34 C O N T E X T 1 3 6 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 4 and seascape, an idyllic location. The houses would probably be nothing more than roofless ruins or dwarf walls (sadly the byre or barn behind each house already was) had it not been for its rediscovery in the 20th century by the composer Peter Maxwell-Davies, painter Ian MacInnes and poet George Mackay Brown, who frequented it and treated it as cultural place. Morag MacInnes, daughter of Ian, gave a superb evening talk, highlighting the love affair of her father and his contemporaries with the harsh but simple working life conducted against a dramatic backdrop, and the close community which resulted. Continuity into the 21st century had been fraught with problems, invitations to crofts resulting in only brief sojourns. Most pertinently, modern requirements for living created a difficult tension with conservation requirements, the retention of the unspoilt hillside, and the simplicity extolled by earlier visitors. No conservation tour of Orkney would be complete without a detailed appraisal of wartime remains around Scapa Flow. Perhaps the most indicative of what life would have been like for these defenders of the realm was the Ness Battery. On a remote headland within walking distance to Stromness, on which troops must have had a great influence, gun emplacements from the first and second world wars are superimposed on each other. A group of huts, recently restored, huddle against the wind. The internal mural of a Kentish rural scene, encompassing three walls, is a lament to a more peaceful way of life. Lyness on the Island of Hoy was destined to be the highlight of the second world war remains but the weather (sheet rain and fog) dictated otherwise. It served to indicate the bleakness of life for up to 36,000 wartime military personnel on the Island of Hoy (current population 700). It is little wonder that a massive 1917 hangar designed for mine sweepers was converted in the second world war to a cinema, library and theatre. It is a great sadness that the only remaining vestige of partition is a small fragment of wall cladding, complete with mural. This building, with its Belfast trusses, poses a major re-use and repair problem, further highlighted by the remains of four sea-piers. Condemned in 1918, and barely intact now, they were fundamental for the transfer of ammunition from land to navy via small ships (drifters). Seen looming out of the mist, they were in sharp contrast to the cheerful Longhope Lighthouse Station, with its early-20th-century lifeboat. It was heartening, nonetheless, to see the extent of A neolithic interior at Skara Brae (left), with stone dresser, box beds, hearth and implements, and (right) the ring of Brodgar (All photos: Liz Blood) The ghostly remnants of a pier at Scapa Flow
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