Editor: W. Murison, M.A.
ORKNEY AND SHETLAND
Cambridge University Press
London: Fetter Lane, E.C.4
C. F. Clay, Manager
[Illustration]
Bombay, Calcutta and Madras: Macmillan and Co., Ltd.
Toronto: J. M. Dent & Sons, Ltd.
Tokyo: Maruzen-Kabushiki-Kaisha
Cambridge County Geographies
ORKNEY AND SHETLAND
by
J. G. F. MOODIE HEDDLE
and
T. MAINLAND, F.E.I.S.
Headmaster, Bressay Public School
With Maps, Diagrams, and Illustrations
Cambridge
At the University Press
1920
Printed in Great Britain
by Turnbull & Spears, Edinburgh
CONTENTS
ORKNEY
PAGE
1. County and Shire 1
2. General Characteristics and Natural Conditions 2
3. Size. Situation. Boundaries 5
4. Streams and Lakes 8
5. Geology and Soil 10
6. Natural History 14
7. The Coast 26
8. Weather and Climate 30
9. The People—Race, Language, Population 35
10. Agriculture 37
11. Industries and Manufactures 39
12. Fisheries and Fishing Station 41
13. History of the County 43
14. Antiquities 59
15. Architecture—(_a_) Ecclesiastical 68
16. Architecture—(_b_) Castellated 74
17. Architecture—(_c_) Municipal and Domestic 79
18. Communications, Past and Present 83
19. Administration and Divisions 85
20. The Roll of Honour 86
21. The Chief Towns and Villages of Orkney 96
ILLUSTRATIONS
ORKNEY
PAGE
Rackwick, Hoy 3
The Home Fleet in Scapa Flow 7
Loch of Kirbuster, in Orphir 9
Berry Head, Hoy 12
The Great Auk 18
Crannie in which last Great Auk lived 19
The Old Man of Hoy 27
Old Melsetter House, in Walls 32
Harvesting at Stenness 38
Orkney Yawl Boats 40
Kirkwall 46
St Magnus’s Cathedral, Kirkwall, from South-East 51
Tankerness House and St Magnus’s Cathedral 54
Ground Plan of Broch of Lingrow, near Kirkwall 60
Stone Circle of Stenness 62
Maeshowe, Section and Ground Plan 63
Incised Dragon, from Maeshowe 66
Norse Brooch, found in Sandwick 67
Silver Ornaments, found in Sandwick 67
St Magnus’s Cathedral, view from N. Transept
looking towards Choir 69
St Magnus’s Church, Egilsay 71
Ground Plan of St Magnus’s Cathedral, Kirkwall 72
Apse of ancient Round Church, in Orphir 73
Noltland Castle, Westray (15th century) 75
The Staircase, Noltland Castle 76
The Earl’s Palace at Kirkwall (_c._ A.D. 1600) 78
Town Hall, Kirkwall 80
Balfour Castle, Shapinsay 81
Tankerness House, Kirkwall 82
John Rae 88
David Vedder 89
Sir Robert Strange, the Engraver 92
Malcolm Laing 94
Stromness, Orkney, about the year 1825 97
MAPS
Orographical Maps of Orkney and Shetland _Front Cover_
Geological Maps of Orkney and Shetland _Back Cover_
The illustrations on pp. 3, 7, 9, 12, 27, 38, 46, 54, 62, 80, 81 are
reproduced from photographs by Mr T. Kent, Kirkwall; that on p. 32
from a photograph by the Author; that on p. 40 by permission of Messrs
J. Spence & Son, St Margaret’s Hope; those on pp. 60 and 72 are from
Tudor’s _Orkney and Shetland_, by permission of Edward Stanford,
Ltd., that on p. 69 by kind permission of Messrs William Peace & Son,
Kirkwall; that on p. 71 from a photograph by Valentine & Sons, Ltd.,
that on p. 82 by kind permission of Dr Thomas Ross; and that on p. 88
by arrangement with Elliott & Fry, Ltd.
CONTENTS
SHETLAND
PAGE
1. County and Shire. Name and Administration
of Shetland 103
2. General Characteristics 104
3. Size. Position. Boundaries 106
4. Surface and General Features 107
5. Geology and Soil 109
6. Natural History 111
7. Round the Coast—(_a_) Along the East from
Fair Isle to Unst 116
8. Round the Coast—(_b_) Along the West from
Fethaland to Fitful Head 124
9. Climate 127
10. People—Race, Language, Population 133
11. Agriculture and other Industries 134
12. Fishing 139
13. Shipping and Trade 143
14. History 145
15. Antiquities 147
16. Architecture 153
17. Communications 156
18. Roll of Honour 157
19. The Chief Towns and Villages of Shetland 161
ILLUSTRATIONS
SHETLAND
PAGE
Crofter’s Cottage 104
Kittiwakes. Noss Isle 112
Shag on Nest. Noss Isle 113
Sumburgh Head and Lighthouse 117
Bressay Lighthouse and Foghorn 118
Cliff Scenery, Noss. Bressay 119
Mavis Grind, looking south 121
Muckle Flugga Lighthouse 123
The Kame, Foula 126
Wind Roses, showing the prevailing winds at
Sumburgh Head 129
Graph showing average Rainfall and Temperature 130
Sunrise at Midsummer, 2.30 a.m. 132
Single-Stilted Shetland Plough 136
Carding and Spinning 137
“Leading” Home the Peats 138
Dutch Fishing Fleet in Lerwick Harbour 140
Steam Drifters and Fish Market, Lerwick 141
Shoal of Whales 143
A Busy Day at Victoria Pier, Lerwick 144
Broch of Mousa 147
Ground Plan, Broch of Mousa 148
Sectional Elevation, Broch of Mousa 149
Gold Armlet (Norse) from Isle of Oxna 150
Bressay Stone. Obverse and Reverse 151
Sandstone Slab with Ogham Inscription from
Cunningsburgh 151
Lunnasting Stone 152
Burra Stone 152
Scalloway Castle 153
Muness Castle, Unst 154
Town Hall, Lerwick (Midnight, June) 155
Arthur Anderson 158
Anderson Institute, Lerwick 159
Lerwick, North and South 162
Scalloway 163
Diagrams 164
The illustrations on pp. 104, 112, 113, 118, 119, 162, are from
photographs by Mr J. D. Ratter, Lerwick; those on pp. 117, 121, 123,
126, 132, 138, 140, 141, 143, 144, 147, 153, 154, 155, 159, 163, by
Mr R. H. Ramsay, Lerwick; that on p. 137 by Valentine & Sons, Ltd.,
those on pp. 148, 149, 152, are from Tudor’s _Orkney and Shetland_ by
permission of Edward Stanford, Ltd., and that on p. 158 by permission
of Mr J. Nicolson of Glenmount, Lerwick.
