Old Norse name | Byrgisey |
---|---|
Meaning of name | fort island |
Location | |
OS grid reference | HY236285 |
Coordinates | 59°08′N3°20′W / 59.14°N 3.33°W |
Physical geography | |
Island group | Orkney |
Area | 16 ha [1] |
Highest elevation | 46 metres (151 feet) |
Administration | |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Country | Scotland |
Council area | Orkney Islands |
Demographics | |
Population | 0 [2] |
References | [3] [4] |
The Brough of Birsay is an uninhabited tidal island off the north-west coast of The Mainland of Orkney, Scotland, in the parish of Birsay. It is located around 13 miles north of Stromness and features the remains of Pictish and Norse settlements as well as a modern light house.
The island is accessible on foot at low tide via a largely natural causeway. It is separated from the mainland by a 240-metre (790- foot ) stretch of water at high tide: the Sound of Birsay. [5]
The Norse settlement has been partly removed by coastal erosion, and the cliffs are reinforced by concrete rip-rap to prevent further damage.
The Old Norse name for the island was "Byrgisey" which means fort island, and gives the parish its name. Brough, indeed, means fort (for etymology, see broch).
The earliest settlement on the island is thought to have been in the 6th century, perhaps by Christian missionaries. In the 7th and 8th centuries it was a significant Pictish fortress, but by the 9th century the Picts had been displaced by Norsemen. [6] : 58
Excavations were first undertaken by Cecil Curle in 1936–1937. [7]
The Pictish settlement is attested by a small well and an important collection of artifacts (now in The Orkney Museum (formerly known as Tankerness House Museum), Kirkwall and in the Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh). Notable among these are a group of moulds for fine metalworking, showing that bronze brooches and other ornaments were being manufactured on the site in the eighth century. The enclosure round the Norse church overlies a Pictish graveyard, and an important Pictish carved stone was found in pieces in this enclosure during site clearance (also on display in Edinburgh: replica on site). The most interesting Pictish artifact found is a stone slab showing three figures and some additional Pictish symbols. It is not known what the subject of this carving is, but it likely shows aristocratic Picts as they wished to be perceived. This early eighth century slab shows a striking procession of three Picts dressed in long robes and bearing spears, swords and square shields. Above the figures are parts of four Pictish symbols. Two simple cross-incised slabs, likely grave-markers, were also found in the graveyard, and are probably Pictish or early medieval in date (displayed on site). [6] : 58 [8] : 27
The extensive remains of an excavated Norse settlement and church overlay the earlier Pictish settlement. Before Kirkwall became the centre of power in the 12th century, Birsay was the seat of the rulers of Orkney. [6] : 58
According to the Orkneyinga saga the main residence of Jarl Thorfinn the Mighty (1014–1065) was located in Birsay. At this time the first Bishop of Orkney was appointed and his cathedral, known as "Christchurch," which later housed the remains of Saint Magnus, probably on the site of the present day Saint Magnus Kirk, nearby on the Mainland. It was once thought that Earl/Jarl Thorfinn's hall could have been located on the brough but it is today thought to have been nearby on the Mainland. [6] : 59
Today, many of the remains of the settlement are visible. The most significant being the remains of a fine, though small Romanesque church. This dates back to the 12th century and was dedicated to St. Peter. The church has a semi-circular apse and there are the remains of stone benches for the congregation lining the walls. The red sandstone altar was reconstructed in the 1930s. An enclosure wall surrounding the kirk separated the graveyard from the houses beyond. [6] : 58
The church has an interesting shape; probably with a square tower at one end, and a semi-circular apse at the other. There is some evidence of an earlier, possibly Pictish church on the same site. The church was a place of pilgrimage until the Middle Ages. The remains of adjoining buildings round three sides of an open court suggest that it may once have been a small monastery (though there is no documentation for such a foundation). [9]
There were also a number of Norse dwellings, some of them of considerable size indicating substantial wealth. They included long houses, featuring both heating and drainage systems and some indications that saunas were present. Although not all the houses were likely in use at the same time, there was a significant community living here. [6] : 58 The site, and particularly the objects found there, have been central to debates about the nature of Pictish-Norse relations in Northern Scotland.
The site is in the care of Historic Environment Scotland.
The unmanned Brough of Birsay Lighthouse lighthouse is on the Brough. [10]
Sea bird breeding colonies can be found on the brough.
Orkney, also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north of the coast of Caithness and has about 70 islands, of which 20 are inhabited. The largest island, the Mainland, has an area of 523 square kilometres (202 sq mi), making it the sixth-largest Scottish island and the tenth-largest island in the British Isles. Orkney’s largest settlement, and also its administrative centre, is Kirkwall.
The Mainland, also known as Hrossey and Pomona, is the main island of Orkney, Scotland. Both of Orkney's burghs, Kirkwall and Stromness, lie on the island, which is also the heart of Orkney's ferry and air connections.
Sanday is one of the inhabited islands of Orkney that lies off the north coast of mainland Scotland. With an area of 50.43 km2 (19.5 sq mi), it is the third largest of the Orkney Islands. The main centres of population are Lady Village and Kettletoft. Sanday can be reached by Orkney Ferries or by plane from Kirkwall on the Orkney Mainland. On Sanday, an on-demand public minibus service allows connecting to the ferry.
South Ronaldsay is one of the Orkney Islands off the north coast of Scotland. It is linked to the Orkney Mainland by the Churchill Barriers, running via Burray, Glimps Holm and Lamb Holm.
