History of Orkney facts for kids
Orkney is a group of islands in northern Scotland. People have lived there for a very long time, about 8,800 years! We know this from old tools and buildings found by archaeologists. Vikings from Scandinavia took over the islands in the 700s. They used Orkney as a base to explore other places. Later, in the late 1300s, Orkney became part of Scotland.
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Ancient Orkney: Stone Age and Beyond
After the Ice Age, people who hunted and gathered food slowly moved into Orkney as the ice melted. Soon, new ways of farming and building with huge stones, called megaliths, spread across the islands. The local sandstone was easy to split into building slabs. This helped preserve many old structures. These include ancient villages, round towers called brochs, underground passages called souterrains, stone burial mounds called chambered cairns, and tall standing stones.
The oldest stone house in northern Europe is at Knap of Howar on Papa Westray island. People lived there from about 3500 BC to 3100 BC. Its walls are still standing, and it even has stone furniture! The pottery found there, called Unstan ware, connects these people to nearby burial mounds.
At Skara Brae on the Mainland island, similar houses are connected by passages, forming a village. This village dates from about 3000 BC to 2500 BC. The pottery found here is called grooved ware. It is also found at the Standing Stones of Stenness, which are close to the amazing Maeshowe burial mound from the same time.
The nearby Ring of Brodgar is a circle of standing stones. Scientists believe these stones were used as ancient observatories to watch the stars. Another old village, the Barnhouse Settlement, has been found nearby.
Orkney has many brochs, which are impressive round towers. Some, like Burroughston Broch on Shapinsay, were strong, isolated houses. Others, like the Broch of Gurness, were surrounded by many other homes and buildings. Many brochs also had deep ditches and ramparts for defense. Both Burroughston Broch and the Broch of Gurness have interesting guard rooms inside their thick stone walls. These rooms helped watch the single entrance.
Iron Age in Orkney
The Iron Age brought impressive "Brochs" or round towers, and "weems" or underground houses. Tools from this time were simple. They included quern-stones for grinding grain, stone whorls and bone combs for weaving, and basic pottery. We don't know much about the culture or language of these early people. The only languages found in Orkney before the Norse arrived were Old Gaelic and Latin.
The Romans knew about the Orkney Islands, which they called "Orcades." This name likely came from a Brythonic Celtic language. A "king of the Orcades" was said to be one of 11 rulers who paid tribute to Claudius after the Romans invaded Britain in AD 43. Some Roman writings from the 300s and 400s even include the islands as a Roman province. However, archaeological finds suggest the Romans only traded with the people, perhaps through others. There is no clear sign that the Romans lived there.
Early Medieval Period
The Picts were in charge until the Norse took over in the 800s. There might have been a short time around 500 AD when Dál Riata Gaels settled on the islands. Then, Celtic missionaries arrived around 565 AD. They were followers of Saint Columba. Their efforts to teach Christianity seem to have made a big impression. Many island names include "Papa" to remember these early Christian hermits.
Viking Rule in Orkney
The Vikings used the islands as a base for their raids on Norway and the coasts of Scotland. In 875, Harold Hårfagre ("Fair Hair") of Norway defeated these raiders and took control of both Orkney and Shetland. The islands remained under the rule of Norwegian earls until 1231.
Studies of people's genes show that a good number of men on the islands have Norse family roots. About one-third of the male family lines on Orkney come from western Norway.
Some important jarls (earls) of Orkney were:
- Ragnvald Eysteinsson, died around 890
- Turf-Einar, died around 910
- Thorfinn Turf-Einarsson, Earl of Orkney, died around 963
- Erlend II
- Hakon Paulsson, 1105–1123
- Saint Magnus, 1106–1117
There is a legend that Henry Sinclair, 1st Earl of Orkney might have sailed to Newfoundland in North America in 1398, returning in 1400.
