View source for Sanday, Orkney

{{Short description|Island in Orkney, Scotland}}
{{Other places|Sanday (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox Scottish island
|Image=Over Tresness, Isle of Sanday. - geograph.org.uk - 231965.jpg
|ImageCaption=An aerial view of the southern coast of Sanday, looking west. Tres Ness and Conninghole are in the foreground.
|location_map = Scotland Orkney
|caption=Sanday shown within Orkney
|coordinates = {{coord|59.25|-2.55|display=inline}}
|GridReference=HY677411
|official_name=Sanday
|celtic name=Sanndaigh
|scots name=Sandee<ref>{{cite web | url=https://d3lmsxlb5aor5x.cloudfront.net/library/document/Map_of_Scotland_in_Scots-Guide_and_gazetteer.pdf | title=Map of Scotland in Scots - Guide and gazetteer}}</ref>
|norse name=Sandey<ref>[http://www.orkneyjar.com/placenames/pl-isle.htm Orkney Placenames] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000830075309/http://www.orkneyjar.com/placenames/pl-isle.htm |date=30 August 2000 }}. Orkneyjar. Retrieved 15 November 2014.</ref><ref name=Anderson>Anderson (1873) p. 176.</ref>
|meaning of name= Old Norse: sand island<ref name=Smith392/>
|area= {{convert|5043|ha|sqmi|1|abbr=on}}<ref name=Smith392>Haswell-Smith (2004) p. 392</ref>
|area rank=21
|highest elevation= The Wart {{convert|65|m|ft|0|abbr=on}}<ref name=OS>{{Ordnance Survey|access-date=21 August 2013}}</ref> 
|Population=491<ref name=RESAS>{{RESAS}}</ref>
|population rank=22
|population density =9.7 people/km<sup>2</sup><ref name=Smith392/><ref name=RESAS/>
|main settlement=[[Kettletoft]]
|island group=[[The Mainland, Orkney|Orkney]]
|local authority=[[Orkney Islands Council|Orkney Islands]]
|references=<ref name=Pedersen>Pedersen, Roy (January 1992). ''Orkneyjar ok Katanes'' (map, Inverness, Nevis Print)</ref>
}}

'''Sanday''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|æ|n|d|iː}}, {{langx|sco|Sandee}}) is one of the inhabited islands of [[Orkney]], which lie off the north coast of mainland [[Scotland]]. With an area of {{cvt|50.43|km2|sqmi|1}},<ref name=Smith392/> it is the third largest of the Orkney Islands.<ref name=Smith334>Haswell-Smith (2004) p. 334.</ref> The main centres of population are Lady Village and [[Kettletoft]]. Sanday can be reached by [[Orkney Ferries]] or by plane ([[Sanday Airport]]) from [[Kirkwall]] on the [[Orkney Mainland]]. On Sanday an on-demand public minibus service connects to the ferry.

==Etymology==
The [[Picts]] were the pre-Norse inhabitants of Sanday but very few placenames remain from this period.<ref>Waugh, Doreen "Orkney Place-names" in Omand (2003) p. 115</ref> The Norse named the island {{lang|non|Sandey}}<ref name=Anderson/> or {{lang|non|Sand-øy}}<ref name=Smith392/> because of the predominance of sandy [[beach]]es and this became Sanday during the [[Scots language|Scots]]- and English-speaking periods. (The similarly named [[Sandoy]] is in the [[Faroe Islands]].)

Many names of places and natural features derive from [[Old Norse]]. According to Dorward (1995), the placename ''Kettletoft'' means '[[Kettil]]'s [[croft (land)|croft]]'<ref>Dorward (1995) p. 42</ref> although ''toft'' in this context may mean 'abandoned site of house' from the Norse {{lang|non|topt}}.<ref name=Orkhouse>[http://www.orkneyjar.com/placenames/pl-hoose.htm "Orkney Placenames: Houses, Farms and Building"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221001025355/http://www.orkneyjar.com/placenames/pl-hoose.htm |date=1 October 2022 }}<!-- sic --> Orkneyjar. Retrieved 15 November 2014.</ref> The suffix ''-bister'' found in Sellibister and Overbister is from {{lang|non|bólstaðr}} meaning 'dwelling' or 'farm'.<ref name=Orkhouse/> Other common suffixes are ''-wick'' and ''-ness'' from the Norse {{lang|non|vík}} and {{lang|non|nes}} and meaning 'bay' and 'headland' respectively.<ref>[http://www.orkneyjar.com/placenames/pl-root.htm "Orkney Placenames: Natural Elements"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111116045149/http://www.orkneyjar.com/placenames/pl-root.htm |date=16 November 2011 }}. Orkneyjar. Retrieved 15 November 2014.</ref> According to Frances Groome, Otterswick was originally known as {{lang|non|Odinswic}}.<ref>Groome, Frances (1882-84) ''Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland'' quoted by [http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/22379 Vision of Britain: Otterswick Orkney]. Retrieved 18 November 2014.</ref>

