Fishing for solutions: the place-name Stronsay
03/12/2024
Stronsay occurs several times in the various manuscripts containing the Saga of the Earls Orkney (Orkneyinga Saga). The name occurs as Straumsey Streaumsey, Striansey, Striensø, Strionsey, and Strionsø. The last element is ON ey ‘island’, common in Orkney place-names. What then of the first element? In 1915 Magnus Olsen proposed that Norwegian place-names containing the …
Egilsay: Earls, Churches, and Island(s)
26/11/2024
Egilsay is a relatively small, carrot-shaped island which lies around 19 miles north of Kirkwall, Mainland. The island forms one of the Inner North Isles, alongside Wyre and Rousay, and is connected to both islands and Tingwall, Mainland by ferry. Though not mentioned exceptionally frequently in Orkneyinga saga, appearing only six times, Egilsay provides the …
‘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 …
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 …
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 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 and …
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 …
Knarston: a man or a ship, a staðr or a stǫð?
26/06/2024
Knarston occurs six times in the Saga of the Earls of Orkney and its earliest attestations are in the AM 325 I 4° manuscript (ca. 1290–1310). We hear in the saga that ‘Jaddvǫr, the daughter of Earl Erlendr, lived at Knarston with her son Borgarr’ (chapter 56), that later ‘Arnkell… lived there, along with his …
Woo… Hoo… Hooking and Hookin
18/06/2024
Whilst walking in North Ronaldsay we were struck by the fact that the geographical setting of Hooking was markedly similar to Hookin in Papay. The North Ronaldsay Hooking lies on the east coast of the island in Linklet Bay, on its landward side is the Loch of Hooking with a, now canalized, watercourse serving a …