Damsay
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| Damsay | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
  Damsay
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| Damsay shown within Scotland. | |
| OS grid reference: | HY389139 |
| Names | |
| Gaelic name: | Unknown |
| Norse name: | Damsey/Daminsey |
| Meaning of name: | Old Norse meaning 'pond island', or possibly 'St Adamnan's Island' |
| Area and Summit | |
| Area: | 18 ha |
| Highest elevation: | 11 m |
| Population | |
| Population (2001): | 0
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| Groupings | |
| Island Group: | Orkney |
| Local Authority: | Orkney Islands |
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| References: | [1][2][3] |
Damsay is an island in the Orkney archipelago in Scotland. It is approximately 18 hectares (0.07 square miles) in extent and rises to only 11 metres (36 feet) above sea level. It is situated in the Bay of Firth north of the Orkney Mainland near Finstown. Nearby is the smaller islet of Holm of Grimbister.
It is now uninhabited, but at one time a Norse hall stood there, and it was the scene of the killing of Earl Erlend by Earls Rognvald and Harald in 1154. Erlend celebrated Christmas on the island and retired to his ship the worse for drink. He and his men were taken by surprise and killed, a full moon notwithstanding.[4]
Later a small nunnery was built on the island leading to a legend that no frogs or toads (or possibly rats and mice) could live there. It is said that unmarried woman who became pregnant would go there to pray at an abandoned shrine to St Mary.[5][1]
Jo Ben's 1529 Descriptions of Orkney says of Damsay:
Here there are no hills, and it is the most pleasant of all, and is called Tempe. The church in this island is dedicated to the Virgin Mary, to which many pregnant women make visits in style. No frogs, toads, or other noxious terrestrial animals whatever are ever found here. The women here are sterile, and if they do become pregnant never bring forth with life. It is related that sometimes the haughty [the shores] are carried away for the space of one hour, but truly afterwards restored. The distance of this island from Kirkwall is two miles.[6]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b Haswell-Smith, Hamish. (2004) The Scottish Islands. Edinburgh. Canongate.
- ^ Ordnance Survey
- ^ Anderson, Joseph (Ed.) (1893) Orkneyinga Saga. Translated by Jón A. Hjaltalin & Gilbert Goudie. Edinburgh. James Thin and Mercat Press (1990 reprint). ISBN 0-901824-25-9
- ^ Caithness history Retrieved 2 August 2007.
- ^ Moir, Tom, The West Mainland in Omand, Donald (ed.) (2003) The Orkney Book. Edinburgh, Birlinn. Page 192.
- ^ Orkneyjar history Retrieved 2 August 2007.
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