==Environment==
===Geography and geology===
Sanday lies south of [[North Ronaldsay]] and east of [[Eday]] and [[Westray]]. It is divided naturally into two roughly equal halves by Otterswick, a bay that runs in from the north, and Kettletoft Bay in the south. The narrow [[isthmus]] between them formed the boundary between the historic parishes of Cross and Burness to the west and Lady to the east.<ref name=Steiness41>Steinnes (1959) p. 41</ref> The novelist [[Eric Linklater]] described Sanday's shape seen from the air as being like that of a giant fossilised bat.<ref name=Smith392/> Tresness, a [[tied island]], extends from the south of Lady parish. It is connected to Sanday by a long [[tombolo]], which is backed with some of Scotland's highest sand dunes.

Changing post-glacial sea levels will have much altered the shape of this low-lying island since the last [[ice age]]. William Traill described a gale in 1838 that removed {{convert|20|ha}} of sand in Otterswick Bay revealing a dark layer of decayed vegetation under fallen trees up to {{convert|60|cm}} in diameter. The trees lay "as if felled by a storm" and were visible under the sea for {{convert|6.5|km}}. A search for these tree remains in the 20th century was unsuccessful.<ref>Keatinge and Dickson (1979) p. 587</ref>

Inland it is fertile and [[agricultural]] and there is some commercial lobster fishing. The underlying geology is predominantly [[Devonian]] sediments of the Rousay flagstone group, with Eday sandstone in the south east.<ref>Brown, John Flett "Geology and Landscapes" p. 4 in Omand (2003).</ref>

There are several small bodies of freshwater on the island, including North Loch, Bea Loch near Kettletoft and Roos Loch on the Burness peninsula.<ref name=OS/>

===Natural history===
{{Designation list
| designation1 = Ramsar
| designation1_offname = East Sanday Coast
| designation1_date = 11 August 1997
| designation1_number = 917<ref>{{Cite web|title=East Sanday Coast|website=[[Ramsar Convention|Ramsar]] Sites Information Service|url=https://rsis.ramsar.org/ris/917|access-date=25 April 2018}}</ref>}}
[[Seal (mammal)|Seal]]s and [[Eurasian otter]]s can be found in and around Sanday. There are several [[SSSI]]s on the island and the marine coast around the east of the island is designated a [[Special Protection Area]] due to presence of sand dune and [[machair]] habitats, rare outside the Hebrides, as well as extensive intertidal flats and saltmarsh.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jncc.gov.uk/protectedsites/sacselection/sac.asp?EUCode=UK0030069|title=Sanday site details|publisher=JNCC|access-date=2009-05-04}}</ref>

The eastern coast of Sanday has been designated an [[Important Bird Area]] (IBA) by [[BirdLife International]] because it supports wintering and breeding [[wader]]s.<ref name=bli>{{cite web |url= https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/2462 |title=East Sanday (North Hill and Holm)|author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2024|website= BirdLife Data Zone|publisher= BirdLife International|access-date= 2024-08-31}}</ref>

==Transport==
===Airport===
[[Loganair]] operates regular flights from [[Kirkwall Airport]] to [[Sanday Airport]]. There are also flights from Sanday to [[Stronsay Airport]], and [[North Ronaldsay Airport]].

===Ferry===
[[Orkney Ferries]] operates a regular ferry service between Kirkwall and Sanday, with the boat coming in at Loth Pier in Cross.

===Bus===
The Sanday Bus operates a timetabled bus service around the island of Sanday which eventually reaches Loth Pier, via Kettletoft, Lady Village, and [[Sanday Airport]].

