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Hoy (from Old Norse Háey meaning high island) is one of the Orkney Islands
Orkney Islands

Orkney is an archipelago in northern Scotland, situated 10 miles north of the coast of Caithness. Orkney comprises over 70 islands; around 20 are inhabited....
 in Scotland
Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
. With an area of , it is the second largest of the Orkney Islands
Orkney Islands

Orkney is an archipelago in northern Scotland, situated 10 miles north of the coast of Caithness. Orkney comprises over 70 islands; around 20 are inhabited....
 after the Mainland. It is connected by a southern causeway called The Ayre to South Walls
South Walls

South Walls is an inhabited island adjacent to Hoy in Orkney, Scotland. The name is a corruption of "Sooth Was", which means the "southern voes" - as with Kirkwall, it was assumed that it was a mispronunciation of "walls"....
. Unusually, the two islands are treated as one entity by the UK census.

The dramatic coastline of Hoy is what usually greets visitors travelling to the Orkney Islands by ferry from the Scottish mainland.






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Hoy (from Old Norse Háey meaning high island) is one of the Orkney Islands
Orkney Islands

Orkney is an archipelago in northern Scotland, situated 10 miles north of the coast of Caithness. Orkney comprises over 70 islands; around 20 are inhabited....
 in Scotland
Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
. With an area of , it is the second largest of the Orkney Islands
Orkney Islands

Orkney is an archipelago in northern Scotland, situated 10 miles north of the coast of Caithness. Orkney comprises over 70 islands; around 20 are inhabited....
 after the Mainland. It is connected by a southern causeway called The Ayre to South Walls
South Walls

South Walls is an inhabited island adjacent to Hoy in Orkney, Scotland. The name is a corruption of "Sooth Was", which means the "southern voes" - as with Kirkwall, it was assumed that it was a mispronunciation of "walls"....
. Unusually, the two islands are treated as one entity by the UK census.

The dramatic coastline of Hoy is what usually greets visitors travelling to the Orkney Islands by ferry from the Scottish mainland. It has extremes of many kinds: some of the highest cliffs in the UK at St John's Head; the impressive and famous sea stack, the Old Man of Hoy
Old Man of Hoy

The Old Man of Hoy is a Stack of Old Red Sandstone perched on a plinth of igneous basalt, close to Rackwick Bay on the west coast of the island of Hoy, in the Orkney Islands, Scotland....
; some of the most northerly surviving natural woodland in the British Isles; the remote possibility that Arctic Char
Arctic char

Arctic char or Arctic charr is both a freshwater and Seawater fish in the Salmonidae family, native to Arctic, subarctic and alpine lakes and coastal waters....
 survive in Heldale Water and the most northerly Martello Towers
Martello tower

Martello towers are small defensive Fortification built in several countries of the British Empire during the 19th century, from the time of the Napoleonic Wars onwards....
, which were built to defend the area during the Napoleonic War
Napoleonic Wars

The Napoleonic Wars were a series of conflicts involving Napoleon I of France First French Empire and changing sets of European allies and opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815....
, but were never used in combat.

The highest point in Orkney, Ward Hill
Ward Hill, Hoy

Ward Hill, on the island of Hoy, is the highest hill in the Orkney Islands. It lies at the north of the island, between Moaness and Rackwick.The hill forms a curved ridge, reminiscent of a 'J' in shape....
, is found on Hoy.

The main naval base for Scapa Flow
Scapa Flow

Scapa Flow is a body of water in the Orkney, Scotland, United Kingdom, sheltered by the islands of Orkney Mainland, Graemsay, Burray, South Ronaldsay and Hoy....
 in both the First
World War I

World War I, or the First World War , was a global military conflict which involved the Great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War I and the Central Powers....
 and Second
World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
 World Wars was situated at Lyness
Lyness

Lyness is a village on the east coast of the island of Hoy, Orkney. During the Second World War it was home to HMS Proserpine, the main base for the naval fleet based at Scapa Flow....
 in the south-east of the island. Some rather incongruous art deco structures nearby date from this period.

