west mainland - stromness

The first deep water pier wascompleted by private enter-prise in 1879, and togetherwith the advent of steamshipshelped to greatly increase theamount of trade goingthrough the town. In 1824there were four boatyards inStromness, the biggest wasbuilt at Ness by John Stangerin 1836 and closed in 1926.

Pentland Firth Ferries TheSS Royal Mail was built byStanger in 1856, and providedthe first regular crossing of thePentland Firth. Several other

vessels have operated the serv-ice over the years, includingfour named St Ola. The firstof these ran from 1892 until1951. Before WWII the ferrycalled at Scapa and StMargaret’s Hope on its way toScrabster. Today it followsone of the world’s most scenicshipping routes past the westcliffs of Hoy.

Herring In1887, local fishingboats started to fish forHerring on the west side ofOrkney. Within a few yearsthe Herring Boom had

STROMNESS (ON Straum-nes, Tidal Stream Point) andits excellent harbour isreferred to in the OrkneyingaSaga as Hafna-vagr, HarbourBay or Hamnavoe. Althoughthe town looks older thanKirkwall in many ways, in factas a settlement it is muchnewer. Like Lerwick inShetland, Stromness owes itsorigins to its excellent harbourand the needs of shipping.The view from the ferry as itturns in past the Point of Nessand enters the harbour is ofrows of stone-built houses

with gable-ends facing the sea,each with a small pier or slip-way. No doubt Kirkwalllooked very similar early in the19th century before JunctionRoad was built.

The town started to developin the early 1600s and by 1627there were 480 people attend-ing the Cairston Kirk. Overthe next two centuries growthwas rapid so that by 1821there were 2,944 people in theparish. In 1901 the popula-tion was 3,180, but this fell to1,998 by 1961. Since then it

has increased to 2,160.

Harbour Between 1688 and1815 wars and privateersmade the English Channeldangerous and much shippingchose to take the northaboutroute around Britain.Businesses were soon set up inStromness to supply food,water and other stores toships, which increasingly werecalling here before departingfar and wide. Login's Wellsupplied much of the southend of the town, as well asreplenishing ships, as can beseen from the inscription.

Hudson’s Bay CompanyThis company was set up in1670 to trade for furs withnative people in NorthernCanada, and its ships called atStromness for supplies and tohire local men to work in theNor' Waast until the late 19thcentury. During the 18th and19th centuries, Orcadiansmade up a very large propor-tion of the Company'semployees, and many settledin Canada. Today the localphone-books in NorthernCanada have the same namesas the Orkney equivalent anddescendants of these settlersregularly come “home” to visit.

Whaling was another sourceof employment, and from thelate 18th century ships boundfor the Greenland whalingstopped at Stromness to takeon young men as crew. At thepeak, about 1816, there wereup to 34 whaling ships callingat the town every year.

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The Herring fleet setting sail as seen from Brinkie’s Brae

HAMNAVOE - HAFNA-VAGR

STROMNESSATTRACTIONS

TOWN

The HarbourGraham MemorialPier Arts CentreLifeboat ShedStromness MuseumLogin’s WellThe Cannon

WEST

Point of NessStromness Golf CourseNess BatterySt Peter’s ChapelWarebeth BeachBreckness HouseBroch of BrecknessStennigar chambered cairnStennigar standing stonesBlack CraigNorth Gaulton CastleNeban Point

EAST

Copland’s DockThe HolmsBroch of NavershawBu of Cairston CastleBrig o’WaitheHowe Broch (site of )Deepdale standing stone

VIEWPOINTS

Brinkie’s BraeBattery viewpointWarebethBlack Craig

MV “Hamnavoe” arriving in Stromness from Scrabster

WEST MAINLAND - STROMNESS

Stromness inner harbour and boats

1pm and such was the force ofthe seas, wind and tide thatshe had totally broken up by5pm.

There was a lifeboat houseand slipway at the Point ofNess at first, but this wasunsatisfactory and new oneswere built in 1902, with thefirst motor lifeboat, John AHay coming in 1909. In 1916the Stromness Lifeboat wasrefused permission to go theaid of survivors of HMSHampshire, much to the dis-gust of the people of the town,who believe that many of thecrew could have been saved.

