St Ola is a parish on

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 ...

. It is in the centre of the island, east of the parish

Firth Firth is a word in the English and Scots languages used to denote various coastal waters in the United Kingdom, predominantly within Scotland. In the Northern Isles, it more usually refers to a smaller inlet. It is linguistically cognate to ''fj ...

and north of Holm. It contains the capital and largest town of the Orkney archipelago,

Kirkwall Kirkwall ( sco, Kirkwaa, gd, Bàgh na h-Eaglaise, nrn, Kirkavå) is the largest town in Orkney, an archipelago to the north of mainland Scotland. The name Kirkwall comes from the Norse name (''Church Bay''), which later changed to ''Kirkv ...

. Both Kirkwall ( non, kirkjuvagr, church-bay) and St Ola may take their name from the church of St. Olaf, built about 1035 on the north bank of the Willow burn, which stands just below the local primary school. Highland Park, the most northerly

Scotch whisky Scotch whisky (; sco, Scots whisky/whiskie, whusk(e)y; often simply called whisky or Scotch) is malt whisky or grain whisky (or a blend of the two), made in Scotland. All Scotch whisky was originally made from malted barley. Commercial distil ...

distillery, is on the outskirts of Kirkwall. Several ships of the

North of Scotland, Orkney & Shetland Steam Navigation Company The North of Scotland, Orkney & Shetland Steam Navigation Company, which was more usually known as The North of Scotland or The North Company, its full name rarely being used, was a UK shipping company based in Aberdeen, originally formed in 187 ...

(later P&O Scottish Ferries) were named ''St Ola''. Prof John Tait was born here in 1878.

References

Parishes of Orkney Kirkwall {{Orkney-geo-stub