Orkney Day 2 - West Mainland

Entrance way, HMS Tern

First full day in Orkney!

Today was a strange mix of ancient and more recent remnants of human activity in the landscape. HMS Tern was one of four airfields in the islands during WWII, and part of the Royal Navy’s presence during the conflict. The control tower looms out of the landscape, but aspects of nature reclaiming the buildings can be seen everywhere. The former cinema is a strange presence in the fields too.

Visiting the timeless and eerie Neolithic Ring of Brodgar, ‘an assemblage of ancient druids, mysteriously stern and invincibly silent’ (Hugh Millar, 1846), I was surprised to find the site had not always been so protected. Stones were covered in layers of graffiti and more recently, the earth and stones would have shook from war-era tanks during WWII, churning up the earth as they practised for combat situations in this ceremonial site.

Nature is taking over the remains everywhere - here grass grows out from the brick blast wall.

Another form of nature's decaying forces - strange lichen patterns cover the walls.

Cracked and fractured floor surface at HMS Tern which almost resembles rivers crossing a plain.

Ring of Brodgar, an eerie and beautiful stone circle of 36 stones (once there were 60).

Here too at Brodgar, lichen of several species is building up in layers over deep time.

Looking closer though, the stones of this ancient monument are also covered in layers of graffiti. Norse runes can be found, as well as more recent words, literally covering the surface with inscriptions.

In this strange image where warfare and the ancient are juxtaposed, we see the site being used for tank training in 1941 to practise manoeuvres. (Image from information panel onsite).

#Orkney #Ruins #WarRuins #Decay