View source for Hoy, Orkney

{{Short description|Island in the Orkney Islands group}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}}
{{Infobox Scottish island
|official_name=Hoy
|norse name=Háey
|scots name = Hoy
|celtic name=Hòigh
|meaning of name=high island
|Image=Old man of hoy2.jpg
|ImageCaption=The [[Old Man of Hoy]], at the western side of the island, seen from the south
|location_map = Scotland Orkney
|caption=Hoy shown within Orkney
|coordinates = {{coord|58.83|-3.3|display=inline}}
|GridReference=ND263961
|area=  {{cvt|14318|ha|sqmi}}<ref name =Smith>{{Haswell-Smith|344-6}}</ref>
|area rank=12
|highest elevation= [[Ward Hill, Hoy|Ward Hill]], {{cvt|481|m|ft|0}}
|Population=392<ref name=RESAS>{{RESAS}}</ref>{{refn|Including South Walls.|group=Note}}
|population rank=24
|population density ={{cvt|2.7|PD/km2}}<ref name=Smith/><ref name=RESAS/>
|main settlement=[[Lyness]]
|island group=[[Mainland, Orkney|Orkney]]
|local authority=[[Orkney Islands Council|Orkney Islands]]
|references=<ref name =Smith/><ref name=OK>[http://www.orkneyjar.com/placenames/pl-isle.htm Orkney Placenames] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000830075309/http://www.orkneyjar.com/placenames/pl-isle.htm |date=30 August 2000 }}. Orkneyjar.Retrieved 15 February 2024.</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>
}}

'''Hoy''' (from [[Old Norse language|Old Norse]] {{lang|non|Háey}}, meaning "high island")<ref>{{cite book|last=Mills|first=A. D.|title=A Dictionary of British Place Names|publisher=Oxford University Press|date=2011|isbn=9780191739446|entry=Hoy|entry-url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199609086.001.0001/acref-9780199609086-e-7102|entry-url-access=subscription}}</ref> is an island in [[Orkney]], Scotland, measuring {{convert|143|km2|sqmi|0}} – the second largest in the [[archipelago]], after [[Orkney Mainland|Mainland]]. A natural causeway, ''the Ayre'', links the island to the smaller [[South Walls]]; the two islands are treated as one entity by the UK census.<ref name=NRS>{{NRS1C}}</ref><ref name=GRO>{{GRO10}}</ref> Hoy is also the name of a hamlet in the northwest of the island.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Map of Hoy, Orkney|url=https://streetmap.co.uk/map?x=322500&y=1003500&z=120&sv=hoy&st=3&tl=Map+of+Hoy,+Orkney+Islands+[City/Town/Village]&searchp=ids&mapp=map|access-date=2024-07-04|website=Streetmap.co.uk}}</ref>

== Geography ==
At {{cvt|14318|ha|acre}} in extent, Hoy is the 12th largest of [[List of islands of Scotland|Scotland's islands]]. It is also the "highest and wildest and wettest ({{cvt|1500|mm|in|disp=or}} of annual rainfall) of all the Orkney islands".<ref name =Smith/> 

The [[Old Man of Hoy]], a sea stack formed from [[Old Red Sandstone]], can be found in the northwest on the Rackwick coast. It is one of the tallest stacks in the United Kingdom at a height of {{Convert | 449 | ft | order=flip}}. The Old Man is popular with climbers, and was first climbed in 1966. Created by the erosion of a cliff through [[hydraulic action]] sometime after 1750, the stack is no more than a few hundred years old, and a painting from 1817 shows the stack with an arch at the bottom which has now further eroded and no longer remains. It may soon collapse into the sea.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hall |first=Tasha |date=2022-07-31 |title=The stunning Scottish landmark that could disappear 'overnight' |url=https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/lifestyle/stunning-scottish-landmark-could-disappear-27593705 |access-date=2023-07-01 |website=scottishdailyexpress |language=en}}</ref>

The dramatic coastline of Hoy can be seen by visitors travelling to Orkney by ferry from the Scottish mainland. It has some of the highest sea cliffs in the UK at St John's Head, which reach {{Convert|350|m}}.<ref name=Smith/>

