County town: Kirkwall
Orkney was a Norse earldom from the 9th century, formally pledged to Scotland by Norway in 1468 as part of the dowry of Margaret of Denmark on her marriage to James III. It became a Scottish county in the 15th century.
Orkney is an archipelago of around seventy islands at the northern tip of Scotland, separated from Caithness by the Pentland Firth. Its Norse character remains palpable in its language, place-names, and culture. The Neolithic monuments of Orkney — Skara Brae, the Ring of Brodgar, Maeshowe, the Stones of Stenness — are collectively a World Heritage Site and represent one of the finest concentrations of prehistoric remains in the world. Kirkwall Cathedral, dedicated to St Magnus who was martyred in 1117, is the finest medieval building in northern Scotland. Scapa Flow, the great natural harbour, was the base of the British Grand Fleet in both World Wars.
The Statistical Accounts of Scotland — the Old Statistical Account (1791–99) and the New Statistical Account (1834–45) — provide detailed parish-by-parish descriptions of Orkney at two moments of transformation. Aubrey draws on these accounts when generating reports for Scottish locations, providing historical context specific to the parish and county.
Scotland's 33 traditional counties, established as sheriffdoms from the 12th century onward, were the administrative framework of the country until the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1975 replaced them with regional councils. They remain the reference framework for historical records, genealogy, and cultural identity.
An Aubrey report for a specific location in Orkney draws on historical maps, archaeological records, Domesday data, Statistical Account records, and landscape history to tell the full story of any site in the county.
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