An unusual rock-cut tomb, the Dwarfie Stane
Dwarfie Stane

The Dwarfie Stane is a 3-5,000 year old megalithic tomb carved out of a titanic stone block of red sandstone located in a glacial valley on :Hoy island in Scotland....
, lies in a valley at the west of the island. It is unique in northern Europe
Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
, bearing similarity to Neolithic
Neolithic

The Neolithic period was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 Before the Christian Era in the Middle East that is traditionally considered the last part of the Stone Age....
 or Bronze Age
Bronze Age

The Bronze Age is, with respect to a given prehistory, the period in that society when the most advanced metalworking included smelting copper and tin from naturally-occurring outcroppings of copper and tin ores, creating a bronze alloy by melting those metals together, and casting them into bronze artifact s....
 tombs around the Mediterranean
Mediterranean Sea

The Mediterranean Sea is a sea or Ocean off the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Europe, on the south by Africa, and on the east by Asia....
.

The northern part of the island is an RSPB reserve
Nature reserve

A nature reserve is a protected area of importance for wildlife, flora , fauna or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for Conservation ethic and to provide special opportunities for study or research....
 due to its importance for birdlife, particularly Great skua
Great Skua

The Great Skua, Stercorarius skua, is a large seabird in the skua family Stercorariidae. In Britain, it is sometimes known by the name Bonxie, a Shetland name of unknown origin....
s and red-throated diver
Red-throated Diver

The Red-throated Diver , known in North America as the Red-throated Loon, is a bird migration aquatic bird that is found in the Climate_zone#GROUP_C:_Temperate.2Fmesothermal_climates of the northern hemisphere....
s.

In Norse mythology
Norse mythology

Norse, Viking or Scandinavian mythology comprises the beliefs, myths and legends of the Norse paganism of the North Germanic language people, including those who settled on Faroe Islands and Iceland, where most of the written sources for Norse mythology were assembled....
, Hoy is the location of the never-ending battle between Hedin and Högni
Hedin and Högni

Hja?ningav?g , the legend of He?inn and H?gni or the Saga of Hild is a Scandinavian legend from Norse mythology about a never-ending battle which is documented in S?rla ??ttr, Ragnarsdr?pa, Gesta Danorum, Sk??ar?ma and in Sk?ldskaparm?l....
.

Orkney Ferries
Orkney Ferries

Orkney Ferries operates the inter-island ferry services that link together the various islands of the Orkney Islands, to the north of the Scotland mainland in the United Kingdom....
 serve the island with two routes. One links Lyness on Hoy and Longhope
Longhope, Orkney

Longhope is a coastal settlement on the island of South Walls which is one of the Orkney islands off the northern coast of Scotland. South Walls is linked to Hoy by causeway; Longhope is the largest settlement on the two islands....
 on Walls with the island of Flotta
Flotta

Flotta is a small island in Orkney, Scotland, lying in Scapa Flow. The island is known for its large oil terminal and is linked by Orkney Ferries to Houton on the Mainland, Orkney and Lyness and Longhope, Orkney on Hoy....
 and Houton
Houton

Houton is a settlement 5 miles southeast of Stromness on the island of Mainland, Orkney, Orkney. From here, a ferry sails to Lyness on Hoy and the oil terminal at Flotta....
 on the Orkney Mainland. The other links Moaness in northern Hoy to the island of Graemsay
Graemsay

Graemsay is an island in the western approaches to Scapa Flow, in the Orkney Islands of Scotland. The island has two lighthouses....
 and Stromness
Stromness

Stromness /'str?mn?s/ is the second-largest town in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, and is located in the south-west of the Mainland, Orkney of Orkney....
 on Orkney Mainland.

Trivia

  • Featured prominently in the 1984 video for Here Comes The Rain Again
    Here Comes the Rain Again

    "Here Comes the Rain Again" is a song by British pop music duo Eurythmics. It was written by group members Annie Lennox and David A. Stewart and produced by Stewart....
     by the Eurythmics
    Eurythmics

    Eurythmics are a United Kingdom musical duet, formed in 1980 by Annie Lennox and David A. Stewart.The pair have achieved significant global, commercial and critical success, selling 75 million records worldwide, winning numerous awards, and have undertaken several successful world tours....
    .


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