Castles
Digging for Kirkwall Castle
There’s a very exciting project going on in Kirkwall at the moment: The great garden dig, led by archaeologist Dan Lee. Being a community project, everyone is welcome to dig, so we did — including the children. The digging happens in volunteer gardens along what was once Kirkwall’s shoreline. We had a go at digging […]
Read more of Digging for Kirkwall Castle...Castle of the rune stone
27 Feb 2016 Yet again we are back at the Castle of Breckness looking for the missing piece of our rune stone. The whole thing started back in 2001, when Chris and I were very young. We were having this romantic walk along the shore near Stromness, and came to the ruins of Breckness. As the […]
Read more of Castle of the rune stone...Medieval castle with connections to Saint Magnus – and a sea monster!
29th December 2015 Sandwiched between two stormy nights with gale force 80 mph at its fiercest, we were given a beautiful golden day basking in ten degrees and low sunshine. We decided on Holm in the East Mainland – the parish which is spelled “Holm” but pronounced as “ham” because it comes from the Old […]
Read more of Medieval castle with connections to Saint Magnus – and a sea monster!...Castle of Weems at Sandwick in South Ronaldsay
I often find myself attracted by place-names. The “Castle of Weems” – Is it a castle? ‘Castle’ can mean so many things, from a natural sea stack to a broch mound to the remains of a medieval fortified structure. And “Weems” is a Gaelic place-name, which is unusual in Orkney, meaning an underground built structure […]
Read more of Castle of Weems at Sandwick in South Ronaldsay...
