View source for Rackwick

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2021}}
{{Infobox UK place
| type =
| country = Scotland
| coordinates = {{coord|display=inline,title}}
| post_town = STROMNESS
| postcode_area = KW
| dial_code = 01856
| postcode_district = KW16
| constituency_westminster = [[Orkney and Shetland (UK Parliament constituency)|Orkney and Shetland]]
| unitary_scotland = [[Orkney]]
| lieutenancy_scotland = [[Orkney]]
| static_image_name = Rackwick - geograph.org.uk - 17898.jpg
| static_image_caption = View of Rackwick from Moor Fea
| os_grid_reference = ND201992
| civil_parish = [[Hoy, Orkney|Hoy]] and [[Graemsay]]
| constituency_scottish_parliament = [[Orkney (Scottish Parliament constituency)|Orkney Islands]]
}}
'''Rackwick''' is a small coastal crofting [[Township (Scotland)|township]] in the north west of the island of [[Hoy, Orkney|Hoy]] in [[Orkney]], Scotland.
As well as a handful of tourist amenities the township is largely made up of crofts and other small dwellings, however most now form second homes with Rackwick having very few full time residents.<ref name=":1">{{Cite report |url=https://hoyheritage.files.wordpress.com/2020/06/586_rackwick_-survey_2014_15_v3_271017-1.pdf |title=Hoy and Walls Landscape Project: Rackwick Survey 2014-2015 |last=Lee |first=Daniel |date=December 2016 |publisher=Orkney Research Centre for Archaeology |location=Kirkwall |page=22 |access-date=2021-08-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210808165202/https://hoyheritage.files.wordpress.com/2020/06/586_rackwick_-survey_2014_15_v3_271017-1.pdf |archive-date=8 August 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Hoy Feature Page on Undiscovered Scotland|url=https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/hoy/hoy/index.html|access-date=2021-08-08|website=www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk|archive-date=8 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210808165201/https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/hoy/hoy/index.html|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2016 there were only three dwellings occupied year round.{{Sfn|Lee|2016|p=39}}
The [[Orcadians|Orcadian]] poet [[George Mackay Brown|George Mackay Brown's]] poem ''Rackwick'' describes the township as "the hidden valley of light" and "Orkney's last enchantment".
The name Rackwick may derive from the [[Old Norse]] ''reka-vík'', meaning ''bay of [[jetsam]]''.<ref>{{Cite magazine|date=Autumn 2010|title=Cover|magazine=Scottish Place-Name News|publisher=[[Scottish Place-Name Society]]|issue=29|page=1}}</ref>
== Geography ==
Rackwick is surrounded on three sides by the hills Moor Fea, Mel Fea, and Red Glen, with two [[U-shaped valley|glacial U-shaped valleys]] (glens) leading into Rackwick containing two burns (streams), Rackwick Burn and South Burn. The Township lies overlooks Rackwick Beach and Rackwick Bay, with the adjacent coastline dominated by imposing cliffs. Rackwick also borders the [[Royal Society for the Protection of Birds|RSPB]] Hoy nature reserve. There is only one minor road to Rackwick, leading from Linksness {{Convert|4|mi|km}} away, passing by the [[Dwarfie Stane]] megalithic tomb. The township is the main starting point for people walking to the [[Old Man of Hoy]], a notable [[Sea Stack|sea stack]] {{Convert|1.5|mi|km}} away.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Rackwick|url=https://www.scottish-places.info/towns/townfirst4717.html|url-status=live|access-date=2021-08-08|website=The Gazetteer for Scotland|language=en-gb|archive-date=8 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210808165203/https://www.scottish-places.info/towns/townfirst4717.html}}</ref>
== Amenities ==
Rackwick has a series of small unstaffed community-run museum buildings and an archive centre, including an old schoolhouse and the restored 18th century Cra'as Nest croft and farmstead.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Cra'as Nest Museum|url=https://www.orkney.com/listings/craas-nest-museum|access-date=2021-08-08|website=Orkney.com|language=en-gb|archive-date=24 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210724040623/https://www.orkney.com/listings/craas-nest-museum|url-status=live}}</ref> The township also contains a [[bothy]], Burnmouth, run by the Hoy Trust, and the Rackwick Outdoor Centre – a hostel by the [[Orkney Islands Council]] in a former school building. There is also public toilets and a small car park.
