Wyre (historically known as Viera and Veira) is one of the

Orkney Islands Orkney (), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago off the north coast of mainland Scotland. The plural name the Orkneys is also sometimes used, but locals now consider it outdated. Part of the Northern Isles along with Shetland ...

, lying south-east of

Rousay Rousay (, ; meaning Rolf's Island) is a small, hilly island about north of Mainland, the largest island in the Orkney Islands of Scotland. It has been nicknamed "Egypt of the north", due to its archaeological diversity and importance. Like its ...

. It is and at its highest point. It is one of the smallest inhabited islands in the archipelago.

Orkney Ferries Orkney Ferries is a Scottish company operating inter-island ferry services in the Orkney Islands. The company operates ferry services across 15 islands. History The company is owned by the Orkney Islands Council and was established in 1960 as t ...

sail from the island to Tingwall on the

Orkney Mainland The Mainland, also known as 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 popu ...

Egilsay Egilsay (, ) is one of the Orkney Islands in Scotland, lying east of Rousay. The anglicized name of Eagleshay was used in past centuries. The island is largely farmland and is known for St Magnus Church, Egilsay, St Magnus Church, dedicated or r ...

and Rousay.

History

Wyre's history is still very apparent, and it has two ancient monuments maintained by

Historic Scotland Historic Scotland () was an executive agency of the Scottish Government, executive agency of the Scottish Office and later the Scottish Government from 1991 to 2015, responsible for safeguarding Scotland's built heritage and promoting its und ...

, 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 ''Collins Encyclopaedia of Scotland'' is a reference work published by HarperCollins, edited by the husband and wife team, John and Julia Keay. History Scots had provided the impetus for a number of well-known references works, ''Chambers Dic ...

'' 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) ''

''. London. HarperCollins. The poet

Edwin Muir Edwin Muir CBE (15 May 1887 – 3 January 1959) was a Scottish poet, novelist and translator. Born on a farm in Deerness, a parish of Orkney, Scotland, he is remembered for his deeply felt and vivid poetry written in plain language and wit ...

(1887–1959), known for his prominent part in the Scottish Renaissance, born in

Deerness Deerness (, , Old Norse: ''Dyrnes'') is a ''quoad sacra'' parish (i.e. one created and functioning for ecclesiastical purposes only) and peninsula in Mainland, Orkney, Scotland. It is about south east of Kirkwall. Deerness forms a part of th ...

Mainland, Orkney The Mainland, also known as 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 popu ...

br>
spent much of his childhood on Wyre. In his autobiography he said of himself - "I'm an Orkneyman, a good

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

n", and commented that some of his happiest childhood years were spent here.

Cubbie Roo's Castle

Cubbie Roo's (or Cobbie Row's ) Castle was built in the mid-12 century by Norse landowner, Kolbeinn hrúga. The stone fortification originally consisted of a small, central tower set in an oval enclosure, surrounded by two ditches, a stone wall and an earthen rampart. It is the oldest surviving medieval

castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

and was mentioned in the ''

Orkneyinga Saga The ''Orkneyinga saga'' (Old Norse: ; ; also called the ''History of the Earls of Orkney'' and ''Jarls' Saga'') is a narrative of the history of the Orkney and Shetland islands and their relationship with other local polities, particularly No ...

'' as well as '' King Haakon's saga''.

Historic Environment Scotland Historic Environment Scotland (HES) () 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 Sc ...

established the site as a scheduled monument in 1929.

St Mary's Chapel

In the centre of the island is the roofless, but largely complete, twelfth-century St Mary's Chapel. It is thought to have been built by a Norse chieftain, Kolbeinn hrúga or his son, Bjarni Kolbeinsson, Bishop of Orkney. The Romanesque style building was originally constructed of local rubble and lime mortar. During the late 19th century, the building was restored.