The J.J.K.S.W. came into serv-ice in March 1928. She was a51ft Barnett type speciallydesigned for the station. InMarch 1930 the trawler BenDoran went ashore on the VeSkerries in Shetland. The seawas too high for local boats toassist so the StromnessLifeboat was called on 55-hour mission. Sadly when shegot there the wreck had goneand all the crew were lost.The Aith lifeboat station onthe Westside of Shetland wasestablished in 1933.

reached Stromness. A newpier was constructed at thePoint of Ness in 1893, andaccommodation was built forthe gutters and curers. The

season lasted for two monthsfrom mid-June and at the peakthere were up to 400 sailingboats fishing out ofStromness. By 1908 catches

were declining due to over-fishing and the boom wasover. Today Stromness remains abusy port with a few largefishing boats as well as manysmaller lobster and crab boatsbeing based there. Most of thevessels taking divers out to theGerman Battleships fromWorld War I are also based inhere.

Northern Lighthouse BoardThe NLB base at the southend closed in October 2003,marking the end of an associa-tion, which had lasted for 100years. The vessels Pharos andPole Star remain regular sightsaround Orkney as they main-tain the many lighthouses,minor lights and buoys. TheNLB helicopter is also a famil-iar sight while it transfersstores or engineers to the vari-ous lighthouses.

Lifeboat The first RNLILifeboat to be stationed inStromness, the Saltaire,arrived in 1867, a year afterthe emigrant ship Albion wentashore on the Point of Oxanon Graemsay. This full-rigged1,225-ton ship was bound forNew York with 43 passengersand 24 crew, and after twelvedays of severe weather madefor Orkney.

Several boats, including themail steamer immediately gaveassistance, and althougheveryone was taken safely offthe wreck, sadly 11 weredrowned when one of thesmall boats capsized. TheAlbion had gone ashore about

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Aerial view of the Stromness street looking south from the Pier Head

“MV St Ola II” (1951-1974)“SS St Ola I” (1892-1951)


Old and new Stromness Lifeboats at the slipway in May 1955.


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Stromness Lifeboat -“17-16 Violet Dorothy and Kathleen”

fittingly named "Khyber Pass"!The town has retained itsattractive character, withdevelopment tending to beaway from the old street.

Graham Place is named afterAlexander Graham who, withother Stromness merchants inthe 18th century opposed theexclusive foreign trading rightswhich Kirkwall held as aRoyal Burgh. Stromness busi-nesses had to pay a special taxto Kirkwall and the final suc-cess of this campaign in a rul-ing by the House of Lords in1754, freed Stromness from

its obligationstowards Kirkwall, thus allow-ing its merchants to tradefreely abroad. The town final-ly became a burgh in 1817.Graham died penniless in1783, but he is commemorat-ed at the Pierhead Fountainby the grateful town.

Stromness Museum wasfounded in 1837. The presentbuilding, erected in 1858, hasdisplays on Orkney maritimeand natural history, includingthe Hudson's Bay Company,whaling, fishing, shipping, andthe German Grand Fleet scut-

tled in Scapa Flow. Naturalhistory exhibits includeOrkney birds and their eggs,mammals, fossils, seashells,butterflies and moths. It is afascinating little museum, andwell worth a visit.

Perhaps of greatest interestare the artefacts relating to DrJohn Rae. He was born at theHall of Clestrain in 1813, andworked for many years as adoctor and surveyor for theHudson’s Bay Company inCanada. Today he is mostremembered for establishingthe fate of the Franklin

In May 1955 Archibald &Alexander M Patersonreplaced the long-servingJ.J.K.S.W. and was in turnreplaced by the Arun classJoseph Rothwell Sykes andHilda M, which was mooredrather than stored in thelifeboat shed.

The station now has a"Severn"-class boat capable of

25 knots, “17-16 VioletDorothy and Kathleen”, whichis moored in the harbour, andcame into service in 1998.The lifeboat shed is no longerin RNLI use and is occupiedby Scapa Scuba, but retainsmany interesting artefactsrelating to the services of thevarious boats which werebased there.

The Street The main streettwists and turns along theshore among the houses,which are built out into thesea on the one side and intothe hill on the other. Narrowcloses emanate into the flag-stone paved street, which stillhas cobbles up the centre, areminder of the days of horsetransport. There are manyevocative names - one close is

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Victoria Street in the early 21st century - little change


Dundas Street in the late 19th century

John Rae’s fiddleJohn Rae in his inflatable boat

Khyber Pass

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“St Ola” III leaving Stromness (1974-1992)

Graham Memorial Fountain


“The Cannon” viewpoint, on Stanger’s Brae

Boys fishing for Sillocks

“St Ola IV” in Hoy Sound (1992-2002)

Processing Herring at Stromness

as a diary of educationalevents.

