Walter Traill Dennison’s Donation: Part 1 Walter Traill Dennison’s great-grandson, Duncan MacLaren, with Orkney Museum curator Ellen Pesci displaying a fob watch belonging to Walter’s father. When it comes to Orkney’s folklore and folk tales there really is only one true master. No, not me, I merely follow in the footsteps of the great man. […]
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The Newark Project: the story so far. Summer exhibition 2022 The summer exhibition for 2022 was meant to have coincided with the finish of the Newark Project, looking at the eroding cemetery in Deerness, which was in use from around 600-1400 AD. Originally excavated by Don Brothwell from the Natural History Museum in London between
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Sylvia Hays, “An Unappropriated World”: Recent Paintings. Orkney Museum 6th-27th November 2021 Sylvia Hays exhibition provided a much needed splash of colour to a dull, November morning. These photographs do not do the paintings justice, but they give you an idea of what there is to be seen. Below is her artist’s statement. Sylvia Hays
A Family Ba’ Reunion On Saturday 14th August we had a special visitor to the Orkney Museum. Katrina Clitherow is the granddaughter of Barbara Clitherow, nee Yule, the winner of the first Women’s Ba’ on Christmas Day 1945. When Barbara passed away in 1999 it was her wish that her Ba’ should return to Orkney. Her
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Orkney Coat of Arms Old Seal – Community of Orkney ‘Communitas Orcadie’ An impression of the ancient seal of the ‘Communitas Orcadie’, c1425. It shows the Norwegian Royal Arms being supported by two men. These figures are likely to be ‘Best Men’, members of the Orcadian aristocracy who would have sat in the public law
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DOORS OPEN DAY 18th September 2021 ‘Bells and Bonnets: a short reading of poems in response to some of the museum’s treasures’. By Lydia Harris We’re taking part in the free ‘Doors Open Day’ festival happening across Scotland this weekend, with a visit by local poet Lydia Harris to The Orkney Museum. Lydia will be
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The Carta Marina of Olaus Magnus, 1539 Carta marina et descriptio septentrionalium terrarum (Latin: ‘Marine map and description of the Northern lands’, commonly abbreviated to Carta marina) One of the most enigmatic artefacts that is displayed in the Orkney Museum is a copy of a large map of Scandinavia called the Carta Marina, created by
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Between Islands Project: Native Tongue Alex Macdonald, coordinator of the Between Islands Project writes: Just to say that our latest Between Islands short film is now online. It features poetry on the subject of our native languages, and many thanks to Roseanne Watt, Kevin Macneil, Alison Miller and Calum Fraser for taking the time to
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Why, Where and How?: Investigating small mammals remains – Part 2 An Orkney vole. A word of introduction for Part 2 By Andrzej A. Romaniuk (PhD in archaeology, MSc in osteoarchaeology) This blog post follows directly Why, Where and How?: Investigating small mammals remains PART 1. In the first part I explained a little bit about
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Why, Where and How?: Investigating small mammals remains – Part 1 An Orkney vole. A word of introduction for Part 1 By Andrzej A. Romaniuk (PhD in archaeology, MSc in osteoarchaeology) Having a chance from the Orkney Museum, I would like to present here a blog entry about my PhD research. While the results have
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