North Isles’ history explored in new webpage

A new online resource has been launched, capturing an oral history of Orkney’s North Isles.

Gaan Nort has seen a team of researchers carry out interviews with almost 90 folk in the isles.

The project  has been hosted by the Orkney Research Centre for Archaeology, and led by Dr Tom Rendall, relief lecturer at UHI Orkney.

Funded by the North Isles Landscape Partnership Scheme, Gaan Nort captures the memories and experiences from across the islands. Some interviews touched on integration within the islands, attitudes towards the Orkney dialect, involvement with the heritage and cultural activities or current challenges facing island communities, while others reflected on changes in farming practices, the impact of mechanisation and the way of life at the present day.

The full project report is available to download from the website https://archaeologyorkney.com/gaan-nort/.

All the interviews are available in the Orkney Library and Archive and almost all are fully transcribed, leaving a fantastic legacy and bank of material for future use.

More on the project in this week’s edition of The Orcadian.