Kirkwall Map Discovery

Our team of volunteers have been hard at work sifting through the bundles of documents in the Balfour of Balfour & Trenaby papers. They have been finding lots of interesting documents and we are gradually listing them all on our new online catalogue, so that everyone can see the list too. 

Last week Anne was looking at bundle 9 in the 26th box. It is a bundle of bundles. Rather than individual unrelated documents, bundle 9 contains several groups of related documents. One group is grandly called the 'Langstane Process" and is a court case about a disputed piece of ground in Kirkwall in 1798. What is very interesting is that it comes with a plan.

A plan from 1798! 1798! Why am I exclaiming? 

Because we don't have many detailed plans of Kirkwall for the 1700s. This is a very early map of Kirkwall and we're all very excited. 

D2/26/9 - Plan of disputed lands in Kirkwall, 1798.
Click on image to enlarge it on your screen. 
Not to be reproduced without permission from Orkney Archive

There are a few recognisable features in this plan such as The Strynd and the High Street (now Albert Street). See if you can work out where in Kirkwall it was, where the burn was and where the bridges were. Once we know more about the court case, we'll share the story. In the meantime, just admire the map. 

Other maps of Kirkwall in this time period are this one from 33 years earlier: 

D8/E/19 Kirkwall 1766, surveyed by William Aberdeen
Click on image to enlarge it on your screen
Not to be reproduced without permission from Orkney Archive

And this one from 33 years later: 

D8/E/28 Kirkwall boundaries, 1831
Click on image to enlarge it on your screen
Not to be reproduced without permission from Orkney Archive