Qualla: Shapinsay

Shapinsay: Introduction

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Robert Scarth, CC BY-SA 2.0. Nobody knows what Shapins means. That fact alone sets the island apart in the Northern Isles, where Viking placenames usually advertise themselves with brutal clarity: Westray (west-island), Sanday (sand-island), Eday (isthmus-island). One theory holds that Shapinsay is a worn-down form of hjalpandis-oy, the helpful island, named for the shelter it gave Norse longships approaching Kirkwall through The String, the tidal current that still tries to drag boats north toward Norway. Whatever the truth, the island has been keeping secrets for a long time.

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Image: Robert Scarth | CC BY-SA 2.0

Shapinsay: A Victorian's Toy

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Purplebaron, Public domain. In 1780, Thomas Balfour married into money. His grandson David inherited the result, and what he did with it was to remake an entire island in the image of his ambition. Where there had once been a scattering of crofts called Shoreside, David built Balfour Castle and a planned vi...

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Image: Purplebaron | Public domain

Shapinsay: The Douche

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Andrew Abbott, CC BY-SA 2.0. Two hundred yards south of the pier stands Dishan Tower, a 17th-century stone cylinder that looks for all the world like a lighthouse. It was actually a dovecote, a high-status statement in pre-industrial Orkney, where pigeon was a delicacy and the right to keep them was a mark o...

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Image: Andrew Abbott | CC BY-SA 2.0

Shapinsay: Deeper Time

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Timbogreybeard, CC BY-SA 4.0. Wander four miles to the northeast corner of the island, follow Hillock Road, and you arrive at Burroughston Broch. It is one of the best-preserved Iron Age towers in Orkney, its dry-stone walls thick enough to hide internal stairs and chambers, built without mortar by people who...

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Image: Timbogreybeard | CC BY-SA 4.0

Shapinsay: Rip Van Shapinsay

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Richard Webb, CC BY-SA 2.0. There is a story about Shapinsay that gets told in the right pubs. William Irving was born here in 1740 and emigrated to New York in 1763, taking with him whatever memories a 23-year-old carries of a small Orkney island. His son Washington Irving became one of the founding voices...

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Image: Richard Webb | CC BY-SA 2.0