Scottish Archaeology Month
Stromness: A town with 400 years of rich maritime heritage, rooted in trade across the North Atlantic and North Sea. Its history is deeply intertwined with the whaling ships of Northeast Scotland and the herring migrations along the UK’s east coast. Stromness has been home to generations of seafarers, from whalers and explorers to Hudson’s Bay boat builders and local fishing and creel fishermen families. For centuries, these skilled traditions have been passed down, shaping the identity of this small 16th-century fishing town.
Hamnavoe To Stromness
A History Haunted Road
– George Mackay Brown
Discover the Smugglers Tunnels… The Sea Witches… Hidden Treasures… Ale Houses and Sea Farers.
Who were the first settlers of Hamnavoe?
‘This,’ says the guide, ‘must once have been a fairly prosperous little place.
Its business had obviously to do with the sea, and fish…
Hamnavoe! they cry. What’s become of you?
We’re the long-dead mariners and fishermen that you reared and nurtured and sent out, centuries ago…’
–– Rockpools & Daffodils by George Mackay Brown – ‘Wedded to the Sea.’ 12th March 1987. Taken from his weekly column in the Orcadian Newspaper.
Stromness is a newer town than Kirkwall whose roots are in the Middle ages. In the late 16th century from a group of possibly just fishermens huts on the Garson shore.
In the late 16th century, a man called William Clark, with his wife Mareon built an Inn, at the edge of the harbour (with permission from the earl in Birsay). Hamnavoe as named by the Vikings (‘Haven inside the bay”) saw the big sailing ships, often stormbound between Brinkies Brae in the West and the holms (tidal islands) in the East. These ships sailed to Scandinavia and the Baltic, and over the decades ventured further westward.
For me, no one puts it better than GMB. ‘Stromness, after a boisterous youth of 300 years sank prematurely into a silver-grey-age.. Old and grey, full of sleep.’ Stromness is a ‘ballad in stone’ – it has its own legends and lore. Most of them sea-salted.
A Storytelling Landscape – The Islanders’ Harvest Time – The Muckle Supper
A Storytelling Landscape – Orkney YuleTide and Auld Neu’ Year Customs
A Storytelling Landscape – The Folk O’ Hill & Mound – An Island Crofter’s Calendar
A Storytelling Landscape – Midsummer Magic in The Orkney Islands – The Happening
The Orkney Folklore and Storytelling Centre launched ‘A Storytelling Landscape’ in 2022 to enrich the experiences of visitors and local people of the Orkney Islands through the islands’ oral heritage and ancient storytelling traditions, alongside ‘The Story of Place’ experiences.
Since then, The Orkney Folklore & Storytelling Centre has developed a unique blended Orkney Heritage programme, offering live-streamed events alongside in-person island storytelling and cultural experiences.
In addition to live-streamed events, there is a running series of podcasts featuring local Orcadian Islanders, who will share their social traditions, folklore, legends, and work customs passed down through generations of Islanders who worked the land and fished the seas.
This blended approach will create a pathway that transports you into the magic of these North Atlantic Islands, no matter where in the world you are listening from!
We are excited to announce the launch of our next phase, ‘Islands Spirit of the Sea‘.
Our podcasts are available to listen to above or by visiting https://pod.co/a-storytelling-landscape.
Follow us on social media to keep up-to-date.