Finstown () is a village in the parish of

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 ''f ...

Mainland Mainland is defined as "relating to or forming the main part of a country or continent, not including the islands around it egardless of status under territorial jurisdiction by an entity" The term is often politically, economically and/or dem ...

Orkney Orkney (; sco, Orkney; on, Orkneyjar; nrn, Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. It is the fourth-largest settlement in the Orkney Islands. According to travel author Eric Linklater, the homes in Finstown are tidy and well cared for. This settlement is situated along the Bay of Firth, whose fringe is a shallow intertidal

mudflat Mudflats or mud flats, also known as tidal flats or, in Ireland, slob or slobs, are coastal wetlands that form in intertidal areas where sediments have been deposited by tides or rivers. A global analysis published in 2019 suggested that tidal f ...

. The village is situated at the junction of the A965 and the A966. In 2011 it has a population of 440.

History

Prehistoric finds have been made in the form of ancient

cist A cist ( or ; also kist ; from grc-gre, κίστη, Middle Welsh ''Kist'' or Germanic ''Kiste'') is a small stone-built coffin-like box or ossuary used to hold the bodies of the dead. Examples can be found across Europe and in the Middle Ea ...

s, somewhat west of the primary school. Further east towards Kirkwall is the

Rennibister Earth House Rennibister Earth House is an Iron Age underground sructure known as a souterrain .It is located on the Mainland of Orkney, in Scotland. The monument was discovered in 1926 when a threshing machine caused the roof to collapse. During excavation, ...

, estimated to be 3000 years old. Formerly called "Toon o' Firth", the origin of the Finstown name is thought to come from an Irishman named David Phin who came to the area in 1811. A soldier with the 9th Royal Veteran Battalion, he married a Kirkwall girl in 1813. In 1820, he opened an ale-house which was called the ''Toddy Hole'' by arrangement with John Miller of

Millquoy Finstown () is a village in the parish of Firth on Mainland, Orkney, Scotland. It is the fourth-largest settlement in the Orkney Islands. According to travel author Eric Linklater, the homes in Finstown are tidy and well cared for. This settleme ...

. Four years later they quarrelled and Phin left for

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), a ...

, but his name remained. The ale-house building is now the site of the ''Pomona Inn'' hostelry, after an old name for Mainland Orkney. The British poet Zaffar Kunial is a direct descendant of Phin and has written about Finstown and

George Mackay Brown George Mackay Brown (17 October 1921 – 13 April 1996) was a Scottish poet, author and dramatist with a distinctly Orcadian character. He is widely regarded as one of the great Scottish poets of the 20th century. Biography Early life and career ...

in a poem that appeared in The Dark Horse magazine (Autumn/Winter 2021).https://gmbbibliography.wordpress.com The former

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

leader

Jo Grimond Joseph Grimond, Baron Grimond, (; 29 July 1913 – 24 October 1993), known as Jo Grimond, was a British politician, leader of the Liberal Party for eleven years from 1956 to 1967 and again briefly on an interim basis in 1976. Grimond was a lo ...

is buried in Finstown.

Community

Finstown has a post office, Firth Primary School, a pub called the ''Pomona Inn'' (closed at present), a shop and a garage. Most of these buildings are situated on the main

Stromness Stromness (, non, Straumnes; nrn, Stromnes) is the second-most populous town in Orkney, Scotland. It is in the southwestern part of Mainland Orkney. It is a burgh with a parish around the outside with the town of Stromness as its capital. E ...

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 ...

road.

References

External links

Visit Scotland - Finstown, OrkneyUndiscovered Scotland - Finstown
Villages on Mainland, Orkney {{Orkney-geo-stub