Orkney: A Historical Guide

by adminBritain

Orkney: A Historical Guide

Language: English

Pages: 234

ISBN: 1780272642

Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub


A marvelous companion to the fascinating Orkney islands, Orkney: A Historical Guide offers a broad overview of their history. Starting with the prehistoric period, from which survives the famous settlement of Skara Brae, it goes on to discuss the flowering of the Celtic Church in the sixth and seventh centuries and the subsequent invasion by the Vikings, who settled there in large numbers and established a powerful Norse earldom. Sites and remains to be explored include settlements from the stone age, stone circles and burials from the bronze age, iron-age brochs, Viking castles, the magnificent cathedral of St Magnus, Renaissance palaces, a Martello tower from the Napoleonic Wars and numerous remains from the Second World War. This new edition has been revised and updated, and includes a new chapter that sheds light on recent findings.

Race, Empire and First World War Writing

In the Land of Giants: Journeys Through the Dark Ages

Jonathan Swift: His Life and His World (The Lewis Walpole Series in Eighteenth-century Culture & History)

Race, Empire and First World War Writing

Them and Us: Fighting the Class War 1910-1939

Castles of Great Britain: Volume 1 (The Heritage Trail Explores)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Play, rather as any great cathedral comprises a number of smaller chapels and cross sites, both inside and outside the building. It has been suggested that the Ring of Brodgar, at the heart of the complex, may have functioned as a lunar observatory and this may well be so, but the dates at which it would work best for this apparently lie around 1500 BC, whereas the circle had been built long before that. Nevertheless, general astronomical observations have been shown to be important to the.

Records how he spent two nights there and learned patience; this is often taken to be a reference to the tenacity of the local midges. 19 Taversoe Tuick, Rousay HY 425276 Historic Scotland; signposted. Taversoe Tuick is an unusual tomb in that it has two storeys. It dates to the third millennium BC. The lower tomb was originally entered by a long passage from the downhill side, which leads into a chamber which is divided into four shelved compartments. The upper tomb was quite separate.

Following the battle, before he could return home. In the face of poor weather and declining health he had drawn up his ships at Houton, rather than attempt the stormy North Sea crossing, and he settled into the Bishop’s Palace in Kirkwall, where he was to pass his last few weeks listening to the lives of the saints and the sagas of his ancestors. His body was laid to rest in St Magnus Cathedral, before being transferred to Bergen in 1264. The Maid of Norway In 1286, another event occurred.

Passed to the Baikies, wealthy merchants who also had a country estate in Tankerness (hence the name). The garden is also open to the public. 4 The Girnel, Kirkwall, Mainland HY 448113 Private; on Harbour Street. This store was built in the seventeenth century to hold grain paid in rents to the Earl. Grain was an important export from the islands in return for goods that were locally scarce such as timber. To one side of the store stands the Girnel Keeper’s House, which was built in.

Interference. Nevertheless, there are still many areas where a more ‘natural’ vegetation thrives. The coastlands include both herb-rich cliff tops, with a spectacular cover of sea-pinks in early summer, and low-lying lagoons interspersed with rocky shore-lands. Inland, there are poorly drained marshlands, lowland heaths and intensively tended agricultural lands, both arable and pasture. Higher up lie heather-covered moorlands, though only a few places are high, or exposed, enough for more.

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