Hoy

Hoy
Location
OS grid reference	ND263961
Names
Norse name	Háey
Meaning of name	Old Norse for 'high island'
Area and summit
Area	14,308 hectares (55.2 sq mi)
Area rank	12
Highest elevation	Ward Hill 479 metres (1,572 ft)
Population
Population (2001)	272
Population rank	28 out of 97
Main settlement	Lyness
Groupings
Island group	Orkney
Local Authority	Orkney Islands
References	[1][2][3][4][5][6]
If shown, area and population ranks are for all Scottish islands and all inhabited Scottish islands respectively.

Hoy (from Norse Háey meaning high island) is an island in Orkney, Scotland. With an area of 55 square miles (142 km²) it is the second largest in the archipelago after the Mainland. It is connected by a causeway called The Ayre to South Walls. Unusually, the two islands are treated as one entity by the UK census.^[7]

Description

The dramatic coastline of Hoy greets visitors travelling to Orkney by ferry from the Scottish mainland. It has extremes of many kinds: some of the highest sea cliffs in the UK at St John's Head, which reach 350 metres (1,100 ft);^[2] the impressive and famous sea stack, the Old Man of Hoy; some of the most northerly surviving natural woodland in the British Isles; the remote possibility that Arctic Char survive in Heldale Water and the most northerly Martello Towers, which were built to defend the area during the Napoleonic War, but were never used in combat.

The highest point in Orkney, Ward Hill, is found on Hoy.

The main naval base for the British fleet Scapa Flow in both the First and Second World Wars was situated at Lyness in the south-east of the island. Some rather incongruous art deco structures nearby date from this period.

An unusual rock-cut tomb, the Dwarfie Stane, lies in the Rackwick valley in the north of the island. It is unique in northern Europe, bearing similarity to Neolithic or Bronze Age tombs around the Mediterranean.

The northern part of the island is an RSPB reserve due to its importance for birdlife, particularly Great skuas and red-throated divers. It was sold to the RSPB by the Hoy Trust for a minimal amount.^{[citation needed]}

In Norse mythology, Hoy is the location of the never-ending battle between Hedin and Högni.

Orkney Ferries serve the island with two routes. One links Lyness on Hoy and Longhope on Walls with the island of Flotta and Houton on the Orkney Mainland. The other links Moaness in Hoy to the island of Graemsay and Stromness on Orkney Mainland.

In pop culture

Featured prominently in the 1984 video for "Here Comes The Rain Again" by the Eurythmics.

Gallery

Cliffs on the Atlantic coast of Hoy, south of Rackwick	The Old Man of Hoy, seen from the south	Scapa Flow Visitor Centre	Hoy High Lighthouse on Greamsay viewed from Mainland
Rackwick valley	Rackwick

References

External links

• Island of Hoy website launched December 2008
• Old Man of Hoy picture gallery

Coordinates: 58°51′N 3°18′W / 58.85°N 3.3°W / 58.85; -3.3