Mainland, Orkney
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| Mainland, Orkney | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
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| OS grid reference: | HY350158 |
| Names | |
| Gaelic name: | Unknown |
| Norse name: | Megenland/Hrossey |
| Meaning of name: | Norse for 'mainland' or 'island of horses' |
| Area and Summit | |
| Area: | 52,325 ha
202.02 sq. miles |
| Area rank (Scottish islands): | 6 |
| Highest elevation: | Mid Hill 271 m |
| Population | |
| Population (2001): | 15,315 |
| Population rank (inhabited Scottish islands): | 3 out of 97 |
| Main settlement: | Kirkwall |
| Groupings | |
| Island Group: | Orkney |
| Local Authority: | Orkney Islands Council |
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| References: | [1][2][3] |
The Mainland is the main island of Orkney, Scotland. Both of Orkney's burghs, Kirkwall and Stromness, lie on the island, which is also the heart of Orkney's ferry and air connections.
The island is more densely populated (75% of Orkney's population) than the other islands and has much fertile farmland.
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[edit] Geography
The island is relatively densely populated and has much fertile farmland. The name Mainland is a corruption of the Old Norse Meginland (cf Mainland, Shetland). Formerly the island was also known as Hrossey meaning 'Horse Island'. The island is sometimes referred to as Pomona, a name that stems from a sixteenth century mis-translation by George Buchanan (1506-1582) and which has rarely been used locally[4][5], although it is retained in the name of the Pomona Inn at Finstown at the parish of Firth.[6]
The bulk of the Mainland is west of Kirkwall. It is low-lying, but with coastal cliffs to the north and west and two sizeable lochs - the lochs of Stenness and Harray.
The eastern part of the Mainland is shaped like the letter "W", the easternmost peninsula being known as Deerness. To the south, causeways called Churchill Barriers connect the island to Burray and South Ronaldsay via Lamb Holm and Glims Holm.
Mainland effectively provides the core of the Orkney Islands, linking the northern members of the archipelago with the southern ones. At the east, and west ends, islands proceed to the north and south, somewhat like an "X". This has been taken advantage of in the siting of Kirkwall, the capital of the islands, which not only has easy access to the north, but also to Scapa Flow to the south, which is one of the world's great natural harbours.
[edit] Parishes
The are 13 parishes on the island.[7] Sandwick, Birsay and Stromness lie on the west coast, Rendall and Evie to the north west. Holm, Deerness and St Andrews are located to the east of central St Ola, which contains Kirkwall town. Firth, Orphir, Stenness and Harray lie west of Kirkwall and east of the westernmost parishes. Harray has the unique distinction of being the only landlocked parish in Orkney, although it too has a significant coast along the Loch of Harray, albeit a freshwater one.
[edit] Main Settlements
The three main settlements on Mainland, in order of magnitude are: Kirkwall, Stromness and Finstown. Kirkwall and Stromness are both burghs.
Kirkwall lies on a narrow strip of land between West Mainland (the major portion) and East Mainland, which historically enabled it to have access to both the southern and northern Orkney Islands. Kirkwall is also the traditional seat of the Bishop of Orkney, and St. Magnus Cathedral is to be found there. It is also one of the island's ferry ports.
A long-established seaport that grew with whaling, Stromness has a population of approximately 2,200 residents. The old town is clustered along the main street, flanked with houses and shops built from local stone, with narrow lanes and alleys branching off it. There is a ferry link from Stromness to Scrabster in Caithness as well as the Isle of Hoy.
Finstown is the third largest settlement, and used to be known as the "Toon o Firth". The origin of its name is thought to be from an Irishman named David Phin who came to the area in 1811. It is on the main Stromness to Kirkwall road. [8]
[edit] Geology
Mainland is built up nearly entirely of a bedrock of Old Red Sandstone, in common with most of the Orkney isles, which is approximately 400 million years old and was laid down in the Devonian period. These thick deposits accumulated as earlier Silurian rocks, uplifted by the formation of Pangaea, eroded and then deposited into river deltas. The freshwater Orcadian Lake existed on the edges of these eroding mountains, stretching from Shetland to the southern Moray Firth.[9] As in the nearby mainland of Caithness, these rocks rest upon the metamorphic rocks of the eastern schists, and in Mainland where a narrow strip is exposed between Stromness and Inganess, they are represented by grey gneiss and granite.
The Lower Old Red Sandstone is represented by well-bedded flagstones over most of the islands; in the south of Mainland these are faulted against an overlying series of massive red sandstones.
Many indications of glacial action exist in the form of striated surfaces are to be seen in Kirkwall Bay along with boulder clay, with marine shells, and with many boulders of rocks foreign to the islands (chalk, oolitic limestone, flint, &c.), which must have been brought up from the region of Moray Firth, rests upon the old strata in many places. Local moraines are found in some of the valleys.
