South Walls

Coordinates: 58°47′24″N 3°10′48″W / 58.79000°N 3.18000°W / 58.79000; -3.18000
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South Walls
Scots nameSooth Waas
Old Norse nameVágaland/Vágar
Cantick Head lighthouse on South Walls
Cantick Head lighthouse on South Walls
Location
South Walls is located in Orkney Islands
South Walls
South Walls
South Walls shown within Orkney
OS grid referenceND304895
Coordinates58°47′16″N 3°12′18″W / 58.78788°N 3.2049°W / 58.78788; -3.2049
Physical geography
Island groupOrkney
Area1,100 ha (4.2 sq mi)[1]
Area rank47 [2]
Highest elevation57 m (187 ft)
Administration
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
CountryScotland
Council areaOrkney Islands
Lymphad
References[3][4][5][6][7]

South Walls is a tidal island or peninsula at the southern end of Hoy in Orkney, Scotland. It is connected to the main body of Hoy, and to the district of North Walls, by a thin neck of land known as the Ayre. Its largest settlement is Longhope, which lies on a long natural harbour of the same name.[8][9] Both North and South Walls belong to the civil parish of Walls and Flotta.[10]

South Walls is a popular stopping off place for barnacle geese.

Etymology[edit]

The Norse name of Vágaland, meaning "land of bays" applied to both what is now South Walls and the southern portion of nearby Hoy.[11] Over time this became Scots: Wais[12] (variously spelled) for the whole area and Scots: Sooth Waas meaning "southern bays" for the island.[7] As for Kirkwall, early cartographers assumed "waa" was a local pronunciation of "wall", hence the modern name.[7][13]

Geography and geology[edit]

South Walls, like most of the Orkney archipelago, is made up of old red sandstone, with the Rousay flagstone group predominating.[14] It is more or less oval in shape, although there is a small promontory called Cantick Head in the southeast, overlooking Kirk Hope. It is separated from Hoy by the inlet of Longhope. The body of water south of the Ayre is known as Aith Hope.

Although it is clear that South Walls is inhabited as it was not listed as an inhabited island by the census[15][16] no reliable estimate of the current population is available.

Status as an island or peninsula[edit]

In the past various descriptions suggest that South Walls was usually considered to be an island.

  • In Jo Ben's 1529 "Descriptions of Orkney", Wais appears in a list of islands but the wording states: "the island is not large. There is no distinction between Hoy and Wais, but it is one island from the firth receding" i.e. at low tide.[12]
  • Irvine's 2006 reprint of Blaeu's Atlas Novus of 1654 contains various descriptions of Orkney including:-
    • "the island of Walls, (commonly Waes);[18]
    • "among them Hoy Walls, whether this is two islands, or one: because about the season of equal day, when the tides goes out, they are joined with waves and sand at a narrow neck as one island; when the tide comes in and the sea is again interposed, the appearance of two lands surrounded by water is produced."[19]
    • "Hoy and Walls which some call two islands, others one: because about the equinoxes, (when the seas are most violently stirred up and boil), when the tide goes out and the sands are bared, they are joined by a narrow strip and make one island; when the tide tide comes and the sea is again interposed they give the appearance of two islands".[20]

The Vision of Britain map of 1856 shows a drying gap between the islands of Hoy and South Walls.[21]

The Ayre, with North Walls beyond

A road linking South Walls to Hoy was constructed towards the end of the 19th century. Prior to that time it had only been accessible by land across the shingle beach of the Ayre at low tide.[22] Its status is now considered by some writers as a peninsula attached to Hoy and by others as still being an island. Some examples are given below.

Neither the 2001 or 2011 censuses mention South Walls in their lists of inhabited islands.[15][16] In 2001 the General Register Office for Scotland defined an island as "a mass of land surrounded by water, separate from the Scottish mainland" and although the inclusion of islands linked man-made constructions is not clear from this definition in practice they list several separately that are joined to one another by bridges and causeways such as South Ronaldsay in Orkney or are tidal islands such as Eilean Shona and Erraid in the Hebrides.