ORKNEY
By J. G. F. MOODIE HEDDLE
PREFACE
I WISH to thank Captain Malcolm Laing of Crook for the photograph from
Sir Henry Raeburn’s portrait of Malcolm Laing, the historian; Andrew
Wylie, Esquire, Provost of Stromness, for the portraits of Dr Rae
and David Vedder; and J. A. Harvie-Brown, Esquire, Dunipace House,
Stirlingshire, for the photograph of the Great Auk’s resting-place.
J. G. F. M. H.
ORKNEY
1. County and Shire
The word _shire_ is of Old English origin, and meant charge,
administration. The Norman Conquest introduced an alternative
designation, the word _county_—through Old French from Latin
_comitatus_, which in mediaeval documents stands for shire. _County_
denotes the district under a count, the king’s _comes_, the equivalent
of the older English term _earl_. This system of local administration
entered Scotland as part of the Anglo-Norman influence that strongly
affected our country after 1100.
The exceptional character of the historical nexus between the Orkney
Islands and Scotland, makes it somewhat difficult to fix definitely
the date at which Orkney can be fairly said to have first constituted
a Scottish county. For a period of about one hundred and fifty years
after the conditional and, to all intent, temporary cession of the
Islands to Scotland in the year 1468, Scottish and Norse law overlapped
each other to a large extent in Orkney. And although during that period
the Scottish Crown both invested earls, and appointed sheriffs of
Orkney, yet so long as Norse law subsisted in the Islands, as it did
largely in practice and absolutely in theory until the year 1612, it
is hardly possible to consider Orkney a Scottish county. The relation
of the Islands towards Scotland during this confused period of fiscal
evolution bears more resemblance to that of the Isle of Man towards
England at the present day. When, however, in the year 1612 an Act of
the Scottish Privy Council applied the general law of Scotland to the
Islands, although the proceeding was in defiance of the conditions of
their cession, Orkney may be held to have at last entered into the full
comity of Scottish civil life, and may thenceforth, without impropriety
or cavil, be considered and spoken of as the County or Shire of Orkney.
The Latin name _Orcades_ implies the islands adjacent to Cape Orcas,
a promontory first mentioned by Diodorus Siculus about 57 B.C. as one
of the northern extremities of Britain, and commonly held to be Dunnet
Head.
The Norse name was _Orkneyar_, of which our _Orkney_ is a curtailment.
The name _orc_ appears to have been applied by both Celtic and Teutonic
races to some half-mythical sea-monster, which according to Ariosto, in
_Orlando Furioso_, devoured men and women; but the suggested connection
between this animal and the name of the county appears a little
far-fetched, although the large number of whales in the surrounding
waters is quoted to support it.
2. General Characteristics and Natural Conditions
[Illustration: Rackwick, Hoy]
Orkney occupies the somewhat anomalous position of being a wholly
insular shire whose economic interests are overwhelmingly
agricultural. Most of the islands are flat or low; and in several, such
as Shapinsay, Stronsay, Sanday, and South Ronaldshay, the proportion
of cultivated land exceeds 70 per cent. of their total areas. In the
Mainland, however, there are large stretches of hill and moorland,
while in Hoy and Walls the natural conditions of by far the greater
portion of the island closely approximate to those of the Scottish
Highlands. Rousay is the only other island which is to a large extent
hilly; but Westray and Eday have some hills, and Burray, Flotta, and
several other islands considerable stretches of low-lying moor. The
general rise of the land is from N.E. to S.W. A height of 334 feet is
attained at the Ward Hill at the south end of Eday, 880 feet at the
Ward Hill of Orphir, in the S.W. of the Mainland, 1420 at Cuilags, 1564
at Ward Hill, and 1309 at Knap of Trowieglen, the three highest points
in Hoy and in the whole group. Exceptionally fine views are obtained
from Wideford Hill (741 feet), near Kirkwall, and from the Ward Hill in
Hoy, the varied panoramas of islands, sounds, and lakes perhaps gaining
in grace of outline more than they lose in richness of detail from the
woodless character of the country.
Taken in detail, and viewed from the low ground, however, the general
aspect of much of the country is bleak, and only redeemed from
baldness by the widely-spread evidence of a vigorous cultivation. Yet
for reasons of a somewhat complex texture, involving meteorological
conditions, historical and archaeological considerations, and a touch
of all-round individuality, the Islands rarely fail to cast a spell
upon the visitor. One might quote many distinguished writers to vouch
for this fact, but an Orcadian poet has depicted the telling features
of his native land, both physical and psychic, with unerring accuracy
and skill.