The Northern Isles are a pair of archipelagos off the north coast of mainland Scotland, comprising Orkney and Shetland. They are part of Scotland, as are the Hebrides. The climate is cool and temperate and much influenced by the surrounding seas. There are a total of 36 inhabited islands. The landscapes of the fertile agricultural islands of Orkney contrast with the more rugged Shetland islands to the north, where the economy is more dependent on fishing and on the oil wealth of the surrounding seas. Both island groups have a developing renewable energy industry. Both have a Pictish and Norse history. Both were part of the Kingdom of Norway until they were absorbed into the Kingdom of Scotland in the 15th century. They remained part of it until the 1707 formation of the Kingdom of Great Britain and the 1801 formation of the United Kingdom. And they both played a significant naval role during the world wars of the 20th century.
Jarlshof is the best known prehistoric archaeological site in Shetland, Scotland. It lies in Sumburgh, Mainland, Shetland and has been described as "one of the most remarkable archaeological sites ever excavated in the British Isles". It contains remains dating from 2500 BC up to the 17th century AD.
Birsay is a parish in the north west corner of The Mainland of Orkney, Scotland. Almost all the land in the parish is devoted to agriculture: chiefly grassland used to rear beef cattle. There are various ancient monuments in the parish.
St Magnus Cathedral dominates the skyline of Kirkwall, the main town of Orkney, a group of islands off the north coast of mainland Scotland. It is the most northerly cathedral in the United Kingdom, a fine example of Romanesque architecture built for the bishops of Orkney when the islands were ruled by the Norse Earls of Orkney. It is owned not by the church, but by the burgh of Kirkwall as a result of an act of King James III of Scotland following Orkney's annexation by the Scottish Crown in 1468. It has its own dungeon.
Thorfinn Sigurdsson, also known as Thorfinn the Mighty, was an 11th-century Earl of Orkney. He was the youngest of five sons of Earl Sigurd Hlodvirsson and the only one resulting from Sigurd's marriage to a daughter of Malcolm II of Scotland. He ruled alone as earl for about a third of the time that he held the title and jointly with one or more of his brothers or with his nephew Rögnvald Brusason for the remainder. Thorfinn married Ingibiorg Finnsdottir, daughter of Finn Arnesson, Jarl of Halland.
The Broch of Gurness is an Iron Age broch village on the northeast coast of Mainland Orkney in Scotland overlooking Eynhallow Sound, about 15 miles north-west of Kirkwall. It once housed a substantial community.
Rendall is a parish on Mainland, Orkney, Scotland. It is in the north west of the island and lies east of the parishes of Birsay and Evie and north east of Harray. The island of Gairsay is also in the parish.
Prehistoric Orkney refers only to the prehistory of the Orkney archipelago of Scotland that begins with human occupation. Although some records referring to Orkney survive that were written during the Roman invasions of Scotland, “prehistory” in northern Scotland is defined as lasting until the start of Scotland's Early Historic Period.
Thorulf or Torulf was medieval prelate, a Bishop of Orkney. Although probably a native Scandinavian, he is known only from the account of the German writer Adam of Bremen. Adam reported that he was appointed bishop by Adalbert, Archbishop of Hamburg, the first Orcadian appointee under Hamburg overlordship. Thorulf's period of appointment coincided with the reign of Earl Thorfinn Sigurdsson, alleged builder of the Birsay church and founder of the bishopric of Orkney.
The Lady Kirk at Pierowall is a ruined 17th century church on the island of Westray, in Orkney, Scotland. The church was built in 1674, on the foundations of the 13th-century church. Two 17th century grave-slabs, in excellent condition, are set into the interior wall of the chancel and are now protected by glass screens. The graves display fine lettering and 17th century images of mortality, engraved in high relief. Historic Environment Scotland established the site as a scheduled monument in 2014.
Scandinavian Scotland refers to the period from the 8th to the 15th centuries during which Vikings and Norse settlers, mainly Norwegians and to a lesser extent other Scandinavians, and their descendants colonised parts of what is now the periphery of modern Scotland. Viking influence in the area commenced in the late 8th century, and hostility between the Scandinavian earls of Orkney and the emerging thalassocracy of the Kingdom of the Isles, the rulers of Ireland, Dál Riata and Alba, and intervention by the crown of Norway were recurring themes.
The unmanned Brough of Birsay Lighthouse lighthouse was built in 1925 by David A Stevenson. It is located on the Brough of Birsay, an uninhabited tidal island off the north west coast of Mainland in Orkney, Scotland, in the parish of Birsay.
Hoxa is a small settlement on the island of South Ronaldsay in the Orkney Islands north of mainland Scotland. Hoxa is located 1+1⁄4 miles (2.0 km) west of St Margaret's Hope at the end of the B9043 road.
Burghead Fort was a Pictish promontory fort on the site now occupied by the small town of Burghead in Moray, Scotland. It was one of the earliest power centres of the Picts and was three times the size of any other enclosed site in Early Medieval Scotland. The fort was probably the main centre of the Pictish Kingdom of Fortriu, flourishing like the kingdom itself from the 4th to the 9th centuries.
Cecil Louisa Curle was a Scottish archaeologist and art historian.
St Magnus Church, Birsay is a 17th century church located in the parish of Birsay on Mainland, Orkney in Scotland. Built in 1664 on the site of an earlier, 11th century church, St Magnus was later expanded in 1760 and 1867. The graveyard surrounding the church dates to the 18th century. The church is now maintained by the St Magnus Church Birsay Trust.
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