Abandoned Farm on Faray (c/o Dave Simpson - www.geograph.org.uk)

-- Where is it ? --

Faray and it's near neighbour Holm of Faray, which lies to the north, are to be found in the Sound of Faray between Eday and Westray. Faray covers an area of less than 200 hectares and reaches a maximum height of just over 100 ft in the centre of the island.

-- History --

By the late 1930's there were eight families living on the island. They had crofts and supplemented their income by lobster fishing. The second world war then intervened and a whole new world opened up. Comparisons were drawn by the islanders and their simple but demanding lifestyle began to seem less than perfect. By 1947 the last islander had left Faray and, apart from occasional summer occupation, the island was deserted.

The only man made relic of note is the chambered cairn beside Lavey Sound. It has now been proposed that the rich peat bogs of both Faray and Holm Of Faray should be made special areas of conservation. A road still runs up the central spine of the island serving the scattered empty houses.

-- Books --

None available to my knowledge with any great content about Faray. This is not an island which seems to have merited much space in the history of our country. Several Orkney/Scottish Islands books mention Faray in passing but nothing to merit buying any of them for information on this abandoned isle. As ever please contact lonely-isles if you know of any books you think would be of interest and we'll add them to the site !!

-- DVD's & Videos --

None available to my knowledge....please contact lonely-isles if you know of any and we'll add them to the site !!

-- Links --

Doug Houghton Photography - This page of Eday pictures from Doug's site contains the only other photograph of Faray I've so far managed to find on the web !! The site contains many other excellent Orkney images and is well worth a visit.

Sadly information on many of the abandoned isles around the Orkney Islands is very hard to find. Lonely Isles will continue to attempt to find as much information as possible on all of the islands featured on our site. Please continue to return to this page with the assurance that if any worthwhile links do appear for Faray then they will be added to the page.

Please email Lonely Isles if you know of any suitable links.