Land of the whirlpool, torrent, foam,
Where oceans meet in maddening shock;
The beetling cliff, the shelving holm,
The dark, insidious rock;
Land of the bleak, the treeless moor,
The sterile mountain, seared and riven;
The shapeless cairn, the ruined tower,
Scathed by the bolts of heaven;
The yawning gulf, the treacherous sand;
I love thee still, my native land!
Land of the dark, the Runic rhyme,
The mystic ring, the cavern hoar,
The Scandinavian seer, sublime
In legendary lore;
Land of a thousand sea-kings’ graves—
Those tameless spirits of the past,
Fierce as their subject Arctic waves,
Or hyperborean blast;
Though polar billows round thee foam,
I love thee!—thou wert once my home.
With glowing heart and island lyre,
Ah! would some native bard arise
To sing, with all a poet’s fire,
Thy stern sublimities—
The roaring flood, the rushing stream,
The promontory wild and bare,
The pyramid where sea-birds scream
Aloft in middle air,
The Druid temple on the heath,
Old even beyond tradition’s breath.
If we allow a little for the softer side of the picture, a side perhaps
best typified by the fine old buildings of the little island capital,
and the spell of the lightful midsummer night, which is no night, the
lines of Vedder form a fair compendium of the natural conditions and
general characteristics of the Islands to-day, although much of the
“bleak and treeless moor” of the poet’s youth has long since been
converted into smiling fields of corn.
3. Size. Situation. Boundaries
The Orkney Islands extend between the parallels 58° 41´ and 59° 24´ of
north latitude, and 2° 22´ and 3° 26´ of west longitude. They measure
56 miles from north-east to south-west, and 29 miles from east to west,
and cover 240,476 acres or 375.5 square miles, exclusive of fresh water
lochs. The group is bounded by the North Sea and the Pentland Firth
on the south, the Atlantic on the west, Sumburgh Roost on the north,
and the North Sea on the east. Our measurements take no account of the
distant Sule Skerry, an islet of 35 acres lying 32½ miles north-west
of Hoy Head, and inhabited only by lightkeepers and innumerable birds.
The archipelago is naturally divided into three sections: the Mainland
in the centre, the South Isles including all islands to the south, and
the North Isles all to the north, of the Mainland. The Mainland—the
Norse _Meginland_, or _Hrossey_, _i.e._ Horse Island—covers 190 square
miles, and is 25 miles long from north-west to south-east, and 15 miles
broad from east to west. It is divided into two unequal portions, the
East Mainland and the West Mainland, by an isthmus less than two miles
across, which connects Kirkwall Bay on its north sea-board with Scapa
Flow, a large and picturesque inland sea, now well known as a naval
base, which lies between its south coasts and the encircling South
Isles. The name Pomona, stamped on the Mainland by George Buchanan’s
misapprehension of a Latin text, is never applied to the island by
Orcadians; and here be it also said that Hoy and Walls, the largest of
the South Isles and the second in size of the whole group (13½ miles
long by about 5½ miles broad, and covering 36,674 acres), although one
island geographically, is colloquially two. The principal of the other
South Isles are South Ronaldshay, 13,080 acres; Burray, 2682 acres;
Flotta, 2661 acres; Graemsay, 1151 acres; and Fara, 840 acres. Scapa
Flow is connected with the Pentland Firth to the south by Hoxa Sound,
with the Atlantic to the west by Hoy Sound, and with the North Sea to
the east by Holm Sound. The largest of the North Isles are Sanday,
16,498 acres; Westray, 13,096 acres; Rousay, 11,937 acres; Stronsay,
9839 acres; Eday, 7371 acres; Shapinsay, 7171 acres; Papa Westray,
2403 acres; North Ronaldshay, 2386 acres; and Egilsay, 1636 acres.
This section of the archipelago is itself divided into two portions
by the waterway formed by the Stronsay and Westray Firths, which
runs from south-east to north-west through the islands, and offers
an alternative to the Pentland Firth or Sumburgh Roost passages for
vessels passing between the North Sea and the Atlantic.
[Illustration: The Home Fleet in Scapa Flow]
The whole archipelago includes some 67 islands, besides a score or
more of islets, but only 30 are inhabited, and four or five of these
are occupied solely by lighthouse attendants and their families. Small
uninhabited islands, many of which are used as pasturage, are known as
“holms.” The largest uninhabited island is the Calf of Eday, of 590
acres, but some 10 of the inhabited islands are of less area than this.
4. Streams and Lakes
The streams of Orkney are, of course, mere burns of a few miles in
length, draining the high ground, and save for the cheap motive power
which they offer to farmers and millers, of interest only to anglers.
Nowhere in Orkney are trees so much missed as along the burnsides, and
for that reason the Burn of Berriedale, a branch of the larger Rackwick
Burn, in Hoy, whose steep banks are covered with poplar, birch, hazel,
and mountain ash, is a sort of Mecca to the aesthetic Orcadian. The
broad estuary of the Loch of Stenness, which disembogues into the Bay
of Ireland, though of trifling length, is the nearest approach to a
river that the Islands can present. It is known as the _Bush_.
[Illustration: Loch of Kirbuster, in Orphir]
From a spectacular point of view the many lakes of Orkney go far to
compensate the county for the absence of rivers. So many are they
that it is hardly possible to get out of sight of salt or fresh water
in the Islands. The great twin lochs of Harray and Stenness, at once
joined and separated by the Bridge of Brogar, give a strong dash of
picturesqueness to the whole central part of the West Mainland; and
still more beautiful are the secluded and hill-surrounded Heldale Water
and Hoglinns Water in Walls. Other lochs are Boardhouse, Swannay,
Hundland, Isbister, Skaill, Banks, Sabiston, Clumly and Bosquoy in the
West Mainland; Kirbuster in Orphir, Tankerness in the East Mainland;
Muckle Water, Peerie (_i.e._ little) Water, and Wasbister in Rousay;
St Tredwell Loch in Papa Westray; Saintear and Swartmill in Westray;
Muckle Water in Stronsay; and Bea, Longmay, and North Loch in Sanday.
