View source for Burray

{{Short description|Island of the Orkney Islands, Scotland}}
{{distinguish|Burra (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox Scottish island
|Map=
|GridReference=ND460963
|coordinates = {{coord|58.851|-2.93|display=inline}}
|location_map=Scotland Orkney
|caption=Burray shown within the Orkney Islands
|norse name=Borgarey
|area=  {{convert|903|ha|sqmi|1}}
|area rank= 55
|highest elevation=  {{convert|80|m|ft|0}} 
|Population=445<ref name=RESAS>{{RESAS}}</ref>
|population rank=23
|population density =49 people/km<sup>2</sup><ref name=RESAS/><ref name=Smith/>
|main settlement= Burray Village
|island group=[[Mainland, Orkney|Orkney]]
|local authority=[[Orkney|Orkney Islands]]
|references=<ref name=Smith>Haswell-Smith (2004) p. 358</ref><ref name=OS6>{{cite map|title=Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 6 ''Orkney (Mainland)''|ISBN=9780319228128|publisher=Ordnance Survey|date=2014}}</ref><ref>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}}</ref><ref name=Pedersen>Pedersen, Roy (January 1992) ''Orkneyjar ok Katanes'' (map) Inverness: Nevis Print</ref>
}}

'''Burray''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|b|ʌ|r|iː|}}) is one of the [[Orkney Islands]] in [[Scotland]]. It lies to the east of [[Scapa Flow]] and is one of a chain of islands linked by the [[Churchill Barriers]].

==Geography and geology==
{{OSM Location map
|coord = {{coord|58.8619|-2.9243}}
|zoom = 12
|width = 380
|height = 380
|float = left

|label-posD=right

|label1 = Barrier ^No. 1
|label-pos1 = southwest
|mark-coord1 = {{coord|58.8929|-2.8963}}
|mark-title1 = Barrier No. 1
|mark-size1 = 7
|mark-image1 = Churchill Barrier No.1 - geograph.org.uk - 1340189.jpg

|label-pos2=left
|label2 = Barrier No. 2
|mark-coord2 = {{coord|58.882|-2.9028}}
|mark-title2 = Barrier No. 2
|mark-image2 = Churchill Barrier No. 2 - geograph.org.uk - 3699430.jpg

|label-pos3=left| ldx3=-11
|label3 = Barrier No. 3
|mark-coord3 = {{coord|58.8710| -2.9144}}
|mark-title3 = Barrier No. 3
|mark-image3 = Churchill Barrier No. 3, Orkney Islands - geograph.org.uk - 2839076.jpg

|label-pos4=left |ldx4=-2| ldy4=3
|label4 = Barrier No. 4
|mark-coord4 = {{coord|58.8411|-2.9047}}
|mark-title4 = Barrier No. 4
|mark-image4 = Churchill Barrier no. 4 - geograph.org.uk - 4732390.jpg

|        label5 = Fossil ^Centre
|    label-pos5 = right
|  label-color5 = grey
|         mark5 = MuseumNPS1.svg
|    mark-size5 = 11
|   mark-coord5 = {{coord|58.85833|-2.9104}}
|   mark-title5 = Orkney Fossil and Heritage Centre
|mark-image5=The road near the Fossil and Heritage Centre - geograph.org.uk - 7472385.jpg

|        label6 = LAMB HOLM
|label-spacing6 = 3.2
|    label-pos6 = centre
|  label-color6 = grey,80
|    mark-size6 = 0
|   mark-coord6 = {{coord|58.8874|-2.8930}}
|   mark-title6 = none

|        label7 = GLIMPS^HOLM
|label-spacing7 = 3.2
|    label-pos7 = center| ldx7=-12
|  label-color7 = grey,80
|    mark-size7 = 0
|   mark-coord7 = {{coord|58.8752|-2.9155}}
|   mark-title7 = none

|        label8 = BURRAY
|label-spacing8 = 3.2
|    label-pos8 = centre
|  label-color8 = grey,80
|    mark-size8 = 0
|   mark-coord8 = {{coord|58.8513|-2.9074}}
|   mark-title8 = none

|        label9 = SOUTH RONALDSAY
|label-spacing9 = 3.2
|    label-pos9 = centre
|  label-color9 = grey,80
|    mark-size9 = 0
|   mark-coord9 = {{coord|58.833|-2.9219}}
|   mark-title9 = none

