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Discover Orkney's Stories
It’s time we showed you the kind of history and stories you’ll hear from Ciaran on a Tour Orkney tour.
This is a growing collection of short documentary films. Most are told on location, at the very place the events occurred, and are drawn from surviving sources — sagas, court records, parish accounts, and local tradition.
In the Era of the AI blogger, Ciaran researches and retells the stories that have shaped Orkney. Tour Orkney focuses on lesser-known events, island folklore, and documented accounts that rarely make it into guidebooks.
These are real stories, told on location, and grounded in the sources.
If you’d like to see more, see below or you can follow along on our social channels:
Orkney's Piece of Space
What does outer space, Scapa Flow, and a corroded lump of steel have in common?
The answer lies beneath Orkney’s waters — and in the dawn of the atomic age.
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The 74 Secret Flags of Ludwig von Reuter
Just before late morning on 21 June 1919, Rear Admiral Ludwig von Reuter raised a secret flag hoist aboard his flagship Emden. One by one, the same coded signal climbed the masts of the other 73 German vessels all anchored around Scapa Flow. What happened next has become a day of Orkney legend.
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The Lost Stone of Odin
On Captain Walden’s 1772 map it is labelled “Stone of Sacrifice”, reflecting the speculative interpretations of 18th-century antiquarians rather than any firm evidence.
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The World's Most Expensive Wedding
Watch this story told on location in Orkney by our guide Ciaran . The full written account follows below. The Pawning of Orkney and Shetland (1468–1469) Location: Orkney and Shetland, Northern Scotland Date: 1468–1469 Event: Transfer of Orkney and Shetland from Norway to Scotland as security for a royal dowry For seven years, Christian I ruled all three Scandinavian crowns. Through his kingship of Norway, that rule also extended to Orkney and Shetland — distant, but strate
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The Diving Bird of Unstan Chambered Cairn
There are a lot of details that make Unstan Chambered Cairn interesting. But what I want to show you today is a mystery no bigger than the size of my hand. Unstan was opened in 1884 by Robert Clouston. Inside, he found a large quantity of human remains, along with animal bones, spread through the chambers. Like other Neolithic cairns in Orkney, this wasn’t a single burial. The tomb was reused, with bones placed, moved, and returned over time. The site is also important becaus
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