The total area of Orkney lakes is about 20,000 acres. In most of them
fishing is free, in others permission to fish is readily obtainable.
The Loch Stenness trout is, according to Gunther, a distinct species,
but this is a vexed question among the learned in such matters. Heldale
Water contains Norwegian char in addition to trout.
5. Geology and Soil
The geological formation of the Orkney Islands is, in its main
features, of a very simple nature. If we except a comparatively small
strip of land running northwestward from Stromness to Inganess in the
West Mainland, and a still smaller patch in the neighbouring island
of Graemsay, practically the whole county is underlain by the Old Red
Sandstone formation. The two small areas above-mentioned—practically
one, save for the intervening sea—are occupied by older crystalline
rocks, consisting of fine-grained granite, and micaceous schist at
times running into foliated granite, the whole traversed by veins of
pink felsite. These formations are flanked on either side by a narrow
band of conglomerate of the Middle Old Red Sandstone period, composed
of the rounded pebbles of the underlying schist and granite. Of the
Old Red Sandstone two divisions are found in the Islands—the Middle or
Orcadian, and the Upper Old Red Sandstone. There are also in various
parts but especially in Hoy and Deerness, local outcrops of volcanic
material. Orkney thus constitutes practically a continuation of the
north-eastern Highlands of Scotland, and, as in Caithness, flagstone is
by far the most widely distributed rock.
The Orcadian or Middle Old Red Sandstone is known to be a fresh water
deposit, laid down by a large system of lakes which once extended
over the north-eastern Highlands as far south as Inverness and Banff,
and the same species of fossil fishes are found in the grey and black
flagstones near Stromness as in the red sandstones on the south
coasts of the Moray Firth. Leaving out of account the small area of
crystalline rocks near Stromness, which are of age long anterior to
any of the Old Red Sandstone deposits, the West Mainland parishes
of Stromness, Sandwick, and Birsay contain the oldest rocks within
the county, the Stromness flagstones with the fishes embedded in
them being coeval with the Achanarras beds of Caithness. Next in
point of age, come the flagstones of the East Mainland and the North
Isles, corresponding in date and fossil remains to what are known to
geologists as the Thurso Beds of Caithness. Following these in order
of antiquity come the yellow and red sandstones and the dark red
clays or marls which occur in the northern part of South Ronaldshay,
and in Deerness, Shapinsay, and Eday. These are known as the John O’
Groats Beds, from their occurrence in that part of Caithness also,
where indeed they were first exhaustively investigated. These three
members of the Middle or Orcadian Old Red Sandstone are supposed to
have a combined thickness of not less than 7000 feet, though this
pile of sediment represents only the upper half of the formation, the
lower beds of Caithness apparently not being represented north of the
Pentland Firth.
[Illustration: Berry Head, Hoy]
After the Middle Old Red Sandstone had stood for many ages as dry land,
the eroding action of the atmosphere, rain, and streams gradually
eliminated all inequalities and produced a nearly level surface, upon
which by degrees a new lake was formed, occupying a large part of
Orkney and Caithness. In this lake sand accumulated, which now forms
the highest hills of Orkney. The yellow sandstones of the Hoy and
Walls hills are deposits of this lake, and belong to the Upper Old
Red Sandstone, which is not represented in the other islands of the
archipelago, but reappears at Dunnet Head on the south side of the
Pentland Firth.
Flagstone is a material that yields readily to the influence of the
weather, and the subsoil formed is a rubble consisting of loose
fragments of rock embedded in a brown clay formed by the softer
and more weathered portion of the underlying rock. This gives a
well-drained soil, and as the flagstones always contain lime, potash,
and phosphates, and are frequently mixed with sand, the resultant soil
may be generally described as a clayey loam of moderate fertility. Soil
of this character covers a large part of the flagstone formation of
Orkney, especially where the land is of moderate elevation, and surface
accumulations of boulder-clay, or alluvium are at a minimum. At higher
elevations on the other hand the character of the flagstone soils is
frequently modified by the presence of peat. The soils of the sandstone
formation, which occur in parts of South Ronaldshay and Hoy, and to a
larger extent in Burray and Eday, are of inferior fertility, partly on
account of their more porous nature. In Burray and Eday a large portion
of the sandstone districts are in consequence left uncultivated, and
utilised only as rough pasture. The same is true of the soils of the
Upper Old Red Sandstone formation, which covers by far the larger
portion of the parishes of Hoy and Walls, but most of this land is, in
any case, above the altitude to which cultivation is usually carried in
Orkney.
Of “drifts,” or loose surface deposits, the boulder-clay is the only
one that materially affects the agricultural quality of the soils of
the Islands as a whole. The boulder-clay of Orkney, which on account
of the particular direction—northwestwards over the Islands from the
North Sea—taken by the ice at the period when the archipelago was
subjected to glaciation, contains a considerable additional quantity
of lime in the form of shells scraped up from the bed of the ocean,
overlies the rock formations in the lower grounds over a large portion
of the county. This deposit, which varies in thickness from less than a
foot up to forty feet or more, has been calculated to occupy at least
one-third of the area of the Islands, and it provides the most fertile
soil that the county contains, particularly where the land has been
improved by long cultivation and artificial drainage.
