Talk:Hoy, Orkney

Latest comment: 5 months ago by NmWTfs85lXusaybq in topic Requested move 1 December 2023

incongruous art deco structures edit

"The main naval base for Scapa Flow in both the First and Second World Wars was situated at Lyness in the south-east of the island. Some rather incongruous art deco structures nearby date from this period". What does that phrase mean? There are some very interesting WWII military structures on Hoy but I would describe as art deco. --jmb 11:28, 15 May 2006 (UTC)Reply

It refers to the Old Garrison Theatre a few miles south of Lyness, the theatre was mainly contained in a Nissen hut leading back from a more substantial frontage in art deco style, have a look at [1] for both picture and short description similar to mine above.

South Walls edit

The area of Hoy in the Infobox is Haswell-Smith's estimate. It includes South Walls, but my understanding is that until about the beginning of the 20th century South Walls was an island (at least at low tide). For consistency it would ideally be treated as an island in its own right, but I can't find a reference which provides a separate land area for it.

Unfortunately because there are three excellent (and large) photos, but not a lot of text, the Infobox currently dangles into empty space. I will try to find the time to add some more text sometime 'soon'. Ben MacDui (Talk) 16:23, 7 April 2007 (UTC)Reply

Wasn't it formerly a tidal island? I think that it does make sense to discuss South Walls on this page as it seems common usage to group them together under the title Hoy. However it seemed to me when I was last there that Longhope (on SW) is the main settlement (main shop, petrol, hotel, community centre) rather than Lyness.--JBellis 16:39, 7 April 2007 (UTC)Reply
I believe it was tidal. As I think we previously discussed and agreed at Template talk:Infobox Scottish island Haswell-Smith's definition of an island is eccentric and unhelpful. However, the Hoy/South Walls issue does throw up a problem of definitions to be resolved. If we ignore human devices such as bridges and causeways, is an island land which is:
  • surrounded by water at all times or
  • surrounded by water on a daily basis, but not necessarily at all stages of the tide, or even perhaps
  • surrounded by water on a daily basis, but not necessarily at all stages of the tide, unless linked to land by a permanent causeway?

I'd go for the middle one, which would make South Walls an island in its own right, but I'd be happy with the third one as an alternative (which would make Hoy/South Walls one island). I don't think it matters either way so long as there is consistency, although I wouldn't like to see 'tidal islands' like Davaar and Shuna excluded, which seems to me to defy common usage.

You may well be right about Longhope - sadly I have not yet set foot on Hoy/South Walls. Ben MacDui (Talk) 14:02, 8 April 2007 (UTC)Reply

The Infobox is a welcome addition to this page! I have therefore reformatted the page to give it a more prominent position and moved my photo of the visitor centre and the other two into a gallery format. I think the page looks better this way. Richard Harvey 17:05, 7 April 2007 (UTC)Reply
Thank-you! Ben MacDui (Talk) 14:02, 8 April 2007 (UTC)Reply

Parishes edit

I am finding it difficult to get up-to-date information about Orkney island (cf Mainland) parishes. This source [2] suggests that the two involved are "Hoy and Graemsay" and "Walls and Flotta" although this may be historical rather than current. Ben MacDui 11:10, 14 December 2008 (UTC)Reply

http://www.churchofscotland.org.uk/contact/contactmap45.htm should be up to date. Finavon (talk) 13:23, 14 December 2008 (UTC)Reply

German sailors´ graves on Hoy edit

The article should mention the graves of fourteen German sailors that were shot at and killed by RN gunmen after they had scuttled their battle ships. They were fired at in their lifeboats, flyying white flags. The incident was hushed up by the Royal Navy. For details see http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/74567/LYNESS%20ROYAL%20NAVAL%20CEMETERY Ontologix (talk) 11:53, 7 August 2015 (UTC)Reply

Do you have any citable evidence that they were shot whilst flying a white flag or that the incident was hushed up by the British Royal Navy? Richard Harvey (talk) 14:18, 7 August 2015 (UTC)Reply

External links modified edit

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Requested move 1 December 2023 edit

The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

The result of the move request was: moved. (closed by non-admin page mover) NmWTfs85lXusaybq (talk) 08:20, 8 December 2023 (UTC)Reply


– No primary topic. By usage, the island doesn't get more pageviews than all others combined. By signifiance, Google Scholar and Books results for hoy -author:hoy are split between Hoy as a name and Spanish for today. Hameltion (talk | contribs) 18:07, 1 December 2023 (UTC)Reply

  • Support. Spanish is irrelevant, but pageviews indicate no clear primary topic among articles titled "Hoy". Station1 (talk) 22:44, 1 December 2023 (UTC)Reply
  • Support and agree there's no clear primary topic. ╠╣uw [talk] 22:00, 2 December 2023 (UTC)Reply
  • Weak support the Orkney island may be the most common use but isn't primary. The TV series lacks long-term significance but the boat probably doesn't. We should probably retitle Commons:Category:Hoy (disambiguation) that I created back in 2018. Crouch, Swale (talk) 18:15, 3 December 2023 (UTC)Reply
The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.