Orkney Islands
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The Orkney Islands consists
of a group of over 70 islands, but only 17
are inhabited. They start 6 miles off the Scottish mainland and extend
50 miles north and northeast.
(SFEM, 10/10/99, p.22)
Kirkwall is the capital and biggest town on Mainland Orkney.
(SSFC, 11/13/05, p.F10)
4,000BC The
Orkneys were inhabited at least since this time.
(SFEM, 10/10/99, p.23)
4000-3000BC The Tomb of the Eagles, an oval
chambered cairn, on West Mainland dated to this time.
(SFEM, 10/10/99, p.26)
3200BC-2200BC The Orkney Island village of Skara Brae
was inhabited during this period. A huge storm in 1850 revealed its
ruins. Inhabitants were settled farmers who ate sheep, cattle, grain
and fish.
(www.orkneyjar.com/history/skarabrae/)(SFEC,
3/23/97, p.T3)
c3000BC On the Orkney mainland the 12 Stones of
Stennes were built about this time.
(SFEC, 3/23/97, p.T3)
c2750BC In the Orkney Islands a chambered tomb, Maes
Howe, near the Stones of Stennes was constructed. It also exhibits a
collection of stone carved Viking runes. The tomb was vandalized and
rebuilt in 9th century Norse times.
(SFEC, 3/23/97, p.T3)(SFEM, 10/10/99, p.24)
2500BC-2000BC Scotland’s Ring of Brogar in Orkney’s
West Mainland dates to about this time. In 2005 36 of the original 60
stones remained standing. The original stones stood in a perfect circle
340 feet in diameter.
(SFEC, 3/23/97, p.T3)(SSFC, 11/13/05, p.F10)
700-800 Vikings began arriving to the Orkney Islands.
(SFEC, 3/23/97, p.T3)
1472 The Orkney Islands were part
of Norway until this year.
(SFEC, 3/23/97, p.T3)
1850 Skara Brae was rediscovered
by William Watt, the laird of Skaill, after a fierce storm stripped the
grass from a high sand dune.
(SFEC, 3/23/97, p.T3)
1919 At the end of WW I the German
High Seas Fleet was interred at Scapa Flow in the Orkneys. During
armistice discussions the German commander gave orders to scuttle the
ships.
(SFEM, 10/10/99, p.49)
1939 The HMS Oak was sunk by a
German submarine in the Scapa Flow and 833 lives were lost. This
prompted Winston Churchill to order the creation of concrete barriers
at the eastern entrance of Scapa Flow.
(SFEM, 10/10/99, p.49)
1945 May 12, The Churchill
Barriers were formally opened by the first Lord of the Admiralty. They
were built to protect Scapa Flow from enemy submarines. The 5 causeways
linked Orkney’s Mainland to South Ronaldsay and marked a dividing line
between the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Thousands of Italian
prisoners of war carried out the project and left behind their
decorated Italian Chapel.
(SSFC, 11/13/05,
p.F10)(www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/eastmainland/churchill/)
1999 Some 23,000 people
lived on the Orkney Islands.
(SFEM, 10/10/99, p.22)
2005 The population of mainland
Orkney was about 7,500.
(SSFC, 11/13/05, p.F10)
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Subject = Orkneys
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