History & Archaeology Orcadian Chronology
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ogb 3 collated.qxp 26/10/2005 19:48 Page 68 ORCADIAN CHRONOLOGY INTRODUCTION - HISTORY & ARCHAEOLOGY BC 1471 Act of Annexation to Scotland 1857 Orkney Roads act Vikings". The Norse domi- c.10000 Ice retreats 1486 Kirkwall made a Royal Burgh 1858 Bridge at Ayre Mills closes nation lasted six hundred c6000 Grassland, hazel-scrub, ferns Cathedral to Kirkwall Corporation off Oyce years and this influence is cover islands 1492 Columbus reaches America 1859 First "Orcadia" steamship for c5000 First people arrive?? 1513 Henry Sinclair II killed at Flodden North Isles still strong in the isles today. 3900 First known settlers 1528 Battle of Summerdale 1862 Maeshowe cleared out Orkney was of great strate- Vegetation becoming more open 1540 King James V visits Orkney 1865 Junction Road, Kirkwall, built gic importance during 3800 Climate deteriorates 1541 Bishop Reid extends Bishop's Palace First steamship to North Isles 3600 Knap of Howar oldest deposits 1560 Noltland Castle started for 1867 First Stromness lifeboat Viking times, and the 3200 Skara Brae oldest deposits Gilbert Balfour 1870 J&W Tait founded exploits of the Earls and 3000 Chambered Tombs being used 1567 Norse laws ratified by 1867 First Stromness lifeboat “Saltaire” their supporters are related Ring of Brodgar, Standing Scots Parliament 1874 First Longhope lifeboat colourfully in the Stones 1574 Earl's Palace, Birsay, built 1879 Kirkwall waterworks installed c.2750 Maeshowe built 1581 Robert Stewart made Earl of 1887 Stromness Herring fishery starts Orkneyinga Saga. 2700 Start of Great Pyramid Age Orkney 1890 Mermaid at Newark, Deerness 2600 Not many trees left 1588 Spanish survivors said to settle 1892 SS St Ola I starts her long service Later medieval times saw a 2500 Skara Brae last occupied in Westray 1908 Stromness herring boom over large influx of Lowland c.2000 Sandfiold cist burial 1590 First inn at Stromness 1913 Peak of Stronsay herring boom Moonrise at the Ring of Brodgar Knowes o’Trotty 1600s Stronsay herring fishery 1914 “Electric Theatre” opens Scots due to the close prox- 1300 Peat bogs developing becoming important 1915 First Great Skuas breed In "What is an Orcadian?" The Bronze Age succeeded imity of and then annexation 1159 Hekla erupts 1607 Earl's Palace finished, Kirkwall 1916 HMS Hampshire sunk George Mackay Brown con- the Neolithic and these peo- by Scotland. Orkney gradu- 700 Iron Age round houses 1614 Kirkwall Castle besieged 1917 HMS Vanguard blows up cludes by calling him, "A ples left behind burnt 600 Oldest Broch deposits 1615 Patrick & Robert Stewart execut- 1919 German Fleet scuttles itself ally became more of a back- c.325 Pytheas circumnavigates Orkney ed, Castle demolished, Cathedral saved 1920 N Zealand Wild White Clover fine mixter-maxter!". This is mounds, middens, cist and water and suffered as a 214 Great Wall of China constructed 1633 Carrick House built introduced literally true, as Orkney, at barrow graves as well as result of exploitation by 100 Broch of Gurness in use 1666 Great Fire of London; 1937 End of Stronsay herring boom the cross-roads of the ruins of small houses. This AD Newton realises gravity of situation 1939 World War II, Scottish Earls as well by the 33 Death of Christ 1679 Wreck of the Crown, Deerness sinking of "HMS Royal Oak" Atlantic, North Britain and period was marked by a "Merchant Lairds". Only in 43 Orkney said to submit to Claudius 1700 Hudson's Bay Company starts 1940 Work starts on Churchill Barriers the North Sea, has been on deterioration in climate and the 19th century were real 83 Agricola's fleet said to visit Orkney to recruit Orkneymen 1943 Italian Chapel started the seafaring map ever since changes in society as well as farming improvements to c.500 Celtic monks arrive 1705 Earl's Palace ruinous 1947 Albert Kinema burns down people started to go to sea in the appearance of bronze 600 Norsemen start to appear in West 1721 Kelp-making introduced to isles 1951 MV St Ola II commissioned arrive ,when steam power 632 Death of Muhammad 1725 Pirate Gow captured at Calf Sound 1955 Phoenix Cinema opens boats. Many visitors have tools and weapons. finally made sea transport 793 Major Viking raids begin 1730 "Archie Angel" survives 1957 Lyness Base closes down come and gone over the mil- more regular. 