===Train===
The [[Sanday Light Railway]] operated a rail service between [[Braeswick]] and Laminess, between three stations, between 1999 and 2006. The railway eventually shut at the end of 2006 and by 2020 the last of the tracks had been lifted and removed.

==Prehistory==
[[File:Quoyness Chambered Cairn - geograph.org.uk - 86230.jpg|thumb|[[Quoyness|Quoyness chambered cairn]]]]

The [[Neolithic]] [[Quoyness chambered cairn]], dates from around 2900 BC. An arc of [[Bronze Age]] mounds surrounds this cairn on the Elsness peninsula.<ref>[http://www.orkneyjar.com/history/tombs/quoyness/index.html "The Quoyness Cairn, Sanday"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170415021415/http://www.orkneyjar.com/history/tombs/quoyness/index.html |date=15 April 2017 }}. Orkneyjar. Retrieved 19 July 2012.</ref> A large man-made mound at Pool was excavated in the 1980s. This indicated a Neolithic structure made of turf or burnt [[peat]], a later pre-Viking sub-circular structure with pavings and cells, and a [[Viking]] stone and turf rectangular building dated to the late 8th or early 9th century. Various implements were also discovered including pre-Norse hipped pins and pottery from both the pre-Viking and Norse periods. A predominance of fish and animal bones suggests the site was used for meat processing.<ref>Batey, Colleen "Viking and Late Norse Orkney" pp. 57-58 in Omand (2003).</ref>

Excavations of a mound in 1991, ahead of road development on the Spurness peninsula discovered two [[cist]] burials with some cremated human remains from the Early to Middle [[Bronze Age Britain|Bronze Age]]. Notable finds were a piece drift wood from the Americas and a soapstone (steatite) vessels. Soapstone is not natural to Orkney and analysis indicated that the material came from [[Catpund]] in [[Shetland]] and that people or goods were moving between the two archipelagos at that time.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Vol 25 (2007): Excavation of a Bronze Age funerary site at Loth Road, Sanday, Orkney {{!}} Scottish Archaeological Internet Reports|url=http://journals.socantscot.org/index.php/sair/issue/view/40|access-date=2021-07-30|website=journals.socantscot.org}}</ref>

Storms in January 2005 exposed a Bronze Age burnt burial mound at Meur.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aocarchaeology.com/field-archaeology/rapidresponse.htm |title=Rapid response to storm damaged archaeology |publisher=AOC Archaeology Group |access-date=2008-11-14 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081203141625/http://www.aocarchaeology.com/field-archaeology/rapidresponse.htm |archive-date=2008-12-03 }}</ref> There are several ruined [[Iron Age]] [[broch]]s on the island such as the Broch of Wasso, a {{convert|5|m|ft|adj=mid|-high}} mound at Tres Ness.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://canmore.org.uk/site/3564/sanday-broch-of-wasso-tres-ness |title= Sanday: Broch of Wasso, Tres Ness |publisher=Canmore |access-date=11 November 2018}}</ref> 
[[File:Scar Plaque, Scar Viking boat burial, Sanday, Orkney.jpg|thumb|left|The Scar dragon plaque found in 1991]]

The nature of the culture that built the brochs remains a matter of debate<ref>Wickham-Jones (2007) p. 82</ref> but it is known that later Iron Age Orkney was part of the [[Picts|Pictish]] kingdom and from at least the mid-6th century onwards that [[Christianity]] had spread to the islands.<ref>Wickham-Jones (2007) p. 100</ref> However, the archeological record for this period is sparse<ref>Wickham-Jones (2007) p. 104</ref> and little is known of life on Sanday at this time beyond that which can be assumed from a knowledge of Pictish society elsewhere. The local heritage centre shows a Pictish decorated stone showing a cross.