South Walls is listed in Livingstone's comprehensive Scottish island tables[1] but the Gazetteer for Scotland states that it is "a peninsula, sometimes described as an island."[23] Haswell-Smith states that South Walls "was an island" until the causeway over the Ayre was constructed.[3] For similar reasons he excludes Skye amongst others that are considered by others as having island status.[24][15]

History[edit]

Norse period[edit]

South Walls features fairly prominently in the Norse period, partly because it was the first landfall when sailing from west Caithness or Sutherland. It and North Walls were known to the Norsemen as Vágaland, the land of voes or bays.[11]

South Walls also played a crucial role in the Christianisation of Orkney. Although Christianity in the islands predated the Norse by a number of years, the Norse often remained pagan. Olaf Tryggvasson, King of Norway forced the Earl of Orkney, Sigurd Hloðvisson to be baptised at South Walls.[25] Earl Sigurd accepted, and remained a nominal Christian the rest of his life. However, he did so under duress - King Olaf had many valas (Norse shamans) executed by being tied and left on a skerry at ebb. This was a long and terrible wait for death, and perhaps Earl Sigurd expected a similar fate.

17th century[edit]

Walter Stewart's "Chorographic Description" of Orkney and Shetland says of South Walls:

Its south coast is gnawed at as if by a rabid dog by the Pentland Firth; its waves like so many teeth are strongly resisted by the very high and hard cliffs which stretch out before this island, and blunt the bite. It enjoys from and in itself quite a good production of crops, pastures, fish sea- and land-birds, and ponies. There are very many buildings on it and very many spirited inhabitants, in particular a dwelling called Snelsetter to the south, and one called Melsetter to the west. It also has an anchorage for ships not far from Snelsetter, quite commodious.[18]

Modern history[edit]

Hackness martello tower, one of a pair on either side of Longhope bay, built in 1813-14[26]

Overlooking Longhope in the north east is Hackness Martello Tower and Battery. The tower, together with another on the north side at Crockness on Hoy, was built in 1815 to protect British ships in the bay of Longhope against attack by American and French privateers, during the Napoleonic Wars, while they waited for a Royal Navy escort on their journey to Baltic ports.[27] The towers were rearmed for World War I. Hackness Martello Tower and Battery is in the care of Historic Environment Scotland.[26]

Cantick Head is well known for its lighthouse designed and built by David and Thomas Stevenson and first lit in July 1858 and automated in 1991.[28]

South Walls has substantial remains from the Second World War, when Scapa Flow was used as a Royal Navy base.

Longhope lifeboat[edit]

A lifeboat has been stationed on Hoy since 1874, at first housed in a prominent stone building close to the west end of the causeway that links the two islands of Hoy and South Walls. In 2000 an Arun-class lifeboat, Sir Max Aitken II became the Longhope lifeboat. This class was designed to stay permanently afloat, and the decision was taken to move her to purpose-built moorings at Longhope pier. The lifeboats that have served here since have also been stationed at Longhope, including the current vessel the Helen Comrie (a Tamar-class lifeboat) and her predecessor The Queen Mother, which was based here between 2004 and 2006. A station has been built where the lifeboat is moored at Longhope which is also the main harbour for boats to and from the island.[29][4]

Natural History[edit]

The Candle stack and cliffs within the Hill of White Hamars nature reserve

Barnacle geese regularly over-winter on South Walls with numbers often exceeding 1500.[30] Many species of seabirds nest on the cliffs including razorbills, fulmar and guillemots. Butterflies such as meadow browns and common blues can be seen in the summer. The Scottish primrose can be found at the Scottish Wildlife Trust nature reserve at Hill of White Hamars on the south coast.[7][31]

Gallery[edit]

  • Kirk Hope
    Kirk Hope
  • Waterfall entering the sea at Misbister
    Waterfall entering the sea at Misbister
  • Remains of a WWII-era radio station
    Remains of a WWII-era radio station

