Orkney Day 7 - Stromness, Ness and Houton

Gun emplacement at Ness Battery, Stromness.

The day began with visits to Stromness Museum to view displays on WWII, and also the Pier Arts Centre. The permanent collection here includes works Barbara Hepworth, Ben Nicholson and Alfred Wallis, and many other major 20th Century artists, as well as local artists including Sylvia Wishart and Stanley Cursiter. I was fascinated by sensitive lines in the landscape drawings of Sylvia Wishart, as well as ethereal layers and taught lines in Hepworth's drawings. These works, although modern (which perhaps is most often associated with urban) were strongly connected to landscape and organic forms, and had a wonderful sense of layered time.

Next was a visit to Ness Battery. The main part is one of the best preserved WWII sites in Britain, but is currently closed to visitors due to Covid-19. Gun emplacements and searchlights nearby were still accessible however, a strange presence on the picturesque sea-side environment of Stromness (and near the golf course). Just across the sound, Graemsay Battery also loomed in the distance, another reminder of a time when this area was threatened.

The day was completed with a trip just south to Houton Head Battery, both a WWI and WWII site. There were again panoramic views out to Hoy, and the buildings had many fascinating details surviving such as letters on the walls, cables, slats and window fittings with shards of glass still attached.