County Dossier
Orkney
A Norse-Scottish county of isles and seafaring.
Orkney is a county formed from the archipelago of the same name, consisting of over seventy islands and skerries, though fewer than a third are inhabited.
At a glance
Orkney at a glance
A Norse-Scottish county of isles and seafaring.
- Norse earldom from 9th Century
- Scottish crown from 1472
- St Magnus Cathedral
- Area: 376 sq miles
- Population: 21,349
- County Top: Ward Hill, Hoy
County Geography
Orkney has no landward county neighbour; the Pentland Firth separates it from Caithness to the south, while the county otherwise faces northern sea on every side. The county is shaped by the central Mainland mass, the long northern island chain, the southward causeway-linked islands, and the mountainous form of Hoy.
Mainland, outer island arcs, and the strong sea breaks between them make Orkney easy to recognise as one county.
Map Reference
View Orkney on the map
Orkney is the county. The map also shows lieutenancies and council areas that use the county name.
The county.
The lieutenancy.
Council areas.
Places and routes
Kirkwall, Hoy, Westray, South Ronaldsay, and North Ronaldsay show the county from its central town and south-western height to the south and north outer island limits.
Connections
The county’s routes have long run through Kirkwall and Mainland and then outward by sea to the northern and southern island chains. Movement follows the same Mainland, sea-passage, and island-chain pattern.
Names
- Orkney
- County of Orkney
- Arcaibh
Arcaibh is the Gaelic form of Orkney. County of Orkney is the formal historical style, while Orkney remains the common county name for the archipelago as a whole.
The county grew from the Norse earldom established in the ninth century and passed to the Scottish crown in 1472. The island group still reads as one historic county.