The name Hoy comes from the [[Old Norse language|Norse]] word ''Háey'' meaning "high island".<ref name=OK/> It is therefore not surprising that the island of Hoy is the most mountainous in the Orkney [[archipelago]]. The highest point on the island (and the whole archipelago) is in the north at [[Ward Hill, Hoy|Ward Hill]], which stands at {{Convert | 481 | m}}. There is a [[Triangulation station|trig point]] at the summit.<ref name=OS6/>

The main settlements on the island are Lyness, Rackwick and Quoyness.<ref name=OS6/> Longhope is a village on neighbouring [[South Walls]]. A road linking Hoy to South Walls was constructed towards the end of the 19th century. Prior to that time the latter had only been accessible by land across the [[shingle beach]] of the Ayre at low tide.<ref>Muir, Tom  "Geology and Landscape" in Omand (2003) p.220.</ref> The status of South Walls is now considered by some writers as a peninsula attached to Hoy and by others as still being an island. For example neither the 2001 or 2011 censuses mention South Walls in their lists of inhabited islands<ref name=NRS/><ref name=GRO/> and Haswell-Smith states that South Walls "was an island" until the causeway over the Ayre was constructed.<ref name=Smith/> The [[Gazetteer for Scotland]] states that it is "a peninsula, sometimes described as an island."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.scottish-places.info/features/featurefirst6330.html|title=South Walls|publisher=[[Gazetteer for Scotland]]|accessdate=2024-02-11}}</ref> 

The island is part of the [[Hoy and West Mainland National Scenic Area]], one of 40 in Scotland.<ref>[http://www.snh.gov.uk/protecting-scotlands-nature/protected-areas/national-designations/nsa/ National Scenic Areas] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170311014235/http://www.snh.gov.uk/protecting-scotlands-nature/protected-areas/national-designations/nsa/|date=11 March 2017}}. SNH. Retrieved 30 March 2011</ref>

== History ==
[[File:Dwarfie Stane, Hoy - geograph.org.uk - 71967.jpg|thumb|left|The Dwarfie Stane]]
===Prehistory===
The [[Dwarfie Stane]] lies in the north of the [[Rackwick]] valley and dates back to around 3000 BCE. It is unique in northern Europe, bearing similarity to [[Neolithic]] or [[Bronze Age]] tombs around the [[Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranean]]. The tomb has a small rectangular entrance and cleft, hence its name.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.orkneyjar.com/history/tombs/dwarfiestane/index.html|title=Orkneyjar - The Dwarfie Stane, Hoy|website=orkneyjar.com|access-date=2020-04-09|archive-date=24 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200224184442/http://orkneyjar.com/history/tombs/dwarfiestane/index.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>{{refn|''Dwarfie'' is a diminutive of "dwarf", while ''stane'' is the Scots form of "stone".|group=Note}} 

===19th century===
The two most northerly [[Martello tower|Martello Towers]] in the UK stand here, built in 1814 to defend merchant shipping in the natural harbour of [[Longhope, Orkney|Longhope]] against [[privateer]]s commissioned by United States President [[James Madison]], who declared war in 1812.{{cn|date=October 2022}}

=== World Wars ===
The main naval base for the British fleet in both the [[World War I|First]] and [[Second World War]]s, [[Scapa Flow]], was at [[Lyness]] in the southeast of the island.

During the early years of the Second World War, up to 12,000 personnel were based in and around Lyness to support the defences of the naval anchorage at Scapa Flow and the ships that used it. To support this huge population, hundreds of accommodation huts were built in a number of camps around Lyness. A large [[wharf]] was built (known as the Golden Wharf because of its huge cost) along with a series of piers and slipways. Offices, workshops, stores and recreational buildings were erected, including a cinema, a theatre and several churches. An earlier headquarters building was replaced in 1943 by an imposing concrete HQ and communications centre, also sited high on Wee Fea, which now serves as a hotel.{{cn|date=October 2022}}
[[File:Lyness Royal Naval Cemetery, Hoy, Orkney - geograph.org.uk - 121041.jpg|thumb|Lyness Royal Naval Cemetery]]
Lyness Royal Naval Cemetery is around {{Convert | 1 | km | yd | sigfig = 2}} inland from the naval base and has an area of around {{Convert | 10000 | sqm}}.