800s Norse migration shipwreck, Westray 1959 Russia launches first satellite lennia, some staying to set- About 700BC larger round c.872 Harald Fairhair King of Norway 1743 Stromness becomes free 1967 Loganair starts inter-island service th Sigurd of Moere first Earl of Kirkwall taxes 1969 First landing on the Moon tle, others leaving only their houses started to appear and During the later 19 and then 955 Earl Sigurd the Stout baptised 1763 Washington Irving's father 1972 Kirkwall lifeboat established genes. The regular input of later the spectacular brochs, the 20th century there have 1000 Leif Ericson discovers America arrives New York 1973 MV St Ola III start of ro-ro new blood and ideas has some with large settlements been the effects of the boom 1014 Thorfinn becomes Earl 1770 Grass, clover and turnip seeds 1974 Orkney Islands Council formed ensured that the Orcadians around them, were devel- c.1030 Earl Rognvald Brusison introduced, farming reforms 1977 Flotta Oil Terminal starts up in Herring fishing, two first Earl to live in Kirkwall 1776 American Declaration of 1978 Orkney Norway Friendship Assoc are the versatile and wel- oped. The introduction of World Wars, further great s.1035 First St Olaf’s Kirk built Independence 1987 St Sunniva starts ro-ro link coming people of today. iron for tools and weapons strides in agriculture, North 1065 Earl Thorfinn the Mighty dies 1789 First lighthouse lit on North to Shetland would have been a revolu- 1066 William - a French Viking takes Ronaldsay 850th anniv of St Magnus Cathedral Sea Oil and the influx of England 1794 Pentland Skerries lighthouses 1991 1st edition of this guide published After the end of the last Ice tion in itself. From about large numbers of mainly 1098 Magnus Barelegs expedition 1798 Highland Park distillery established Scar boat burial revealed by storms Age, about 13,000 years AD43 and later as part of the English immigrants, with 1115 Murder of Magnus c.1800 Ba’ game takes present form Ro-ro services to North Isles ago, Mesolithic nomadic Pictish Kingdom, Orkney the result that the population 1137 Foundation of St Magnus Cathedral 1809 First Kirkwall pier built 1992 St Ola IV enters service hunters arrived in Scotland. started to experience more 1151 Magnus relics transferred to Cathedral 1813 Martello Towers started Orkney Ferries fully ro-ro to Isles decline has now reversed. Earl Rognvald goes to Holy Land Last Great Auk killed on Papay 1995 50th anniversary of Barriers By 4000BC, Neolithic farm- outside influence: Roman, 1171 Sweyn Asleifson killed at Dublin 1814 Stone of Odin destroyed 1997 2nd edition of Orkney Guide Book ers were well settled in Christian and Scots. Orkney now has a very 1188 Bjarni Kolbeinson bishop 1830 Collapse of Kelp Boom First Atlantic oil reaches Flotta Orkney and for over 1,500 diverse economy, mostly 1231 Last Norse Earl dies 1832 North Ronaldsay dyke built 1999 Pickaquoy Centre opens years their culture flour- Beginning in the 8th century (John Harraldson) First steamship visits Kirkwall 2002 Northlink takes over still based on its natural 1263 Battle of Largs, King Haakon dies 1833 PS "Velocity" starts regular New pier at Hatston ished, leaving the villages, the Scandinavians began to assets, but increasingly 1290 Margaret, Maid of Norway, dies service to Kirkwall 2004 Stromness & Kirkwall marinas tombs and stone circles appear, probably not in huge depending on the ability of 1300 Dutch already fishing herring 1838 Kirkwall Gas Compamy formed ILS at Kirkwall Airport which we can see today and numbers at first. Large scale the Orcadians to adapt to 1379 Earl Henry Sinclair I 1847 Balfour Castle built New Kirkwall Library 1380 Kirkwall Castle rebuilt 1850 Skara Brae revealed after storm which are among the most migration took place during today’s changing world, just 2005 3rd edition of Orkney Guide Book th 1398 Henry Sinclair visits America?? 1855 Steamer between Stromness spectacular Neolithic monu- the 9 century, followed by as they have for at least the 1468 Impignoration to Scotland and Scrabster ments in Europe. the "Golden Age of the last 6,000 years. 68 69 ogb 3 collated.qxp 26/10/2005 19:48 Page 70 THE FIRST SETTLERS HISTORY & ARCHAEOLOGY in the form of small stone thin, or non-existent the S M objects that have been effect was for the land to N found, particularly on sink, a process which is still ploughed fields. These are happening in Orkney today, nearly all "microliths", with the result that here sea which are small but careful- level is several meters high- ly made flint tools. Many er than it was 8,000 years would have been mounted ago. The probability is thus on wood to make knives, that many coastal sites have scrapers, arrowheads, har- been lost to the sea. poons and other useful things. Mesolithic worked It should also be noted that stone artefacts have been possible Mesolithic tools found in several locations in and evidence of earlier occu- “Microliths” of worked flint Orkney, but so far no settle- pation were found at the At the end of the last glacia- ly important to these people ment site has been excavat- lowest levels at several Carved stone objects from Skara Brae tion, the ice appears to have too, and it is clear that they ed.