In September 2021, archaeologists from the [[University of Central Lancashire|Central Lancashire University]] announced the discovery of&nbsp; two polished stone balls in a 5500 years-old [[Neolithic]] burial tomb. According to Dr Hugo Anderson, second object was as the "size of a [[cricket]] ball, perfectly spherical and beautifully finished".<ref>{{Cite web|last=Milne|first=Ellie|title=Archaeologists discover rare polished stone balls in Orkney tomb|url=https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/islands/3442598/archaeologists-discover-rare-polished-stone-balls-in-orkney-tomb/|access-date=2021-09-12|website=Press and Journal|date=3 September 2021 |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Gershon|first=Livia|title=Polished, 5,500-Year-Old Stone Balls Found in Neolithic Scottish Tomb|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/polished-stone-balls-found-5500-year-old-scottish-tomb-180978615/|access-date=2021-09-12|website=Smithsonian Magazine|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|title=Archaeologists discover rare stones in a 'disappearing' tomb in Scotland|url=https://www.jpost.com/archaeology/archaeologists-discover-rare-stones-in-a-disappearing-tomb-in-scotland-678989|access-date=2021-09-12|newspaper=The Jerusalem Post &#124; Jpost.com|language=en-US}}</ref>

== History ==
Orkney became part of the [[Scandinavia]]n polity from perhaps the 9th century onwards. In 1991 the [[Scar boat burial]] was discovered on the coast of Sanday near Burness. This Norse-era vessel, which had been {{convert|6.5|m|ft|adj=on}} long and {{convert|1.5|m|ft|adj=on}} wide, had rotted away, leaving more than 300&nbsp;iron rivets.<ref name="Canmore">{{cite web |url=https://canmore.org.uk/site/3494/sanday-quoy-banks |title=Sanday, Quoy Banks |publisher=Canmore |access-date=11 November 2018}}</ref> The enclosure, dated to 875&mdash;950 AD, was found to contain the remains of a man, a woman, and a child, along with numerous [[grave goods]]. These included a sword, quiver with arrows, bone comb, gaming pieces and the Scar dragon plaque, made from whale bone.<ref name="Canmore" /><ref name="Orkneyjar">{{cite web |url=http://www.orkneyjar.com/history/scarboat/ |title=The Scar Viking Boat Burial |author=Sigurd Towrie |access-date=20 October 2011 |archive-date=2 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221102191847/http://www.orkneyjar.com/history/scarboat/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

During the [[medieval]] period Sanday had 36 [[ounceland]]s, which may have been divided into two 'huseby' districts for taxation purposes with Lady to the east forming a unit with [[Stronsay]] and Cross and Burness to the west being combined with [[Eday]] and other isles to the west and north.<ref name=Steiness41/> The main farm for the western district may have been located between Pool Bay and Warsetter at a site called Housay that is now just a mound.<ref>Steinnes (1959) p. 46.</ref>

In the mid-17th century an annexe to [[Joan Blaeu|Blaeu]]'s ''[[Atlas Maior|Atlas Novus]]'' of Scotland recorded that Sanday's low lying topography meant that "shipwreck often occurs to those who sail there at night. The inhabitants of Sanday earnestly and often desire this to happen, so that they get a supply of material for fire from the wrecked ships". The writer went on to state that the lack of peat meant that dried seaweed was "saved like treasure" for cooking fires and that only the better-off citizens could afford to bring peat from Eday "over the most fearful sea".<ref>Stewart, Walter (mid-1640s) "New Choreographic Description of the Orkneys" in Irvine (2006) p. 24. Translated from the original [[Latin]] by Ian Cunningham.</ref>

[[File:Stove model farm - geograph.org.uk - 230874.jpg|thumb|right|The ruins of the "model farm" at Stove]]
In March 1633, Marion Richart or Layland of Sanday was accused of [[Witchcraft in Orkney|witchcraft]]. Her grandson James Fisher said he had seen her and Catrine Miller at an empty house called the House of Howing Greenay, sitting beside the devil in the likeness of a "black man". Other witnesses declared she had charmed a fisherman's bait with the paws of her cat, healed a sick woman with a charm, and charmed milk from cows on Stronsay. She was tried at Kirkwall, found guilty, strangled and burnt.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/b22013155/page/150/mode/2up ''Miscellany of the Abbotsford Club'', vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1837), pp. 150-163.]</ref>

