The Orkneys - part 2

The main reason we decided to travel to the Orkneys, was basically to find my Great Grandfather's grave and also to have a look at where my grandfather and his 5 siblings spent their youth before my Grandfather went to sea, however we found there was a lot more to Orkneys than we had imagined - in fact it was amazing.

The Orkney archipelago is located 16 kilometres north of mainland Scotland and comprises of over 70 islands and skerries, of which only 20 are inhabited.  The Orkneys have a long and colourful history - it is no exaggeration to say that the isles are a place where this history remains part of everyday  life - every corner of the islands has its ancient monuments, most of them in remarkable state of repair.  

Much of the early history is dominated by the Vikings, and from 9th Century the Kingdom of  Norway -  in 14th Century the Orkneys became associated with the Kingdom of Scotland.

We drove to the Bay o'Skaill in the west Mainland to check out the dwellings of the Orcadian Stone Age Man.

This prehistoric village is situated on the shore of a long white sandy beach on the Bay o'Skaill

This whole community was hidden under sand until 1850, when a massive storm blew away the sand and exposed this historic village

It was at the time thought to be an Iron Age settlement - around 500 BC

However, radiocarbon dating in the early 1970s confirmed that this Skara Brae settlement dated from the late Neolithic (3100BC) - prior to the construction of the Pyramids.

In 1868 remains of four ancient houses had been unearthed and in 1925 a further 4 .

Because of the protection offered by the sand that covered the settlement for 4,000 years and the cold weather, the building and their contents, are incredibly well-preserved.

Not only are the walls of the structures still standing

and the alleyways roofed with their original stone slabs

but the interior fitting of each house give an unparalleled glimpse of life as it was in Neolithic Orkney.

- it is estimated they were lived in for 600 years.

They were advanced people for their time, and developed a sophisticated drainage system pre-empting the toilet.

The houses were sunk in the ground to protect against the harsh Orkney winds and provide insulation and all linked together.

Each house shares the same basic design -  a large square room, with a central hearth, a bed on either side and a shelved dresser.

Some 200 yards inland from Skara Brae is Orkney's finest large Mansion, and represents the last 400 years in a continuous habitation of the area that dates back 5000 years.

Skaill House's owner in 1850 - the Laird of Breckness recognised the significance of what emerged after the storm, and cleared part of the ancient site of its enveloping sand in 1850.

We toured through the house - rather nice

Asian porcelain was quite popular

The current encumbent is the 12th Laird of Breckness - Major M.R.S. Macrae.

*****

We then turned our eyes to the War years in Orkney

The map above shows Scapa Flow where the German fleet scuttles itself in 1819.

There are 4 islands joined to the Orkney mainland by a series of causeways,

known as the Churchill Barriers.

Winston Churchill ordered these four causeways to be built early 1940 primarily as a naval defence to protect the anchorage at Scapa Flow

After the Royal Navy Battleship HMS Royal Oak was sunk at her moorings in October, 1939, within the natural harbour of Scapa Flow in a nighttime attack by the German U-boat U-47 who had entered Scapa Flow through Kirk Sound between Lamb Holm and the Orkney Mainland.

Although the shallow eastern passages had been secured with measures including sunken block ships, booms and anti-submarine nets, the Germans still navigated the U-47 around the obstructions at high tide

and launched a surprise torpedo attack on the Royal Naval Battleship at anchor in Scapa Flow (killing  over 800 Navymen) and then escaped seaward using the same channel by navigating between the block ships.

******

550 Italian prisoners of war, captured in North Africa during World War 11, were brought to Orkney in the early 1940's to work on the Churchill Barriers..

The camp consisted at first of thirteen or more cheerless huts, but the active Italians made concrete paths, and planted flowers until the whole area was transformed.

One prisoner (Chiocchetti) made the figure of St. George above, built up from a framework of barbed wire covered with cement.

They created new amenities - a theatre with scenery and a recreation hut, which included in its equipment a concrete billiard table - one thing the camp still lacked - a chapel.

