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Information About

Sanday, Orkney





Scottish Information

  Map Ork Sandayjpg
  GridReference HY677411
  celtic Name N/A
  norse Name Sandey
  meaning Of Name Old Norse for 'island of sand'
  area 5,043 ha
  area Rank 21
  highest Elevation The Wart 65&nbspm
  Population 478
  population Rank 22
  main Settlement Lady
  island Group Orkney
  local Authority Orkney Islands
  references 2001 UK Census per List Of Islands Of Scotland Haswell-Smith, Hamish (2004) ''The Scottish Islands'' Edinburgh Canongate Orkney Placenames Ordnance Survey Anderson, Joseph (Ed) (1893) ''Orkneyinga Saga'' Translated by Jón A Hjaltalin & Gilbert Goudie Edinburgh James Thin and Mercat Press (1990 reprint) ISBN 0-901824-25-9


Sanday is one of the inhabited islands in the Orkney Islands , off the north coast of Scotland . With an area of nineteen square miles, it is the joint third largest of the Orkney Islands along with South Ronaldsay and Rousay . The main centres of population are Lady Village and Kettletoft . Sanday can be reached by Orkney Ferries or plane from Kirkwall on the Orkney Mainland . Cultural activities revolve around the school.


NATURAL HISTORY

Sanday, so called because of its sandy Beach es ("sand island"), is thought to have been mostly underwater at some periods of Prehistory . Archaeological evidence suggests that it at one time consisted of several smaller islands which joined together when the sea level decreased. There is a similarly named island, Sandoy , in the Faroe Islands . The island has large Sand Dune s where Seal s and Otter s can be found. Inland it is fertile and Agricultural and there is some commercial lobster fishing. The underlying geology is predominantly Devonian sediments of the Rousay flagstone group with Eday sandstone in the south east.Omand, Donald (ed) (2003) ''The Orkney Book.'' Edinburgh. Birlinn.

The novelist Eric Linklater described Sanday's shape as being like that of a fossilised Bat .


HISTORY

Attractions on the island include the , incised as parallel grooves into the parapet of the kirk. During World War II , the Royal Air Force built a Chain Home radar station at Whale Head on Sanday. Sanday also once boasted the most northerly passenger railway in the United Kingdom, Sanday Light Railway .


PEOPLE ASSOCIATED WITH SANDAY




LIGHTHOUSE

Start Point lighthouse on Sanday was completed on 2 October 1806 by engineer Robert Stevenson . It was the first Scottish lighthouse to have a revolving light and since 1915 has exhibited distinctive black and white vertical stripes which are unique in Scotland. The light was automated in 1962 and is powered by a bank of 36 solar panels. Start Point Lighthouse


CURRENT ISLAND ACTIVITIES

In 2004, three wind turbines with an installed capacity of 8.25MW were erected by successfully negotiated a wind farm community fund with SSE which will be benefitting the people of the island for the lifetime of the turbines, anticipated to be 20 to 25 years. Various minutes of Sanday Community Council

Back in 1996, the Sanday Development Group was formed to promote tourism. This group became Sanday Development Trust in 2004, which has a vision to:

create an economically prosperous, sustainable community that is connected with the wider world, but remains a safe, clean environment, where we are proud to live, able to work, to bring up and educate our children, to fulfill our own hopes and ambitions, and to grow old gracefully, enjoying a quality of life that is second to none.

Current projects include the establishment of a sports hall and youth centre, the creation of a local sound archive, and a countryside ranger service. DTA Scotland members Retrieved 2 June 2007.


SANDAY TARTAN


A district tartan has been designed for Sanday by one of the island's residents, although it has not been officially adopted by the island authorities. It represents the sea, the distinctive sandy beaches and green meadows of the island, and the vertical stripes of Start Point lighthouse. Scotsheraldry.com re Sanday Tartan Retrieved 2 June 2007.


REFERENCES



EXTERNAL LINKS