Orkney Mainland - a look beyond the obvious

I have now visited Orkney 6 times of a period of 36 years but every time I visit I find something new to visit.  Sometimes the things really are new since my last visit but often they have been there all along but I just haven't noticed them or haven't ventured off the beaten track to visit them.  

On my last visit I stayed 10 nights at the excellent Kirkwall Youth Hostel but was surprised by how little time most visitors spent on Orkney.  Those with a day or 2 to spend are most likely to visit Skara Brae, Maes Howe, the Ring of Brodgar, the Standing Stones of Stenness, St Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall, Stromness, the Churchill Barriers and the Italian Chapel.  Those staying a week are likely to also visit the Broch of Gurness, the coast at Yesnaby, the Kitchener Memorial at Marwick Head, the Ness of Brodgar, the Brough of Birsay, the Earl's Palace at Birsay, the Bishop's and Earl' Palaces in Kirkwall, the Round Church and Earl's Bu at Orphir, Orkney Museum, the Gloup and  the farm museums at Kirbuster and Corrigall.

In this post I want to highlight some of the places those with a bit more time to spend on Orkney Mainland may like to visit.

Totem Pole at St Mary's
This was carved as part of a community project in 2007.

 Newark Bay

St Magnus Window at St Magnus Church at Birsay

The church was built in 1064 and rebuilt in 1664 and 1760. This is reputedly where St Magnus's body was taken after his murder on Egilsay by his cousin Haakon in 1115.  His remains were later reinterred in St Magnus Cathedral. This beautiful stained glass window, which was designed by Shona McInnes of Keith in Morayshire, was dedicated in 2013. The votive candle represents the theme of light and is a universal symbol of prayer.

Deck gun salvaged from HMS Hampshire

The ship sank off Marwick Head in June 1916 when it hit a German mine. Lord Kitchener and over 700 sailors died.  Only 12 made it to shore alive.

 A novel way to reuse a broken microwave oven - turn it into a postbox!

 Covenanters' Memorial at Deerness

Covenanters were 17th century Scottish Presbyterians who expressed their convictions by the signing of covenants.   They opposed the re-imposition of bishops in the Church of Scotland after the Restoration in 1660 and were persecuted as a result.  In 1679 a Covenanters uprising was supressed at Bothwell Brig and 1,200 Covenanters were taken prisoner in Edinburgh.  Some were executed and many others were released after submitting.  The remaining 250 were to be shipped off to America to work as slaves on the plantations there. However on their journey there from Leith, their ship the Crown of London took shelter from a storm off Deerness but was driven on to the rocks after her anchor chain broke.  The captain refused to let the Covenanters out of the hold and most of them drowned.  Only about 47 of the Covenanters made it to the shore at Deerness and most of them were recaptured and shipped off to slavery in New Jersey or Jamaica.  A monument was erected in 1888 on the cliffs at Deerness opposite where the ship went down.

Trig Point on Wideford Hill

This is the highest point on Orkney Mainland at 225 metres above sea level.  However it is very easy to access by car, as there is a road running right to the top.

Remains of a Royal Observer Corps Post on the summit of Wideford Hill.  

This was one of a network of ROC monitoring posts across the whole of Britain constructed during the Cold War.  This site was operational from 1960 until 1991.

 Doocot at Hall of Rendall

This doocot (dovecote) was erected in 1648. Pigeons were an important food source for wealthier people during the winter months when other food sources were scarce.  The use of doocots declined after turnips were introduced from Sweden in the 18th century, as these provided winter food for people as well as cattle. The four rings of protruding stone were to prevent rats from getting into it.  The birds entered through a hole in the top of the doocot.  This type of doocot is known as a beehive and it is the only one of its kind to have survived on Orkney.
 

An unusual tombstone in St Magnus Cathedral

 Murals at Kirkwall Airport

Fresson Cairn in a layby overlooking Kirkwall Airport
The plaque reads “On 8th May 1933 Capt Ted Fresson in Highland Airways Monospar G-ACEW landed the first scheduled air service from Inverness on this site which was Orkney’s first aerodrome”.  The cairn was erected in 2008.

Ernest Edmund (Ted) Fresson Memorial outside Kirkwall Airport

Binscarth Wood

3 hectares of coniferous and broadleaved woodland planted in a sheltered valley over 100 years ago on the western edge of Finstown.  For those who like me get tree withdrawal symptoms during visits to Orkney, this is a truly lovely place to visit.
 

 Khyber Pass, Stromness style!

 Groatie Hoose inTankerness House Gardens, Kirkwall

The volcanic stones used to build this folly came from the ballast used in the ship belonging to pirate John Gow.  After he was captured the stones were used by John Traill, an Edinburgh merchant who had retired to Orkney, to build a summerhouse in the garden of his house on Bridge Street.  The house later became a hotel but burnt down in 1938 and was demolished and the site rebuilt on.  The Groatie Hoose remained in Bridge Street until it was moved stone by stone to its current location in 2005.

A rocky armchair in Tankerness House Gardens - I didn't try it out because it was pouring with rain

Fishermen's hut at Skipi/Skiba Geo near Birsay

Whale bone on a post at Skipi/Skiba Geo with the Brough of Birsay in the background

This is thought to be the back of the skull of a right whale, which washed ashore here in around 1876.

 

 Dr John Rae's Memorial in St Magnus Cathedral

Rae was born in Orphir in 1813. He became an Arctic explorer and discovered the fate of the Franklin expedition and the final link in the North West Passage.  He died in London in 1893 and was buried in the cathedral grounds. There is a bronze statue of him in Stromness, which was designed by the sculptor Ian Scott from North Ronaldsay and was unveiled in 2013

John Rae's statue in Stromness

Royal Oak Memorial at Scapa

This was officially unveiled in 2011.  It commemorates the sinking of the HMS Royal Oak in Scapa Flow on 14th October 1939 by a German U-boat with the loss of 833 lives.

 

 

 Royal Oak Memorial Garden at Scapa

Waterfall on the coast path by Scapa Distillery

 Barnhouse Stone

Deepdale Standing Stone

War Memorial at Norseman Village - am I the only one who thinks this resembles a rocket?

Login's Well, Stromness

This well was used by many mariners as their last chance to stock up on fresh water for hundreds if not thousands of miles.  Captain James Cook and Sir John Franklin were some of the famous explorers who used it, along with the ships belonging to the Hudson's Bay Company and many merchant vessels.  The well was sealed up in 1931.

 Restored fishermen's hut at Sand Geo to the south of Marwick

Barony Mills at Birsay

This working watermill was built in 1873 and specialises in milling bere - an ancient form of barley. 

Stone seat near the beach at Warebeth 

I think this may have been a temporary feature