Writing in the early 18th century, the Rev. John Brand described island life thus: <blockquote>"Both Men and Women are fashionable in their cloths,<!-- sic --> no Men here use Plaids, as they do in our Highlands; In the North Isles of Sanda Westra &c. Many of the Countrey People wear a piece<!-- sic --> of a Skin, as of a Scale, comonly called a Selch, Calf or the lik. for Shoes, which they fasten to their Feet with stringes or thongs of Leather. Their Houses are in good order, and well furnished, according to their qualities. They generally speak English."<ref name=Brand>Brand, Reverend John (1701) [http://www.scottishcorpus.ac.uk/cmsw/document/?documentid=22&highlight=sanda#scotsBar "A Brief Description of Orkney, Zetland, Pightland-Firth & Caithness"]. Originally printed by George Mossman. Edinburgh. University of Glasgow. Retrieved 17 November 2014.</ref>{{NoteTag|Brand went on to say that: "There are also some who speak [[Norn language|Norse]] especially in the Mainland, as in the Parish of Hara there are a few yet living, who can speak no other thing, this language not being quite extinct among them."<ref name="Brand" />}}</blockquote>
[[File:Sanday Light Railway - geograph.org.uk - 86228.jpg|thumb|left|The now defunct [[Sanday Light Railway]]]]

As part of the agricultural improvement movement of the 19th century the brothers Malcolm and Samuel Laing created a "New Model Farm" near the Loth ferry terminal at the south end of the island. They introduced [[merino]] sheep, and the ruins of the steam engine house and the red-brick chimney and boiler house are still visible. Although such innovations brought increased productivity and were widely copied in Orkney they also impoverished the substantial population of landless [[cottar]]s who were increasingly marginalised.<ref>Thomson, William P. L. "Agricultural Improvement" in Omand (2003) p. 96</ref><ref name=Arch>[http://www.sandayorkney.co.uk/history.php "Archeology and History"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141028091354/http://www.sandayorkney.co.uk/history.php |date=2014-10-28 }}. Sanday Tourism Association. Retrieved 22 November 2014.</ref>

During the Second World War, the [[Royal Air Force]] built a [[Chain Home]] radar station at Whale Head near Lop Ness.<ref>[http://www.scotlandsplaces.gov.uk/record/rcahms/3597/sanday-whale-head-chain-home-radar-station/rcahms "Sanday, Whale Head Chain Home Radar Station"]. Scotland's Places. Retrieved 22 November 2014.</ref> This necessitated the building of a large camp at Langamay to house the military personnel, which incorporated a cinema.<ref name=Arch/>

Sanday also once boasted the most northerly passenger railway in the United Kingdom, a privately owned [[rideable miniature railway|rideable miniature installation]] near Braeswick, the [[Sanday Light Railway]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Do the Locomotion with Charlie |url = https://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/do-the-locomotion-with-charlie-1-1108392 |work=[[The Scotsman]] |first=Julia |last=Welstead |date=4 March 2006 |access-date=11 November 2018 }}</ref>

In June 2009, 54-year-old local Robert Rose was murdered by residents John Campbell and Stephen Crummack. The two men buried Rose's body in the sand dunes at Sty Wick on the south side of the island, and drove his car to Loth Pier, in an attempt to make residents believe that he left the island on the ferry.<ref>[https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/north_east/8544009.stm bbc.co.uk] BBC Scotland, 2 March 2010</ref> After investigation, Campbell was found guilty of murder and Crummack was found guilty of culpable homicide, and the pair were sentenced to 16 years and 11 years respectively at the [[Justiciary Buildings, Glasgow]], in March 2010.<ref>[https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/north_east/8589555.stm bbc.co.uk] BBC Scotland, 30 March 2010</ref>

The whaling ship [[HMS Hind (1749)|''Earl of Chatham'']], the former Royal Navy frigate HMS ''Hind'' (1749), was wrecked in the Bay of Lopness off Sanday in March 1788. Timbers from the wreck were discovered by villagers from Sanday in 2024, when uncovered by shifting sands. Research by Wessex Archeology and Dendrochronicle established the most likely identity of the wreck in 2025.<ref>{{cite web |title=Archaeologists identify 250-year-old shipwreck in Orkney |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp826e56j1lo |website=BBC News |access-date=23 July 2025}}</ref>