Orkney Becomes Part of Scotland
In 1468, Christian I, who was king of Norway, promised Orkney and Shetland as payment for his daughter Margaret's dowry. She was going to marry James III of Scotland. The money was never paid, so Orkney and Shetland became permanently connected to the Scottish crown. In 1471, King James gave land in Fife to William, Earl of Orkney. In return, William gave up all his rights to the Earldom of Orkney. By an act of the Parliament of Scotland on February 20, 1472, Orkney officially became part of the Scottish crown.
The last big battle fought on Orkney soil was the Battle of Summerdale in 1529. It was fought between two different Sinclair families from Orkney and Caithness.
In 1564, Lord Robert Stewart, who was the natural son of James V of Scotland, became the sheriff of Orkney and Shetland. He was given control of the lands. In 1581, King James VI made him the Earl of Orkney. This was confirmed for his son Patrick ten years later. But after Patrick was executed in 1614, the earldom went back to the crown.
In 1707, the islands were given to the earl of Morton as a mortgage. This meant the Crown could buy them back for 30,000 pounds, plus a yearly payment of 500 pounds. But in 1766, his lands were sold to Sir Lawrence Dundas, whose family later became the Earls of Zetland.
Religion in Orkney
In early times, the archbishops of Hamburg and York argued with the Norwegians over who had religious control of Orkney. They also argued about who could appoint bishops. But in the end, the Norwegian bishops continued the line of succession. The first Norwegian bishop was William the Old, appointed in 1102.
The bishop's position was empty from 1580 to 1606, and again from 1638 until the Restoration. After William III became king, the system of bishops was finally ended in 1697. However, many of the local clergy refused to change their ways.
The place names in Orkney are mostly Norse. The Norse language, which became the local Norn, slowly disappeared as more settlers came from Scotland. It lasted until the late 1700s. The old Norse system of government and the law of Saint Olaf were supposed to continue in Orkney and Shetland. This meant that the udal system of land ownership, which is like absolute freehold (owning land completely without a landlord), lasted for a while. Some udallers held their lands without written titles.
Orkney in the 20th Century
The islands of Orkney surround the huge, deep harbor of Scapa Flow. In both World War I and World War II, the Royal Navy had a major base there. This allowed them to stop German warships from entering the ocean through the Norwegian Sea.
After World War I ended in 1918, the German High Seas Fleet was brought to Scapa Flow. A decision was to be made about its future. However, the German sailors opened valves on their ships and sank all of them. Most of these ships were later brought back up, but the remaining wrecks are now a popular place for divers.
Orkney in World War II
One month into World War II, a German U-boat sank the Royal Navy battleship HMS Royal Oak in Scapa Flow. 835 lives were lost. Because of this, barriers were built to close most of the access channels to Scapa Flow. These barriers also created causeways, which are like roads connecting the islands. Now, people can travel between islands by road instead of needing boats.
During World War II, Italian prisoners of war were held on Orkney Mainland. They built a beautiful chapel using corrugated iron and other simple materials. This chapel is now a popular place for tourists to visit. The Scapa Flow naval base closed in 1956.
Recent Times
In the 1960s and 1970s, there were talks about possibly mining uranium between Stromness and Yesnaby. Margaret Thatcher's plans to open such a mine were stopped in 1980. This happened after local people campaigned against it. Composer Peter Maxwell Davies, who lived on the nearby island of Hoy, even created a show called The Yellow Cake Revue to protest. "Yellowcake" is a powder made in the early stages of processing uranium ore.
The Scottish independence referendum made some people in Orkney think about changing their status.
In July 2023, the Orkney Council started looking into changing its status. They are considering options like becoming a British Crown dependency or a self-governing territory within the Kingdom of Norway.
Archaeological Discoveries
In September 2021, archaeologists announced an exciting discovery. They found two smooth stone balls in a 5500-year-old Neolithic burial tomb in Sanday, Orkney. Dr. Hugo Anderson said one of the objects was "the size of a cricket ball, perfectly spherical and beautifully finished."
Legend of Orkney
In the stories of King Arthur, Orkney is the home of King Lot and his famous knights: Sir Gareth, Sir Gaheris, Sir Gawaine, and Sir Agravain.
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