Footnotes[edit]

  1. ^ a b Rick Livingstone’s Tables of the Islands of Scotland (pdf) Argyll Yacht Charters. Retrieved 12 Dec 2011.
  2. ^ Area and population ranks: there are c. 300 islands over 20 ha in extent and 93 permanently inhabited islands were listed in the 2011 census.
  3. ^ a b Haswell-Smith (2006) p. 346
  4. ^ a b Ordnance Survey. OS Maps Online (Map). 1:25,000. Leisure.
  5. ^ Anderson, Joseph (Ed.) (1893) Orkneyinga Saga. Translated by Jón A. Hjaltalin & Gilbert Goudie. Edinburgh. James Thin and Mercat Press (1990 reprint). ISBN 0-901824-25-9
  6. ^ Pedersen, Roy (January 1992) Orkneyjar ok Katanes (map, Inverness, Nevis Print)
  7. ^ a b c d "South Walls: Ayyre to Cantick Head". (2017) Stromness Museum. Orkney Islands Council. pp. 2-3
  8. ^ "North Walls". Gazetteer for Scotland. Retrieved 9 February 2024.
  9. ^ "South Walls". Gazetteer for Scotland. Retrieved 9 February 2024.
  10. ^ Groomes, Francis H. (1901). Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Graphic and Accurate Description of Every Place in Scotland. Edinburgh: T. C. and E. C. Jack. p. 836.
  11. ^ a b Massue, Melville Henry (1906). The Moodie Book. Privately printed. p. 8.
  12. ^ a b "Wais". Orkneyar.com. Retrieved 21 September 2013.
  13. ^ "Orkney Placenames". Orkneyjar.com. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
  14. ^ Brown, John Flett "Geology and Landscape" in Omand (2003) p.4.
  15. ^ a b c National Records of Scotland (15 August 2013). "Appendix 2: Population and households on Scotland's Inhabited Islands" (PDF). Statistical Bulletin: 2011 Census: First Results on Population and Household Estimates for Scotland Release 1C (Part Two) (PDF) (Report). SG/2013/126. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
  16. ^ a b General Register Office for Scotland (28 November 2003) Scotland's Census 2001 – Occasional Paper No 10: Statistics for Inhabited Islands. Retrieved 26 February 2012.
  17. ^ Skene (1872) p. 41
  18. ^ a b Stewart, Walter (mid-1640s) "New Chorographic Description of the Orkneys" in Irvine (2006) p. 17. Translated from the original Latin by Ian Cunningham.
  19. ^ A. Melville from Scotia Topgraphia of 1603 in Irvine (2006) p. 63
  20. ^ Buchanan, George (1582) Rerum Scoticarum Historia in Irvine (2006) p. 57. Translated from the original Latin by Ian Cunningham.
  21. ^ "Scotland First Series" Vision of Britain. Retrieved 21 September 2013.
  22. ^ Muir, Tom "Geology and Landscape" in Omand (2003) p.220.
  23. ^ "South Walls". Gazetteer for Scotland. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
  24. ^ Haswell-Smith (2006) p. 502
  25. ^ Haswell-Smith (2006) pp. 343-44
  26. ^ a b "Hackness Martello Tower and Battery". Historic Environment Scotland. Retrieved 17 February 2024.
  27. ^ "Travel Scotland: Hoy". Retrieved 13 July 2007.
  28. ^ "Cantick Head Lighthouse." Northern Lighthouse Board. Retrieved 15 November 2008.
  29. ^ "Our Boats". Longhope Lifeboat Museum. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
  30. ^ "South Walls Local Goose Management Scheme". NatureScot. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
  31. ^ "Hill of White Hamars". Scottish Wildlife Trust. Retrieved 15 February 2024.

References[edit]

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to South Walls.

58°47′24″N 3°10′48″W / 58.79000°N 3.18000°W / 58.79000; -3.18000

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