|        label10 = Holm ^Sound
|label-spacing10 = 2.2
|    label-pos10 = left
|  label-color10 = blue
|    mark-size10 = 0
|   mark-coord10 = {{coord|58.8807|-2.866}}
|   mark-title10 = none

|        label11 = Water ^Sound Bay
|label-spacing11 = 1.7
|    label-pos11 = center
|  label-color11 = blue
|   label-size11 = 10
|    mark-size11 = 0
|   mark-coord11 = {{coord|58.8387|-2.885}}
|   mark-title11 = Water Sound Bay

|        label12 = HUNDA
|label-spacing12 = 3.2
|    label-pos12 = centre
|  label-color12 = grey,80
|  label-angle12 = -37
|    mark-size12 = 0
|   mark-coord12 = {{coord|58.8551|-2.9778}}
|   mark-title12 = Hunda

|        label13 = Northtown
|    label-pos13 = center
|  label-color13 = dark grey
|   label-size13 = 10
|    mark-size13 = 0
|   mark-coord13 = {{coord|58.8649|-2.9042}}
|   mark-title13 = none

|        label14 = Burray Ness
|    label-pos14 = left
|  label-color14 = green
|   label-size14 = 10
|  label-angle14 = -14
|    mark-size14 = 0
|   mark-coord14 = {{coord|58.8528|-2.8588}}
|   mark-title14 = Burray Ness (headland)
|   mark-image14 = Trig point, Burray Ness - geograph.org.uk - 1287834.jpg

|        label15 = Burray Haas
|    label-pos15 = left
|  label-color15 = green
|   label-size15 = 10
|  label-angle15 = -20
|    mark-size15 = 0
|   mark-coord15 = {{coord|58.8730|-2.8839}}
|   mark-title15 = Burray Haas (headland with [[Broch]])
|   mark-image15 = Burray Northfield Broch.jpg

|        label16 = Echnaloch ^Bay
|label-spacing16 = 1.4
|    label-pos16 = centre| ldx16=-16| ldy16=-16
|  label-color16 = blue
|   label-size16 = 10
|  label-angle16 = 49
|    mark-size16 = 0
|   mark-coord16 = {{coord|58.8572|-2.9164}}

|        label17 = Weddel ^Sound
|label-spacing17 = 1.4
|    label-pos17 = right
|  label-color17 = blue
|   label-size17 = 10
|  label-angle17 = -30
|    mark-size17 = 0
|   mark-coord17 = {{coord|58.8730|-2.9088}}

| arcA = Scapa Flow,58.8697,-2.980,12px, blue, 125deg, -3.5, 0.35
}}
[[File:Burray Sheeps.jpg|thumb|Sheep on Burray]]
Burray lies between [[Mainland, Orkney]] and [[South Ronaldsay]], and is linked to both by the [[Churchill Barriers]]. Barriers 1, 2, and 3 connect Burray with [[Mainland, Orkney]] via the islets of [[Glimps Holm]] and [[Lamb Holm]] in Holm Sound to the north east. Barrier 4 links to [[South Ronaldsay]], across Water Sound. To the west is the [[tidal island]] of [[Hunda]], also joined by a causeway. Further west, across [[Scapa Flow]], are the islands of [[Flotta]] and [[Calf of Flotta]], approximately {{convert|6|km|mi|1}} away.

In 2001, the population of Burray was 357,<ref>{{GRO10}}</ref> a total that had grown to 409 by 2011<ref name=NRS>{{NRS1C}}</ref> and to 445 by 2022.<ref name=RESAS/> The main settlement, Burray Village, is a former [[fishing port]] on the south west coast. There are also settlements of Northtown, Southtown and Hillside on the island.

Burray is made up of [[Old Red Sandstone]] of the [[Devonian]] period.<ref name=Smith/> The island is indented in the north west by Echnaloch Bay, which takes its name from Echna [[Loch]]. Burray Ness and Burray Haas are two headlands in the east.

