Orkney - Skara Brae

In the winter of 1850, a severe storm hit Orkney, causing widespread damage.  In the Bay of Skaill, the storm stripped the earth and grass from a large irregular knoll known as "Skerrabra".  After the storm had cleared, it had revealed a number of small stone houses without roofs.  This would turn out to be the remains of a Neolithic settlement dating from 3180 BC to 2500 BC.  The site was initially excavated by the local laird, William Watt, but after four houses were uncovered, the work was abandoned in 1868.  The site wasn't professionally examined until the 1920s.  Eventually eight prehistoric houses were excavated, connected by low covered passageways. Seven of the houses have stone dressers, beds and seats. The eighth building is divided into small areas and may have been used as a workshop, as fragments of antler and bone were found in it. 

Having seen Skara Brae featured on many documentaries, it was top of my Orkney 'to do' list.  It is a fascinating place to visit, but tricky to get the best out of photographically.  The colour pallet was all greens, yellows and greys.  Plus the sky was pretty overcast.  So I thought, 'what would Ian do' and turned everything mono, with as much 'clarity' or 'structure' as I could get away with.  The single colour image is from inside a modern replica of one of the huts.

Orkney - The Italian Chapel

The Italian Chapel is a highly ornate Catholic chapel on the island of Lamb Holm. It was built during World War II by Italian prisoners.  They were held in Camp 60, on the the previously uninhabited island, while they constructed the Churchill Barriers.  It was built from two Nissen huts, joined end-to-end and utilised the limited materials available to the prisoners.  The corrugated interior of the huts was covered with plaster and painted to resemble brick and carved stone.  The altar, altar rail and font were constructed from concrete, left over from work on the barriers.  A concrete façade conceals the front of the hut, making the building look like a stone built church.

Most of the interior decoration, including all of the the sanctuary end of the chapel, was done by a prisoner named Domenico Chiocchetti.  Like the Churchill barriers themselves, the chapel was not completed until the end of the war. Chiocchetti stayed on for a while, after his fellow prisoners were released, in order to complete his work.  The chapel is the only remaining building of Camp 60.  Since the end of the war it has been restored twice.  Once in the 1960s, when Chiocchetti returned to help with the work, and again in the 1990s.

 

 

Orkney - Churchill Barriers And Blockships

The Churchill Barriers are a series of 4 artificial causeways, linking the Orkney Mainland to the islands of Lamb Holm, Glimps Holm, Burray and South Ronaldsay.  They were built during World War II, on the orders of Churchill, to defend the mooring of the Royal Navy's Grand Fleet at Scapa Flow.  Earlier defences had relied on a series of sunken blockships.  These had proven ineffective in October 1939, when the German U-Boat, U-47, took advantage of a high tide slip past them and torpedo HMS Royal Oak.  The barriers were built by Italian POWs and took the rest of the war to complete.

The ferry I took from mainland Scotland arrived at St Margaret's Hope on South Ronaldsay.  So I passed over all the barriers, which now carry the A961, on my journey to the cottage where I would be staying.  The blockships are still visible beside the barriers and were the first subject I wanted to photograph.  I mainly chose to concentrate on long exposure images using a 10-stop filter and isolating the wrecks as much as possible.

 

 

 

John O'Groats

Towards the end of July, I spent a week staying on the mainland of Orkney.  It's a truly magical place, that will be the subject of the next few blog posts.  But first, something from the journey there.  Over the last few years I have explored quite a bit of Scotland.  I have certainly been as far as the North Coast before.  But the journey to Orkney lasted 2 days.  Day 1 took me as far as Inverness.  Thanks to hellish traffic, by the time I arrived, all I wanted was a meal and a pint.  Photography could wait for another day.  Day 2 was easier.  The ferry left from Gills Bay, a few minutes drive along the coast from John O'Groats.  My ferry wasn't until 4pm, leaving plenty of time to bimble around.

It's easy to find John O'Groats.  Just follow the steady stream of earnest, exhausted, cyclists, weighed down by panniers and charity sponsorship, who are slowly struggling their way there.  As you drive, you will pass other cyclists, with eager faces, fresh legs and tyres, heading the other way.  And why?  Because John O'Groats has become famous by pretending to be the most northerly point on mainland Britain. In truth that is Dunnet Head, a short drive past Gills Bay (or a camel crippling straw's length, if you are cycling).  John O'Groats, more accurately, has the most northerly cafés in mainland Britain.  But not much else.  There was a sign, scene of many a selfie.  An interesting stretch of coastline, ignored by the cyclists and less masochistic visitors, busily taking selfies with the sign.  An art installation.  A small harbour and a large car-park (for the less masochistic visitors).  And the cafés, of course, which were rather good.

 

Lackford Lakes

I am catching up with some image editing, ahead of a series of posts on my recent holiday to the Orkney Isles.  These shots were taken a few weeks ago, when I spent a very pleasant day at Lackford Lakes, near Bury St Edmonds in Suffolk.