Hoi An (island)

Hoy is located southwest of the main island of the Mainland Archipelago, from which it is separated by the Hoy Sound Channel and Scapa Flow Bay. To the south across the Pentland Firth Strait lies the northernmost point of the island of Great Britain, Cape Dunnet Head . Southeast of Hoi An is located the island of South Walls ( Eng. Sauth Walls ), which is connected to the Hoi Dam. Before the dam was built, the islands were connected by a jumper, but only at low tide . In this regard, South Walls is often regarded as a peninsula.

Hoy Square (excluding South Walls) is 134.68 km², making it second among Orkney and 18th of all the British Isles . Hoi mountaineer, its highest point on the hill Ward Hill ( Eng. Ward Hill ) in the north-west of the island is 479 m above sea level and is the highest for the entire archipelago. The shores are mostly rocky, in the northwest cliff region of St. John's Head, the cliffs reach 350 meters in height, making them one of the highest coastal cliffs in the British Isles (higher only on St. Kild's Islands to the west from Outer Hebrides ).

Hoy is mostly covered with moorlands , although it contains the most northerly, non-planted forest in the British Isles. The northern part of the island is a national park , due to the importance of this place for bird nesting.

On the island, the liver moss Anastrepta orcadensis was first found, which received its specific Latin name in honor of the islands.

Unique to northern Europe, the Dvorfi-Stein burial ground in the northern part of Khoy proves that, like other Orkneys, Khoy was already inhabited in the late Neolithic era, in the middle of the 3rd millennium BC. e.

In the middle of the 1st millennium AD e. The Orkneys were part of the Pictish kingdom , and after that they were subjected to Celtic influence. However, there are no preserved monuments of this era on Khoy.

Since the VIII century BC. e. Vikings appear on the Orkney Islands, and in 875 they were officially annexed to Norway . The rule of the Norwegian kings continued until 1468 , when the islands were annexed to Scotland . The vast majority of place names on Hoi are of Scandinavian origin. In addition, Hoy is identified with an island on which, according to Scandinavian mythology , an eternal battle takes place between Hogni and Hedin .

On the island is the northernmost of the Martello towers, built throughout the British Empire in the first half of the XIX century , during the Napoleonic Wars . However, she was never tested in battle. Another such tower is located not far on South Walls, it has a museum.

In the first half of the 20th century , in particular during the first and second world wars, the neighboring Scapa Flow bay was used as an important base of the British Navy. A large number of buildings and structures in Lyness are still reminiscent of this. Also, in the village there is a specialized museum.

The population of the island in 2001 was 272 people. It is concentrated mainly in the village of Lyness in the east of the island.

The island is connected to Mainland and other nearby islands by two ferry services. The first route goes from the village of Linksness in the north of the island to the second largest city of the Stromness archipelago (with access to Gramsey ). Another connects Layness and the nearby small island of Flotte with Houghton in the south of the main island.

Along the western rocky shore, on which Old Man of Hoy is located, the Terso -Stromness Sea Route, one of the main ferry routes to the Orkney Islands from the main part of Great Britain, passes.

A video for the famous song “ Here Comes the Rain Again ” by the British duo Eurythmics was filmed on Hoi An.