A lifetime of Islands: Island 278

Graemsay is located in Scapa Flow to the south of Stromness on Orkney Mainland and to the north of Hoy. The island is approximately 2 miles from east to west and one mile from north to south. The highest point on the island is 62 metres above sea level. The centre of the island is rough grass and heather moorland but the rest of the island is divided into fields, which are grazed by very inquisitive cows and very shy sheep. When I visited in June 2015 there were lots of wild flowers in bloom - primroses, northern marsh orchids, thrift, red campion, bird's foot trefoil, marsh lousewort, cotton grass, cow parsley, red campion, buttercups, daisies, purple vetch, violets and tormentil to name a few. I'm not great at identifying birds but I did see lapwings, curlews, oystercatchers and skylarks.

Graemsay is served by a passenger ferry from Stromness. The same ferry also goes to Moaness on Hoy. The ferry isn't all that well signposted in Stromness. I did eventually find its normal berth on the quay opposite the Stromness Hotel and stood waiting with another passenger and then a few minutes later a helpful postlady pointed out that they weren't using the normal boat and that it was departing from the other side of the quay. However no one from Orkney Ferries had thought to put a notice up about these changes.

Graemsay is probably one of the least visited of the Orkney Islands that are served by Orkney Ferries - the man who sold me my ticket on the boat expressed surprise when I said I wanted to go to Graemsay rather than Hoy and said that he didn't sell tickets to Graemsay very often. There is no shop or café on the island and no heritage centre, so there isn't much for visitors to do apart from walk and look at the Second World War battery at the Point of Oxan.

There are plenty of picnic benches located at various points around the island but the day I visited I was the only visitor. The visitors' book in the ferry waiting room was started in 2007 but is still only half full. There are waymarked paths around some parts of the coast. However many of the paths on the northern side of the island pass through fields of extremely inquisitive cows. I walked along part of the south coast, which was cow free and a very pleasant and easy walk. In many places it is possible to walk along the foreshore too.

In the 1840s there were over 200 people living on Graemsay. They worked on the 35 crofts or away on fishing or whaling boats. Some of them worked for the Hudson's Bay Company in the Canadian Arctic. The current population of Graemsay is around 20, with one working farm and 6 crofts. I am sure I saw more than 20 vehicles on the island, mainly at the ferry jetty and Hoy High Lighthouse. However I only saw 3 people - 2 passed me in tractors and the 3rd was the islander who helps the ferry to berth. As I was leaving he asked me how I had got to the island. I had to stop myself saying that I had walked up the gangway right past him that morning but that he was too busy chatting to his friends on the ferry to notice me. Most of the other 17 residents arrived back on the afternoon ferry.

Hoy Sound High and Low Lighthouses were built as leading lights: if the lights are kept in line, it ensures a safe passage through Hoy Sound. They were both designed by Alan Stevenson, a third generation member of the famous family of lighthouse builders, and were completed in 1851. At this time Graemsay had no pier. A granite slipway had to be constructed at the Bay of Sandside. The towers were built with stone quarried in the North Isles. It was shipped to Stromness, where it was cut and shaped and then shipped across to Graemsay from the Point of Ness.

Hoy Sound High lighthouse is located at the north east end of the island. 115 feet tall. It was automated in 1978. Hoy Sound Low Lighthouse is located at the Point of Oxan on the north west tip of the island and is only 40 feet tall. It was automated in 1966. Neither lighthouse is open to the public.

On New Year's Day 1866 the sailing ship Albion was wrecked off the Point of Oxan. She was on her way from Liverpool to New York with a mixed cargo. There were 43 passengers on board and 24 staff. 11 people drowned but the rest were rescued, many by people on Graemsay. One Graemsay man - Joseph Mowat was drowned during the rescue. Pottery from the ship can still sometimes be found on the beach at Oxan.

During the Second World War the Graemsay Battery was built to augment the defences at Stromness and on Hoy. All three of them were built to defend the western entrance to the deep water anchorage of Scapa Flow. It was only operational from 1943 to 1945 and was finally closed in 1950.