There's nowhere quite like Stromness. It stretches for over a mile along the shore of Hamnavoe, an inlet of Scapa Flow sheltered by the islands of Outer Holm and Inner Holm. Yet the core of the town is just one main street that twists and turns narrowly between the shoreline and the hillside behind. This main street goes under at least five different names as it makes its was through Stromness. It is intersected by streets that on one side climb steeply up Brinkles Brae, the 300ft granite ridge that lies behind the town. On the seaward side they make their way between close-packed building to the private wharves that seem to lie behind every house and shop. In 1814 Sir Walter Scott complained that the town couldn't be traversed in a cart or on a horse because of steps built into the main street. The steps may have gone, but catch Stromness on a quiet day and you could feel that little else has changed. In more recent times the town has grown further up Brinkles Brae, and it has also extended further to the north. This has brought benefits, especially in the form of an alternative higher level road that allows most traffic to avoid the main street. The name Stromness comes from the Norse Straumrnes, or point of land by Hoy Sound: though it is probable that the natural harbour here was used by the Picts before the Vikings arrived.

By the 1300s the name was recorded as Strumnay, and "Stromness" first appears in records in 1544. Stromness was still a very small village of just 13 houses when in 1670 it was chosen by the Hudson's Bay Company as the first and last port of call for their ships en route to and from Canada. This led to a boom that marks the real start of the town of Stromness you see today. By 1794 it had grown to a settlement of 222 houses, of which 130 had slate roofs, a sure sign of wealth. Stromness is today a bustling and charming town. It retains its remarkable main street in which pedestrians have to dodge cars, and cars one another. And there are few places that so amply reward exploration. The narrow passages and roads and the private wharves on the shore side are fascinating, as is the network of steep streets and paths lead up the hillside. One of the streets climbing Brinkles Brae between high walls rejoices in the name of the Khyber Pass. This is either a descriptive joke that stuck, or a celebration of Empire: take your pick.

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