Papa Stronsay (
Old NorseOld Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....
:
Papey Minni) is a small
islandAn island or isle is any piece of land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls are called islets. A key or cay is another name for a small island or islet. An island in a river or lake may be called an eyot, .There are two main types of islands:...
in Orkney,
ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, lying north east of
StronsayStronsay is an island in Orkney, off the north coast of Scotland. The main village is Whitehall, home to a heritage centre. It is in size, and at its highest point....
. It is in size, and at its highest point.
According to folklore, some of the natives were descended from a female
selkieSelkies are creatures found in Faroese, Icelandic, Irish, and Scottish mythology.They can transform themselves from seals to humans...
. This was because they had horny skin on their feet and hands, and permanently smelt of fish.
History
The island has remains of two chapels. One dates from the eleventh century, and an eighth century
PictishThe Picts were a confederation of tribes living in what was later to become eastern and northern Scotland from before the Roman conquest of Britain until the 10th century. They lived to the north of the Forth and Clyde rivers, and spoke the extinct Pictish language, thought to have been related to...
monastery may lie under it. Other remains include
cairnA cairn is a manmade pile of stones, often in a conical form. They are usually found in uplands, on moorland, on mountaintops or near waterways.-Purpose:...
s and a
Burnt moundA burnt mound is a mound of shattered stones and charcoal, normally with an adjacent hearth and trough. The trough could be rock-cut, wood-lined or clay-lined to ensure it was watertight. Radiocarbon dates vary quite widely, the earliest being late Neolithic, with clusters of dates between 1900 -...
, and a number of abandoned crofts.
The island is one of the "Papey"s or "islands of the
paparThe Papar were, according to early Icelandic historical sources, a group of Irish or Scottish monks resident in parts of Iceland at the time of the arrival of the Norsemen...
. Joseph Anderson noted that:
- "The two Papeys, the great and the little (anciently Papey Meiri and Papey Minni), [are] now Papa Westray
Papa Westray, also known as Papay, is one of the Orkney Islands in Scotland, with a population of 65 at the time of the 2001 Census, now increased to 70 people...
and Papa Stronsay... FordunJohn of Fordun was a Scottish chronicler. It is generally stated that he was born at Fordoun, Mearns. It is certain that he was a secular priest, and that he composed his history in the latter part of the 14th century; and it is probable that he was a chaplain in the St.Machar's cathedral of...
in his enumeration of the islands, has a 'Papeay tertia' [third Papey], which is not now known. There are three islands in Shetland called Papey, and both in Orkney and in Shetland, there are several districts named Paplay or Papplay, doubtless the same as Papyli of IcelandThe Republic of Iceland is a European island country located in the North Atlantic Ocean. It has a population of about 320,000 and a total area of 103,000 km². Its capital and largest city is Reykjavík, whose surrounding area is home to approximately two thirds of the national population...
"
The
Orkneyinga sagaThe Orkneyinga saga is a unique historical narrative of the history of the Orkney Islands, Scotland, from their capture by the Norwegian king in the ninth century onwards until about 1200....
recalls that in Chapter XVIII that:
- "Earl Rögnvald
Rognvald Brusason , son of Brusi Sigurdsson, was Earl of Orkney jointly with Thorfinn Sigurdsson from about 1037 onwards. His life is recorded in the Orkneyinga Saga....
resided in KirkjuvágKirkwall is the largest town and capital of Orkney, off the coast of northern mainland Scotland. The town is first mentioned in Orkneyinga saga in the year 1046. It was established as the settlement of Rögnvald II, Earl of Orkney, who was killed by his successor, Thorfinn...
(Kirkwall) and brought there all necessaries for the winter; he had a great number of men, and entertained them liberally. A little before ChristmasChristmas , also referred to as Christmas Day, is an annual holiday celebrated on December 25 that commemorates the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. The day marks the beginning of the larger season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days. The nativity of Jesus, which is the basis for the anno Domini...
, the Earl went with a numerous following into little Papey [i.e. Papa Stronsay] to fetch maltMalting is a process applied to cereal grains, in which the grains are made to germinate by soaking in water and are then quickly halted from germinating further by drying/heating with hot air. Thus, malting is a combination of two processes: the sprouting process and the kiln-drying process...
for the Christmas brewing."
Rögnvald Brusason Rognvald Brusason , son of Brusi Sigurdsson, was Earl of Orkney jointly with Thorfinn Sigurdsson from about 1037 onwards. His life is recorded in the Orkneyinga Saga....
was later killed in one of the island's churches in 1046.
A fertile island, it became an important centre for
herringHerring are relatively small oily fish of the genus Clupea found in the shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and the North Atlantic oceans, including the Baltic Sea. Two species of Clupea are currently recognized, the Atlantic herring and the Pacific herring , each of which may be...
curingCuring refers to various food preservation and flavoring processes, especially of meat or fish, by the addition of a combination of salt, sugar, nitrates or nitrite . Many curing processes also involve smoking. -Chemical actions:...
in the eighteenth century, but was abandoned in the 1970s. It has been home to the monastic community of the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer, [F.SS.R], since 1999. The traditional Catholic order was formerly affiliated with the
Society of St. Pius XThe Society of St. Pius X is an international Traditionalist Catholic organisation, founded in 1970 by the French archbishop Marcel Lefebvre....
, but since 2008 has been received into full communion with the
Roman Catholic ChurchThe Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church. With more than a billion members, over half of all Christians and more than one-sixth of the world's population, the Catholic Church is a communion of the Western, or Latin Rite Church, and...
.
The island is now home to Golgotha Monastery, and is the base for 25
monkA monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of monks, whilst always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose...
s, from novices to priests, who hail from as far afield as
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
,
SamoaSamoa , officially the Independent State of Samoa , is a country governing the western part of the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. It became independent from New Zealand in 1962. The two main islands of Samoa are Upolu and Savai'i...
,
SingaporeSingapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island city-state located at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, lying north of the equator, south of the Malaysian state of Johor and north of Indonesia's Riau Islands. At , Singapore is a microstate and the smallest nation in Southeast...
and
UkraineUkraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east; Belarus to the north; Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary to the west; Romania and Moldova to the southwest; and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south. The city of Kiev is both the capital and the largest city of...
. The
monasteryMonastery , a term derived from the Greek word μοναστήριον, neut. of μοναστήριος - monasterios denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer Monastery (plural: monasteries), a term derived from the Greek word μοναστήριον, neut. of μοναστήριος - monasterios...
has expanded to include a working
farmA farm is an area of land, including various structures, devoted primarily to the practice of producing and managing food , fibers and, increasingly, fuel. It is the basic production facility in food production. Farms may be owned and operated by a single individual, family, community, corporation...
. The ancient monastic ruins dating back to the 7th and 8th centuries mark Papa Stronsay as a holy island and inspire the Redemptorist monks living there now to continue with the traditions of the Catholic Church and the Redemptorist Order, as well as to rebuild the ruins to their ancient splendour.
Geography and geology
The geology is middle old
red sandstone.
A thin tongue of land curls west from the main part of the island, and then south to form the Point of the Graand (a local word meaning a "sandbar"). The island in general is low lying, reaching a mere at its highest point.
There is an high light beacon in the north east.
External links