Orphir (pronounced , or )Pedersen, Roy (January 1992) ''Orkneyjar ok Katanes'' (map, Inverness, Nevis Print) is a parish and settlement on

Mainland, Orkney The Mainland, also known as 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 Orkney's popu ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. It is approximately southwest of

Kirkwall Kirkwall (, , or ; ) is the largest town in Orkney, an archipelago to the north of mainland Scotland. First mentioned in the ''Orkneyinga saga'', it is today the location of the headquarters of the Orkney Islands Council and a transport hub wi ...

, and comprises a seaboard tract of about , and includes Cava and the

Holm of Houton Holm may refer to: Places * Holm (island), the name of several islands * Holm, Nordfriesland, Germany * Holm, Pinneberg, Germany * Holm (Flensburg), Flensburg, Germany * Holm, Nordland, a village in Bindal Municipality in Nordland county, N ...

. The coast includes Houton Head, about tall, but all elsewhere is nearly level; and the interior is an assemblage of vales and hills, the latter culminating at about above sea level. A chief residence was the

Hall of Clestrain The Hall of Clestrain is a house in the parish of Orphir, Orkney, Scotland. The house was the birthplace of the explorer John Rae (explorer), John Rae in 1813. Currently derelict, the house became a listed building in 1971. It featured in ...

; and chief antiquities include the ruins of Earl Paul's Palace, remains of pre-Reformation chapels, the Round Kirk and several

tumuli A tumulus (: tumuli) is a mound of Soil, earth and Rock (geology), stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, mounds, howes, or in Siberia and Central Asia as ''kurgans'', and may be found through ...

. The ferry terminal of Houton is located in Orphir. The ferries to Flotta and Hoy (Lyness) depart from this point."Orphir / Houton", VisitScotland.com
/ref> Ramsdale Shooting Range is also located in Orphir.

Notable people

* John Rae (1813–1893), the

explorer Exploration is the process of exploring, an activity which has some Expectation (epistemic), expectation of Discovery (observation), discovery. Organised exploration is largely a human activity, but exploratory activity is common to most organis ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

Arctic The Arctic (; . ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the North Pole, lying within the Arctic Circle. The Arctic region, from the IERS Reference Meridian travelling east, consists of parts of northern Norway ( ...

was born at the Hall of Clestrain in this parish. * Henry Halcro Johnston,

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

and international

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player was born and died at Orphir. *

Jamie Halcro Johnston Jamie Halcro Johnston (born 8 October 1975) is a British politician who is a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Highlands and Islands region since 2017. A member of the Scottish Conservative Party, he also serves as their Shadow Mi ...

Scottish Conservative The Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party (), known as Scottish Tories, is part of the UK Conservative Party active in Scotland. It currently holds 5 of the 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons, 30 of the 129 seats in the Scottish Par ...

MSP, was brought up at Orphir. * Margaret Manson Graham (1860–1933), missionary nurse in

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

, born in Orphir."Margaret Manson Graham"
in Elizabeth L. Ewan, Sue Innes, Sian Reynolds, and Rose Pipes, ed., ''The Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women'' (Edinburgh University Press 2006): 142-143. * John Gerard Anderson (1836–1911), Australian educationist

References

This article incorporates text from - Wilson, Rev. John ''The Gazetteer of Scotland'' (Edinburgh, 1882) Published by W. & A.K. Johnstone Villages on Mainland, Orkney Parishes of Orkney Tumuli in Scotland {{Orkney-geo-stub