6. Natural History
The outstanding features of Orcadian zoology are naturally the very
restricted number of land mammals as compared with that of the
neighbouring mainland of Scotland, the relatively large number of
cetaceans in the surrounding waters, and, above all, the richness
of the avifauna, particularly in sea-birds, and autumn and winter
visitants from more northerly climes.
Although the bones and antlers of the red deer have been found among
the matter excavated from the sites of brochs and Picts’ houses,
and their shed horns at times turn up among the peat-mosses of the
Mainland, that king of British Cervidæ was unknown to Orkney during
historic times until about the year 1860, when two young hinds and a
young stag were introduced into Walls. There they throve perfectly, and
had increased to thirteen or fourteen by 1870-72, when the proprietor
of the island found it necessary to kill them off, on account of the
damage which they were doing to crops. Tusks of the wild boar have been
found at Skaill in the West Mainland, but the wolf, fox, badger, and in
fact practically all of the larger land mammals known to Britain during
historic times, or still found there to-day, have been totally unknown
in Orkney during the same period. The otter is a notable exception,
as it is very abundant in most of the islands, the great extent of
sea-board giving it special facilities for concealment and avoidance of
capture. An Orcadian proprietor who died a few years ago has recorded
that in his young days he often had as many as thirty otter skins in
his possession at one time.
The common hare appears to have been introduced into Orkney by a Mr
Moodie of Melsetter, early in the eighteenth century, but both that
attempt at acclimatisation and one by Malcolm Laing, the historian, in
1818, proved comparative failures. Better success, however, attended
the efforts of Mr Samuel Laing and Mr Baikie of Tankerness about 1830,
and at the present day, hares are found in the Mainland, Rousay, Eday,
Shapinsay, Hoy, and South Ronaldshay. The white hare occurred in Hoy
at an early date, as recorded by Jo Ben, a resident in Orkney, in his
_Descriptio Insularum Orchadiarum_, in 1529:—“Albi lepores hic sunt, et
capiuntur canibus.” It died out, however, and has only recently been
reintroduced. The rabbit is common throughout the Islands. Of other
and less desirable rodents, the black rat was once general in South
Ronaldshay, and probably still occurs there. The brown rats, common
in most parts of Orkney, have been known at times to forsake certain
islands altogether, taking to the sea in a body in search of a new
home. The field mouse, and the house mouse are universal. The common
field vole is plentiful in most of the islands, and there is a doubtful
record of the water vole from Hoy. _Microtus orcadensis_, or the Orkney
vole discovered in 1904, is a highly interesting species peculiar to
Orkney and certain parts of Shetland. The common shrew has been found
in Walls and Orphir, and the water shrew in Walls. Bats are rare in
Orkney, but occurrences of _vesperugo pipistrellus_ have been recorded
from Walls, Sanday, and Kirkwall, of _vespertilio murinus_ from Walls;
while there is an interesting but doubtful record of a specimen of
_vesperugo noctula_ having been captured in South Ronaldshay.
Appearances of the walrus in Orkney waters have been recorded from
Eday, Hoy Sound, and Walls at various dates from 1825 to 1864; and
Orkney seals include _phoca vitulina_, which breeds on several islands
and skerries, _phoca groenlandica_, and the grey seal. The occurrence
of the hooded seal is doubtful. Among Cetacea, the Greenland and sperm
whales are rare visitors, the hump-backed whale, still rarer; but the
common rorquall, Sibbald’s rorquall, the lesser rorquall, the beaked
whale, the grampus, the common porpoise, and the white-sided dolphin
are all fairly common. The bottlenose is, however, _the_ Orkney whale,
occurring at times in schools of 500 in number. The bottlenosed dolphin
and the white-beaked dolphin are also on record.
The ornithology of Orkney comprises about 235 species, and owing to the
special physical characteristics of the Islands bird-life forms a more
conspicuous feature of landscape and sea than it does perhaps anywhere
else in the British Islands. In a district where travel is more usual
on sea than on land, and where the lakes, the fields, the hills, and
the moors are unshrouded by woods, not only are aquatic birds a more
constant object of the view than in districts otherwise conditioned,
but the commoner land birds also are more frequently and readily
observed.
[Illustration: The Great Auk
(_Alea Impennis_)]
[Illustration: Crannie in which last Great Auk lived]
Of the Falconidæ 17 species have been killed or observed in the
Islands, being practically all of this family known to Britain, except
the orange-legged falcon and the bee hawk. The golden eagle and the
white-tailed eagle, however, both of which formerly bred in Hoy, are
now only occasional visitants. The peregrine falcon is still fairly
common, and in old days the King’s falconer procured them from the
Islands for sporting purposes. Of the Strigidæ, the long-eared owl,
the short-eared owl, the snowy owl, the tawny owl, Tengmalm’s owl, and
the eagle owl have all been observed; but recorded occurrences of the
barn owl and the little owl are of doubtful authenticity. Of the order
Anseres, of which some 32 species have been observed in the Islands,
the rarest locally are perhaps the greylag goose, the pink-footed
goose, the Canada goose, the gadwall, the shoveller, the Garganey teal,
the king eider, the harlequin duck, the common scoter, the surf scoter,
Bewick’s swan, and the goosander. The common eider duck is plentiful.
