Stromness

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Stromness

Stromness /'str?mn?s/ is the second-largest town in 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....
, Scotland

Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
, and is located in the south-west of the mainland of Orkney. It is also a parish, with the town of Stromness as its capital. The name Stromness is derived from the Viking language. Strom refers to the strong tides that rip past the Point of Ness to the south of the town, literally 'strong tide point'. In Viking times Stromness was called Hamnavoe, meaning 'peaceful or safe harbour'.

ng-established seaport, it has a population of approximately 2,190 residents.

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Encyclopedia

Stromness /'str?mn?s/ is the second-largest town in 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....
, Scotland

Scotland

Town

A long-established seaport, it has a population of approximately 2,190 residents. The old town is clustered along the main street, flanked with houses and shops built from local stone, with narrow lanes and alleys branching off it. There is a ferry link from Stromness to Scrabster on the north coast of mainland Scotland.

First recorded as the site of an inn in the 16th century, Stromness became important during the late 17th century, when England

England

France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
and shipping was forced to avoid the English Channel

English Channel

The English Channel is an Arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest, to only in the Strait of Dover....
. Ships of the Hudson's Bay Company

Hudson's Bay Company

The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and is one of the oldest in the world. The company was incorporated by British royal charter in 1670 as The Governor and Company of Adventurers of England trading into Hudson's Bay; it is now domiciled in Canada and has adopted the mo...
were regular visitors, as were whaling

Whaling

Whaling is the hunting of whales and dates back to at least 4,000 BC. The evolution of traditional Arctic whaling developed with increasing rapidity with early organized fleets in the 17th century; competitive national whaling industries in the 18th and 19th centuries; and the introduction of factory ships along with the concept of whale "har...
fleets. Stromness Museum reflects these aspects of the town's history.

Writer George Mackay Brown

George Mackay Brown

George Mackay Brown , was a Scotland poet, author and dramatist, whose work has a distinctly Orcadian character. He is considered one of the great Scottish poets of the 20th century....
was born and lived most of his life in the town.

Stromness is referenced in the title of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies

Peter Maxwell Davies

Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Order of the British Empire , is an English composer and Conductor and is currently Master of the Queen's Music....
's popular piano piece Farewell to Stromness, a piano interlude from The Yellow Cake Revue, first performed on 21 June 1980 at the Stromness Hotel by the composer as part of the St. Magnus Festival.

Parish

The parish of Stromness comprehends the Isle of Hoy

Hoy

Hoy is one of the Orkney Islands in Scotland. With an area of , it is the second largest of the Orkney Islands after the Orkney Mainland. It is connected by a southern causeway called The Ayre to South Walls....
and a tract of about 5 miles by 3¾ on Mainland. The main part is bounded on the west by the Atlantic, on the south and the south-east by Hoy Sound, on the north-east by the Loch of Stenness

Loch of Stenness

The Loch of Stenness together with the Loch of Harray is one of the largest freshwater lochs of Mainland, Orkney. In Old Norse their names are Steinnesvatn and Hera?vatn respectively....
.

Antiquities include Breckness House, erected in 1633 by the last bishop of Orkney at the west entrance of Hoy Sound; and an ancient cemetery, with ruined church, and remains of a monastery between Breckness House and Stromness town.

Geology

It presents to the Atlantic a range of cliffs from 100-500 ft high, to Hoy Sound a band of fertile lowlands; and it elsewhere consists mainly of bleak, sterile heights. The rocks possess great geological interest, and were made well-known by the publication of Hugh Miller

Hugh Miller

Hugh Miller was a self-taught Scotland geologist and writer, folklorist and an evangelical Christian....
, Asterolepsis of Stromness.

External links

, stv feature, 19 June 2007.
Pier Art Gallery
Pier Art Gallery

The Pier Art Gallery in Stromness, Orkney, was opened to the public in 1979. Margaret Gardiner 1904-2005 first visited the Orkneys in the 1950s and converted the old quay-side building to house her collection of modern paintings and sculpture ....