==Visitor attractions==
Attractions in Burray include the [[Fossil]] and Heritage Centre at Viewforth.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.simontreasure.name/about-orkney/orkney-birds/echnaloch-burray/burray-and-the-barriers/| title=The Churchill barriers| publisher=Living in Orkney| access-date=2009-08-30| archive-date=17 October 2008| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081017052018/http://www.simontreasure.name/about-orkney/orkney-birds/echnaloch-burray/burray-and-the-barriers/| url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.orkneyfossilcentre.co.uk/| title=Orkney Fossil and Heritage| access-date=2011-07-03| archive-date=23 July 2011| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723213656/http://www.orkneyfossilcentre.co.uk/| url-status=live}}</ref>

The island has a reasonable amount of birdlife, with [[Eurasian curlew]], [[herring gull|herring]] and [[lesser black-backed gull]]s breeding here.<ref name=Smith/>

==History==

===Viking history===
One of the largest Viking hoards in Scotland<ref>{{cite web |url=http://nms.scran.ac.uk/database/record.php?usi=000-100-102-609-C |title=National Museums of Scotland – Hoard |website=nms.scran.ac.uk |access-date=28 January 2015 |archive-date=6 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160106174034/http://nms.scran.ac.uk/database/record.php?usi=000-100-102-609-C |url-status=live }}</ref> was discovered on 22 April 1889 by Mr G. Petrie, Little Wart, Burray when he was peat-cutting in the North Town Moss.<ref>{{Historic Environment Scotland|cat=PLA |num=9579 |num2=ND49NE 5 |desc=Burray, North Town Moss |access-date=19 June 2025}}</ref> It consisted of over 140 items of silver bullion, including many fragments of [[arm ring]] or 'ring-money', and about a dozen coins<ref>{{cite web |url=http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-352-1/dissemination/pdf/vol_107/107_114_135.pdf |title=The Viking-age silver and gold hoards of Scandinavian character from Scotland |first=J. A. |last=Graham-Campbell |website=archaeologydataservice.ac.uk |access-date=28 January 2015 |archive-date=21 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220521221612/https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-352-1%2Fdissemination%2Fpdf%2Fvol_107%2F107_114_135.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> The date proposed for deposition is c. 998.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-352-1/dissemination/pdf/vol_023/23_318_322.pdf |title=Notes on a hoard of silver ornaments and coins, discovered in the island of Burray, Orkney |first=James W. |last=Cursiter |website=archaeologydataservice.ac.uk |access-date=28 January 2015 |archive-date=21 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220521221606/https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-352-1%2Fdissemination%2Fpdf%2Fvol_023%2F23_318_322.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Ecclesiastical land===
In 1494/5 [[Bishop of Orkney|Bishop Andrew of Orkney]] was granted Burray by [[James IV of Scotland|James IV]]. Bishop Andrew's successor [[Robert Reid (bishop)|Bishop Reid]] leased Burray and Flotta out on 19 year leases, a practice that had become common in Orkney in order to avoid the bishopric becoming too involved in the direct management of the land.<ref>Thomson (20080 pp. 252-53</ref>

===Sir James Stewart===
During the early 18th century, the [[laird]] of Burray was Sir James Stewart, who commenced significant agricultural improvements in a {{convert|170|ha|acre}} enclosure called the Park of Cara.<ref name=T336>Thomson (2008) pp. 336-37</ref>{{refn|group="note"|Park of Cara was a rectangular enclosure at the northern end of [[South Ronaldsay]] overlooking Burray.<ref>{{cite map |author= William Aberdeen|year=1769 |title=A chart of the Orkney Islands|url=https://maps.nls.uk/coasts/chart/829 |edition= |scale= |location= Edinburgh |publisher= [[National Library of Scotland]]|access-date=26 July 2025}}</ref>}} Stewart was responsible for the murder of a political rival, James Moodie of Melsetter, in [[Kirkwall]] in 1725, and went on the run for twenty years. A [[Jacobitism|Jacobite]] sympathiser, he fought in the [[Battle of Culloden]] and was one of the few survivors. However, when he returned to Burray after the battle, he happened to chance upon the son of the murder victim, who reported him to the authorities.<ref name=Smith/><ref name=T336/> Stewart was arrested for treason (rather than murder), and ended up dying in a prison cell in [[London]] in June 1746.<ref>Seton & Gordon (1928) p. 122-23</ref>

The novelist [[Mary Brunton]] was born Mary Balfour on Burray on 1 November 1778.<ref>Isabelle Bour: Brunton , Mary... In: ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (Oxford: OUP, 2004; online e. October 2005). [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/3781 Retrieved 18 November 2010. Subscription required.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200109211722/https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-3781 |date=9 January 2020 }}</ref>

===WWII and construction of Churchill Barriers===
[[File:Churchill-Barrier-3.jpg|thumb|left|Churchill Barrier 3, linking [[Glimps Holm]] and Burray]]
{{Main|Churchill Barriers}}
On 14 October 1939, the Royal Navy battleship {{HMS|Royal Oak|08|6}} was sunk at her moorings within the natural harbour of [[Scapa Flow]], by the {{GS|U-47|1938|6}} under the command of [[Günther Prien]]. ''U-47'' had entered Scapa Flow through [[Holm Sound]], just to the north of Burray, one of several eastern entrances to Scapa Flow. The eastern passages were protected by measures including sunken block ships, booms and anti-submarine nets, but ''U-47'' entered at night at high tide by navigating between the block ships.
 