==Demographics==
Although the population of Hoy is now only around 400, there was a much larger population in the past. In 1890 there were four schools on the island and four churches, suggesting a much larger population. Despite the larger population there was no paved road between the north of the island and the south, only a footpath. There was, however, an unsurfaced road between the two villages on the north of the isle; Rackwick and Moaness.<ref name=":2">observations of ordnance survey maps of the time.</ref>

== Transport ==
===Ferry===
[[Orkney Ferries]] operate two services to Hoy:
*A ro-ro vehicle ferry between [[Houton]] on Orkney Mainland and Lyness on Hoy. Some crossings are via Flotta. Foot passengers may also travel to Longhope, South Walls where the ferry is berthed overnight.
*A small passenger ferry between [[Stromness]] on Orkney Mainland and Moaness on Hoy via the small island of [[Graemsay]].
<div><ul style="margin-left:0;"> 
<li style="display: inline-block;">[[File:MV Hoy Head.jpg|thumb|MV Hoy Head, the Houton, Lyness, Flotta and Longhope ferry.]]</li>
<li style="display: inline-block;">[[File:MV Graemsay.jpg|thumb|MV Graemsay, the Stromness, Graemsay and Moaness ferry at Moaness pier]]</li></ul></div>

===Bus===
The Hoy and Walls Community Bus provides a regular timetabled bus service across the islands of Hoy and Walls. The buses go from Moaness on Hoy to Hackness on South Walls, via Linksness, Lyness, North Walls, [[Brims, Orkney|Brims]], and Longhope.

===Airport===
There have been two airfields on South Walls, perhaps due to its connections with the navy. One on the southern coast (Snelsetter) which opened in August 1934 and was closed at the end of World War Two; it was used by military and civil aircraft, and now is open land.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.abct.org.uk/airfields/airfield-finder/snelsetter-hoy/|title=Snelsetter (Hoy) - Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust UK|website=abct.org.uk|access-date=2020-04-13}}</ref> Another, just east of the [[causeway]] that links the two islands of Hoy and South Walls, opened in November 1972 and closed in 1993. It was used by civilian aircraft solely and was operated by the airline [[Loganair]]; it is also now open land, used as an emergency landing strip only.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.abct.org.uk/airfields/airfield-finder/hoy-longhope/|title=Hoy (Longhope) - Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust UK|website=abct.org.uk|access-date=2020-04-13}}</ref> The first flight to a nearby island of [[Flotta]] on 1 March 1977 was recorded to have landed at Hoy.

== Longhope lifeboat station ==
{{main|Longhope Lifeboat Station}}
A lifeboat has been on Hoy since 1874, at first housed in a prominent stone building close to the west end of the causeway that links the two islands of Hoy and South Walls. It was stationed there as it meant that the lifeboat could be dragged over wooden skids into the sea in either North Bay, giving access to Scapa Flow, or in Aith Hope, an offshoot of the notorious [[Pentland Firth]] to the south. The shed continued to serve as the base of the Longhope lifeboat until 1906.

The replacement lifeboat station stands slightly to the south of the original station cost £2,700 to build in 1906 and was in use until 1999. On 17 March 1969 whilst based here, the lifeboat [[RNLB T.G.B. (ON 962)|''T.G.B.'' (ON 962)]] capsized while on service to the Liberian vessel ''Irene''. Her entire crew of eight lost their lives.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Leach |first1=Nicholas |title=The lifeboat service in Scotland : station by station |date=2013 |publisher=Amberley |location=Stroud, Gloucestershire |isbn=9781445613390 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oAyoAwAAQBAJ&dq=lifeboat+tgb+on+962+capsized&pg=PT247 |access-date=2 November 2021}}</ref> This station is now the home of the [[Longhope Lifeboat Museum]], which has on display lifeboat ''[[RNLB Thomas McCunn (ON 759)|Thomas McCunn]]'', stationed here from 1933 to 1962.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Longhope Lifeboat Museum Trust|url=https://longhopelifeboatmuseum.org/our-museum/|access-date=2024-10-29|website=Longhope Lifeboat Museum}}</ref>

