Rendall (

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

: ''Rennudalr''Pedersen, Roy (January 1992) ''Orkneyjar ok Katanes'' (map, Inverness, Nevis Print) or ''Rennadal'') is a parish 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. It is in the north west of the island and lies east of the parishes of Birsay and Evie and north east of

Harray Harray (pronounced ) (; ) is a parish and a village on Mainland, Orkney, Scotland. It has the unique distinction of being the only parish without a coastline, instead being landlocked and sitting next to a freshwater loch. Harray is surrounded ...

. The island of Gairsay is also in the parish.

Important Sites and Attractions

The Rendall Doocot is a 17th-century beehive doocot located at the Hall of Rendall and is unique in the Northern Isles, as most doocots are square/rectangle buildings. The Hall of Rendall is a settlement mound containing prehistoric structures, possibly a

broch In archaeology, a broch is an British Iron Age, Iron Age drystone hollow-walled structure found in Scotland. Brochs belong to the classification "complex Atlantic roundhouse" devised by Scottish archaeologists in the 1980s. Brochs are round ...

but that is doubted, and the remains of a medieval church. Human remains are regularly recovered from the beach and eroding sections near the church. The Tingwall Ferry Terminal is located in Rendall and operates ferries to Rousay, Egilsay and Wyre. Next to it is a broch and a Thing, both

scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage, visu ...

s. Tingwall is from the Old Norse place-name 'Thing-völlr', meaning 'thing-field' and the first mention of it occurs in the 12th-century Orkneyinga Saga. Seven Knowes, a scheduled monument, is also located in Rendall. The monument comprises the remains of seven barrows dating from the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

. The monument was first scheduled in 1936.

Archaeology

In 2003, a farmer undertook work to flatten a small knoll they thought was a stone dump but shortly after the works started it became apparent that the knoll was instead a burial mound. GUARD Archaeology was called in to excavate the site as part of the Historic Scotland Human Remains Call Off Contract (now

Historic Environment Scotland Historic Environment Scotland (HES) () is an executive non-departmental public body responsible for investigating, caring for and promoting Scotland's historic environment. HES was formed in 2015 from the merger of government agency Historic Sc ...

). The results of this excavation found two

cist In archeology, a cist (; also kist ; ultimately from ; cognate to ) or cist grave is a small stone-built coffin-like box or ossuary used to hold the bodies of the dead. In some ways, it is similar to the deeper shaft tomb. Examples occur ac ...

s containing cremations and a third cist that contained a burial. The burials that could be dated were found have been buried some time between 2020 and 1760 BC. Excavations of three of the barrows at Seven Knowes in 1998 found two had centrally placed cremation

Images

File:Rendall Old Cemetery - geograph.org.uk - 237277.jpg, alt=Rendall Old Cemetery, Rendall Old Cemetery File:Rendall Doocot - geograph.org.uk - 492025.jpg, alt=Rendall Doocot, Rendall Doocot File:Hall of Rendall - geograph.org.uk - 2094323.jpg, alt=A view od the hall of Rendall, Hall of Rendall File:Loch of Brockan, Rendall - geograph.org.uk - 516424.jpg, Lock Brocken

References

Parishes of Orkney Villages on Mainland, Orkney {{Orkney-geo-stub