|
Six miles across the broad watery span of Pentland Firth from the very northern coast of Scotland's mainland, the colorful Orkney Isles ascend above the Atlantic's thrusting oceantides and the powerful waves of the North Sea. Rolling blue waters meet red sandstone cliffs and white sandy beaches, and the surf rhythmically crashes against rocky shores. Ocean breezes constantly wafting over Orkney's towns and countrysides are usually permeated with sea spray. Scandinavians designated the island grouping, which stretches 53 miles northward and expands to a breadth of 23 miles, with the name Orkney, meaning "seal islands." Way back in 1468, King Christian I of Norway and Denmark pledged Orkney as dowry in the proposed marriage of his daughter to King James III of Scotland; and the Isles became part of Scotland four years later, in 1472. Every Christmas Eve, when St. Nick wants to stop at the frigid Alaskan city of Juneau or to visit the milder wind-swept Orkney Islands, the jolly old elf must pilot his reindeer-rig about the same distance down from the North Pole. However, these two destinations on Santa's annual itinerary do not share the same range of air temperatures nor do they receive an equal amount of precipitation throughout the year. Juneau may go from minus Fahrenheit degrees in winter to the 90's in summer, but in Orkney the temperature rarely swings below the mid-teens or above 85. The annual concentration of rain falling upon Orkney is many times heavier than that of Juneau. Coming out of the southwest, the Gulf Stream waters' warming influence stimulates the climate of the Scottish islands, fostering a moderation of seasonal extremes. An old Orcadian once exaggerated to a visiting American television reporter: "Wind and rain, wind and rain. We have nine months of winter and three months of bad weather." Anytime following sunset during mid-summer's Grimlins period, enough natural light is still radiated throughout the short nights to enable a newspaper to be read. After more than 20 long hours of steady summer sunshine has yielded to an abbreviated night of translucence, the Northern Lights may often enhance the sky with their varied colorings while flashing and shimmering across the heavens. During the entire growing season, frequent rainfall emanating from intervening storm clouds serves to nurture Orkney's vegetation on treeless hillsides and meadows. Six months later, the chilliness of wintertime brings snowy days marked with very few sunlit hours, permitting an opaque darkness to have its turn at dominating the 24-hour cycle. Orphir parish commands a significant portion of the main island (titled 'Pomona' by mappers), where an energetic sea tosses with a continually cycling ebb and flow. The powerful ocean waters, visible from virtually any vantage point in the Isles, benevolently dispense an ample variety of seafood for the pragmatic islanders, along with providing kelp. While being life sustaining, raw forces of nature existing around Orphir can also be wickedly cruel and dangerous. On churning waters of nearby Scapa Flow, anglers fishing for sillocks, lobsters, and mussels must also swiftly heed the earliest flash of distant lightning. Quickly darkening Orcadian skies become a warning of some tumultuous gale rushing in from the Atlantic. Throughout the centuries, any late response to menacing weather off Orkney's shores often brought severe consequences to unlucky boatmen caught in the pounding waves. Ferocious storms hurrying over the waters repeatedly extended sadness ashore to surviving kinfolk and friends awaiting a reunion which would never occur. High acid content of the local soil stifles normal tree growth. Consequently, native Orkney wood is virtually non-existent for building houses, carts, boats, and fences, or even for fueling fires. Substitute materials, such as driftwood, rock, peat, and cowchips, satisfy some of those needs. Grain fields are separated from pastures of grazing livestock by stone fences called dykes. From the 158-foot-high Hill of Midland located a half-mile northwest of Orphir Bay, red sandstone slate has been quarried for use throughout Orkney in making buildings, walls, fireplaces, fences, and gravestones. Thin sheets of stone are also used for roofs, floors, and walkways. Orkney dwellings supply necessary shelter from rainy seasonal downpour and chilly wintry snowfalls, and give protection from high winds coming off the ocean. Most oldtime Orcadian structures were erected principally of stone, and those rock-solid houses usually had their roof beams made from driftwood which had earlier been deposited upon Orkney beaches. Some housetops were built of slate and turf, while other roofs were completed with a thatch covering interlaced with simmens, the Orcadian name for ropes. In Orkney, the English language