==Start Point Lighthouse==
{{Infobox lighthouse
| qid             = Q17827973
| name            = Start Point Lighthouse
| image           = Start Point light.jpg
| image_width     =
| caption         = Start Point Lighthouse in 2007
| location        = Start Point<br />Sanday<br />[[Orkney]]<br />[[Scotland]]<br />[[United Kingdom]]
| coordinates     = {{coord|59.277431|-2.375906|display=inline}}
| yearbuilt       = 1806 (first)
| yearlit         = 1870 (current)
| automated       = 1962
| yeardeactivated = 
| foundation      = 
| construction    = stone tower
| shape           = cylindrical tower with balcony and lantern
| marking         = white and black vertical stripes tower, black lantern, ochre trim
| height          = {{convert|25|m|ft}}
| focalheight     = {{convert|24|m|ft}}
| lens            = 
| currentlens     = 
| intensity       = 
| range           = {{convert|24|nmi}}
| characteristic  = Fl (2) W 20s.
| fogsignal       = 
| racon           = 
| country         = 
| countrynumber   = 
| countrylink     = 
| managingagent   = Northern Lighthouse Board<ref>{{Cite rowlett|ork|accessdate=2016-05-26}}</ref>
<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nlb.org.uk/LighthouseLibrary/Lighthouse/Start-Point/ |title=Start Point |publisher=Northern Lighthouse Board |access-date=11 November 2018}}</ref>
| heritage        = 
| module          =  
}}

'''Start Point Lighthouse''' stands on the neighbouring [[tidal island]] of '''Start Point''', locally known as '''Start Island'''. The lighthouse was completed on 2 October 1806 by engineer [[Thomas Smith (engineer)|Thomas Smith]]. It was the first Scottish lighthouse to have a clockwork-driven revolving parabolic reflector creating a sweeping beam. The reflector was later replaced by a Fresnel lens.  In 1870 the lighthouse was rebuilt. Since 1915, it has been painted by distinctive black and white vertical stripes which are unique in Scotland. The light was automated in 1962 and is powered by a bank of 36 solar panels.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.nlb.org.uk/ourlights/history/startpoint.htm| title=Start Point Lighthouse| publisher=[[Northern Lighthouse Board]]| access-date=2008-11-14| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081209184715/http://www.nlb.org.uk/ourlights/history/startpoint.htm| archive-date=2008-12-09| url-status=dead}}</ref>

Despite the presence of the lighthouse, [[HMS Goldfinch (1910)|HMS ''Goldfinch'']] was wrecked in fog on Start Point in 1915.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.orkneycommunities.co.uk/imagelibrary/picture/number1708.asp| title=Remains of HMS Goldfinch| publisher=Orkney Image Library| access-date=2008-02-01| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140113105524/http://www.orkneycommunities.co.uk/imagelibrary/picture/number1708.asp| archive-date=2014-01-13| url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Current island activities==
Sanday boasts two golf courses: a nine-hole links course of {{convert|2,600|yd|m|abbr=off}} run by Sanday Golf Club and the one-hole meadowland "Peedie Golf Course" of {{convert|57|yd|m|0|abbr=off}} (believed to be Scotland's shortest) at West Manse.<ref>{{Cite book| title=The Islands of Orkney| year=2008}}</ref>

In 2004, three wind turbines with an installed capacity of 8.25 megawatts were erected by [[Scottish and Southern Energy]] (SSE) at Spurness.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iwight.com/windturbines/Planning%20package/1.Environmental%20Statement/Chapter%201%20Introduction/Text/ch1%20-%20Introduction.pdf |title=West Wight Project Environmental Statement: Chapter 1 - Introduction |publisher=Your Energy Ltd. |access-date=2007-06-02 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927202856/http://www.iwight.com/windturbines/Planning%20package/1.Environmental%20Statement/Chapter%201%20Introduction/Text/ch1%20-%20Introduction.pdf |archive-date=2007-09-27 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.orkneycommunities.co.uk/OREF/documents/OREF%20AGM/OREF%20Chairman%27s%20Report%202004-05.pdf |title=Chairman's Report |publisher=Orkney Renewable Energy Forum |year=2005 |access-date=2008-11-14 }}{{dead link|date=November 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Sanday Community Council successfully negotiated a wind farm community fund with SSE which will be benefitting the people of the island for the lifetime of the turbines, anticipated to be 20 to 25 years.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.orkney.gov.uk/nqcontent.cfm?a_id=891 |title=Various minutes |website=www.sanday.co.uk |publisher=Sanday Community Council |access-date=2008-11-14 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928004112/http://www.orkney.gov.uk/nqcontent.cfm?a_id=891 |archive-date=2007-09-28 }}</ref>  By 2012, these wind turbines were replaced by 5 newer ones by Scottish and Southern Energy. This installation also generates income intended to benefit the people in Sanday, on the one hand via grants distributed by the Sanday Community Council and on the other by financing the Sanday Development Trust.

