Orkney Islands Again
September 14, 2001
The Clan attended a memorial service at St. Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall for the victims of the 9-11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon in Washington, DC and the hijacked plane that crashed near Shanksville, PA. Clan members Chairman Guy Irvin and Lillian Brown along with James Irvine participated in the service with Rev. Ronald Ferguson officiating. At 11 a.m. along with the rest of the world the Clan observed three minutes of silence at the Ring of Brodgar.
The Clan had a short tour of the Stones of Stenness that date from 3000 BC. We had a guided tour of Maes Howe considered "the finest chambered tomb in Western Europe" and dating from about 2700 BC. It is constructed from single stone slabs more than eighteen feet long and some four feet wide.
The tomb was broken into by Viking crusaders returning from Jerusalem in the 12th Century who left a large collection of Viking runes carved on the walls. These runes and drawings such as the Maes Howe dragon (or lion) continue to serve as inspirations for the lovely jewellery and crafts produced today in Orkney.
Maes Howe is considered the most spectacular of Orkney's Neolithic chambered cairns. The interior of the tomb is illuminated at the time of the Winter Solstice when the setting sun shines through the entry passsage. Maes Howe along with the nearby Stones of Stenness, the Ring of Brodgar and Skara Brae form part of The Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site and demonstrate "domestic, ritual and burial practices of a 5000-year old culture."
We drove to Stromness, took the 2-hour P&O Ferry trip to Scrabster and drove to Thurso where we spent the night at the St. Clair Hotel.
