Wyre, Orkney
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Wyre, Orkney
Wyre (historically known as Viera and Veira) is one of the Orkney Islands, lying south-east of Rousay. It is and at its highest point. It is one of the smallest inhabited islands in the archipelago. Orkney Ferries sail from the island to Tingwall on the Orkney Mainland, Egilsay and Rousay. History Wyre's history is still very apparent, and it has two ancient monuments maintained by Historic Scotland, Cubbie Roo's Castle and St Mary's Chapel. Bishop Bjarni grew up on Wyre, and was the son of Kolbein Hruga (see Cubbie Roo's Castle below.) ''Collins Encyclopaedia of Scotland'' says that he: :"composed the only significant work of Norse poetry to have survived in the rkneyislands, his '' Lay of the Jomsvikings''. He also played an important part in securing the canonisation of Earl Rognvald."Keay, J. & Keay, J. (1994) ''Collins Encyclopaedia of Scotland''. London. HarperCollins. The poet Edwin Muir (1887–1959), known for his prominent part in the Scottish Renaissance, b ...
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Mainland, Orkney
The Mainland, also known as Hrossey and Pomona, is the main island of Orkney, Scotland. Both of Orkney's burghs, Kirkwall and Stromness, lie on the island, which is also the heart of Orkney's ferry and air connections. Seventy-five per cent of Orkney's population live on the island, which is more densely populated than the other islands of the archipelago. The lengthy history of the island's occupation has provided numerous important archaeological sites and the sandstone bedrock provides a platform for fertile farmland. There is an abundance of wildlife, especially seabirds. Etymology The name Mainland is a corruption of the Old Norse . Formerly the island was also known as meaning 'horse island'. The island is sometimes referred to as '' Pomona'' (or ''Pomonia''), a name that stems from a 16th-century mis-translation by George Buchanan.Buchanan, George (1582''Rerum Scoticarum Historia: The First Book''The University of California, Irvine. Revised 8 March 2003. Retrieved 4 Oc ...
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Castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble. This is distinct from a palace, which is not fortified; from a fortress, which was not always a residence for royalty or nobility; from a ''pleasance'' which was a walled-in residence for nobility, but not adequately fortified; and from a fortified settlement, which was a public defence – though there are many similarities among these types of construction. Use of the term has varied over time and has also been applied to structures such as hill forts and 19th-20th century homes built to resemble castles. Over the approximately 900 years when genuine castles were built, they took on a great many forms with many different features, although some, such as curtain walls, arrowslits, and portcullises, were ...
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Dumfries And Galloway
Dumfries and Galloway ( sco, Dumfries an Gallowa; gd, Dùn Phrìs is Gall-Ghaidhealaibh) is one of 32 unitary council areas of Scotland and is located in the western Southern Uplands. It covers the counties of Scotland, historic counties of Dumfriesshire, Kirkcudbrightshire, and Wigtownshire, the latter two of which are collectively known as Galloway. The administrative centre and largest settlement is the town of Dumfries. The second largest town is Stranraer, on the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel coast, some to the west of Dumfries. Following the 1975 reorganisation of local government in Scotland, the three counties were joined to form a single regions and districts of Scotland, region of Dumfries and Galloway, with four districts within it. The districts were abolished in 1996, since when Dumfries and Galloway has been a unitary local authority. For lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy purposes, the area is divided into three lieutenancy a ...
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Ae, Scotland
Ae (pronounced ) is a village in Dumfries and Galloway, south west Scotland. The village is located on the edge of a man-made conifer forest, and is approximately north of Dumfries. History Robert Chambers (publisher born 1802), Robert Chambers wrote of the Ae area in 1826, describing it as a Moorland, moor with a glen (known as Glenae), whose inhabitants were "long famed for broils, battles, and feats of activity". Chambers wrote that most men in the area were employed in farming and transporting goods on horseback between the village and Glasgow, as well as the cities of Carlisle, Cumbria, Carlisle and Manchester. These "lads of Ae" had a reputation that preceded them, being famous for "cudgel-playing [and] boxing" at every fair and wedding the area held. The village of Ae is one of the youngest villages in Britain, having been founded in 1947 by the Forestry Commission. Geography The village is situated between the Water of Ae and the Goukstane Burn after they have f ...
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Shapinsay
Shapinsay (, sco, Shapinsee) is one of the Orkney Islands off the north coast of mainland Scotland. There is one village on the island, Balfour, from which roll-on/roll-off car ferries sail to Kirkwall on the Orkney Mainland. Balfour Castle, built in the Scottish Baronial style, is one of the island's most prominent features, a reminder of the Balfour family's domination of Shapinsay during the 18th and 19th centuries; the Balfours transformed life on the island by introducing new agricultural techniques. Other landmarks include a standing stone, an Iron Age broch, a souterrain and a salt-water shower. With an area of , Shapinsay is the eighth largest island in the Orkney archipelago. It is low-lying and fertile, consequently most of the area is given over to farming. Shapinsay has two nature reserves and is notable for its bird life. At the 2011 census, Shapinsay had a population of 307. The economy of the island is primarily based on agriculture with the exception of a fe ...
