Place-names in Sandwick, Deerness

Overview and Issue

Description of the author's research into the parish of Deerness which includes place-names and geographical features as they relate to 'King Hereafter'. This research project was the first to be awarded a grant by the Dorothy Dunnett Society.

Clouston, JS (ed), Records of the Earldom of Orkney. Edinburgh: Scottish Records Society, 1914.
Clouston, JS, The Orkney Parishes. Kirkwall: WR Mackintosh, 1927.
Crawford, BE, and Ballin Smith, B, The Biggings Papa Stour Shetland. Edinburgh, 1999.
Dunnett, Dorothy, King Hereafter. Michael Joseph, 1982.
Eunson, M, Clouston, I, Eunson, M, and Foubister, H, Almost an Island: the story of an Orkney Parish. Kirkwall, 2005.
Gibbon, SJ, ‘The origins and early development of the parochial system in the Orkney earldom’. Unpublished PhD. UHI/OU, 2006.
Lamb, RG, ‘Historical Background to the Norse Settlement’. In Buteaux, S, Settlements at Skaill, Deerness, Orkney. Oxford, 1997.
Low, G, A tour through the Islands of Orkney and Shetland. Collected in 1774. Kirkwall, 1879.
Marwick, H, Orkney Farm Names. Kirkwall, 1952. Taylor, AB (trans and intro), The Orkneyinga Saga. Edinburgh, 1938.
Thomson, WPL, Orkney Land and People. Kirkwall, 2008.

Deerness from Murdoch MacKenzie's 1750 Chart. Image: National Library of Scotland
View of Deerness showing farmland and coastal location. Photo: Donna Eunson
The Gloup, Deerness. Photo: Jan Fergus
Detail from G. Thomas's Admiralty Chart of Orkney, 1850. Image: NLS
Drawings of twin-towered medieval parish church at Skaill, 1774, George Low. Wikimedia Commons
Excerpt from one of Mooney's place-name notebooks. Copyright: Orkney Library and Archive
Estate map showing 'Old houses of Sandside', c. 1769
Map of Skaill, Stove and Sandside showing some smaller farms and settlement of Sandwick. Map: J. Harland