Holm of Faray
Holm of Faray is a small, uninhabited tidal island located in Eday Sound, part of the Orkney Islands archipelago in the far north of Scotland. Sitting just off the southeastern shore of Faray, it is one of the many diminutive islets that punctuate the waters between the larger islands of Eday and Westray. Like its companion island Faray itself, Holm of Faray is now devoid of permanent human settlement, though the landscape bears quiet testimony to the people who once farmed and lived there. The island is notable primarily for its undisturbed natural character and as part of the ecologically rich and historically layered seascape of the Orkney archipelago, which as a whole is a UNESCO World Heritage site region of extraordinary cultural significance.
The name Holm of Faray follows a common Orcadian and Norse naming convention. "Holm" derives from the Old Norse word "hólmr," meaning a small island or islet, a linguistic inheritance from the Viking settlers who colonized Orkney from the late ninth century onward and whose influence remains deeply embedded in virtually every place name across the islands. Faray itself likely derives from a Norse root as well. The broader area of Faray and its holm was inhabited in historical times, and Faray once supported a small farming community before the island was finally cleared of its last residents in the mid-twentieth century. The Holm, being even smaller, would have served ancillary agricultural purposes, likely as seasonal grazing ground for sheep or cattle brought across at low tide.
Physically, Holm of Faray is a low-lying grassy islet, characteristic of the inner Orkney island holms, shaped by glaciation, wave action, and the ceaseless Atlantic weather. The ground tends to be rough grass and maritime heath, with the kind of wind-scoured, salt-tolerant vegetation that thrives in this exposed northern latitude. The shoreline is rocky and uneven, meeting the cold grey-green waters of Eday Sound, and the air carries the constant smell of seaweed and brine. On calm days, the sound of waves lapping against the rocky margins and the cries of seabirds overhead define the sensory experience entirely. On rougher days, the wind across this flat, shelterless ground is fierce and relentless.
The surrounding seascape is one of the most compelling aspects of visiting this part of Orkney. Faray itself lies immediately to the northwest, while Eday is visible to the south and east, and Westray lies further to the northwest. The waters of Eday Sound are nutrient-rich and support significant marine wildlife, including grey seals and a wide range of seabirds. The broader Orkney archipelago is renowned for its archaeology, with Neolithic monuments such as Skara Brae, Maeshowe, and the Standing Stones of Stenness all found on Mainland Orkney to the south. The inner isles around Faray are quieter and less visited but no less evocative.
Access to Holm of Faray is genuinely remote and requires considerable planning. There is no regular ferry service to Faray itself, let alone to the Holm, and reaching the area typically involves chartering a private boat from one of the nearby islands such as Eday or Westray, both of which have ferry connections to Kirkwall on Mainland Orkney. The tidal nature of the channel between Faray and its Holm means that crossing on foot may be possible at very low tide, though this would require local knowledge and careful attention to tidal timings. The best time to visit the broader area is late spring through early autumn, when weather conditions are most favorable, daylight hours are long — sometimes exceeding eighteen hours at midsummer — and seabird activity is at its peak.
One of the quietly fascinating aspects of places like Holm of Faray is what they represent in the longer arc of Orkney's human story — islands that once sustained life and community, now returned entirely to the birds and the sea. The cleared or abandoned inner isles of Orkney carry an elegiac quality, their old field boundaries and remnant structures slowly being reclaimed by grass and weather. For those willing to make the considerable effort required to reach them, these places offer a profound sense of solitude and an unmediated encounter with a landscape that has been shaped equally by geology, Norse history, agricultural tradition, and the raw force of northern Atlantic weather.