As George Mackay Brownsaid in 1988, “The Pier ArtsCentre in Stromness has, in thebrief decade of its existence, beenan "alma mater" for all the artsand artists in Orkney. It hasalso, of course, kept open houseto artists and their work fromevery country and continent.May it still be there, in its lovelysetting, and flourishing mightily,after ten decades have come andgone.”

The Cannon on Stanger'sBrae at the South End is saidto have come from anAmerican privateer, theLiberty, captured in 1813. Itwas fired whenever shipsrequiring men or provisionsentered harbour.

The public seats here are anexcellent place to sit and watchthe boats coming and going inthe harbour. A nearby houseon the shore has a dinghy withdavits in the garden. On sum-mer evenings Snipes and Yolestake part in points races andmake a pretty spectacle.

Login's Well is just down thehill. It was sealed up in 1931,after supplying the town andcountless visiting ships formany years. These includedin 1780, Captain Cook’s shipsResolution and Discovery ontheir way home from theSouth Pacific after the deathof Cook. In 1845 the twodoomed vessels of Franklin’sfailed bid to find theNorthwest Passage, Erebusand Terror also made their lastcall here..

Events The quaint narrowstreets and intimate nature of

Expedition, which set out in1845 to find the NorthwestPassage.

Raestands out as the foremost19th century expert in arctictravel and survival. He adopt-ed and adapted the techniquesof the indigenous peoplewhich was against the ethos ofVictorian England. Despitehis outstanding successes hewas never acknowledged bythe British state for what hewas. His memorial can beseen in St Magnus Cathedral.Stromness Museum has hisinnovative inflatable boat, vio-lin, and many other interest-ing related artefacts.

Distillery Across the roadfrom the museum, where ahousing development calledMayburn Court now stands,was the site of the "OldOrkney" Distillery, establishedin 1828. As it was built on ahill, pumps were not neededexcept to fill the Wash Still.The small Pot Stills had acapacity of 300 gallons andone had apparently previouslybeen used illicitly, as when thebuilding was being demol-ished a concealed still wasfound within one of the walls.

In 1887 the distillery pro-duced 7,000 gallons ofHighland Malt, but it wasclosed in 1920. The

Temperance Movementgained much support in thetown after World War I andbetween 1920 and 1947 thetown was "dry". The poet andauthor George Mackay Brownlived in a house on this site formany years.

Pier Arts Centre The PierArts Centre buildings wereoriginally the premises ofEdward Clouston, Orkney'srecruiting agent for theHudson's Bay Companybetween 1836 and 1867, andlatterly the home of local artistSylvia Wishart. The pictur-esque old premises were reno-vated in 1979 to house a per-manent collection of works ofthe St Ives School (BarbaraHepworth, Ben Nicholsonand others) donated byMargaret Gardiner.

The Centre had a major rede-velopment in 2005-2007 witha new extension that fits invery well with the originalbuildings. It acts as a focalpoint for the Orkney artisticcommunity. There is a regularexhibition programme, as well

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Captain’s parlour at Stromness Museum


Pier Arts Centre Pier Arts Centre

Stromness Museum artefacts from the WWI German Fleet Login’s Well on Stanger’s Brae

Old Vatted Stromness Whisky advertOld Vatted Stromness Whisky label

Stromness. The game wasoriginally played on the linksat Warebeth and the presentcourse was set out in 1924,when the Club bought thefarm of Ness. There is a mod-ern clubhouse now, as well as abowling green and tenniscourt. The complex is sharedwith Stromness Sailing Club,which has points racing dur-ing the summer, as well as anannual regatta. TraditionalOrkney yoles, some renovat-ed, others new, regularly sailhere.

The Stromness Ba’ In formertimes old Orkney football andshooting took place on NewYear’s Day, and latterly onChristmas Day also. By 1884the Ba’ was being played in thestreets in the Kirkwall stylebetween Southenders andNorthenders. In 1904 a Boys’game was first played.The Town Council did notapprove and on New Year’sDay 1924 the last game wasplayed. The excuse to ban thegame was the fitting of a newplate glass window to a cafe.The Council continued forsome years to renew its ban,which was accepted. This wasprobably because the gamewas an imported event, ratherthan an indigenous traditionwith a long history.

Stromness Yule Tree A dif-ferent tradition which sur-vived until 1936 was theStromness Yule Tree, duringwhich a tree was acquired onChristmas Eve by the youngmen of the town. TheSouthenders and

Stromness make it popularwith visitors, and severalevents take place during theyear, including, in late May,Orkney Folk Festival.Traditional music has under-gone a revival and this success-ful festival, which was estab-lished in 1983, attracts a widevariety of local, as well as visit-ing, musicians. Events arespread over the islands during

the last weekend of May withStromness as the main venue.