In 1943, Camp 60's new commandmant, and a Catholic father agreed that a place of worship was required.  The "Italian Chapel" was constructed from limited materials by the prisoners.

Two Nissen huts were joined end-to-end,  the corrugated interior was then covered with plasterboard and the altar and altar rail were constructed from concrete left over from work on the barriers.  Chiocchetti created a front facade out of concrete, concealing the shape of the hut and making the building look like a church.

Most of the interior decoration was done by Domenico Chiocchetti, a POW.

He painted the sanctuary end of the chapel and fellow-prisoners decorated the entire interior.

Chiocchetti remained on the island to finish the Chapel, even though his fellow prisoners were released shortly after the end of the war.  In our books it is stunning.

This Chapel overlooks the Churchill Barriers built by Camp 60 on Lamb Holm

These Churchill Barrier's bases were built from gabions enclosing 250,000 tons of broken rock from quarries on Orkney.  The gabions were dropped into place from overhead cableways into waters up to 59 feet deep.  The bases were then covered with 66,000 locally cast concrete blocks in five tonne and ten-tonne sizes - the five tonne blocks were laid on the core, and the ten-tonne blocks were arranged on the side in a random pattern to act as wave-breaks.

Just in closing - the use of POW labour for War Effort works is prohibited under the Geneva Conventions, the works were justified as 'improvements to communications' to the southern Orkney Islands.

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Next - the Jewellery trail

Orkney has a many incredible jewellery designers - we visited "Sheila Fleet's' studio that afternoon, we met her, and were shown around the studio - Sheila employs 30 staff at her studio at Tankerness. 

We were kindly shown how it all works from Sheila's designs

the art of enamelling

and the final result.

We also visited the Ortak and Aurora studios - no photos, but there are 9 incredible designers in the Orkneys.

******

Our last stop today was back in Stromness- for a quick wander, 'specially to the "well" which Captain Cook and Sir John Franklin used when servicing their ships in this Port.

A wonderful long day - back to the Hotel - great Orcadian "schnitzel" thingo, and the next couple of days are why we are really here - across to the Isle of Shapinsay to find a "grave".

The Orkneys - first part.

Well it is about 6 weeks since we took off to the Orkneys, and I am now going to try and finish off this trip on my blog - well soon!.

Travelling to the Orkney Islands was one of the major parts of this trip.  We caught the Northlink Car Ferry from Scrabster across the Pentland Firth to Stromness, we would drive and stay in Kirkwall, but the Isle of Shapinsay was really why we are here.

The Pentland House Lodge gave us a wonderful breakfast, and we then headed down to Scrabster Wharf to drive onto the Ferry to Stromness.

Looking back to the Scrabster Lighthouse as we begin our 90 minute ferry ride to the Orkney Isles

the weather was bleak - not too many passengers sitting outside - it was a "5 layer" day for us.

However, I must say that the MV Hamnavoe was really the nicest car ferry we have ever travelled on,  I also bought a warm hat on board - it was definitely a handy purchase.

Crossing the Pentland Firth we saw unsual lighting between sky and sea

and the Old Man of Hoy

a 449 feet sea stack on the Island of Hoy

This Old Man is probably less than 400 years old - according to sketches of this coast in 1600-1750

Hoy has huge cliffs on this side of it's coastline

The Old Man was first climbed in 1966  and again in July 1967 - an ascent featured in the Great Climb, a live BBC three night outside broadcast, which had around 15 million viewers.

In May 2008, 3 Base Jumpers took 7 hours to climb the stack, and just 10 seconds to get back down again.  

One of these jumpers died 11 days later during a jump in Switzerland

Below passing the Island of Graemsay

and it's Lighthouse

into the Harbour of Stromness - name originates from Old Norse - 'cape in the current'.

Stromness developed a very strong association with the Hudson's Bay Company and saw many of its young men recruited into fur trading enterprises in Canada. 

