The Scottish Islands That Were Once Part of Norway — and Still Feel Like It

The islands sit less than 20 miles off the northern tip of mainland Scotland. But step ashore in Orkney and something feels different. The landscape is too flat, too green, too quiet. Even the place names don’t sound quite Scottish.

The Islands Norway Never Got Back

In 1468, King Christian I of Norway made a deal he couldn’t keep. He pledged Orkney — and later Shetland — as security against a dowry payment for his daughter Margaret’s marriage to James III of Scotland. The sum was 50,000 Rhinegulden. Norway never paid it.

The pledge was supposed to be temporary. It wasn’t. Scotland formally annexed Orkney in 1472, and for over 550 years the islands have been Scottish in law — while remaining something else in spirit.

Today Orcadians still joke that Norway can have them back any time — as long as the cheque clears. But most wouldn’t actually leave. The islands have become their own thing: neither purely Scottish nor Scandinavian, but both at once.

Place Names That Tell the Real Story

Look at a map of Orkney and Scotland disappears. Kirkwall — the islands’ main town — comes from the Old Norse Kirkjuvágr, meaning “church bay.” Stromness translates as “the headland of the current.” Hoy means “high island.” Even Scapa, as in Scapa Flow, has Old Norse roots.

The language behind all this was called Norn. It was a Norse-derived tongue spoken across Orkney and Shetland for centuries after the islands became Scottish. It wasn’t until the 1700s that Norn finally faded from everyday speech, replaced by Scots English.

But the words stayed. Every time someone says “Stromness” or “Hoy” or “Kirkwall,” they’re speaking a fragment of a language that Norman raiders once carried across the North Sea.

Viking Graffiti Inside a 5,000-Year-Old Tomb

Maeshowe is a Neolithic chambered cairn built around 3000 BC — one of the finest in Europe. But walk inside and you’ll find something unexpected. The ancient stone walls are covered in Norse runes.

Around 1150 AD, a group of Vikings broke into the tomb, probably seeking shelter from a storm. They stayed long enough to carve over 30 runic inscriptions — the largest collection of Viking runes found outside Scandinavia. One inscription reads: This was written by the finest rune-carver in the western ocean. Another is simply a love declaration. Another brags about hidden treasure.

They were also, it seems, terrible tomb raiders. They found nothing. But they left behind their language, carved into stone that was already ancient when their longships first appeared on the horizon. If you’re planning to explore Orkney’s stone monuments, Maeshowe is a place you’ll want on the list.

A Landscape That Doesn’t Look Like Scotland

Most visitors arrive expecting heather-covered hills and dramatic Highland scenery. What they find is different: rolling green farmland, open skies, and a gentleness to the land that feels almost Scandinavian.

Orkney is extraordinarily fertile for its northern latitude. The Gulf Stream keeps temperatures mild. In summer, daylight stretches past midnight. Farmers here have worked the same land for thousands of years — the same soil that grew crops for the people who built Skara Brae and Maeshowe.

The Old Man of Hoy — a 137-metre sea stack rising dramatically from the Atlantic — does give a glimpse of wilder Scotland. But much of Orkney feels like somewhere between Bergen and Inverness: open, quiet, and entirely itself.

How to Visit Orkney

Orkney is more accessible than many people expect. There are regular flights from Edinburgh, Glasgow and Inverness to Kirkwall Airport. Ferries run from Scrabster in Caithness to Stromness, and from Aberdeen to Kirkwall — both offering the added pleasure of approaching the islands from the sea, as Norse settlers once did.

Kirkwall makes a good base. From there you can reach Maeshowe, the Ring of Brodgar, and the Italian Chapel — built by Italian prisoners of war during World War II using two Nissen huts and scrap metal. It is, somehow, beautiful.

If Orkney inspires you to explore more of Scotland’s islands, there are remarkable islands to discover across the whole country — each with its own distinct character and history.

Orkney doesn’t ask you to choose between Scotland and Scandinavia. It holds both identities without apology. Standing on those green headlands with the sea wind off the North Atlantic, looking out toward Norway — just 300 miles away — you understand why these islands have always belonged to something larger than borders.