In 2000 an [[Arun-class lifeboat]], ''Sir Max Aitken II'' became the Longhope lifeboat. This class was designed to stay permanently afloat, and the decision was taken to move her to purpose-built moorings at Longhope pier. The lifeboats that have served here since have also been stationed at Longhope, including the current vessel the ''Helen Comrie'' (a [[Tamar-class lifeboat]]) and her predecessor ''The Queen Mother'', which was based here between 2004 and 2006. A station has been built where the lifeboat is moored at Longhope which is also the main harbour for boats to and from the island.<ref>[https://longhopelifeboatmuseum.org/our-boats/ "Our Boats"]. [[Longhope Lifeboat Museum]]. Retrieved 15 February 2024.</ref><ref name=OS6/>

It is one of three lifeboat stations in [[Orkney]], the others being [[Stromness Lifeboat Station]], and [[Kirkwall Lifeboat Station]].

== Mythology ==
In [[Norse mythology]], Hoy hosted [[Hjaðningavíg]], the never-ending battle between Heðin and Högni.

==Wildlife==
Hoy is an [[Important Bird Area]].<ref>[http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/sitefactsheet.php?id=2495 Important Bird Areas factsheet: Hoy] Birdlife.org, Retrieved 24 January 2015</ref><ref>[http://www.globalspecies.org/birdareas/display/2495 Hoy IBA] Global Species.org, Retrieved 24 January 2015</ref>
The northern part of the island is an [[RSPB]] [[nature reserve|reserve]] due to its importance for birdlife, particularly [[great skua]]s and [[red-throated diver]]s. It was sold to the RSPB by the Hoy Trust for a nominal amount.<ref name="haswell-smith">{{Cite book|last=Haswell-Smith|first=Hamish|title=The Scottish Islands|year=1996|publisher=Canongate|isbn=0-86241-579-9|page=283}}</ref>
''[[Anastrepta orcadensis]]'', a [[Marchantiophyta|liverwort]] also known as Orkney Notchwort, was first discovered on Ward Hill by [[William Jackson Hooker]] in 1808.<ref name=RBGE>[http://www.rbge.org.uk/science/cryptogamic-plants-and-fungi/bryology "Bryology (mosses, liverworts and hornworts)"] Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. Retrieved 15 May 2008.</ref><ref>[https://archive.org/stream/annalsofscottish16edin/annalsofscottish16edin_djvu.txt "West Highland Mosses And Problems They Suggest"] (January 1907) ''Annals of Scottish Natural History'' '''61''' p. 46. Edinburgh. Retrieved 11 June 2008.</ref>

The northern and western parts of Hoy, along with much of the adjoining sea area, is designated as a [[Special Protection Area]]<ref name=sitelink>{{cite web|url=http://gateway.snh.gov.uk/sitelink/searchmap.jsp |title=Sitelink - Map Search |publisher=Scottish Natural Heritage|access-date=2018-01-24}}</ref> due to its importance for nine breeding bird species: [[arctic skua]], [[fulmar]], [[great black-backed gull]], great skua, [[Common murre|guillemot]], [[Black-legged kittiwake]], [[peregrine falcon]], [[Atlantic puffin|puffin]] and red-throated diver.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://gateway.snh.gov.uk/sitelink/siteinfo.jsp?pa_code=8513| title=Site Details for Hoy (SPA)|publisher=Scottish Natural Heritage|date=2018-03-05|access-date=2018-03-21}}</ref> The area is important for its seabird assemblage, which regularly supports 120,000 individual seabirds during the breeding season.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://jncc.defra.gov.uk/default.aspx?page=1902|title=SPA Description (Hoy)|publisher=Joint Nature Conservation Committee|date=2005-07-21|access-date=2018-03-21|archive-date=15 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180715040125/http://jncc.defra.gov.uk/default.aspx?page=1902|url-status=dead}}</ref>

One of Orkney's few woodlands is found on Hoy, and is among the most northerly areas of woodland in the UK. Patches of the woodland are scattered across the island. There is the remote possibility of locally extant [[Orkney charr]] (''[[Salvelinus inframundus]]'') documented in 1908 at Heldale Water.<ref>{{Cite iucn|url=https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/135414/4126169|title=The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species|access-date=2018-10-27}}</ref>

==In popular culture==
Hoy is featured prominently in the 1984 music video for "[[Here Comes The Rain Again]]" by the [[Eurythmics]].