In June the town shares eventsand performances of the StMagnus Festival withKirkwall, while in July theStromness Shopping Weektakes place. The ShoppingWeek Queen is crowned onthe Monday and the town hasa gala week, culminating in a

Fancy Dress Parade and fire-work display on the Saturdaynight. More recently severalother events have been start-ed, including Orkney JazzFestival, in April, Orkney BeerFestival, in August andOrkney Blues Festival inSeptember..

Golf Course There is anexcellent Golf Course at

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Stromness from the Holms in the 1890s

The Stromness Ba’ in the early 1900s

The Orkney Folk Festival is one of many Stromness-based events

Stromness from the Ness Dundas Street

Stromness from the ferry

Cameron Stout made a triumphant return from winning “Big Brother”

303

Northenders attached chainsand ropes to it and they tookpart in a form of tug o’war inthe streets until one of thegoals was reached.

In this case the Council alsodisapproved, but did not actu-ally try to ban the event.However since half the fun

was deciding whose tree totake without permission,when the Council insisted onhaving the owner’s consent tohave his or her prize specimencut down this had a dampen-ing effect.

Nowadays such behaviourwould be frowned upon and

Stromness is undergoing anrenewal development whichwill transform the harbourarea to the whim of today’splanners and architects. Thetown however grew organical-ly, which is probably its princi-pal attraction. Hopefully theywill not succeed in destroyingthis magic.

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HAMNAVOE - HAFNA-VAGRWEST MAINLAND - STROMNESS

GEORGE MACKAY BROWN Orkney pro-duced severalfine scholars,a r t i s t s ,authors andpoets in the20th century,i n c l u d i n gEdwin Muir,Eric Linklater,H u g hM a r w i c k ,

Stanley Cursiter, Margaret Tait and many oth-ers, but none was as prolific or so well knownin his own lifetime as George Mackay Brown.This gifted poet and story-writer publishedmore than 30 books and several of his storieswere televised. He won many awards for hiswork, which is internationally famous.

His absorbing, lovely stories and poems areessential reading for anyone who likes Orkney.Sadly he died in April 1996 and was buried inStromness after a service in the Cathedral on StMagnus Day. The poet Edwin Muir said that“Grace was what most shone out from all GeorgeMackay Brown's writing.” To this must be addeda quiet passion for Orkney and Orcadians.

EUROPEAN MARINE ENERGYCENTRE (EMEC)

The European Marine Energy Centre wasestablished in 2003. Its Mission Statement is"To be the internationally acknowledged leadingtest and certification centre for marine energy con-verters."Its base is in the Old Academy.

Off Billia Cru below the Black graig, it has testberths for wave energy convertor devices, situat-ed along the 50m water depth contour . It alsohas a tidal energy convertor test site of thesouthwest of Eday in the Fall of Warness. Eachtest berth is connected by cables to an onshoresubstation which passes electricity to theNational Grid.

The aim is to stimulate and accelerate the devel-opment of marine power devices by providing arealistic testing environment and services forthe development and certification of energyconversion devices. EMEC collects data onweather, waves and tides from its two sites.Developments at Kirkwall, Stromness andLyness harbours by OIC underpin the status ofOrkney as a major marine energy developmentlocation.

Stromness from Brinkie’s Brae in 1910 - “St Ola I” is arriving

Stromness from Brinkie’s Brae in 2005 - more houses but the same fine view - “Hamnavoe” leaving

Sunset over Hoy Sound from the Point of Ness

Snipes sailing in Stromness Harbour

Leaving Stromness on the ferry

over 100 but there was con-stant movement of personnelspending only a short timethere before moving to otherlocations.

The Battery Observation Post(BOP) and gun emplacementsare of cast concrete, andremain in good conditionapart from rusted steel beams.The hutted camp originallyhad corrugated iron roofs. It isnow a unique survivor withmany original features.

The officers’ quarters had antoilet block, a kitchen, and amess with an ugly brick fire-place. Ordinary soldiers werequartered in four huts, withstoves for heating. The messhall has a large mural paintedon three sides of the interiorwalls. Allegedly the fourthwall featured a crest with thewords, Come the four cornersof the earth, and we will sinkthem!’

The battery never fired a shotin anger and must have been acold, damp posting. Howeverit served its purpose alongwith the rest of the ScapaFlow defences in WWII.

