The Island of Hoy is host to one of the best preserved and least disturbed World War Two defence landscapes in the United Kingdom and can comfortably claim to have the densest concentration of well-preserved wartime sites in Orkney, as well as some of the richest in both Scotland and the whole of the UK.
Welcome to the online portal for Hoy’s Wartime Heritage. From here you can find out more about the important role that Hoy played in the Second World War and how its rich material legacy continues to leave a lasting impression on the island today. Explore Hoy’s incredible archaeology of past conflict virtually and discover ways in which you can get involved in the continuing research and interpretation work being carried out.
These pages have been developed as part of the Legacies of Conflict: Hoy & Walls Wartime Heritage Project, a highly successful community and visitor engagement initiative run by the Island of Hoy Development Trust between 2013 and 2014. The Project and this website have been facilitated through the ScotGrad Graduate Placement Programme and funded by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), the European Regional Development Fund, Orkney Islands Council’s (OIC) Community Development Fund and the Heritage Lottery Fund’s (HLF) ‘Sharing Heritage’ Grant Scheme.
Explore Further…
Legacies of Conflict
Hoy & Walls in WWII
Hoy WWII Archaeology
Then and Now - Hoy at War: A Photographic Journey
Get Involved
Further information
Dear Sirs
I visited the oil pumping engines at the Naval Base in 2010 but no one on duty could tell me anything about the history of the engines. I am an Engineer and understand how they work etc. but I would like to know when they were installed. I believe just before WW 2. I would like to know if they were they the first, and if so what happened before that.
I understand the oil depot was established during WW 1 as some of the newer battle cruisers were running on oil, if only sprayed onto coal to increase temperature.
Can anyone help me please?
Best regards, Pete Grenfell
New funding advertised in Tankerness Museum in Kirkwall for the renovation of the visitor centre at Lyness will hopefully allow for the stories of children orphaned by war and conflict to be told. All over the world today there are organisations such as UNICEF and International women’s aid that stand up for families and the vulnerable today in a world wracked by climate change and plastic bottle water pollution that is preventing the growth of plankton in the Oceans on which all life including the Orkney Kittiwake depends.
Wonderful history!