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Island of Sanday

© Sharma Krauskopf

Picture by Eric Stockton.

Sanday is an attractive island and one of the largest of the North Isles about sixteen miles long which is located nearly twenty-five miles north-east of Kirkwall. As its name suggests some of its outstanding features are the white stretches of sandy beaches. The beaches at Whitemill Bay, Sandquoy, Backaskaill and Lopness (where the remains of a German Destroyer can be seen at low tide), are some of the island's best. This beaches are usually deserted except many wading birds.

The island has over five hundred inhabitants. The people of Sanday pay their way, more or less, by farming (raising cattle and sheep for export live to other parts of Scotland) fishing, tourism and Social Security. Rich farmsteads in Sanday have remained occupied for thousands of years, which has resulted in a mass of deserted buildings and midden deposits

Sanday has a vast number of archaeological sites. There are many burial mounds throughout the island - the most notable being Quoyness Chambered Cairn. This cairn has a Maeshowe type of appearance and dates from about the 3rd millennium BC. It has a central chamber and six cells. The group of 500 hundred prehistoric mounds at Tofts Ness is one of the most important Prehistoric sites in Britain. Further unexcavated Neolithic tombs are at Tres Ness on the southern point and also at Rethie Taing.

Sanday also has many broch sites, the best being at Buryan, Wasso and Backaskaill. A spectacular Viking-Age find was made near Scar at Burness in 1991 after half the boat had been washed out to sea. This burial boat contained three human skeletons, ornaments, household goods and weapons. Most of these relics can be seen today at the Tankerness House Museum, in Kirkwall. Another Viking Age boat burial find was at Quoy Banks. All of these are easy to find on the Sanday Trail or if you would prefer this map.

A good overall of the island can be found on the Sanday home page.

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