[edit] Surrounding islands
There are numerous smaller Orkney islands surrounding the mainland, some which are islets only separated at higher stages of the tide, or skerries which are only exposed at lower stages of the tide. These include Barrel of Butter, Bo Skerry, Bow Skerries, Braga, Brough of Bigging, Damsay, Holm of Houton, Holm of Grimbister, Holm of Rendall, Iceland Skerry, Inner Holm, Kirk Rocks, Little Skerry, Mirkady Point, Nevi Skerry, Outer Holm, Oyster Skerries, Puldrite Skerry, Quanterness Skerry, Scare Gun, Seal Skerry, Skaill Skerries, Skerries of Clestrain, Skerries of Coubister, Skerries of Lakequoy, Skerry of Work, Skerry of Yinstay, Smoogro Skerry, Thieves Holm, Whyabatten, and Yesnaby Castle.[10]
With two exceptions, the other islands in the Orkney Islands are classified as north or south of the Mainland. The exceptions are the remote islets of Sule Skerry and Sule Stack, which lie 37 miles (60 km) west of the archipelago, but officially form part of Orkney.
[edit] History and notable sites
This western section of the island contains numerous Neolithic and Pictish constructions. Those Neolithic constructions include the Ring of Brodgar, the cairn Maeshowe and the stone-build settlement Skara Brae.
Most of the best known Orcadian ancient monuments are located in West Mainland, which includes the 'Heart of Neolithic Orkney', a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This comprises the large chambered tomb of Maes Howe, the ceremonial stone circles the Standing Stones of Stenness and the Ring of Brodgar and the Neolithic village of Skara Brae, together with a number of unexcavated burial, ceremonial and settlement sites. The group constitutes a major prehistoric cultural landscape which gives a graphic depiction of life in this remote island in the far north of Scotland some 5,000 years ago. Nearby is the Barnhouse Settlement, a smaller cluster of prehistoric buildings.
Other sites of interest include St. Magnus Cathedral and the ruin of the Bishop's Palace in Kirkwall, the Earl's Palace, a ruined 16th century castle in Birsay parish, and Skaill House, a merchants house and museum near Skara Brae.
Viking settlers comprehensively occupied Orkney, and Mainland became a possession of Norway until being given to Scotland during the 15th century as part of a dowry settlement. Evidence of the Viking presence is widespread, and includes the settlement at the Brough of Birsay just to the west of the parish of Birsay, the vast majority of place names, and runic inscriptions at Maeshowe and other ancient sites.
Perhaps the most important town in the west of Mainland, Stromness is of relatively recent origin, being first recorded as the site of an inn in the 16th century, although the name is of Norse origin. Stromness became important during the late 17th century, when England was at war with France and shipping was forced to avoid the English Channel. Ships of the Hudson's Bay Company were regular visitors, as were whaling fleets.
The Churchill Barriers are a series of four causeways in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, with a total length of 2.3 km (1.5 miles). They link the south of Mainland in the north to the island of South Ronaldsay via Burray and the two smaller islands of Lamb Holm and Glimps Holm. The barriers were built in the 1940s primarily as naval defences to protect the anchorage at Scapa Flow, but now serve as road links, carrying the A961. This was partially a defensive measure as on 14 October 1939, the Royal Navy battleship HMS Royal Oak was sunk at her moorings within the natural harbour of Scapa Flow, by the German U-boat U-47 under the command of Günther Prien. U-47 had entered Scapa Flow through Holm Sound, one of several eastern entrances to Scapa Flow. To prevent further attacks, the First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill ordered the construction of permanent barriers. Work began in May 1940 and the barriers were completed in September 1944, but were not officially opened until 12 May 1945, four days after the end of World War II in Europe.
[edit] Climate
The climate is remarkably temperate and steady for such a northerly latitude. The average temperature for the year is 8 °C (46 °F), for winter 4 °C (39 °F) and for summer 12 °C (54 °F).
The average annual rainfall varies from 850 mm (33 in) to 940 mm (37 in). Fogs occur during summer and early autumn, and furious gales may be expected four or five times in the year.
To tourists, one of the fascinations of the islands is their nightless summers. On the longest day, the sun rises at 03:00 and sets at 21:29 GMT and darkness is unknown. It is possible to read at midnight and very few stars can be seen in the night sky. Winter, however, is long. On the shortest day the sun rises at 09:05 and sets at 15:16.[11]
The soil generally is a sandy loam or a strong but friable clay, and very fertile. Large quantities of seaweed as well as lime and marl are available for manure.
[edit] Transportation and infrastructure
[edit] Road
Mainland contains the vast majority of the island's roads, and is also connected to those on the main south east islands, such as South Ronaldsay and Burray thanks to the Churchill Barriers.