is accented with flavorings of a Norse, Gaelic, Scots, and Anglo mixture. Although the present natives are citizens of Scotland and Great Britain, these independent islanders have always considered themselves Orcadians foremost, and they still reflect a certain Norse heritage in attitudes and ways of life. In the springtime of 1826, JOHN TAYLOR was born in southern Orphir parish near the waters of Scapa Flow. He grew through childhood on these islands before emigrating to the United States in early 1848. The young blacksmith went on to live almost his entire adult life as an American. Accumulated impressions of the beautiful Orkney Isles could last through a complete lifetime. The 19th century Orcadian farmer typically tended a small fertile acreage each season, but his immediate surroundings were constantly invaded with an awesome sense of overwhelming immensity. The broad sky was silhouetted in one direction by pleasant windswept grassy hills, while the wide tumultuous sea stretched toward some distant horizon in another. A southwest breeze was normally present, usually blowing a progressive dryness across the islands' surface contours. Frequently, the normally dominant summer sunshine gave way to thundering violence of some lightning storm which compassionately replenished necessary moisture to the soil. The island winters were invariably accompanied by abundances of darkness. Such a robust environment as Orkney's spawned resilient human spirits nurturing a strong sentiment of independence. The picturesque archipelago which forms the Orkney Island group off the northern coast of Scotland was once the domain of Stone Age tribes. On the main island of Orkney remain many primitive cultural sites and artifacts of early inhabitants who had lived there scores of centuries before JOHN TAYLOR was born. The Stenness Standing Stones are remnants of a 5000 year-old circle of rocks. And at Maes Howe, built of huge stone slabs about 47 centuries ago, a passageway was mysteriously designed by those earlier residents to prohibit complete penetration by sunshine except on the day of winter solstice. Cuween Hill Cairn, from the same period, has been found to be a tomb of ancient people, also containing bones of oxen and dogs. The village of Skara Brae, a pack of seven single-room houses and a common courtyard, was last inhabited in 2500 B. C. The Unstan Chambered Tomb has been revealed to be a burial mound of the same era. A hoop-shaped pattern of 36 stones dating to 1560 B. C. is called the Ring of Brodgar. These ancient curiosities are located on Mainland (Pomona), although other islands in Orkney have similar archeological discoveries. If all these notable spots were evenly distributed throughout Orkney, a dozen could be counted in any area two miles square. After the times of these prehistoric folks, there came to the Orkney Isles a race of people who decorated their bodies with blue paint. Invading Romans named these natives Picti (Picts). Centuries later, further infiltration of the islands was continued with Scandinavians and Scots. The Brough of Birsay is the ruin of a Norse settlement there. For several centuries prior to being pledged to Scotland in 1472, the Isles were recognized as property of Norway, base of the wild seafaring Vikings. The little town of Orphir, whose Old Norse name translates "out of low water" or "place of ebbing," is situated by the waters of Mainland Orkney's southern coast. Remains of the "Orphir round church," built by Norsemen who settled by the Bay of Orphir sometime before the year 1135, can still be seen there. Facing out across the Orphir Bay toward a wide channel of moving seawater known as Scapa Flow, the village was also the site of an early-day Viking drinking hall (called the Bu) and home to a Viking ruler of Orkney, Jarl Hakon Paulsson, rival of St. Magnus. Near the old round church ruins, Hakon ordered construction of a magnificent new church dedicated to St. Nicholas, conveniently locating it right next to his drinking hall (possibly in anticipation that the Rapture might come during Happy Hour). Along with plundering and boozing, a favorite pastime of the Vikes was to consummate their grudges against any opposition. Just before one Orphir Christmas, Sweyn Asleifsson slew his adversary, Sweyn Breastrope, while both were guesting at Hakon's old watering hole during the season to be jolly. The latter Sweyn had already intended to eradicate the former Sweyn, but was himself the victim of a pre-emptive strike. Paul and Harald Hakonarson, sons of Hakon Paulsson, later inherited their father's Orphir domain and became brotherly rivals, in keeping with the usual Viking practice of sustaining a respectable touch of aggression and selfishness to round out their personalities. |
| Copyright © 2000 Dick Taylor All Rights Reserved |