The Churchill Barriers are four causeways in the Orkney islands with a total length of 2.3 kilometres. They link the Orkney Mainland in the north to the island of South Ronaldsay via Burray and the two smaller islands of Lamb Holm and Glimps Holm.
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Italian Chapel
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Greetings Space Cadets, The Churchill Barriers are a series of four causeways in the Orkney Islands, United Kingdom, with a total length of 1.5 miles (2.3 km). They link the Orkney Mainland in the north to the island of South Ronaldsay via Burray and the two smaller islands of Lamb Holm and Glimps Holm.
In 14 October 1939, the Royal Navy battleship HMS Royal Oak was sunk at her moorings within the natural harbour of Scapa Flow in a night-time attack by the German U-boat U-47 under the command of Günther Prien.
The barriers were built in the 1940s primarily as naval defences to protect the anchorage at Scapa Flow, but now serve as road links, carrying the A961 road from Kirkwall to Burwick.
The barriers are numbered from north to south. In 2016, Historic Environment Scotland designated barriers 3 and 4 as Category A...
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There are three of these. You can see the sunken blocking ships on the southern two, but not that I noticed on the first. The third is the most interesting in terms of sunken ships. The barriers now function as causeways for traffic, we cycled over. The third one has viewpoint and an explanatory sign. They were installed during ww2 to prevent further u-boat entry, after HMS Royal...
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Absolutely beautiful drive across the causeways. Crystal clear water! Sugar like sand. I'm lucky to have a nice sunny day while we were there. At high and low tide, you can still see the sunken ships between the islands. Also, there are a few viking things to find close by, totem poles, and a few other things. I highly recommend visiting the Italian chapel...
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