== History ==
The is little evidence of prehistoric activity in Rackwick, while the older farm buildings date from the 18th century.{{Sfn|Lee|2016|p=18}} The first known reference to Rackwick was in Lord Sinclair's 1492 rental of Orkney, and the first detailed map dates from 1791.{{Sfn|Lee|2016|p=12}} In 1718 the first schoolhouse (now a museum) was opened by the [[Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge]], although this was short lived as the school closed in 1724.{{Sfn|Lee|2016|p=20}} In 1879 a new school building was built (now the hostel), closing in 1953 as there were no longer any children left in Rackwick to teach.{{Sfn|Lee|2016|p=22}}
Rackwick was home in [[World War II|WWII]] to a light [[Anti-aircraft warfare|anti-aircraft battery]], two [[Searchlight#Second World War|search light batteries]], and various small ancillary buildings and structures. There is also a crash site overlooking the township where in 1942 a [[Fairey Albacore]] (BF592) hit Mal Fea, killing the pilot.{{Sfn|Lee|2016|p=29}}<ref>{{Cite web|last=Clark|first=Alan|date=2016-08-03|title=Fairey Albacore Mk.I BF592 of No.871 Sqn, RN, crashed above the cliffs at Rackwick on Mel Fea on the Isle of Hoy, Orkney, on the 26th June 1942|url=https://www.peakdistrictaircrashes.co.uk/crash_sites/scotland/fairey-albacore-bf592-mel-fea/|url-status=live|access-date=2021-08-08|website=Peak District Air Accident Research|language=en-GB|archive-date=8 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210808165203/https://www.peakdistrictaircrashes.co.uk/crash_sites/scotland/fairey-albacore-bf592-mel-fea/}}</ref>
The township was almost deserted in the 1970s, but has seen a small "resurgence" in part because of George Mackay Brown.{{Sfn|Lee|2016|p=39}} The landscape artist [[Sylvia Wishart]], a friend of Brown's, rented a house and painted the township throughout the 1960s, while the composer [[Peter Maxwell Davies]], another of Brown's friends, lived in Rackwick from 1970 until 1998.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Boak|first=Rachel|date=2020-11-19|title=Sylvia Wishart|url=https://orkneybetweenislands.wordpress.com/slvia-wishart/|url-status=live|access-date=2021-08-08|website=Between Islands|publisher=Orkney Arts, Museums and Heritage|language=en|archive-date=9 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210809003328/https://orkneybetweenislands.wordpress.com/slvia-wishart/}}</ref><ref name=":0" />
Rackwick was the site of early telegraph cables, while the two [[Submarine power cable|subsea power cables]] connecting Orkney to mainland Scotland land at Rackwick Beach.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2019-10-18|title=New electricity cable hopes suffer huge blow as Ofgem rule out funding|url=https://www.orcadian.co.uk/new-electricity-cable-hopes-suffer-huge-blow-as-ofgem-rule-out-funding/|access-date=2021-08-08|website=The Orcadian Online|language=en-GB|archive-date=8 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210808165203/https://www.orcadian.co.uk/new-electricity-cable-hopes-suffer-huge-blow-as-ofgem-rule-out-funding/|url-status=live}}</ref>{{Sfn|Lee|2016|p=30}}
== Gallery ==
<gallery mode="nolines">
File:Old school house, Rackwick, Hoy, Orkney (exterior 2).jpg|The old schoolhouse built 1718, now a small museum
File:Burnmouth, Rackwick Bay - geograph.org.uk - 1128426.jpg|The bothy, Burnmouth
File:Crow's Nest Museum, Rackwick - geograph.org.uk - 1388829.jpg|Cra'as Nest Museum, formerly a croft and homestead
File:Kids Paddling at Rackwick Beach, Hoy - geograph.org.uk - 1069391.jpg|Rackwick Beach
File:Old Man of Hoy (5927357279).jpg|The Old Man of Hoy
</gallery>
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Orkney settlements}}
[[Category:Villages in Orkney]]
[[Category:Townships in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Hoy, Orkney]]