‘Cancelled, no room to write’!
06/11/2024
The Ordnance Survey Name Books are a valuable and productive resource for place-names research… but for places like the small island of Fair Isle it seems there just wasn’t enough room to write all the names that were collected onto the map! A bit of background first: these books contain place-name information and the sources …
‘Hope’ of finding Viking harbours in Orkney…
05/10/2024
We learn in the Saga of the Earls of Orkney that Sveinn Ásleifarson and Anakol sailed to Stronsay from Sanday and whilst there they ‘laid up by Huip Ness for some nights’ (ch. 92). Occurring as viþ Haufn, vid Hofn and viþ Hofsnes and vid Hofsnes in the saga manuscripts, it is thought that this …
The First Bird-Watcher on North Ronaldsay
25/09/2024
Chapter 8 of the Saga of the Earls of Orkney contains a very well-known episode in which Turf-Einarr kills Hálfdan High-leg, one of the sons of King Haraldr of Norway who killed Einarr’s father, Earl Rǫgnvaldr of Møre in Norway. After a battle in an unspecified location, the victorious Einarr and his men scour the …
Crossing the Sea of Orcs
16/09/2024
The Pentland Firth is the large body of water which separates the Orkney Isles and mainland Scotland. Ferries that run to the islands cross this body of water, which is roughly 7.5 miles (12km) in length. As such a prominent water feature, and the main crossing point to Orkney from the south, it is not …
Who were the Papar of Papay?
07/09/2024
The place-name Papay (officially known as Papa Westray) derives from the ON term papi /papar meaning priest/priests and ON ey ‘island’ giving a meaning of ‘island of priests’. There are in fact several Papar names in Orkney, Papa Stronsay, the Steeven of Papy (North Ronaldsay), Papleyhouse (Eday), Papdale (Kirkwall, Mainland), Paplay (Holm) and Papley (South …
Who is Ragna, What is She?
24/08/2024
Readers of this blog might be wondering why our project is named after Ragna, a slightly obscure woman, and what her islands were. In fact, while the female characters of the Saga of the Earls of Orkney play a much more low-key role than the many warlike, poetical, ambiguous, saintly or evil male characters, the …
Swona: A pig of a name?
13/08/2024
Swona lies in the Pentland Firth to the east of South Ronaldsay. It is unusual in that, for some reason, it does not feature in Marwick’s Orkney Farm Names. Understood to mean ‘Sveinn’s island’ by those that lived there, there is a rock called Grimsalie where Grimr of saga fame met the eponymous Sveinn (William …
Sword-storm off Rauðabjǫrg?
03/08/2024
Rauðabjǫrg is the location of the great sea battle between Earl Þorfinnr and Earl Rǫgnvaldr in the Saga of the Earls of Orkney in which we hear that: ‘Earl Rǫgnvaldr gathered his army in the Orkneys and intended to go over to Ness, and when he arrived at the Pentland Firth then he had thirty …
Cairston: a strategic place?
15/07/2024
There are three Cairstons in Orkney all in close to proximity to each other, the modern settlement so-named near Stromness on Orkney’s west Mainland, Cairston Roads offshore near Inner and Outer Holm, and Bu of Cairston on the coast of the Bay of Ireland. Cairston occurs twice in the Saga of the Earls of Orkney …
A Clerical Conundrum
07/07/2024
Two anecdotes in the Saga of the Earls of Orkney involve close encounters between the 12th-century Earl of Orkney Rǫgnvaldr Kali Kolsson and some strange-looking clergymen. In Chapter 71, we’re told that ‘Earl Rǫgnvaldr had arrived in Westray’, and in Chapter 72 that: On Sunday Earl Rǫgnvaldr attended the service there in the village, and …