It was thought at the time to be the war to end all wars but as we approach November 11th and remember all those killed and maimed in wars then and since, […]
Writing in The Orkney Herald at the start of the New Year of 1949, Islandman (aka George Mackay Brown) gives us some words to think on. THE ORKNEY PATRIOTS It is a […]
“The character of human beings is, unfortunately, a fleeting thing, but the character of scenes and landscapes endures for periods that laugh at history as we know it.” Islandman
“This week, for one week only, Stromness will be the centre of Orkney. Some local merchants think it should be the centre of the islands all the time. ” – Islandman
‘In the broad space between the wall of circumvallation and the broch itself are the foundation lines of a multitude of structures. Something similar to this I noted twice elsewhere, near the ruins of a broch at Scapa in the Orkneys, and at the ferry between Bressay and Noss (Shetland), likewise the site of a broch.’
“From this and other analogous phenomena observed in connection with the prehistoric remains found in these islands, the folk mind has deduced the conclusion that the Picts were a race of dwarfs. “
‘On the 12th of July the St Magnus carried us northward to the Shetland Islands. We had a moderately placid sea, but as immoderately tumbling boat; nevertheless it was a passage keenly enjoyed.’
“Mr Cursiter showed me, in his collections, two large burial urns of steatite, one quite perfect, the other complete in form but reduced almost to a shell. These had been taken from Mounds in the islands. “
‘My meditations near the Ring of Brogar were momentarily interrupted by an Orcadian peasant. “Can you point out to me,” I asked ” The ring of Bukan?”
Sheriff Substitute Brown said that there had been ‘a disgusting amount of lying going on’.