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NESS BATTERY is situatedto the west of Stromness GolfCourse. It was first estab-lished at Linksness in 1914with 2 12pdr quick fire gunsfrom a warship. Later 2 morewere placed at the Point ofNess. In 1915 twin 6inAmerican guns were installedin 2 batteries. A third had 35.5in guns. Orkney TerritorialArmy personnel manned thesmaller guns and RoyalMarines the larger ones.

In 1938 the present NessBattery was built with 2 twin

6in mountings, with a rate offire of 72 rounds per minute..Underground magazines withconcrete and brick ancillarybuildings were constructed. Aprefabricated Jain woodencamp to house 141 CoastalBattery, a Battery ObservationPost, a Fire Command post,and searchlight housings weralso installed.

Engine rooms, water tanks,and remains from WWI com-plete the visible remains. Thehuts have survived as theywere until recently used by the

Territorial Army. One stillhas wall murals dating fromWWII which depict Englishvillage scenes.

The Battery defended thewestern approach to ScapaFlow. It was one of only twosuch emplacements in Orkneythat was operational at thestart of WWII.

Traffic was strictly controlled,and vessels that failed to com-municate were given a shotacross the bows. On one occa-sion, the St Ola, commandedby Captain Swanson wasentering Hoy Sound after aGerman aircraft had droppedmines. It took several shots toconvince him to go around theother side of Hoy.

Orkney was as an overseasposting for the British forces,with all the attendant perksand privileges. The usualrotation was 6 months. NessBattery had a compliment of

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NESS COASTAL DEFENCE BATTERY

Ness BOP, with the Royal Navy above and the Army below

Personnel at work in the Ness BOPsLoading a 6in gun in WWII

Murals in the mess hall

Ness huts with the BOP in the background

One of the twin 6in gun mountings in WWII


Interior of one of the 6in gun houses with ready use lockers and gun mounting

(Sea Crashing Point,HY224093), where the ruinsof a fine house built by BishopGraham in 1633 can be seen.This was an important bish-opric property in the days ofthe Norse Earldom.

The Broch of Breckness hasmostly been eroded away bythe sea, but enough remains toshow that this was originallyan impressive structure. Thesandstone beds here show par-ticularly clearly. In a fieldabove the beach of Stennigar(ON Steina-gardr, StoneyFarm, HY231095) is a dilapi-dated chambered cairn whoseentrance faces the Kame ofHoy. Two small standingstones are nearby.

Cairston Leave Stromness bythe Cairston Road and takethe path by the shore, fromwhere there is an interestingcoastal walk to the Brigo'Waithe (HY281113). TheHolms can only be reached atlow tide and were used duringthe Herring Boom for boatrepairs and curing. Copland’sDock was a hive of boat build-ing and repairing activity, butnow lies quiet.

A small mound in a field

above the Bay of Navershaw isan early Iron Age site, whichwas excavated in 1978. Thislarge roundhouse was occu-pied about 600BC and had nosurrounding buildings ordefences. The interior waspaved, with a large hearth andadjacent cooking tank. Thistype of house is thought to bethe precursor of the brochs.

The Orkneyinga Saga relatesthat in September 1152, EarlHarald Maddadson tookrefuge from his cousin Erlendand Sweyn Asleifson in theCastle of Cairston. Above theshore at the Bu of Cairston(HY274095) are the over-grown remains of CairstonCastle which probably datesfrom the 16th century and nodoubt incorporates the previ-

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WALKS Stromness and thesurrounding parish offermuch to the walker based inthe town.

Town The harbour and espe-cially the muddy area at thenorth end are good places toseek out migrant birds such asGlaucous, Iceland or evenRing-billed Gulls in winter. Abrisk climb to the top ofBrinkie's Brae (HY252096,94m) gives a good panoramicview of Stromness, HoySound and Scapa Flow.

The small lanes at the back ofStromness also offer good

walks, the mostly graniterocks providing a contrast interrain to the rest of Orkney.There are particularly goodviews east over the lochs fromthe track above Cauldhame(HY240130) and aboveNewtonhill (HY241121).

Point of Ness On a summerevening the stroll via the Pointof Ness (HY257080) past thegolf course, to Ness Battery(HY248079) and back is verypleasant. This gun batterywas equipped with 6-inchguns in both World Wars, andincludes protected gun hous-es, magazines and observation

towers. Its function was toprotect the Hoy Soundentrance to Scapa Flow. Thereis a fine viewpoint at Citadelabove the Battery.

