Wednesday, May 11, 2011
STRANDED
The Strynd houses in Kirkwall date back to 1400. It is not generally known that not all of the official Kirkwall Castle is gone - further up part of the outer fortifications survive as an extra-thick wall/s where a Norse Hall once stood. This NE corner was known as The King's Passage. On the other side, behind an offshoot of the main body of OIC buildings, are the remains of the Botanical Garden. Further back than this there was a glen here where the herbalist Sutherland went to collect his cures. This glen had the name Guills of Scapa, presumably referring to several burns=gullies therein. The Strynd gets its name from a small stream that now runs underground, but I suspect that the glen would include the likes of Laing Gutter too. It is interesting that this was the Guills of Scapa, as I have long thought that this parish is really Scapa and St Ola. The isthmus to which Scapa refers would be the land that the Vikings saw stretching from where a tidal inlet of the Bay of Kirkwall swept up to the place St Magnus Cathedral later stood (an earthwork called The Ridgeway used to fortify the mediaeval town and crossing Broad Street near The Strynd, probably began its life defending the broch close by) right over to the original situation of the Bay of Scapa, probably not far short of where the Crantit dairy is now.
The Strynd houses in Kirkwall date back to 1400. It is not generally known that not all of the official Kirkwall Castle is gone - further up part of the outer fortifications survive as an extra-thick wall/s where a Norse Hall once stood. This NE corner was known as The King's Passage. On the other side, behind an offshoot of the main body of OIC buildings, are the remains of the Botanical Garden. Further back than this there was a glen here where the herbalist Sutherland went to collect his cures. This glen had the name Guills of Scapa, presumably referring to several burns=gullies therein. The Strynd gets its name from a small stream that now runs underground, but I suspect that the glen would include the likes of Laing Gutter too. It is interesting that this was the Guills of Scapa, as I have long thought that this parish is really Scapa and St Ola. The isthmus to which Scapa refers would be the land that the Vikings saw stretching from where a tidal inlet of the Bay of Kirkwall swept up to the place St Magnus Cathedral later stood (an earthwork called The Ridgeway used to fortify the mediaeval town and crossing Broad Street near The Strynd, probably began its life defending the broch close by) right over to the original situation of the Bay of Scapa, probably not far short of where the Crantit dairy is now.
Labels: botanical garden, Guills of Scapa, King's Passage, Kirkwall Castle, Laing Gutter, Scapa, Strynd, The Ridgeway
