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Stromness (, non, Straumnes; nrn, Stromnes) is the second-most populous town in
Orkney Orkney (; sco, Orkney; on, Orkneyjar; nrn, Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) nort ...
, Scotland. It is in the southwestern part of
Mainland Orkney The Mainland, also known as Hrossey and Pomona, is the main island of Orkney, Scotland. Both of Orkney's burghs, Kirkwall and Stromness, lie on the island, which is also the heart of Orkney's ferry and air connections. Seventy-five per cent of O ...
. It is a burgh with a parish around the outside with the town of Stromness as its capital.


Etymology

The name "Stromness" comes from the Norse ''Straumnes''. ''Straumr'' refers to the strong tides that rip past the Point of Ness through
Hoy Sound Hoy Sound is a body of salt water subject to tidal currents situated south of the town of Stromness in the Orkney archipelago of Scotland. The sound lies north of the island of Hoy and to the south of Mainland Orkney. To the west are the open ...
to the south of the town. ''Nes'' means "headland". Stromness thus means "headland protruding into the tidal stream". In Viking times the anchorage where Stromness now stands was called Hamnavoe.


Town

A long-established seaport, Stromness has a population of approximately 2,190 residents. The old town is clustered along the characterful and winding main street, flanked by houses and shops built from local stone, with narrow lanes and alleys branching off it. There is a ferry link from Stromness to
Scrabster Scrabster ( sco, Scraibster, gd, Sgrabastair/Sgrabstal) is a small settlement on Thurso Bay in Caithness on the north coast of Scotland. It is some from Thurso, from Wick, from Inverness and 271.7 miles (437.2 km) from Edinburgh. Sc ...
on the north coast of mainland Scotland. First recorded as the site of an inn in the sixteenth century, Stromness became important during the late seventeenth century, when Great Britain was at war with France and shipping was forced to avoid the English Channel. Ships of the
Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trade, fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake b ...
were regular visitors, as were
whaling Whaling is the process of hunting of whales for their usable products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that became increasingly important in the Industrial Revolution. It was practiced as an organized industry ...
fleets. Large numbers of
Orkney Orkney (; sco, Orkney; on, Orkneyjar; nrn, Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) nort ...
men, many of whom came from the Stromness area, served as traders, explorers and seamen for both.
Captain Cook James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean and ...
's ships, ''Discovery'' and ''Resolution'', called at the town in 1780 on their return voyage from the Hawaiian Islands, where Captain Cook had been killed.
Stromness Museum Stromness Museum is a small independent museum in the town of Stromness in Orkney, Scotland focusing on the town's connections to maritime and natural history. The building which accommodates the museum was originally constructed as the town ha ...
reflects these aspects of the town's history (displaying for example important collections of
whaling Whaling is the process of hunting of whales for their usable products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that became increasingly important in the Industrial Revolution. It was practiced as an organized industry ...
relics, and Inuit artefacts brought back as souvenirs by local men from Greenland and
Arctic Canada Northern Canada, colloquially the North or the Territories, is the vast northernmost region of Canada variously defined by geography and politics. Politically, the term refers to the three territories of Canada: Yukon, Northwest Territories and N ...
). Stromness harbour was rebuilt to the designs of John Barron in 1893. At Stromness Pierhead is a statue by
North Ronaldsay North Ronaldsay (, also , sco, North Ronalshee) is the northernmost island in the Orkney archipelago of Scotland. With an area of , it is the fourteenth-largest.Haswell-Smith (2004) p. 334 It is mentioned in the '' Orkneyinga saga''; in modern ...
sculptor Ian Scott, depicting John Rae standing erect with an inscription describing him as "the discoverer of the final link in the first navigable Northwest Passage", which was unveiled in 2013.


