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 …
Weelie’s Taing… a weelie interesting place-name…
10/06/2024
Weelie’s Taing is a tidal feature found at the top of North Wick on the east side of Papay, south of Hundland. Thought by some to be a natural feature, or possibly a fish trap, it has what might be a sheep refuge on the south-eastern end. The inclusion of the apostrophe in this Ordnance …
Orkney in the Viking World
07/05/2024
The Viking Age (ca. 750-1100 CE) is the name generally given to a period of population movement out of Scandinavia, leading to raiding, trading, exploration and settlement ranging from the Caspian Sea in the east to Newfoundland in the west. The term ‘viking’ is used for the Scandinavian peoples who made these voyages, as well …