Kirkwall and the Wrigleys

Capital of the Orkney Islands

A couple of weeks ago, we visited the Tomb of the Eagles in Orkney, just one of many ancient sites in the islands. Just now, we’ll visit the capital city of Kirkwall, where we were based for several days each time we visited Orkney.

The downtown streets double as both sidewalks and roads, and pedestrians and cars seem to respect that.

The city has lots of sights, shops, a bar with every whisky in the world (about 1200 the last time I was there, but they said they’re aiming for 2000, and they have a description of each in a book!), the palace of an evil Earl, and in the center of town, the cathedral.

St Magnus Cathedral was started in 1137 by a Viking who was an Earl in Orkney at the time, in tribute to his martyred cousin Magnus. It is huge and a striking sight, as you can see below.

Approaching the entrance, what struck me was the sandstone pillars and how they had eroded over the centuries.

The inside space is enormous and packed with carvings, memorials, tombs, colorful children’s weavings, and clearly heavily in use as a church and meeting place.

St Magnus is buried inside of one of the pillars, and there are some medieval tombstones, with their characteristic symbolism, as you can see at left, below.

At right is a carved memorial to John Rae, who died in 1893, a celebrated arctic explorer and physician who, like many in Orkney, worked for Hudson’s Bay Company in Canada. He explored the Northwest Passage, worked also as a surgeon, and learned a great deal from the Inuit about travel and survival in the frozen north. Rae’s actual burial place is in the churchyard of the cathedral.

If you look closely at the first cathedral picture above, showing the cathedral from across the street, you’ll spot a white building at the far left. This used to be The Reel, a very popular spot in central Kirkwall run by Jennifer and Hazel Wrigley. Last week’s article mentioned a bit about the back story for The Reel and the Wrigley sisters.

In the photos below, you can see people outside The Reel having a drink or lunch on a fine day. On the right, you see a photo of part of the inside, showing the doorway to go upstairs to music classes, the door on the right to the music shop, where sheet music, CDs, and instruments were made available. In the foreground are some of the booths where people eat or watch concerts or participate in regular sessions. Among the events was the regular session of the Orkney Strathspey and Reel Society.

Below is another view of folk eating and drinking, and at right, the bar for ordering. On the wall to the right is a photo of Hazel Wrigley’s hero, the great Shetland guitarist Peerie Willie Johnson (“peerie” in Shetland means “little”), who was a brilliant and versatile player able to spice up traditional tunes with some great jazz chords. One time, someone had compiled an encylopedia of all guitar chords and handed a copy to Peerie Willie, who looked through it, and jotted down a few extra chords that the author had missed!

During our visits to The Reel, we were able to spend some time with the Wrigley sisters — Jennifer on fiddle, and Hazel on guitar and piano. They played tunes for our group with incredible ease, agility, and mischievous good humor, and discussed the traditional music of Orkney with a passion and a great depth of knowledge.

At the far left of the photo above is the grand piano given The Reel by Peter Maxwell Davies, the great classical composer, who lived in Orkney. He had donated the piano, and with the help of many hands, it was hauled through the window using a crane!

It’s terribly sad to note that The Reel, popular as it was for hundreds of music students, regular events, a music shop, and fine food and drink, is no more. Unfortunately, there weren’t enough of the right people in Orkney to support The Reel through the worst of the pandemic, when it needed help the most.

Below is a photo of one of Jennifer’s fiddle classes, held in one of the upstairs rooms, and at right, a couple of photos I took at the final concert of a summer kids camp that the Wrigleys hosted in Kirkwall. At top are the kids in their finale, after all the different groups had showed their stuff, and at the bottom a photo of the staff of great teachers who had come from all over to work with the kids.

When we were sitting in the second floor room with the grand piano, listening to the Wrigleys play and talk about the music, they mentioned that it was not uncommon at Christmas and New Year’s time for the fierce traditional game called The Ba’ to result in a mountain of people clambering over each other as high as their second-story window to reach the leather ball that’s the object of the game. The two teams are the Uppies and the Doonies, and people have allegiances to one or the other based on where they were born or what team their families historically belonged to or which way they first entered Kirkwall, which is suitably vague for a game virtually without rules. The Uppies have to get the Ba’ into the harbor, while the Doonies have to get it uphill to a town gate that isn’t there anymore!

Above, you can see the cathedral surrounded by massive crowds at Ba’ time, and at the right, some of the craziness where the ba’ is present. In the middle is a photo of the leather Ba’ won by the 1945 women’s champion, which is displayed in the Orkney Museum to honor the only two women’s Ba’ games ever held, in 1945 and 1946. The men continue the tradition, in what amounts to a citywide game of rugby without rules!

Below is a five-minute BBC interview of the Wrigleys, ending with them playing a traditional polka, and below that is a video of the Wrigleys playing a medley of tunes showing their characteristic virtuosity and sense of humor.