Today we explored the southern islands. We went along the Churchill Barriers through
from Holm to Lamb Holm, Glimps Holm, Burray and South Ronaldsay. Our first stop was at the Tomb of the Eagles
right on the south eastern point of South Ronaldsay. Here we went to a visitors centre which
explained the two archaeological sites before we went to see them for
ourselves. The first site we would come
across on our walk along the coast, would be the Bronze Age site, which may
have been a cooking house or a workshop, as it wasn't large enough for bed
spaces in it. In the centre there was a
water-tight “well” and there was also a small recess in which fresh water came
into the building from a stream. The
burnt mound nearby indicated that burnt cracked stones were mounted up there before
fresh ones were heated and used with the water, possibly to heat it. The general suggestion here was that it was a
cooking house, although nobody really knows what it really was.
Further along the coast was the Stone Age Tomb of the
Eagles, so called because of the sheer number of sea eagle claws and talons
buried inside, along with a number of human burials. The initial talks we had in the visitors
centre were very informative, as we handled some of the artefacts such as stone
axes, beads and pottery for the Stone Age site, and saw a small reconstruction
model for the Bronze Age site. After
investigating both, we walked along the coastal path back to the visitors’
centre where we browsed the shop and FINALLY had some Orkney Ice Cream! Now you don't see “Millionaire's Shortbread”
ice cream very often do you? We couldn't
resist it, and it was lovely!
After this, Mathew decided that he wanted to have a look at
Burwick which is on the south western side of the island. This is where you could get a ferry to John
O'Groats, and as we reached the end of the road where the very small ferry
terminal was, we realised that Burwick has even less here than John O'Groats
does! Seriously – there is literally
nothing here!
At this point, the map we had was of the “East Mainland”
which covered the southern islands, and just pointed out places of interest. Unfortunately we did not have an Ordnance
Survey Map for this part of Orkney so we had no way of knowing exactly where
things were, which was our next problem.
We tried to find “Harrabrough” which apparently has an impressive rock
formation with a natural arch and magnificent cliffs. Could we find it? No. I
am sure we may well have done if we'd had an OS map and if it had been
signposted, but we only had a map with a number on it and the main roads. We figured that it must have been on the
other side from where we were, as we were only going around in circles. So we continued on to investigate St.
Margaret's Hope, which is apparently the third largest community in Orkney, a
fact which we both thought was debatable.
Unless we were in the wrong area of town, we couldn't really see much of
interest here. We came here because
there was a craft shop and gallery which we found, visited and bought a few
things from, but otherwise not a great deal is going on here from what we
experienced. I thought it kind of odd
that this craft shop and gallery was situated here actually, just because it
seems so out of place and out of the way for most people who visit Orkney and
unless they have other reasons to visit St. Margaret's Hope, I reckon many
people have no idea it's there.
Our next challenge was to find the Howe of Hoxa, which is
not just a prehistoric fortress, but it is also reputed to be where Earl
Thorfinn, The Skullsplitter, was buried in 976AD. We were driving in circles again – having
only the map with the numbers on it – and we could not find it. There were no sign posts or mentions of the
Howe of Hoxa, just a Tearoom at Hoxa Head which was way past where the Howe
should have been. Eventually we pulled
up at a small beach known as the “Sands o' Wright” and I pointed to a mound on
the beach and said to Mathew “Unless.....it's that...?”. So we got out and explored this mound on the
beach, which was grown over with grass and wildflowers. It doesn't look like much and at first we
thought it may have been the Howe we were looking for, but the signs by its
side just stated “No fires on the beach”.
Mathew thought it may have been just a dune, but given that there were
no other dunes in the vicinity, perhaps this was it? We walked around and over it having a good
look around, and the only thing we noticed was that there was some stone work
amongst the mound, and it had a round or ovoid appearance. This must have been the Howe of Hoxa – we
thought that perhaps some of it could have been eroded away, especially as it
was pretty much on the beach and open to the elements, it was the only feasible
feature which could have been the Howe of Hoxa.
I know the information in the leaflet said “reputed to be where Earl
Thorfinn was buried” but I still thought it was a shame that, if he was buried
here, there were no markers for him – unless it and he got washed out to
sea....
[We later discovered – once we had returned home from
holiday – that this mound was NOT the Howe of Hoxa. Referring to an OS map online, we discovered
that the large mound next to the farm building was what we were looking for,
but we had though it was someone else’s land and we didn’t think they would
like strangers looking around for something which wasn’t actually there (or so
we thought). If there had been signposts
for it, then we would have gone further to find out!]
We continued north and left South Ronaldsay behind as we
headed for Lamb Holm, the last small island before getting back onto the
mainland of Orkney. On the way we drove
along FOUR “Churchill Barriers”. These
barriers were constructed on the orders of Winston Churchill during the 2nd
World War after the sinking of the British battleship Royal Oak in Scapa Flow
in October 1939. This was carried out by
the German submarine U47 under the command of Captain Prien in a daring raid,
during which he managed to manoeuvre his vessel between the blockships which
constituted the defence of Scapa Flow at the time, the remains of which can
still be seen in the water.
On Lamb Holm there is an Italian Chapel. Not so random as you may think though, as
this is the only building remaining of a Prisoner of War Camp known as Camp 60,
which was constructed in 1941. It housed
Italian POW's of the 6th Anti Aircraft Regiment of the Mantova
Division and men from the Italian Tank Corps between 1942 and 1945. These prisoners were renamed the 5th
Italian Labour Battalion. They made the
camp more homely by laying paths, planting flowerbeds, outdoor chairs and
tables and a makeshift theatre for entertainment. The Chapel was built in 1943 and is made of
two Nissen huts which were placed end to end and the original idea was to have
it as a school and a church. All of thw
work was done under the supervision of artist Domenico Chiocchetti who designed
pretty much everything, and everything was made from materials which were
available – mostly scrap, wood from wrecked ships and sculpted concrete. The Chapel had a short life, as the POW's
were transferred to Skipton in Yorkshire for repatriation in 1945. It really is a must see, it's quite a work of
art!
Back across to the mainland along Churchill Barrier “number
1”, right at the cross roads we took a little look at the totem pole which was
carved by the members of the Squamish First Nations and the Holm folk as a
community project, erected in 2007. Some
of the characters on it are quite fun such as the seal and the lobster! :)
Last of all, close to Kirkwall, we stopped off at the Ortak
Visitor Centre which has a large shop and a little studio showing how pieces
are made. Since I saw a particular
pendant in the Maes Howe gift shop, I had been thinking of buying it and the
reason for the delay in buying it was just because of the price. As Ortak jewellery is so nice, I was hoping
to see how it was made, and I did! I
have never done enamelling before, so it was nice to see the process, and nice
to see that, although the silver pieces themselves are mass produced, the
enamelling is done by hand. The piece of
silver with the design on it is filled with enamel in the form of powder mixed
with distilled water which allows easy application and blending of colours. It is applied with a goose quill to give the
enameller more control, before it is dried out and fired in a kiln to result in
the glassy enamel typical of Ortak jewellery.
I looked in the shop for the piece I was after but I only found a
similar design with different colours.
So onward to Maes Howe with crossed fingers! And YES!
They had it in! Pink, purple,
blue and silver swirls. I bought it
straight away and I love it! :)
So we didn't do a great deal today, compared with everything
we have done so far on Orkney, but we discovered that the southern islands of
Orkney have a lot of military war history.
We went back to the cottage for a cuppa, and realised that tomorrow
would be our last day in Orkney!
Tomorrow we would investigate Deerness and finally do some shopping in
Kirkwall. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment