Blaeu Atlas of Scotland, 1654
Name: | Blaeu, Joan, 1596-1673 |
Title: | Nova Orcadvm Descriptio Chorographica |
Pagination: | 140-141 |
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Translation of text:
they are driven from the Western Ocean for safety to the very safe port of Carstanus at the entrance to this strait. It is the custom of some sailors, when thrown into these narrows, in order that the waves, fighting among themselves and rising in their battle almost to the sky, should be to some extent calmed, to throw some oil into the front of the water, after which there immediately follows some quietening of the movement of the water, and the first ship saved by divine grace overcomes the difficulty; but alas, immediately after that oil the sea is made much crueller and without any pity swallows up as it were with gaping mouth other ships following behind the first.
In this strait lie some islands; the first is Graemsay in the middle of the channel between Hoy and the Mainland, about two miles long and more than half a mile wide in places, low, girded with rocks on all sides, producing crops, grass, hay and rabbits, and not without fish to be caught by hook. The inhabitants of Graemsay use peats brought from the moor of Clestron (on the Mainland not far from Graemsay) and from Hoy. This island is adorned with a dwelling, not indeed so large, but very old, and a common refuge for all, both Orcadians themselves and foreigners who come there. Of this, as of the church in Hoy, only one pastor takes care. A little to the east of here is Cairstan Holm, quite ample and grassy, and opposite it to the north lies a most celebrated harbour, very ample and safe for ships, whatever the direction and force of the wind. There are various buildings round the harbour, and a tavern, where all necessities for eating and drinking are excellently supplied at moderate expense to sailors and foreigners coming there.
Below Cairstan Holm not far to the east lies the small island of Cava, almost totally covered in heather, but convenient for fishing and frequented by seabirds of many kinds, one especially (which the inhabitants in the vernacular call Tyst), very fat and small.
About two miles from Cava to the south, near a promontory of Hoy (in the vernacular called Crock Ness) is situated the island of Risa, small certainly but fertile and grassy, and not lacking in its various commodities, as the country bears. On Copinsay we shall speak shortly in a more appropriate place.
So much for the southern islands of the Orkneys. Between the southern and northern islands of the Orkneys lies the largest of all Orcadian islands in length and width. It is called in Latin Continens, by inhabitants of the Orkneys the Mainland, and in a name known to many scholars but not to natives of the Orkneys, Pomona. The meaning of this name is not known, unless one were to think it so called by antiphrasis, from ‘poma’ or apples, none of which grow in it. It entends twenty four miles in length, in width at some places nine, at others six miles.
The whole of this Mainland or Pomona runs out into various promontories (a promontory is called Ness in Scots). One part of the Mainland takes its name from that type of stags called broadhorns, Deerness (promontory of broadhorns); for there is still a tale among Orcadians that the whole of that area now called Deer Sound (commonly Dirtsound) as far as Tankerness, another promontory towards the west, situated not far from the region though a great ‹gulf› has now been interposed, was grassy and wooded land, in which the broadhorn once was born and lived. How true this is, the claimants themselves may decide. However that there were once broadhorns in the Orkneys (for now there are none there) is without doubt from their horns which have been dug out of the ground. Deerness is a peninsula: for not far from the dwelling of the Lord of Campston is a sandy place, but narrow, a true and natural isthmus, looking between the sea to the north west and the sea to the north (9); if this isthmus were to be dug out (which could easily be done by human industry), Deerness would be torn apart from the Mainland to which it is joined and turned into an island by itself, and a most elegant one (as it is a very lovely part of the Mainland). In Deerness is a very harsh promontory, which the inhabitants of the Orkneys name the Moule (for so they pronounce it, not the Mule) of Deerness, as if the beak or mouth of Deerness. The tide passes this promontory most violently, stirred up from the sea on the north east; but in winter time if the wind blows more strongly from the stated direction, Good God, what kind and size of masses of water battle among themselves and are lifted on high and far above the promontory itself, and so
The sea now strikes the stars with shining foam,
And now subsides into the depths in the abyss of Tartarus.