In 1996, the Sanday Development Group was formed to promote tourism. This group became Sanday [[development trust|Development Trust]] in 2004, which has a vision to:

<blockquote>Create an economically prosperous, sustainable community that is connected with the wider world, but remains a safe, clean environment, where we are proud to live, able to work, to bring up and educate our children, to fulfill our own hopes and ambitions, and to grow old gracefully, enjoying a quality of life that is second to none.</blockquote>

Projects include the establishment of a sports hall and youth centre, the creation of a local sound archive, and until February 2020, a Countryside Ranger service.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dtascot.org.uk/popup.cfm?p_n=271626&p_i=271626 |title=Sanday Development Trust |publisher=Development Trusts Association Scotland |access-date=2007-06-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928082147/http://www.dtascot.org.uk/popup.cfm?p_n=271626&p_i=271626 |archive-date=2007-09-28 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

[[File:SandayTartan.gif|thumb|left|Sanday Tartan]]
A district tartan has been designed for Sanday by one of the island's residents, although it has not yet been officially adopted by the island authorities. It represents the sea, the distinctive sandy beaches and green meadows of the island, and the vertical stripes of Start Point lighthouse.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.scotsheraldry.com/Archive/ShowMessage.asp?ID=4610| publisher=Scotsheraldry.com| title=Sanday Tartan| access-date=2007-06-02| url-status=usurped| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071008195851/http://www.scotsheraldry.com/Archive/ShowMessage.asp?ID=4610| archive-date=2007-10-08}}</ref>

In July 2008 a concert held on the island was the culmination of an innovative musical project. The main aim of project was to set up a music-teacher training programme that would provide additional music tuition in the school and throughout the community.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.localpeopleleading.co.uk/showart.php?articleid=6874&typeid=1| title=Island of Sanday hits the right note| publisher=Local People Leading| access-date=2008-07-19}} {{Dead link|date=September 2010|bot=H3llBot}}</ref>

A shop where islanders can sell craft products has existed since 2016. The [[Kimbland distillery]] also operates out of a premises at the north end of the island.

==Folklore==
There is a legend that a Sanday girl was once sold a book called ''The Book of Black Art'' by a witch, and that the Devil would claim the soul of anyone who still owned the book at their death. This book was only able to be passed on by selling it. A local clergyman ([[Matthew Armour]]) took it off her hands and he managed to get rid of it by means not described in the tradition before his death in 1903.<ref>Ash (1973) p. 476</ref> At the ruined Kirk of Lady, near Overbister, are the "Devil's Clawmarks": incised parallel grooves in the parapet of the kirk.<ref name=Arch/>

