X-Nico

unusual facts about Twatt, Orkney


Dildo, Newfoundland and Labrador

The town's unusual name has brought it a certain amount of notoriety in the same vein as Fucking, Austria; Anus, France; Nob End, England; Effin, Ireland; Twatt, Scotland; Intercourse, Pennsylvania; Bald Knob, West Virginia; and Wankum, Germany.


Ayreland

Mill of Ayreland is an historic water powered mill in the southwest of the Orkney Islands Mainland

Bairn

Examples of the term's use include the phrase "Jock Tamson's Bairns" as an idiomatic expression of egalitarian sentiment and the title of the 19th century Geordie folk song "Come Geordie ha'd the bairn." "Baloo Baleerie", a traditional Scottish lullaby, incorporates the term repeatedly, as does "The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry", a traditional folk song from Orkney.

BBC Scotland

The station has specific programming opt outs for Orkney and Shetland in addition to regional news opt outs for four additional sub regions - North East, Highlands & Islands, South West and Borders.

Carved Stone Balls

As objects they are very easy to transport and a few have been found on Iona, Skye, Harris, Uist, Lewis, Arran, Hawick, Wigtownshire and fifteen from Orkney.

Cecil FitzMaurice, 8th Earl of Orkney

Cecil O'Bryen Fitz-Maurice, 8th Earl of Orkney (3 July 1919–5 February 1998) was a Scottish peer.

In 1953, the new Lord Orkney married Rose Katharine Durk, the younger daughter of J. W. D. Silley, of Brixham, but they had no children.

Chimanimani

In 1895 it was moved to its current site and was officially called Melsetter after Moodie's family home in Orkney in Scotland.

Discover Odin

Later tracks mix musical and spoken material on the subject of the Odin stone of Orkney, the neolithic hill of Silbury and the World Ash Tree, Yggdrasil.

Earldom of Orkney

Harald I Hårfagre, Harald I of Norway, claimed Orkney and Shetland for his kingdom around 875 and due to political differences and problems had to take military action to secure these isles as realms friendly to his rule at home.

Easson

Frederick Easson (1905–1988), Scottish Episcopal Church bishop of the Diocese of Aberdeen and Orkney in Scotland, United Kingdom

English ship Mary Willoughby

After re-construction in 1551, in August 1557 the ship was one of a fleet of 12 that unsuccessfully assaulted the town of Kirkwall on Orkney, landing troops and six field guns on Orkney to attack the castle of Kirkwall, St. Magnus Cathedral and the Bishop's Palace.

Erlendsson

Magnus Erlendsson, Earl of Orkney, the first Earl of Orkney to bear that name, ruled from 1108 to c.

Far North Line

The line did become strategically important during World War I and World War II as part of a supply route for Scapa Flow, Orkney: Jellicoe's Express linked Thurso directly with London (Euston) and Portsmouth.

Galwegian Gaelic

Many of the leading settlers would have been of both Norse and Gaelic heritage, and it was the Gaelicisation of these Norse leaders which distinguished them from other Norse lords of northern Britain such as those in Shetland, Orkney and Caithness.

Harald II

Harald Maddadsson, Earl of Orkney and Mormaer of Caithness (1139–1206)

Henry Halcro Johnston

Henry Halcro Johnston was born at Orphir House, Orkney, on 13 September 1856, the fifth son of James Johnston, eleventh Laird of Coubister, Orkney, and was educated at Dollar Academy, followed by the Collegiate School of Edinburgh, and finally at the University of Edinburgh, where he graduated M.B., C.M. in 1880.

History of Orkney

When the islands were given as security for the princess's dowry, there seems reason to believe that it was intended to redeem the pledge, because it was then stipulated that the Norse system of government and the law of Saint Olaf should continue to be observed in Orkney and Shetland.

HMS Goldfinch

She was wrecked on Start Point, Sanday Island, Orkney on 1915-02-18, and subsequently broken for scrap in April 1919.

John Brandon-Jones

Posted to Scapa Flow on Orkney and placed in charge of the engineers' drawing office, he designed a temporary cinema.

Lamb Holm

In 1996 a declaration was jointly signed by officials in Orkney and Chiocchetti's hometown of Moena, reinforcing the ties between the two places.