And in the same way ships or boats that slip into this tide, are driven at the whim of the waves,
Neither the skilled art nor the care of the hoary master avails
in such perplexity: but merciful God provides a neighbouring anchorage, capable of accepting and saving innumerable ships, called Deer Sound (that is, bay of broadhorns).
Here also, over a mile from the isthmus, is an illustrious dwelling (in the vernacular, the Newark of Deerness) of the illustrious Earl of Carrick, his only place of sojourning while he was among the living. From there not far to the south east lies
The small island of Copinsay, harsh with cliffs where it faces the eastern German Ocean; but where it is turned towards the island of Burray (from which it is about two and a half miles distant to the west), it is level, happy in crops, grass, catches of fish, but not in moor or peat. For those sailing from the south east or south to the Orkneys, it acts as a lighthouse to which they should direct their course. It is frequented by various birds. It has a holm lying close-by; while to the north, rising out of the sea and separated from Copinsay by water it has a high grassy rock, called in the vernacular the Horse of Copinsay.
In this area of Deerness there are frequent buildings, among which one called Braebuster stands out; and in the region of the gulf of Deerness to the west is another called Seba[?]. In the parish which in the vernacular is called Holm, not far from Lamb Holm (on which see above), to the north in the Mainland there is also a distinguished building made of cut stone, with a country church, quite well attended, which alone is overseen by one minister. In Tankerness also there is another house, quite ample, and a church named St Andrew’s, which with the church in Deerness is served by one minister. From here, as far as the only town that exists in the Orkneys, before and on each side are scattered various country buildings, well equipped with various conveniences, according to the practice of the land.
The town was called Cracoviaca by the Danes, in whose jurisdiction the Orkneys were for a long time; now with a corrupted name it is Kirkwa to the Scots, and to the inhabitants sometimes Kirkwall but more often as to the Scots Kirkwa. It is one and two-fifths of a mile long, and comprised in one square. It has quite a large number of buildings, some low, but some rising higher, and strongly built of stone naturally squared and spontaneously cleaving into layers (as is also the case in all the other islands of the Orkneys) from the sides, such as is in use in Holland.
Kirkwall was at one time a very strong Royal castle, provided with all necessities for repelling a siege and preserving the goods of the townspeople placed in it, and especially with war machines, hurling iron balls a long way on all sides. In the insides of the walls (they were so thick) very many charming chambers were built. Today however one part of it (the other part has been demolished) lies before the eyes of mortals as a monument and proof of Royal anger. Not far from this castle is a very beautiful house,
Between the palace and the Royal castle is situated the church of St Magnus (who is said to have first brought Christ’s Gospel to these islands), for these parts quite magnificent, very long but narrow, built from very strong stones, polished with amazing skill, arched above except in three columns facing west which were built more recently, to cut off (as the inhabitants relate) the view of the Castle from the sight of the Palace (or Bishop’s house), lest one should be demolished by the other, through the internecine hatreds which occurred between the King’s men and the Bishop’s. In the tower of the Church there is such confusion of passages that strangers would scarcely ever get out, unless they were guided by one who knows the place, as by Ariadne’s thread. This church is adorned with bells that ring in harmony and are heard at a distance in all directions; and it is of such strength, that a hundred men, fitted out as necessary, could easily defend this church against a thousand (assuming no larger instruments of war were used). In it only one Preacher with a Reader attends to the public. Here in Kirkwall the public Latin School and many private vernacular ones flourish, to instruct the young; and each year on the third after the 1st of August (11) the market of St Olaf (who was Norwegian and is said to have preached the Gospel here in the Orkneys) is celebrated for three days. From the church to the shore (which was once called the Royal city; as the part of the town from the church to the south was called Bishop’s; now these names have fallen out of use among the inhabitants) Kirkwall is full of various excellent buildings with a chapel, with damaged head, a bridge, and a house for receiving Royal taxes. There is an ample harbour at the north side of the town, and an anchorage in which ships or boats, when first they come in, sit safely, even in the harshest winter, at the edge of the shore (they call it Aero[?]).
About two miles west of the town, across the anchorage of Kirkwall, is a very high mountain, called in the vernacular Wideford Hill. On its summit is positioned a large (12) heap of heather and peats which is set alight if ever danger threatens the town, and at once all the islands of the Orkneys (for the top of this mountain