Parish

The parish of Stromness includes the islands of
Hoy Hoy ( sco, Hoy; from Norse , meaning "high island") is an island in Orkney, Scotland, measuring – the second largest in the archipelago, after Mainland. A natural causeway, ''the Ayre'', links the island to the smaller South Walls; the two ...
and
Graemsay Graemsay () is an island in the western approaches to Scapa Flow, in the Orkney Islands of Scotland. The island has two lighthouses. Graemsay lies within the parish of Stromness. Geography and geology Graemsay lies between Hoy and Stromness on ...
in addition to a tract of land about on
Mainland Orkney The Mainland, also known as Hrossey and Pomona, is the main island of Orkney, Scotland. Both of Orkney's burghs, Kirkwall and Stromness, lie on the island, which is also the heart of Orkney's ferry and air connections. Seventy-five per cent of O ...
. The Mainland part is bounded on the west by the
Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Afr ...
, on the south and southeast by Hoy Sound, and on the northeast by the
Loch of Stenness The Loch of Stenness is a large brackish loch on Mainland, Orkney, Scotland and is named for the parish of Stenness. It is northeast of the town of Stromness, lies immediately to the south of the Loch of Harray and is close to the World Herit ...
. Antiquities include Breckness House, erected in 1633 by George Graham, Bishop of Orkney, at the west entrance of Hoy Sound.


Media and the arts

The Stromness branch of the Orkney library is housed in a building given to the library service in 1905 by Mrs Marjory Skea Corrigall. Writer George Mackay Brown was born and lived most of his life in the town, and is buried in the town's cemetery overlooking Hoy Sound. His poem " Hamnavoe" is set in the town, and is in part a memorial to his father John, a local postman. Stromness is referred to in the title of Sir
Peter Maxwell Davies Sir Peter Maxwell Davies (8 September 1934 – 14 March 2016) was an English composer and conductor, who in 2004 was made Master of the Queen's Music. As a student at both the University of Manchester and the Royal Manchester College of Musi ...
's popular piano piece "Farewell to Stromness", a piano interlude from '' The Yellow Cake Revue'', which was written to protest at plans to open a uranium mine in the area. (The title refers to
yellowcake Yellowcake (also called urania) is a type of uranium concentrate powder obtained from leach solutions, in an intermediate step in the processing of uranium ores. It is a step in the processing of uranium after it has been mined but before fu ...
, the powder produced in an early stage of the processing of uranium ore.) The ''Revue'' was first performed by the composer at the Stromness Hotel on 21 June 1980, as part of the
St Magnus Festival The St Magnus International Festival is an annual, week-long arts festival which takes place at midsummer on the islands of Orkney, off the north coast of mainland Scotland. History and management The festival was founded in 1977 by a group incl ...
; plans for the uranium mine were cancelled later that year. ''Stromness'' is also the title of a 2009 novel by Herbert Wetterauer. Stromness plays host to the
Pier Arts Centre The Pier Arts Centre is an art gallery and museum in Stromness, Orkney, Scotland. It was established in 1979 to provide a home for an important collection of fine art donated to "be held in trust for Orkney" by the author, peace activist and phi ...
, a collection of twentieth-century British art given to the people of Orkney by artists such as Margaret Gardiner.


Geology

Stromness presents to the Atlantic a range of cliffs between high, and to Hoy Sound a band of fertile lowlands. The rocks possess great geological interest, and were made well known by the publication of the evangelical geologist
Hugh Miller Hugh Miller (10 October 1802 – 23/24 December 1856) was a self-taught Scottish geologist and writer, folklorist and an evangelical Christian. Life and work Miller was born in Cromarty, the first of three children of Harriet Wright (''b ...
, ''The Footprints of the Creator ''or'' The Asterolepsis of Stromness'' (1849).


References


External links


Stromness Museum


stv feature, 19 June 2007. * ttp://www.stromnesspipeband.co.uk Stromness Royal British Legion Pipe Band
Orkney's local paper
* Pier Art Gallerybr>An important collection of British fine art



Stromness - The Haven Bay

Maritime Merchants: a view from Stromness MuseumA brief history of Stromness
{{Authority control Ports and harbours of Scotland Fishing communities in Scotland Towns in Orkney Parishes of Orkney Mainland, Orkney