Geography and geology

Like most of Orkney, Wyre is made up of

Old Red Sandstone Old Red Sandstone, abbreviated ORS, 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 eastern seaboard of North America. It ...

of the

Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a period (geology), geologic period and system (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era during the Phanerozoic eon (geology), eon, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the preceding Silurian per ...

period. The island is low lying, and is shaped like an

isosceles In geometry, an isosceles triangle () is a triangle that has two sides of equal length and two angles of equal measure. Sometimes it is specified as having ''exactly'' two sides of equal length, and sometimes as having ''at least'' two sides ...

triangle on its side. It is separated from

by Wyre Sound. Rousay is to the north,

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 h ...

to the south, Stronsay to the east,

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 demogr ...

to the south west, and

Shapinsay Shapinsay (, ) is one of the Orkney Islands off the north coast of mainland Scotland. With an area of , it is the eighth largest island in the Orkney archipelago. It is low-lying and, with a bedrock formed from Old Red Sandstone overlain by bo ...

to the south east. Bu ties with Ae in

Dumfries and Galloway Dumfries and Galloway (; ) is one of the 32 unitary council areas of Scotland, located in the western part of the Southern Uplands. It is bordered by East Ayrshire, South Ayrshire, and South Lanarkshire to the north; Scottish Borders to the no ...

as being Britain's shortest name for a settlement.

Wyre Sound

Wyre is separated from the neighbouring island of Rousay by the Wyre Sound. The sound experiences strong tides, which creates the perfect conditions for

maerl Maerl (also rhodolith) is a collective name for non- geniculate coralline red algae with a certain growth habit. Maerl grows at a rate of c. 1 mm per year. It accumulates as unattached particles and forms extensive beds in suitable subli ...

beds to form. The maerl beds in turn provide a sheltered habitat for species as peacock worms and various

sponge Sponges or sea sponges are primarily marine invertebrates of the animal phylum Porifera (; meaning 'pore bearer'), a basal clade and a sister taxon of the diploblasts. They are sessile filter feeders that are bound to the seabed, and a ...

s, as well as small fish, shrimps,

gobies Gobiidae or gobies is a family of bony fish in the order Gobiiformes, one of the largest fish families comprising over 2,000 species in more than 200 genera. Most of gobiid fish are relatively small, typically less than in length, and the fam ...

and

crab Crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura (meaning "short tailed" in Greek language, Greek), which typically have a very short projecting tail-like abdomen#Arthropoda, abdomen, usually hidden entirely under the Thorax (arthropo ...

s. Since 2014 the sound, along with the neighbouring Rousay Sound (which separates the islands of Rousay and Egilsay), has been designated as a Nature Conservation Marine Protected Area (NCMPA). Fishing activities are controlled within the MPA, and no

dredging Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing d ...

, beam trawling, demersal trawling or

Seine fishing Seine fishing (or seine-haul fishing; ) is a method of fishing that employs a surrounding net, called a seine, that hangs vertically in the water with its bottom edge held down by weights and its top edge buoyed by floats. Seine nets can be dep ...

is permitted.

Wildlife

Wyre is also known for its

grey Grey (more frequent in British English) or gray (more frequent in American English) is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning that it has no chroma. It is the color of a cloud-covered s ...

and

common seal The harbor (or harbour) seal (''Phoca vitulina''), also known as the common seal, is a true seal found along temperate and Arctic marine coastlines of the Northern Hemisphere. The most widely distributed species of pinniped (walruses, eared sea ...

s, and for birdlife including divers and

duck Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family (biology), family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and goose, geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfam ...

s. The sounds around Wyre have been designated an

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

(IBA) by

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding i ...

because they support a wintering population of

common loon The common loon or great northern diver (''Gavia immer'') is a large member of the loon, or diver, family (biology), family of birds. Reproduction, Breeding adults have a plumage that includes a broad black head and neck with a greenish, purpli ...

Footnotes

External links

Information on the island of Wyre
{{coord, 59, 07, N, 2, 58, W, region:GB_type:isle, display=title Islands of the Orkney Islands Viking Age sites in Scotland Important Bird Areas of Orkney Nature Conservation Marine Protected Areas of Scotland