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Stronsay
Stronsay () is an island in Orkney, Scotland. It is known as Orkney's 'Island of Bays', owing to an irregular shape with miles of coastline, with three large bays separated by two isthmuses: St Catherine's Bay to the west, the Bay of Holland to the south and Mill Bay to the east. Stronsay is in area, and in altitude at its highest point. It has a usually resident population of 349. The main village is Whitehall, home to a heritage centre. Sights on the island include the Vat of Kirbister, a natural arch described as the "finest in Orkney", white sand beaches in the three bays, and various seabirds amongst which are Arctic terns. Geography and geology As with most of Orkney, Stronsay is made up of Old Red Sandstone which has produced a fine soil in many places. It is generally low-lying. On the eastern coast, spectacular rock formations include the Vat of Kirbister – Stronsay's famous natural rock arch, often described as the finest in Orkney. The coast around Odiness Bay fe ...
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Gairsay
Gairsay (Old Norse: ''Gáreksey'') is a small island in Orkney, Scotland, located in the parish of Rendall, off the coast, astride one of the approaches to the bays of Firth and Kirkwall. It is about long and wide and includes one conical hill and a small harbour called Millburn Bay, which is sheltered by the peninsula known as the Hen of Gairsay. History Viking age According to the '' Orkneyinga saga'', in Norse times Gairsay was the winter home of the Norse chieftain Sweyn Asleifsson, one of the last great Vikings. He farmed during the summer months and spent the winters with his eighty men at arms on his Gairsay estate. After the spring planting had been done Sweyn would go on Viking raids down the coast of Scotland, England and Ireland. He died attempting to conquer Dublin in the year 1171. 17th to 19th centuries A mansion called Langskaill was built on the site of Sweyn's estate in the seventeenth century by a wealthy merchant, Sir William Craigie, who lived there with h ...
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Isosceles
In geometry, an isosceles triangle () is a triangle that has two sides of equal length. Sometimes it is specified as having ''exactly'' two sides of equal length, and sometimes as having ''at least'' two sides of equal length, the latter version thus including the equilateral triangle as a special case. Examples of isosceles triangles include the isosceles right triangle, the golden triangle, and the faces of bipyramids and certain Catalan solids. The mathematical study of isosceles triangles dates back to ancient Egyptian mathematics and Babylonian mathematics. Isosceles triangles have been used as decoration from even earlier times, and appear frequently in architecture and design, for instance in the pediments and gables of buildings. The two equal sides are called the legs and the third side is called the base of the triangle. The other dimensions of the triangle, such as its height, area, and perimeter, can be calculated by simple formulas from the lengths of the legs and ...
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Devonian
The Devonian ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic era, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the Silurian, million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Carboniferous, Mya. It is named after Devon, England, where rocks from this period were first studied. The first significant adaptive radiation of life on dry land occurred during the Devonian. Free-sporing vascular plants began to spread across dry land, forming extensive forests which covered the continents. By the middle of the Devonian, several groups of plants had evolved leaves and true roots, and by the end of the period the first seed-bearing plants appeared. The arthropod groups of myriapods, arachnids and hexapods also became well-established early in this period, after starting their expansion to land at least from the Ordovician period. Fish reached substantial diversity during this time, leading the Devonian to often be dubbed the Age of Fishes. The placoderms began dominating ...
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Old Red Sandstone
The Old Red Sandstone is an assemblage of rocks in the North Atlantic region largely of Devonian age. It extends in the east across Great Britain, Ireland and Norway, and in the west along the northeastern seaboard of North America. It also extends northwards into Greenland and Svalbard. These areas were a part of the ancient continent of Euramerica, Euramerica/Laurussia. In Britain it is a lithostratigraphy, lithostratigraphic unit (a sequence of rock strata) to which Stratigraphy, stratigraphers accord Geological unit#Lithostratigraphic units, supergroup status and which is of considerable importance to early paleontology. For convenience the short version of the term, ORS is often used in literature on the subject. The term was coined to distinguish the sequence from the younger New Red Sandstone which also occurs widely throughout Britain. Sedimentology The Old Red Sandstone describes a suite of sedimentary rocks deposited in a variety of environments during the Devonian ...
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St Mary's Chapel On Wyre - Geograph
ST, St, or St. may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Stanza, in poetry * Suicidal Tendencies, an American heavy metal/hardcore punk band * Star Trek, a science-fiction media franchise * Summa Theologica, a compendium of Catholic philosophy and theology by St. Thomas Aquinas * St or St., abbreviation of "State", especially in the name of a college or university Businesses and organizations Transportation * Germania (airline) (IATA airline designator ST) * Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation, abbreviated as State Transport * Sound Transit, Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority, Washington state, US * Springfield Terminal Railway (Vermont) (railroad reporting mark ST) * Suffolk County Transit, or Suffolk Transit, the bus system serving Suffolk County, New York Other businesses and organizations * Statstjänstemannaförbundet, or Swedish Union of Civil Servants, a trade union * The Secret Team, an alleged covert alliance between the CIA and American industr ...
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Historic Environment Scotland
Historic Environment Scotland (HES) ( gd, Àrainneachd Eachdraidheil Alba) is an executive non-departmental public body responsible for investigating, caring for and promoting Scotland's historic environment. HES was formed in 2015 from the merger of government agency Historic Scotland with the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS). Among other duties, Historic Environment Scotland maintains more than 300 properties of national importance including Edinburgh Castle, Skara Brae and Fort George. History The responsibilities of HES were formerly split between Historic Scotland, a government agency responsible for properties of national importance, and the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS), which collected and managed records about Scotland's historic environment. Under the terms of a Bill of the Scottish Parliament published on 3 March 2014, the pair were dissolved and their functions transferred ...
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