Sanday topographic map
Interactive map
Click on the map to display elevation.
About this map
Name: Sanday topographic map, elevation, terrain.
Location: Sanday, Lady Village, Orkney Islands, Scotland, United Kingdom (59.18433 -2.70174 59.31266 -2.39001)
Average elevation: 2 m
Minimum elevation: -1 m
Maximum elevation: 65 m
In the mid-17th century an annexe to Blaeu's Atlas Novus of Scotland recorded that Sanday's low lying topography meant that "shipwreck often occurs to those who sail there at night. The inhabitants of Sanday earnestly and often desire this to happen, so that they get a supply of material for fire from the wrecked ships". The writer went on to state that the lack of peat meant that dried seaweed was "saved like treasure" for cooking fires and that only the better-off citizens could afford to bring peat from Eday "over the most fearful sea".