The Battery is unique in that4 of the accommodation hutshave survived, one of whichstill has murals on the walls.The site was used by theTerritorial Army until recent-ly, during which time the hutswere maintained. Visits arepossible by arrangement.

Warebeth The path contin-ues round the shore to StPeter's cemetery with itsruined church and scantremains of a broch, toWarebeth beach, no doubtnamed after the large amountof seaweed, or "ware" whichgets washed up here. Returnvia the road throughInnertown.

Breckness From Warebeth apath runs along the shore toBreckness (ON Brak-ness,

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Ness Battery from the CitadelParts of the Broch of Breckness being eroded by the sea

Aerial view of Ness Battery

Howe Broch was excavated totally in the 1980s

Breckness House was built by Bishop Graham in 1633


North Gaulton Castle is about 2.5km north of the Black Craig

storm beach of Billia Croo tothe top of the Black Craig(HY220110, 111m). There isalso a carpark at the end of theOutertown road beside theruined cottage of Fletts. Apath leads to the oldCoastguard hut from wherethere are good views of Hoyand Hoy Sound.

The coastline north of theBlack Craig is spectacular,with several geos and burnswhich cascade over the cliffs.There are stunning viewsalong the cliffs to Hoy and thenorth of Scotland on a clearday. A marked path goes on toYesnaby (5km, 3mi) andSkara Brae (3km, 2mi). Astudy of the local bus

timetable will reveal suitableconnections to return toStromness.

North Gaulton Castle(HY216134), a large rockstack just north of NebanPoint (HY216132). Someyears ago Rover landed a caron the top by helicopter aspart of an advertising cam-paign. There are many attrac-tive rock formations betweenNeban Point and Yesnaby.Although never far from habi-tation in reality, this piece ofcoastline feels very remote andisolated with only the oceanand birds for company. Afarm track leads back to thepublic road at Cauldhame.

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ous Norse site. There is said tohave been a church dedicatedto the Holy Rood nearby.

Howe Broch At the farm ofHowe a large- scale destruc-tion excavation was carriedout in the early 1980s on

Howe Broch. This yieldedlarge amounts of information,but sadly the whole structurewas necessarily destroyed inthe process. This site wasoccupied from the NeolithicAge until Viking times. Itprovided a picture of continu-

ity and change over the cen-turies and is described in theintroduction. Continue alongthe shore to the Bush, theshallow estuary of the brack-ish Stenness Loch, and finally,the Brig o’Waithe is reached.

Deepdale Returning by themain road, there is an interest-ing standing stone(HY272118) overlooking theLoch near Deepdale. Thiswas originally one of a pair,the other was knocked downby a farmer while ploughing inthe 1970s and never re-erect-ed. From here there are goodviews over the loch to Brodgar.

West Coast It is possible tocarry round the shore past the

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North Gaulton Castle is about 2.5km north of the Black Craig

STROMNESS TIMELINE1152 Castle of Cairston in “OS”1590 Inn on eastern shore1627 480 people at Cairston Kirk1633 Breckness House built1670 Hudsons Bay Co set up1702 HBC ships start to visit1754 Traders win case v Kirkwall1770s Whalers arriving1780 Captain Cook’s ships visit1813 Liberty cannon captured1816 Whaling at peak1817 Burgh of Barony1828 Stromness Distillery starts1837 Stromness Museum founded1856 First steamer to Scrabster1867 RNLI lifeboat established1887 Start of Herring Boom1893 New pier at Point of Ness1895 NLB shore station built1892 St Ola I begins long career1901 Population reaches 3,1801920 Stromness votes to go “dry”

Distillery closed1924 Last Stromness Ba’ game1927 End of Herring Boom1930 North Pier built1931 Login’s Well sealed1936 Last Stromness Yule Tree1947 Stromness votes to be “wet”1949 Stromness Shopping Week1951 St Ola II in service1974 St Ola III in service1979 Pier Arts Centre opens1981 Howe Broch excavated1982 First Orkney Folk Festival1992 St Ola IV in service1996 Death of George M Brown2003 NLB closes base

MV Hamnavoe on dutyEMEC opens

2004 Stromness marina complete2005 Pier Arts Centre renovations2009 Oyster 1 installed at EMEC2011 Town Centre renovations

Grey Herons are often seen near the Brig o’WaitheThrift in flower

Geo north of the Black Craig formed by an igneous intrusion eroding away


Winter sunset over Hoy from Warebeth

Aerial view of Outertown from the west

west mainland - stromness

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