Hoy has a performing arts theatre, the Gable End Theatre, which opened in 2000 and has a capacity of 75. The theatre is managed by the Hoy and Walls drama community.

Some rather incongruous [[Art Deco]] structures nearby date from this period. The [[Arts and Crafts Movement|Arts and Crafts]] architect [[William Lethaby]] rebuilt Melsetter house for mountaineer [[Thomas Middlemore]] at the end of the 19th century, leaving untouched the adjacent barn which is probably mid-18th century.<ref name="Tinniswood">{{cite book|last=Tinniswood|first=Adrian|title=The Arts & Crafts House|publisher=[[Watson-Guptill Publications]]|year=1999|isbn=0-8230-0364-7|location=New York|pages=34–37|author-link=Adrian Tinniswood}}</ref><ref name="Historic Scotland">{{Historic Environment Scotland|num=LB48367|desc=Walls (Hoy), Melsetter, The Hall, including Gatepiers to West|cat=B|access-date=2 April 2019}}</ref>

In [[Poul Anderson]]'s story "The Bitter Bread" the protagonist lives in secluded retirement on Hoy. There is a description of the island: "Steep red and yellow cliffs, sea green in sunlight or gray under clouds until it breaks in whiteness and thunder, gulls riding a cold loud wind, inland the heather and a few gnarly trees across hills where sheep graze, a hamlet of rough and gentle Orkney folk an hour's walk away, my cat, my books, my rememberings."<ref>Poul Anderson, "The Bitter Bread", [[Analog magazine]] 1975, Reprinted in Poul Anderson, "Explorations",Tom Deherty Associates, New York, 1981. The story is set centuries in the future, but it assumes that the island of Hoy will have changed little from its present condition.</ref>

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Hoy Cliffs.jpg| Cliffs on the [[Atlantic Ocean|Atlantic]] coast of Hoy, south of Rackwick
File:ScapaFlowVisitorCentreRLH.jpg| Scapa Flow Visitor Centre
File:PicHoyHigh.jpg| Hoy High Lighthouse on Graemsay, viewed from Mainland
File:Hoy_Orkney_Landesinnere.JPG|Rackwick Valley
File:Hoy Orkney Southside.jpg|Rackwick
</gallery>

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

==Notes==
{{Reflist|group=Note}}

==Footnotes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
* Irvine, James M. (ed.) (2006) ''The Orkneys and Schetland in Blaeu's Atlas Novus of 1654''. Ashtead. James M. Irvine. {{ISBN|0-9544571-2-9}}
* Omand, Donald (ed.) (2003) ''The Orkney Book''. Edinburgh. Birlinn. {{ISBN|1-84158-254-9}}
* {{Haswell-Smith}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Hoy}}
{{Wikivoyage}}
*[http://www.hoyorkney.com/ Island of Hoy website launched December 2008]
*[http://www.readingmountaineeringclub.org.uk/images/Hoy/image5.htm Old Man of Hoy picture gallery] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090415091951/http://www.readingmountaineeringclub.org.uk/images/Hoy/image5.htm |date=15 April 2009 }}

{{Coord|58|51|N|3|18|W|region:GB_type:isle|display=title}}

{{South West Orkney}}
{{Orkney Islands}}
{{Orkney settlements}}
{{Islands of Scotland}}
{{NSAs in Scotland}}
{{RSPB sites in Scotland}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Hoy, Orkney| ]]
[[Category:Islands of the Orkney Islands]]
[[Category:Important Bird Areas of Orkney]]
[[Category:Places in Norse mythology]]
[[Category:National scenic areas of Scotland]]
[[Category:Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Orkney]]
[[Category:Royal Society for the Protection of Birds reserves in Scotland]]