The Orkney Islands

The Orkney Islands lie off the northern tip of Scotland, where the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean meet, only 50 miles south of Greenland. Orkney is made up of approximately 70 islands — of which, only 16 are inhabited. Orkney is divided into three distinct regions - the North Isles, the South Isles and the Mainland. Less than one-third of the islands are inhabited, and the population is currently around 20 000. The majority of people live on the Mainland, with the greatest population concentrations being around the main towns of Kirkwall and Stromness.

principal island is referred to as "the Mainland" - a corruption of the Old Norse “Meginland". The Norse originally referred to the island as "Hrossey", meaning "Horse Island" in Old Norse. The Mainland is divided into two "sectors" known as the East Mainland and West Mainland, and sub-divided into 13 parishes. The parishes of Firth, Rendall, Evie, Birsay, Harray, Sandwick, Steness, Orphir, and Stromness where our ancestors hail from, are all in West Mainland.

The indigenous people of the Orkneys, known as ‘Orcadians’ are descended from the Picts, Norse and Scots. Houses and tombs dating back 5,000 years share the landscape with Bronze Age cemeteries, standing stones, 2,000 year old brochs, viking ruins, medieval churches and Renaissance palaces. In the eighth and ninth centuries AD, when the Norwegian settlers began arriving in Orkney, their place names superimposed most original names.

Our ancestors, the Corrigalls, and the Leasks and their associated families, the Sinclairs, Fletts, Marwicks and Louttits all come from the Orkney Islands. I love that Michael Corrigall (2016) wrote ‘Many have benefited very significantly from their Orcadian heritage, having shown themselves to be of hardy stock, very reliable, well-educated and willing to work hard’. I like to consider myself as having those attributes!