Regular winter visitants, but not unknown at other seasons, are the
long-tailed duck, the velvet scoter, and the smew. Other visitants
are the bernacle goose, the brent goose, the white-fronted goose, and
the hooper, the last two in particular being common frequenters of
the larger lochs, such as Stenness, Harray, and Boardhouse at this
season. Of some 18 species of the Laridæ found in Orkney, the rarest
are perhaps the Iceland gull, the glaucous gull, the common skua, the
pomatorhine skua, and Richardson’s skua, the last-named, however,
breeding in Walls. Of the Colymbidæ, the red-throated diver breeds in
Walls, while the black-throated and great northern divers are winter
visitants, both suspected to have occasionally stayed to breed. Of the
Alcidae, the razor-bill, common guillemot, black guillemot, puffin, and
little auk are usual. In the crevice of a cliff in Papa Westray lived
the last Orkney great auk, _alca impennis_, shot in 1813, and now in
the Natural History Museum, South Kensington, an interesting specimen
of a bird probably now everywhere extinct. Of the Scolopacidae about
22 species are on record. Yarrell is perhaps in error when he mentions
the avocet as having been found in the Islands, but the red-necked
phalarope was first recorded as a British species from Stronsay in
1769. The gray phalarope is rare. The woodcock comes in winter, and
has bred in Rousay. The common snipe is plentiful, and the jack snipe
and double snipe come in autumn. The little stint, purple sandpiper,
sanderling, knot, ruff, bartailed godwit, black-tailed godwit, spotted
redshank, and the greenshank are all found, but some of these are rare.
Of the Charadriidae, the golden, grey, and ringed plovers, the lapwing,
dotterel, and turnstone are common, while the eastern golden plover
has been found. Of the order Tubinares, the stormy petrel and the Manx
shearwater breed, and the fulmar petrel has become a common visitant
of recent years. The Rallidae are represented by the land-rail,
water-rail, spotted crake, moor-hen, and common coot, and the Gruidae
by the common and demoiselle cranes. The common heron alone is usual
among the Herodii, although the bittern, little bittern, white stork,
spoonbill, and glossy ibis have all been found. Of the Podicipitidae,
the Sclavonian, great-crested, eared, and little grebes are known,
the last-named, however, being the only nester. Of the Pelicanidae,
the solan goose breeds on the distant Stack, near Sule Skerry, and
the shag and cormorant are common. Of the Columbidae the rock-dove
is common, the ring-dove occasionally breeds in plantations, and the
stock-dove and turtle-dove are seen at times. Of the order Passeres,
the usual nesters include the song-thrush, blackbird, redbreast, wren,
pied wagtail, rock pipit, linnet, twite, greenfinch, yellow bunting,
skylark, and common starling, the last a bird perhaps more frequent in
the Islands than anywhere else. Scarcer breeders are the missel-thrush,
stonechat, ring-ouzel, golden-crested wren, sedge warbler, grey
wagtail, yellow wagtail, hedge-sparrow, meadow pipit, pied flycatcher,
swallow, sand-martin, chaffinch, lesser redpole, and reed bunting.
Common winter visitants are the redwing, fieldfare, and snow bunting,
while rarer or only occasional comers are the dipper, redstart,
blackcap, chiffchaff, fire-crested wren, willow wren, great titmouse,
blue titmouse, common creeper, grey-headed wagtail, tree pipit, great
grey shrike, red-backed shrike. waxwing, spotted flycatcher, rose
pastor, goldfinch, brambling, mealy redpole, common bullfinch, common
crossbill, and wood lark. Orkney Corvidae include the grey crow, the
rook, the jackdaw (South Ronaldshay only), and the raven as breeding
species, while the magpie and nutcracker are rare visitants. Of the
Picidae, the great spotted woodpecker is an irregular autumn and winter
visitant, while the lesser spotted woodpecker, the green woodpecker,
and the wryneck are seen at times. Of the order Coccyges, the cuckoo
is fairly common, while the roller, hoopoe, and common kingfisher have
been found. Of the order Macrochires the common swift and the common
nightjar are occasionally seen.
Of game and other sport-yielding birds, the red grouse breeds in the
Mainland, Rousay, Eday, Hoy, Walls, Flotta and Fara. Grouse disease
is unknown in Orkney, and the birds of Walls and Rousay are the
heaviest in Scotland. Various attempts to acclimatise the black grouse,
partridge, red-legged partridge, and pheasant have all practically
failed. The ptarmigan bred in Hoy until 1831. Pallas’s sand grouse at
times visit the Islands in considerable numbers, and are surmised to
have bred in several islands. The quail comes in much the same way, if
in fewer numbers, and has nested, though rarely.
The plant-life of the Islands, however interesting to the
scientifically-equipped botanist, presents no such happy hunting-ground
to the unsophisticated lover of wild nature as does their bird-life.
The practical non-existence of woods conspires with the cool summer
and high winds of the country to restrict both the number and the
distribution of its flora. Ferns in particular are of circumscribed
distribution, a loss to the beauty of the country-side only less
conspicuous than that caused by the absence of woods; while several
other popular and showy plants, such as the wild rose, the foxglove,
gorse, and broom are of only too limited a range. Some 20 species
or varieties of ferns are known or reported, of which _ophioglossum
vulgatum, var. ambiguum_, was for years unknown out of the Islands.
_Zannichellia polycarpa_, a pond-weed, was for some time known as a
British plant only from the Loch of Kirbuster in Orphir; and _Carex
fulva_, a sedge, was at one period peculiar to the same parish. More
interesting, however, is the recent discovery by Mr Magnus Spence, who
has lately published the first complete _Flora orcadensis_, of a plant
which Mr C. E. Moss, D. Sc., of Cambridge, considers to be either a
new variety of the dainty _Primula scotica_, or _Primula stricta_, a
species hitherto unknown to the flora of the British Isles. The common
variety of _Primula scotica_ is fairly abundant in many of the islands.