We left the Ferry and drove on to Kirkwall and our Hotel - the West End - built in 1824 as a house for William Richan in Westray.  It was then purchased by John Balfour for a hospital in Orkney (more on the Balfours in Shapinsay)..  We thoroughly enjoyed it - olde world, and wonderful food.

We decided to stay in Kirkwall for the rest of the day - walked around it, then spent quite a bit of time at the Orkney Library and Archives - checking the January/February 1908 newspapers for any information on the death of my Great Grandfather on the Island of Shapinsay. 

I found quite a lot of memorials and write ups in both the Orcadian and the Orkney Herald micro fiche, some of them were A3 in size (this is the smallest one) - my grandfather is the 2nd son, Robert.  I had them copied from the micro fiche reader, but have to say the quality is poor - went to the one Newspaper which is still operating, and they had sent the originals away for "digitizing", and they won't be back till the end of this year. 

******

The next morning the sun was popping out in Kirkwall, and it felt more like a "4 layer" day with that new hat, and the gloves I had bought in Saundersfoot, Wales.

We walked around early morning and stopped at the St Magnus Cathedral commenced in 1137, the construction took 3 centuries and presently exhibits the different styles of Romanesque, Transitional and Gothic.

St. Magnus Cathedral is unique in Europe in that it belongs to no particular denomination.  It has been owned by the people of Orkney since 1486 when King James 111 granted it to the people of Kirkwall.

Love the ceilings again inside St. Magnus

This old Ford looks ancient, but it's owner is most content sitting in the sun in Victoria Road, Kirkwall

*****

Our next step was to explore some of the "Neolithic"  (later Stone Age) Monuments on mainland Orkney - the first being the "Standing Stones of Stenness"

The surviving stones are sited on a promontory at the south bank of the stream that joins the southern ends of the sea Loch of Stenness and the freshwater Loch of Harray.

The stones are thin slabs - 1 ft. thick and up to about 16ft high - originally elements of a stone circle of 12 stones laid out in an eclipse about 104 ft.diameter on a levelled platform of 144 ft diameter, surrounded by a ditch.

Even in 18th Century the site was still associated with traditions and rituals, by then relating to the Norse Gods.

The heart of Neolithic Orkney was inscribed as a World Heritage Site in December 1999.

We then moved on to the "Ring of Brodgar" just over a kilometer away.

This is a Neolithic henge and stone circle.

Most henges do not contain stone circles

Brodgar is a striking exception, ranking with Avebury (and to a lesser extent Stonehenge).

Brodgar stands on a small isthmus between the Lochs of Stenness and Harray.

(We are now definitely into a 5 layer day - so pleased I bought that hat!)

These are the northernmost examples of circle henges in Great Britain.

Unlike similar structures such as Avebury, there are no obvious stones inside the circle

but since the interior of the circle has never been excavated by archeologists

the possibility remains that wooden structures, for example, may be present.

The tallest stones stand at the south and west of the ring which originally comprised of 60 stones - of which 27 remain.

The stones are set within a circular ditch up to 9.8ft deep and 30ft wide and 1,250 ft in circumference, that was carved out of solid sandstone bedrock by the ancient residents.

It is generally thought to have been erected between 2500 BC and 2000 BC

(Not my photo above).  This stone circle is 341 ft in diameter, and the third largest in the British Isles.

The "sailing boats" of Loch Stenness

Very pretty country - back onto more touring of the Orkneys and this particular day - tomorrow.

Aussie caps

A couple of weeks ago we picked up some aussie caps, and a T shirt from our Rivers store, to send to our grandson Jack and his dad, David in Minnesota, and David's partner, Dotti and her 2 lovely kids, Amy and Andrew in York, England.

Above Jack and his delightful smile in T shirt ( large now but he is growing so fast) and his aussie cap.  

Dotti emailed this photo from the gates of the Olympics - they were there to watch the GB womans footy team play - they won, (not playing Australia - Brazil was their successful target) and Dotti, Amy and Andy wore their Aussie caps.