Tankerness
Tankerness is a district in the St Andrews parish in Mainland, Orkney.[1] Essentially a peninsula, it is about 13 kilometres (8 mi) south-east of Kirkwall and 1 kilometre (0.6 mi) east of Kirkwall Airport.[2] The origin of the place name is uncertain, but it may derive from the Norse personal name "Tannskári". A "ness" is a promontory.[3]
Geography
Tankerness is bounded to the north and west by Inganess Bay, to the east by Deer Sound, and to the south by the A960. Inganess Bay and Deer Sound meet at the prominent headland of Rerwick Head. Tankerness Loch, which is just under 1 square kilometre (247 acres) in size, lies in the central area.[2] The landscape is more gentle than the hilly terrain to the west and is fertile farmland.[1] Bordering Inganess Bay is the Long Ayre, a kilometer-long gravel tombolo enclosing a tidal pool.
History
Mine Howe, at Toab in the south of Tankerness, is a prehistoric subterranean man-made chamber dug into a large mound. Its walls are lined with stones fitted to form an arch over the cavity and 29 steps lead to a rock floor. These steps descend to a half-landing where they turn back on themselves and a further steps descend to a chamber. This chamber is only about 1.3 metres (4.3 ft) in diameter but is over 4 metres (13 ft) high and has a corbelled roof. The mound is surrounded by a substantial causewayed ditch. The origin of the howe (from Old Norse word haugr meaning barrow) is not perfectly understood, although it is thought to date from the Iron Age.[4] There is some similarity to the well inside the Broch of Gurness.
In 1867 at nearby Groatsetter a fringed woollen hood was discovered lying in peat. It has thought to date from the late Iron Age and may be the oldest textile ever found in Britain.[5][Note 1]
Further north, to the south of Loch of Tankerness, is the Hall of Tankerness. This is a 19th-century farm steading on the site of the 12th-century drinking hall of Erling of Tankerness.[7][8] Nearby is a pier, once used by the herring fleets.
See also
References
- Notes
- ^ A piece of twine may of vegetable fibres found at Etton, Cambridgeshire may date from the Neolithic.[6]
- Footnotes
- ^ a b Wenham, Shiela "The East Mainland" in Omand (2003) p. 198
- ^ a b "Get-a-Map" Ordnance Survey. Retrieved 15 July 2010.
- ^ Place names Orkneyjar. Retrieved 14 July 2010.
- ^ "Minehowe" undiscoveredscotland.co.uk. Retrieved 16 July 2010.
- ^ Wenham, Shiela "The East Mainland" in Omand (2003) p. 199
- ^ Jenkins (2003) p. 55
- ^ "Tankerness" Gazetteer for Scotland. Retrieved 16 July 2010.
- ^ "Hall of Tankerness Steading" Buildings at Risk. Retrieved 16 July 2010.
- General references
- Jenkins, D.T. (2003) The Cambridge history of western textiles Volume 1. Cambridge University Press.
- Omand, Donald (ed.) (2003) The Orkney Book. Edinburgh. Birlinn. ISBN 1841582549