Hoy is the most interesting of the islands from a botanical point of
view, as it contains a variety of plants unknown to the others. Perhaps
the most interesting of these is _Loiseleuria procumbens_, the trailing
azalea, which makes a beautiful show in its season on several spots
among the higher hills. This island also contains in several of its
more sheltered glens practically the only indigenous trees that Orkney
can boast of, consisting of somewhat stunted specimens of hazel, birch,
mountain ash, quaking poplar, and honeysuckle. Before the days of the
Baltic timber trade the dying Orcadian must have been gravely concerned
over the disposition of the family porridge-stick, or “pot-tree,” as it
was locally styled. Even to-day, with some plantations around certain
mansion-houses, it is doubtful whether all the trees in the county,
indigenous and introduced, would cover a sixty-acre field. We subjoin a
list of a few of the rarer Orkney plants, with some of their localities.
Thalictrum Alpinum Hills of Hoy, Orphir, Rousay.
Thalictrum Dunense Links, in Walls, Deerness,
Sanday.
Ranunculus Sceleratus Stromness.
Nasturtium Palustre North Ronaldshay.
Sisymbrium Thalianum Kirkwall, Hoy.
Sisymbrium Officinale Hoy.
Draba Incana Hoy Hill; Fitty Hill, Westray.
Silene Acaulis Hoy Hill; Fitty Hill, Westray.
Spergularia Marginata The Ayre, Walls; Vaval,
Westray.
Geranium Robertianum Carness, St Ola.
Fragaria Vesca Rousay.
Rubus Fissus Hoy.
Dryas Ocopetala Hoy Hill; Kame of Hoy.
Rosa Glauca, _var._ crepiniana Stromness.
Circæa Alpina Hoy, Orphir, Evie.
Sedum Acre Links, Hoxa, S. Ronaldshay.
Saxifraga Oppositifolia Hoy Hills.
Saxifraga Stellaris Rackwick, Hoy; Kame of Hoy.
Pimpinella Saxifraga St Ola.
Sium Erectum Holm, Sanday.
Hedera Helix Berriedale, Hoy; Berstane,
St Ola.
Cornus Suecica Kame of Hoy.
Gallium Mollugo, _var._ Bakeri Deerness, Westray.
Hieracium Orcadense Cliffs in Hoy.
Hieracium Scoticum Cliffs in Orphir.
Hieracium Strictum Pegal Bay, Walls.
Hieracium Auratum Cliffs, Pegal Bay, etc.
Lobellia Dortmanna Walls, Rousay.
Jasione Montana Eday, N. Ronaldshay.
Arctostophylos Uva-Ursi Hills, Hoy and Walls.
Pyrola Rotundifolia Hoy, Rousay.
Vaccinium Vitis-Idæa Walls, Hoy, Orphir, Rousay.
Vaccinium Uliginosum Walls, Hoy, Birsay.
Gentiana Baltica North Ronaldshay, Birsay.
Ajuga Pyramidalis Berriedale and Rackwick, Hoy.
Myosotis Palustris Orphir, St Andrews.
Oxyria Reniformis Hoy.
Myrica Gale Birsay.
Salix Nigricans Orphir.
Juniperus Nana Hoy.
Typha Latifolia Loch of Aikerness, Evie.
Sparganium Affine Mainland, Hoy, Rousay.
Ruppia Spiralis Loch of Stenness.
Ruppia Rostellata, _var._ Nana Oyce of Firth.
Goodyera Repens Stromness, Harray.
Scirpus Tabernæmontani St Ola, Holm.
Blysmus Rufus Orphir, St Andrews, Westray.
Carex Muricata Firth.
The total number of plants found in the Islands, not counting
varieties, is about 560, a number slightly in excess of that of
Shetland and slightly fewer than that of Caithness, to the floras of
which counties that of Orkney closely assimilates.
7. The Coast
In a district where, despite the general existence of good roads,
the shortest cut to church, post office, smithy, or mill is often by
crossing a sound or skirting the shore in a yawl, the coastline spells
something more than a mere alternation of cliffs and sandy beaches,
diversified by the occasional appearance of a lighthouse or a harbour.
Such things of course the shores of Orkney exhibit in no common
measure, but to show how far they are from exhausting the coastal
features of Orcadian life and scenery, it is only necessary to say that
of twenty-one civil parishes in the county all but one (Harray) possess
miles of sea-board, and that of the centres of population, only some
two or three hamlets are inland. No spot in the Mainland is above five
miles from the coast, no point in any other island more than three
miles.
The general configuration of the coasts may be best studied on the
map, but as not every inlet of the sea forms a good natural anchorage,
we here indicate some that do so. Others, and some of these the most
important, are mentioned in the final section. Widewall Bay on the
W. side of South Ronaldshay, Panhope in Flotta, and Echnaloch on the
N.W. of Burray are, after the far-famed Longhope in Walls, the best
anchorages in the South Isles. The Bay of Ireland, known to mariners
as Cairston Roads, is on the south coast of Mainland, a little to the
eastward of Stromness. Inganess Bay and Deer Sound are in the N.E. of
Mainland; Veantrow Bay on the N. side of Shapinsay; St Catherine’s Bay,
Mill Bay, and Holland Bay in Stronsay; and Otterswick in Sanday. There
are deepwater piers—as indispensable adjuncts of traffic in Orkney as
railway stations are elsewhere—at Longhope, St Margaret’s Hope, and
Burray in the South Isles; at Stromness, Swanbister Bay, Scapa Bay,
and Holm on the S. coast of Mainland; at Kirkwall and Finstown on the
N. coast of Mainland; and in Shapinsay, Stronsay, Eday, Rousay, Sanday
Westray, Egilsay, and North Ronaldshay in the North Isles.
