Viking history One of the largest Viking hoards in Scotland was discovered on 22 April 1889 by Mr G. Petrie, Little Wart, Burray when he was peat-cutting in the North Town Moss. It consisted of over 140 items of silver bullion, including many fragments of
arm ring or 'ring-money', and about a dozen coins The date proposed for deposition is c. 998.
Ecclesiastical land In 1494/5
Bishop Andrew of Orkney was granted Burray by
James IV. Bishop Andrew's successor
Bishop Reid leased Burray and Flotta out on 19 year leases, a practice that had become common in Orkney in order to avoid the bishopric becoming too involved in the direct management of the land.
Sir James Stewart During the early 18th century, the
laird of Burray was Sir James Stewart, who commenced significant agricultural improvements in a enclosure called the Park of Cara. Stewart was responsible for the murder of a political rival, James Moodie of Melsetter, in
Kirkwall in 1725, and went on the run for twenty years. A
Jacobite sympathiser, he fought in the
Battle of Culloden and was one of the few survivors. However, when he returned to Burray after the battle, he happened to chance upon the son of the murder victim, who reported him to the authorities. The novelist
Mary Brunton was born Mary Balfour on Burray on 1 November 1778.
WWII and construction of Churchill Barriers and Burray On 14 October 1939, the Royal Navy battleship was sunk at her moorings within the natural harbour of
Scapa Flow, by the under the command of
Günther Prien.
U-47 had entered Scapa Flow through
Holm Sound, just to the north of Burray, one of several eastern entrances to Scapa Flow. The eastern passages were protected by measures including sunken block ships, booms and anti-submarine nets, but
U-47 entered at night at high tide by navigating between the block ships. To prevent further attacks, the
First Lord of the Admiralty,
Winston Churchill ordered the construction of permanent barriers. Work began in May 1940 and the barriers were completed in September 1944, but were not officially opened until 12 May 1945, four days after the end of
World War II. The Churchill Barriers project required a substantial labour force, which peaked in 1943 at over two thousand. Much of the labour was provided by around 1200 Italian prisoners of war, who had been captured in the
desert war in North Africa, who were transported to Orkney from early 1942 onwards. As the use of POW labour for War Effort works is prohibited under the
Geneva Conventions, the works were justified as 'improvements to communications' to the southern Orkney Islands. The prisoners were accommodated in two camps, some at Camp 34 at Warebanks on Burray and the rest at Camp 60 on
Lamb Holm where the famous
Italian Chapel was built. Camp 34 had its own chapel but this was destroyed at the end of the war with the rest of the camp. and band. == See also ==