"The Orkney Imagination is haunted
George Mackay Brown
The Orkney Islands have a long and
colourful history. It is no exaggeration to say that the isles are
a place where this history remains a part of everyday life.
Every corner of the islands has its
ancient monuments, most of them in a remarkable state of repair.
For thousands of years, people have
lived and worked in Orkney.
From the stone age Orcadians, who left
a legacy of monuments that continue to inspire today, through to
the Vikings, who took the islands in the ninth century and made
them the centre of a powerful Earldom and part of the kingdom of
Norway, and beyond.
The Orkney islands are covered with monuments that
stand as constant reminders of the events and people that have gone
and tombs dating back 5,000 years
share the landscape with Bronze
Age cemeteries, standing stones,
2,000 year old brochs, viking
ruins, medieval churches and Renaissance
Our history is therefore not something
that exists only in schoolbooks, or in the thoughts of academics.
Orkney's history and heritage is
everywhere - an intricate tapestry of events stitched into the very
fabric of the islands themselves. Orcadians have a connection with
this history - events that were witnessed by their ancestors many
The past is alive and remains part
of everyday life, albeit unconsciously.