Hoy
22647
219267262
2008-06-14T11:44:30Z
91.49.211.3
{{otheruses}}
{{Infobox Scottish island |
|Map=Ork Hoy.jpg
|GridReference=ND263961
|celtic name=-
|norse name=Háey
|meaning of name= Old Norse for 'high island'
|area=14,308 ha
|area rank=12
|highest elevation= [[Ward Hill, Hoy|Ward Hill]] 479 m
|Population=272
|population rank=28
|main settlement=Lyness
|island group=[[The Mainland, Orkney|Orkney]]
|local authority=[[Orkney|Orkney Islands]]
|references=<ref>2001 UK Census per [[List of islands of Scotland]]</ref><ref>Haswell-Smith, Hamish. (2004) ''The Scottish Islands''. Edinburgh. Canongate.</ref><ref>[http://www.orkneyjar.com/placenames/pl-isle.htm Orkney Placenames]</ref><ref>[http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/ Ordnance Survey]</ref><ref>Anderson, Joseph (Ed.) (1893) ''Orkneyinga Saga''. Translated by Jón A. Hjaltalin & Gilbert Goudie. Edinburgh. James Thin and Mercat Press (1990 reprint). ISBN 0-901824-25-9</ref><ref name=Pedersen>Pedersen, Roy (January 1992) ''Orkneyjar ok Katanes'' (map, Inverness, Nevis Print)</ref>
}}
'''Hoy''' (from [[Old Norse language|Old Norse]] ''Háey'' meaning high island) is one of the [[Orkney Islands]] in [[Scotland]]. With an area of 55 square miles, it is the second largest of the [[Orkney Islands]] after the [[Orkney Mainland|Mainland]]. It is connected by a causeway called The Ayre to [[South Walls]], to the south. Unusually, the two islands are treated as one entity by the UK census.<ref>General Register Office for Scotland (28 Nov 2003) ''[http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/statistics/publications-and-data/occpapers/occasional-paper-10.html Occasional Paper No 10: Statistics for Inhabited Islands]''.</ref>
The dramatic coastline of Hoy is what usually greets visitors travelling to the Orkney Islands by ferry from the Scottish mainland. It has extremes of many kinds: some of the highest cliffs in the UK at St John's Head; the impressive and famous sea stack, the [[Old Man of Hoy]]; some of the most northerly surviving natural woodland in the British Isles; the remote possibility that [[Arctic char|Arctic Char]] survive in Heldale Water and the most northerly [[Martello tower|Martello Towers]], which were built to defend the area during the [[Napoleonic Wars|Napoleonic War]], but were never used in combat.
The highest point in Orkney, [[Ward Hill, Hoy|Ward Hill]], is found on Hoy.
The main naval base for [[Scapa Flow]] in both the [[World War I|First]] and [[World War II|Second]] World Wars was situated at [[Lyness]] in the south-east of the island. Some rather incongruous art deco structures nearby date from this period.
An unusual rock-cut tomb, the [[Dwarfie Stane]], lies in a valley at the west of the island. It is unique in northern [[Europe]], bearing similarity to [[Neolithic]] or [[Bronze Age]] tombs around the [[Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranean]].
The northern part of the island is an [[RSPB]] [[nature reserve|reserve]] due to its importance for birdlife, particularly [[Great skua]]s and [[red-throated diver]]s.
In [[Norse mythology]], Hoy is the location of the never-ending battle between [[Hedin and Högni]].
[[Orkney Ferries]] serve the island with two routes. One links Lyness on Hoy and [[Longhope, Orkney|Longhope]] on South Walls with the island of [[Flotta]] and [[Houton]] on the [[Orkney Mainland]]. The other links [[Moaness]] in north Hoy to the island of [[Graemsay]] and [[Stromness]] on Orkney Mainland.
<gallery>
Image:Hoy Cliffs.jpg| Cliffs on the [[Atlantic Ocean|Atlantic]] coast of Hoy, south of Rackwick
Image:Old man of hoy2.jpg| The [[Old Man of Hoy]], seen from the south
Image:ScapaFlowVisitorCentreRLH.jpg| Scapa Flow Visitor Centre
Image:PicHoyHigh.jpg| Hoy High Lighthouse viewed from Mainland
Image:Hoy_Orkney_Landesinnere.JPG|Central
Image:Hoy Orkney Southside.jpg|Southside
</gallery>
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
*[http://www.readingmountaineeringclub.org.uk/images/Hoy/image5.htm Old Man of Hoy picture gallery]
{{coor title dm|58|51|N|3|18|W|region:GB_type:isle}}
{{Orkney-geo-stub}}
{{South West Orkney}}
{{Orkney Islands}}
[[Category:Islands in the Orkney Islands]]
[[Category:Locations in Norse mythology]]
[[Category:National Scenic Areas (Scotland)]]
[[Category:Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Orkney]]
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