[Illustration: The Old Man of Hoy
(The tallest “Stack” in British Isles, 450 ft. high)]
Lying as they do athwart a main trade route from the ports of northern
and western Europe to America and the western ports of Britain, the
rock-girded and wind-swept shores of Orkney are especially well
lighted. Indeed it is probable that from the summit of the Ward Hill of
Hoy on a clear night more lighthouses can be discerned than from any
other point in Britain. Stromness is an important centre of operations
for the Scottish Lighthouse Board, lying half-way between the east and
west coasts of Scotland, and having the many lighthouses of Shetland to
the north.
The coasts and sounds of Orkney are studded with innumerable skerries
and sunken reefs. Few of these call for any special notice, but the
reader should know that in a few cases—Auskerry, the larger Pentland
Skerry, Sule Skerry—the name skerry is locally applied to soil-covered
islets of considerable area. There are no raised beaches in Orkney,
all oceanological and geological data going to show that the islands
were once united, and the coastline in consequence at a lower level
than it occupies to-day. Traces of submerged forests are to be found at
Widewall Bay, in South Ronaldshay, and a few other localities. Coast
erosion in the Islands is too slight a factor to have any practical
significance.
Apart from the fine natural harbours, the outstanding physical feature
of the Orkney coasts is the gigantic cliff scenery of the Atlantic
sea-board, particularly that of Hoy and Walls, which both for loftiness
and splendour of colouring stands unrivalled in Britain.
For a distance of about two miles from the Kaim of Hoy southwards to
the Sow the average height of the cliffs is above 1000 feet, the huge
rampant culminating about midway between these two points in St John’s
Head, also called Braeborough, which attains a height of 1140 feet.
About a mile southward of the Sow stands the famous Old Man of Hoy (450
feet), tallest of British “stacks”—
A giant that hath warred with heaven,
Whose ruined scalp seems thunder-riven.
Of many other fine cliffs in this island we have space to mention only
the Berry, in Walls, a sheer precipice of 600 feet in height, which
forms, so to speak, one of the jaws of the Pentland Firth, the other
jaw being Dunnet Head on the Caithness side. For beauty of colouring
and indeed of outline, the Berry excels any cliff in this wonderful
coastline, which the late Dr Guthrie described as, after Niagara and
the Alps, the most sublime sight in the world. There is much fine rock
scenery elsewhere in the Islands, particularly in the West Mainland,
Rousay, Eday, and South Ronaldshay.
The tideways in many of the sounds which separate the various islands
are remarkable for their turbulence and velocity, a speed of 8 knots an
hour being reached in Hoy Sound, and 12 knots in the Pentland Firth.
In the Pentland Firth also are two whirlpools, the Wells of Swona and
the Swelkie of Stroma, the latter as famous in fable as the by no means
more formidable Maelström. The total coastline of the Islands extends
to between 500 and 600 miles.
8. Weather and Climate
Insular climates are almost invariably milder than those of continents,
or even those of the inland regions of large islands, in the same
latitudes, and the climate of Orkney is no exception to this rule.
Like so many other things Orcadian, the climate is conditioned by
the proximity of the sea, and in this case by a sea whose waters are
considerably warmer than their latitude might lead one to suspect.
The warm surface drift of the North Atlantic is of itself sufficient
to explain the relatively mild winter of Orkney, and the presence of
the widest portion of the North Sea on the eastern side of the Islands
has also a modifying influence. It must also be borne in mind that in
cool climates rain brings heat. Our westerly and south-westerly winds,
passing over sun-bathed seas, collect in their courses the vapour of
warmer climates, and when this vapour, coming into contact with the
cooler air of more northerly latitudes, is again condensed into water,
a certain amount of the heat thus collected is set free, and raises the
temperature of the air, of the rain itself, and of the land on which it
falls.
TABULAR STATEMENT OF ORKNEY WEATHER.
Mean Mean Mean
Temperature. Hours Sunshine. Rainfall.
Years 1871-1905. 1880-1907. 1841-1907.
January 39.0° 29.7 3.72´´
February 38.5 55.5 3.05
March 39.3 101.1 2.82
April 42.4 154.1 1.99
May 46.4 178.5 1.81
June 51.3 160.9 1.97
July 54.2 141.3 2.57
August 54.0 121.8 3.01
September 51.5 108.8 3.09
October 46.4 75.5 4.43
November 42.4 36.5 3.97
December 39.9 20.8 4.21
---- ------ -----
Mean 45.4 Total 1184.5 Total 36.65
It will thus be seen that the mean annual temperature of Orkney
is 45.4°, which compares with 46.3° at Aberdeen and at Alnwick in
Northumberland, and with 49.4° at Kew Observatory. The total range of
temperature is only about 16°, as against 20° at Thurso, just across
the Pentland Firth, 22° at Leith, and 25° at London. In this respect
the Islands resemble the S.W. coast of England and the W. coast of
Ireland. The lowest temperature recorded in Orkney in the eighty-seven
years during which meteorological observations have been made was
8°, which occurred on 18th January 1881, the highest was 76°, on 16th
July 1876. The temperature of the ocean varies only about 13° during
the year, from 41.6° in February, to 54.5° in August. The mean annual
rainfall of about 37 inches compares with over 80 inches in many parts
of the West Highlands, and with 23 inches at Cromarty, the driest
station in Scotland. The wettest months are October, November, and
December, during which the Islands receive from one-third to one-half
of their annual rainfall, the driest months are April, May, and June,
which together receive only one-eighth of the total fall. Thus Orkney
is practically never troubled with excessive rainfall, and serious
droughts are equally unknown. The mean annual sunshine of 1185 hours
compares favourably with 1164 hours at Edinburgh. London enjoys 1260
hours, Hastings 1780. Orkney’s brightest month is May, with an average
of 178 hours of sunshine, the gloomiest is December with 20.6 hours.
[Illustration: Old Melsetter House, in Walls
(In a specially mild winter climate)]