Papa Westray, or Papay as it is known locally, is a small island roughly 7 kilometres long by 2 kilometres wide lying to the east of Westray. It can be reached from Westray by the shortest scheduled flight in the world, 2.4 kilometres in total, taking less than two minute actual flying time.
The Holm of Papay, a small island off the east coast of Papay is the site of one of Orkney's most impressive chambered cairns. The cairn is roughly 35 metres long and 17 metres wide, and contains 10 single and 2 double side chambers. The tomb contains a number of stones decorated by the builders, with one of the walls carved with a number of zig-zags and circular patterns.
St Treadwell's Loch is the site of a Broch mound and extensive Iron Age remains. On the top of the mound are the remains of a medieval chapel dedicated to St Triduana, this was a popular pilgrimage site up until the 18th century.
St Boniface Church, on the west coast of Papay, dates from the 12th century and was extended around the turn of the 18th century. The buildings have been recently restored.
Fowl Crag, on the north eastern coast, is the site where the last Great Auk was killed in 1813. The cliff is a breeding ground for a large number of seabirds including Kiitiwakes, Razorbills, Guillemots, and Fulmar.
he oldest known settlement in Orkney stands on the west shore of Papa Westray. It consists of two inter-connected 'houses' dating from the Neolithic or 'New Stone Age'. The Knap was inhabited during the same period as the famous Skara Brae site on mainland Orkney but was constructed earlier. It is also contemporary with a number of chambered cairns - elaborate mortuaries - including one on the Holm of Papay.
A key to understanding the Knap of Howar is that sea levels and, therefore, the shoreline have changed dramatically in the last five-six thousand years.The Knap would have been some distance from the sea, perhaps part of a larger settlement. Papay might still have been connected to Westray, its larger island neighbour at that time.
The name 'Knap of Howar' means the 'knoll of mounds' and describes the sandy dunes which covered the remains before their first excavation by William Traill and William Kirkness in 1929. The combined action of wind and winter storms had revealed stonework and shell-packed midden (waste) which had been used to insulate the structure. They found two well-constructed, oval and inter-connected stone buildings or house structures. They thought the buildings dated from the iron age - at that time most neolithic structures were labelled 'Pict's Houses'.
The remains were left until the 1970s when fresh excavations were undertaken and the ruins consolidated by the Ministry of Works (now Historic Scotland). Excavations were supervised by Anna Ritchie. Radiocarbon dating of finds from these excavations showed, remarkably, that the Knap of Howar had been lived in between 3700 and 2800BC. In fact. it was the oldest known inhabited structure in northern Europe!
FONTI: www.orknet.co.uk/tourism/papay.htm
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