page_title: List of Orkney islands
section_title: Main list
hierarchical_section_title: List of Orkney islands / Main list
caption_attribution_description: English: Bishop's Palace seen from St Magnus Cathedral tower.
context_page_description: This is a list of Orkney islands in Scotland. The Orkney archipelago is located 16 kilometres north of mainland Scotland and comprises over 70 islands and skerries, of which 20 are permanently inhabited. In addition to the Orkney Mainland there are three groups of islands. The North and South Isles lie respectively north and south of Mainland. The Pentland Skerries are a group of small islands in the Pentland Firth, a dangerous stretch of water between mainland Scotland and the larger islands of Orkney, through which run the strongest tidal streams in Britain. The Island of Stroma is often mistakenly included with the Orkney Islands, but is part of Caithness.
  The definition of an island used in this list is that it is 'land that is surrounded by seawater on a daily basis, but not necessarily at all stages of the tide, excluding human devices such as bridges and causeways'. There are four islands joined to the Orkney Mainland by a series of causeways known as the Churchill Barriers. They are South Ronaldsay, Burray, Lamb Holm and Glimps Holm. In addition, Hunda is connected to Burray by a causeway.
context_section_description: This is a list of islands with an area greater than 15 hectares (approximately 37 acres). Records for the last date of settlement for the smaller uninhabited islands are incomplete, but all of the islands listed here would have been inhabited at some point during the Neolithic, Pictish or Norse periods.  
  'Ward Hill' or a variant thereof is very common as the name of the highest point on the island. These locations are named after those high places used for the lighting of warning beacons. 
  The population of the tidal islet of Holm of Grimbister was not recorded by the 2001 census, although it was inhabited in 2010 and probably earlier. It did appear in the 2011 tables.
  The population of Inner Holm in 2001 was one, although the figure was included in the total for Mainland at the time of the 2001 census.
  Lamb Holm is "included in the NRS statistical geography for inhabited islands but had no usual residents at the time of either the 2001 or 2011 censuses". 
  Papa Stronsay had usually resident population of 10 in 2001 but was apparently not permanently inhabited in 2011.
caption: Bishop's Palace, Kirkwall, Mainland.
exif: {}