Little Holm

Little Holm is a common island name in Shetland and Orkney.

Mr Emmet Takes a Walk

The work premiered in a co-production of Muziektheater Transparant and the Psappha ensemble at the St. Magnus Festival, Orkney on 16 June 2000.

Nickernut

In 1693 James Wallace referred to them being often found in Orkney: "After Storms of Westerly Wind amongst the Sea-weed, they find commonly in places expos'd to the Western-Ocean these Phaseoli . . . . From the West-Indies, where they commonly grow, they may be thrown in on Ireland, the Western parts of Scotland and Orkney".

No. 22 Group RAF

It controlled No. 78 Wing RAF, and stations at Auldbar, Chathill (airship station), Dundee, East Fortune, Kirkwall/Orkney, Longside (airship station), Luce Bay, RAF Machrihanish, Peterhead & Strathberg.

No. 611 Squadron RAF

Long-range escort missions began to be flown from RAF Bradwell Bay, Essex, from late August 1944, until No. 611 moved to RAF Skeabrae in Orkney on 3 October.

Old Rory

In 1541, Roderick took for his second wife, the widowed Barbara Stewart from Orkney, daughter of Andrew, Lord Avondale, and by this lady had a son, likewise named Torquil, and surnamed Oighre (the Heir, to distinguish him from the disowned Torcuil).

Origins of Falkland Islanders

Scots were particularly common in Darwin, many of them coming from the Orkney and Shetland Islands, which have a similar climate to these areas.

Oselvar

Dating from at least the 1500s and continuing until 1860, these boats were exported in kit form principally to the Shetland and Orkney islands.

Radulf Novell

Radulf does not, however, seem to have been able to regain his position in Orkney from the Lund appointee William the Old.

Ribbonfish

The species from the Atlantic has occurred chiefly on the northern coasts, Iceland, Scandinavia, Orkney and Scotland.

Rites of the Gods

Proceeding to focus on the Late Neolithic society of Orkney, he discusses the village of Skara Brae and the various ceremonial monuments in the region, such as Maes Howe and Stenness, arguing for the existence of an ancestor cult and totemistic beliefs.

Sanday, Orkney

George Faulknor Francis Horwood (1838–1897), Deputy Lieutenant of Orkney (and youngest son of Edward Horwood, of Weston Turville, Buckinghamshire) who lived at Scar House.

Scottish island names

Some smaller islets and skerries have English names such as Barrel of Butter and the Old Man of Hoy in Orkney and Maiden Island and Bottle Island in the Inner Hebrides.

Stone Lud

The name of Ljot is very close to that of Lot or Loth, the mythic King of Orkney and Lothian in Arthurian legend, and in Celtic Myths and Legends (1912), Charles Squire identifies Lot as a late incarnation of a British god who is remembered in medieval Welsh legend as Lludd Llaw Eraint.

Strathcona, Alberta

This mixed community of British (especially Orkney), Québécois, Cree and Metis fur trade employees, pioneer farmers, hunters, and their families, was mostly replaced by eastern Canadian pioneer farmers (and land speculators) in the 1880s.

Street sports

The Ba game, played twice annually to this day on the streets of Kirkwall on the Orkney Islands is an urban form of a cross between football and rugby.

Taxation in Norway

The early national kingdom had in addition other casual tax revenues like finnskatt (and possibly tax revenues from Shetland, Orkney, the Faroes and Hebrides) and trade and travel fees (landaurar).

The Yellow Cake Revue

It was composed in 1980, in the aftermath of the publication of a report (commissioned by the Secretary of State for Scotland into the possibility of mining uranium ('yellow cake')) which had been discovered near the town of Stromness in Orkney.

Thorfinnsson

Paul and Erlend Thorfinnsson; Paul (died after 1098) and Erlend (died 1098) ruled together as Earls of Orkney

VOY

Voy, a settlement in the Orkney Islands of the north of Scotland

Waster

Wooden practice swords have been in use since the Late Bronze Age, with an original sword found on Orkney's Mainland in Scotland still in existence at the National Museum of Edinburgh.

Yesnaby

The Orkney composer Peter Maxwell Davies has immortalised Yesnaby through "Yesnaby Ground", an Interlude for solo piano.


see also