To prevent further attacks, the [[First Lord of the Admiralty]], [[Winston Churchill]] ordered the construction of permanent barriers. Work began in May 1940 and the barriers were completed in September 1944, but were not officially opened until 12 May 1945, four days after the end of [[World War II]].

The Churchill Barriers project required a substantial labour force, which peaked in 1943 at over two thousand. Much of the labour was provided by around 1200 Italian prisoners of war,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/37614/1/WRAP_Custodis_jshs%252E2011%252E0007.pdf |title=Exploiting the enemy in the Orkneys: the employment of Italian prisoners of war on the Scapa Flow barriers during the Second World War |first=Johann |last=Custodis |website=wrap.warwick.ac.uk |access-date=17 June 2015 |archive-date=17 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150617144921/http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/37614/1/WRAP_Custodis_jshs%252E2011%252E0007.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> who had been captured in the [[North African Campaign|desert war]] in North Africa, who were transported to Orkney from early 1942 onwards. As the use of POW labour for War Effort works is prohibited under the [[Geneva Conventions]], the works were justified as 'improvements to communications' to the southern Orkney Islands.

The prisoners were accommodated in two camps, some at Camp 34 at Warebanks on Burray<ref name="Canmore">{{Historic Environment Scotland|cat=PLA |num=305602 |num2=ND49NE 43 |desc=Warebank |access-date=19 June 2025}}</ref> and the rest at Camp 60 on [[Lamb Holm]] where the famous [[Italian Chapel]] was built. Camp 34 had its own chapel<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.scapaflow.co/index.php/history_and_archaeology/the_20th_century/war/defences_in_and_around_scapa_flow/the_italian_chapel |title=The Italian Chapel |website=Scapa Flow Landscape Partnership Scheme |access-date=4 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150220193957/http://www.scapaflow.co/index.php/history_and_archaeology/the_20th_century/war/defences_in_and_around_scapa_flow/the_italian_chapel |archive-date=2015-02-20 |url-status=dead}}</ref> but this was destroyed at the end of the war with the rest of the camp.<ref name="Canmore"/> Photos exist of Camp 34's football team<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.scran.ac.uk/database/record.php?usi=000-000-182-940-C&scache=5vzyy2509g&searchdb=scran |title=Italian Prisoner Of War Camp 34's Football Team |website=www.scran.ac.uk |access-date=28 January 2015 |archive-date=2 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402181521/http://www.scran.ac.uk/database/record.php?usi=000-000-182-940-C&scache=5vzyy2509g&searchdb=scran |url-status=live }}</ref> and band.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.scran.ac.uk/database/record.php?usi=000-000-182-915-C |title=Italian Prisoner Of War Band From Camp 34, Burray |website=www.scran.ac.uk |access-date=28 January 2015 |archive-date=2 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402114417/http://www.scran.ac.uk/database/record.php?usi=000-000-182-915-C |url-status=live }}</ref>

== See also ==
{{Portal|Scottish islands}}
* [[List of islands of Scotland]]

==References==
;Notes
{{Reflist|group="note"}}

;Citations
{{reflist}}

;General references
* {{Haswell-Smith}}
* {{cite book|author1-last=Seton|author1-first=Sir Bruce Gordon|author2-last=Arnot|author2-first=Jean Gordon|year=1928|title=Prisoners of the 45|location=Edinburgh|publisher=Scottish History Society|volume=1}}
* {{cite book|author-last=Thomson|author-first=William P.L.|year=2008|title=The New History of Orkney|location=Edinburgh|publisher=Birlinn}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Burray}}
* [http://www.orkneycommunities.co.uk/burray/ Burray Community Association]

{{South East Orkney}}
{{Orkney Islands}}
{{Islands of Scotland}}
{{Coord|58|51|5|N|2|56|6|W|region:GB_type:isle|display=title}}

[[Category:Islands of the Orkney Islands]]