==People associated with Sanday==
[[File:West Manse Sanday.jpg|thumb|Sanday's West Manse]]
* [[Matthew Armour]] (1820–1903), born in Paisley, Sanday's radical [[Free Church of Scotland (1843-1900)|Free Kirk]] [[Minister of religion|Minister]] who lived at The West Manse (formerly the [[Free Church of Scotland (1843-1900)|Free Church of Scotland]] [[manse]]) for over half a century
* [[Stuart Christie]] (1946–2020), Glasgow Anarchist, who ran the radical publishing house [[Cienfuegos Press]] from here during the late 1970s.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wcml.org.uk/holdings/pandp_anarchism.htm |title=Pamphlets and Papers: Anarchism |publisher=Working Class Movement Library |access-date=2008-08-02 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080305080634/http://www.wcml.org.uk/holdings/pandp_anarchism.htm |archive-date=2008-03-05 }}</ref>
* [[William Towrie Cutt]] (1898–1981), author born on Sanday, lived in Kettletoft
* [[Peter Maxwell Davies]] (1934–2016), former [[Master of the Queen's Music]]
* [[Walter Traill Dennison]] (1826–1894), [[Orkney Islands#Orcadians|Orcadian]] [[folklorist]] born on Sanday at North Myre, living most of his life at West Brough.<ref>{{citation |title=The Dennison Collection |publisher=University of Glasgow |url=http://www.gla.ac.uk/hunterian/collections/collectionsummaries/archaeologyandworldcultures/archaeology/dennison/ |access-date=15 June 2014 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304035444/http://www.gla.ac.uk/hunterian/collections/collectionsummaries/archaeologyandworldcultures/archaeology/dennison/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>
*Ivan Drever; born at Whip and grew up at East Thrave
* Rev [[Robert Howie Fisher]] (1861–1934) eminent Edinburgh minister, [[Dean of the Chapel Royal]] and Chaplain in Ordinary to King George V
* [[David Harvey (footballer)|David Harvey]] (b. 1948), former [[Leeds United F.C.|Leeds United]] and [[Scotland men's national football team|Scotland]] [[Goalkeeper (association football)|goalkeeper]]
* [[Geoffrey Hayes]], actor and children's TV presenter, had a holiday cottage here in the early 1980s
* George Faulknor Francis Horwood (1838–1897), [[Deputy Lieutenant]] of Orkney (and youngest son of Edward Horwood, of [[Weston Turville]], [[Buckinghamshire]]) who lived at Scar House.
* [[Liam McArthur]] MSP for Orkney
* [[John D Mackay]] (b. 1909), Headmaster of Sanday School from 1946 to 1970
* [[William Sichel]] (b. 1953). International ultra distance runner; World No.1 for the Six Day event in 2006; has represented Great Britain eleven times since 1996.

==See also==

* [[List of lighthouses in Scotland]]
* [[List of Northern Lighthouse Board lighthouses]]

== Notes ==
{{NoteFoot}}

== References ==
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist}}

=== Sources ===
{{refbegin}}
; General references
* {{Orkneyinga}}
* {{cite book |last=Ash |first=Russell |year = 1973 |title = Folklore, Myths and Legends of Britain |publisher = Reader's Digest Association Limited |isbn = 9780340165973 }}
* Dorward, David (1995). ''Scotland's Place Names''. Mercat Press. {{ISBN|1873644507}}.
* {{Haswell-Smith}}
* Irvine, James M. (ed.) (2006) ''The Orkneys and Schetland in Blaeu's Atlas Novus of 1654''. Ashtead. James M. Irvine. {{ISBN|0-9544571-2-9}}.
* Keatinge, T. H. and Dickson J. H. (Mar., 1979) [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2433557 "Mid-Flandrian Changes in Vegetation on Mainland Orkney"]. ''New Phytologist''. Vol. 82, No. 2, pp.&nbsp;585–612. Wiley//JSTOR Trust Stable Retrieved 16 November 2014.
* {{cite book |editor-last = Omand |editor-first = Donald |year=2003 |title = The Orkney Book |location=Edinburgh |publisher=Birlinn }}
* Steinnes, Asgaut (April 1959) [https://www.jstor.org/stable/25526504 "The 'Huseby' System in Orkney"]. ''[[The Scottish Historical Review]]''. Vol. 38, No. 125, Part 1 pp.&nbsp;36–46. Edinburgh University Press/JSTOR. Retrieved 15 November 2014.
* Wickham-Jones, Caroline (2007) ''Orkney: A Historical Guide''. Edinburgh. Birlinn. {{ISBN|1-84158-596-3}}.
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Sanday, Orkney Islands|Sanday}}
{{Wikivoyage|Sanday}}
* {{cite web| url=http://www.sandayorkney.co.uk| title=Sanday| publisher=Sanday Tourism Association| access-date=2008-11-14| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081022170721/http://www.sandayorkney.co.uk/| archive-date=2008-10-22}}
* {{cite web| url=http://www.sanday.co.uk/| title=Sanday Community Website| publisher=Sanday Development Trust| access-date=2008-11-14}}
* [http://www.nlb.org.uk/LighthouseLibrary/Main/ Northern Lighthouse Board]

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{{North East Orkney}}
{{Orkney Islands}}
{{Islands of Scotland}}{{Portal bar|Scotland|Scottish Islands|Islands}}{{Lighthouses of the Northern Lighthouse Board}}
{{Authority control | additional=Q17827973}}

[[Category:Sanday, Orkney| ]]
[[Category:Islands of the Orkney Islands]]
[[Category:Ramsar sites in Scotland]]
[[Category:Important Bird Areas of Orkney]]