There are ideas being discussed to build an undersea tunnel between Orkney and the Scottish Mainland, at a length of about 9-10 miles (15-16 km) or (more likely) one connecting Orkney Mainland to Shapinsay.[12][13] The Orkney-Caithness route would be connected to Mainland, via the Churchill Barriers, but would make landfall on South Ronaldsay, if constructed.
[edit] Air
The main airport in Orkney is Kirkwall Airport, operated by Highland and Islands Airports. Loganair, a franchise of British Airways provides services to the Scottish Mainland (Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Inverness), as well as to Sumburgh Airport in Shetland. Most of the scheduled flights within the Orkneys depart/arrive at Kirkwall from one of the other islands.
[edit] Ferry
Ferries serve both to link Orkney to the rest of Scotland, and also to link together the various islands of the Orkney archipelago. Ferry services operate between Orkney and the Scottish Mainland and Shetland on the following routes:
- Lerwick to Kirkwall (operated by Northlink Ferries)
- Aberdeen to Kirkwall (operated by Northlink Ferries)
- Scrabster to Stromness (operated by Northlink Ferries)
Two services also connect Caithness, with South Ronaldsay, which is in turn connected to Mainland by road.
Inter-island ferry services connect all the inhabited islands to Orkney Mainland, and are operated by Orkney Ferries, a company owned by Orkney Islands Council.
[edit] Flora and fauna
Mainland has a great deal of marine life surrounding it, especially seabirds. There are few wild land mammals although there is an endemic sub-species of the Common Vole, the Orkney Vole or Cuttick, Microtus arvalis orcadensis found only in the Orkney archipelago. It may have been introduced by early settlers circa 4,000 years ago.[14]
There are sx hundred recorded species of plant on the Orkney Mainland.[2] Two rarities to be found here are the oyster plant (Mertensia maritima)[2] and the Scottish Primrose - the latter's location is kept secret.[2]
The Scottish primrose (Primula scotica), is endemic to the north coast of Scotland, including Orkney and nearby Caithness. It is closely related to the Arctic species Primula stricta and Primula scandinavica.[15][16]
Brown hares and rabbits can be found here.[2] There are frogs, but no toads.[2]
Corncrakes can also be found in some parts.[2] The Loch of Harray can sometimes hold 10,000 wintering duck and is very important for pochard.[2]
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[edit] Notable people from Mainland
- William Balfour Baikie, explorer, naturalist and philologist (Kirkwall)
- Stanley Cursiter, painter (Kirkwall)
- Magnus Erlendsson, Earl of Orkney
- Rögnvald Kali Kolsson
- George Mackay Brown, writer, (Stromness)
- Ernest Marwick, antiquarian, (Evie)
- Edwin Muir, writer and translator, (Deerness)
- John Rae, Arctic explorer (Orphir)
- Cameron Stout, TV personality (Stromness)
- Thomas Stewart Traill, professor of medical jurisprudence at the University of Edinburgh (Kirkwall)
- William Walls, lawyer, industrialist and Dean of Guild of Glasgow (Kirkwall)
[edit] Gallery
 Mainland |
 Sea Arch at Yesnaby |
 Brough of Deerness |
[edit] References
- ^ 2001 UK Census per List of islands of Scotland
- ^ a b c d e f g h Haswell-Smith, Hamish. (2004) The Scottish Islands. Edinburgh. Canongate.
- ^ Ordnance Survey
- ^ Buchanan, George (1582) Rerum Scoticarum Historia: The First Book The University of California, Irvine. Revised 08 March 2003. Retrieved 04 October 2007.
- ^ "Pomona or Mainland?" Orkneyjar.com. Retrieved 04 October 2007.
- ^ BuyOrkney - Firth Retrieved 3 August 2007.
- ^ "Parishes" The Orcadian. Retrieved 19 April 2008.
- ^ BuyOrkney - Firth Retrieved 3 August 2007.
- ^ McKirdy, Alan Gordon, John & Crofts, Roger (2007) Land of Mountain and Flood: The Geology and Landforms of Scotland. Edinburgh. Birlinn.
- ^ Ordnance Survey (2002) Landranger Maps. Sheet No.6.
- ^ "Sunrise and Sunsets" The Orcadian. Shows times for 2006. Retrieved 8 March 2008.
- ^ David Lister. "Islanders see a brighter future with tunnel vision", The Times, September 5, 2005. Retrieved on 2007-07-12.
- ^ John Ross. "£100m tunnel to Orkney 'feasible'", The Scotsman, 10 March 2005. Retrieved on 2007-07-13.
- ^ Orkney vole (pdf). Scottish Natural Heritage. Retrieved on 2007-01-01.
- ^ "Caithness plants: Primula scotica" caithness.org. Retrieved 5 April 2008.
- ^ Orkney Islands Council: "Where to see Primula scotica" Orkney Islands Council. Retrieved 5 April 2008.
[edit] External links
[edit] See also
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