Saints, Sandstone and Selkie Songs ~ Dr Sarah Jane Gibbon & Tom Muir | Orkney History & Folklore

What can the archaeology of Orkney, the Orkneyinga Saga, ancient parish churches, folk memory and traditional songs tell us about the people who lived here hundreds of years ago? If you want to know why Orkney is the way it is today through archaeology, story and song, join these two Orcadian historians for a friendly blether on this night of a full blood moon. In this episode of the Orkneyology Podcast, Orcadian historians Dr Sarah Jane Gibbon and Tom Muir have a wide-ranging and wonderfully informal conversation about Orkney history, archaeology, Norse heritage, folklore, traditional music and the Christianisation of medieval Orkney. Among the subjects they explore are: • How Orkney became Christian in the Norse world • What small churches, burials and farm communities reveal about medieval Orkney • Where important churches and settlements were located • The continuing debate over the original burial place of St Magnus, Orkney's patron saint • St Magnus Cathedral and the Orkneyinga Saga as windows into Orcadian history • Why medieval drinking halls were sometimes located close to small churches • The mysterious tiny churches found in “watery places” • Using parish churches and the Orkneyinga Saga to understand where powerful people lived • How medieval people understood power, wealth and community differently from us • The Lady Kirk stone in South Ronaldsay and the story of St Magnus crossing the Pentland Firth • The significance of Orkney's red sandstone kirkyards • Whether St Magnus was transformed from a warrior saint into a saint of peace • Healing wells, old traditions and the trauma of the Reformation • What the Orkney witch trials can reveal about earlier beliefs and society • Folk memory and its role in modern historical and archaeological research • Sarah Jane's grandmother, the nature writer known as “Country Woman” • The Big Orkney Song Project and the preservation of more than 1,000 traditional Orkney songs • Why songs of loss and grief have survived so strongly in seafaring communities • The history of The Great Selkie of Sule Skerry and its original tune • How traditional songs survived the transition from Norn to Scots • The old Orkney New Year song, “We Are All Saint Mary's Men” There are also archaeological adventures, midges, middens, trolls, ghosts and plenty of stories along the way. 🌕 About the Orkneyology Podcast The Orkneyology Podcast explores the history, archaeology, folklore, landscape and stories of Orkney, Scotland's northern islands, through conversations with the people who know and love them. If you're interested in Orkney history, Viking Orkney, Norse Scotland, St Magnus, the Orkneyinga Saga, Orcadian folklore, archaeology, traditional Scottish songs and the cultural heritage of Orkney, you'll find plenty to explore here. https://shop.orkneyology.com/collecti... #Orkney #OrkneyHistory #OrkneyArchaeology #OrkneyingaSaga #StMagnus #OrkneyFolklore #VikingOrkney #ScottishHistory #Selkie #norsemythology ******************************** 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Tom Muir and Rhonda Muir are real humans, living in Scotland's Orkney Islands. We hope you enjoy our peedie films. ☕ If you'd like to encourage us: To help us continue our Scottish folklore, history and heritage work, you can like and subscribe to our videos, leave a positive review and sign up for our newsletter ... you can also buy us a dram on our Ko-fi page, if you'd like to. We thank you very kindly. https://ko-fi.com/orkneyology 🙋 About us: Orcadian author and storyteller Tom Muir has been recognized with an MBE for his lifelong work in recovering, restoring and promoting Orkney Islands folk tales, heritage and lore. To go deeper, the films, audio and podcasts on this channel are enhanced by the growing collection of articles and stories on our Orkneyology.com website. https://www.orkneyology.com/ 📖 Our small indie press, Orkneyology Press: As part of our work preserving heritage and lore, Tom and Rhonda publish niche Scottish and folklore books. We invite you to buy our books directly from our website, which is one way to give extra financial support to both publishers and authors at no additional cost to you. https://shop.orkneyology.com/collecti... ✉️ Receive our once-seasonally newsletter, "Orkney Stories, Stones & Bones", with original articles by Tom and many other goodies for lovers of Scotland, otkney Islands and folklore. https://www.orkneyology.com/orkneyolo... As Tom's wife and creative partner, Rhonda Muir, I record and edit the video for our wee films. The scenes shown are mostly in the Orkney Islands, Scotland. Together Tom and I are creating and curating an important Orkney Islands heritage sound archive on this channel and Orkneyology.com. Thank you, and welcome! All materials © ℗ 2026 Tom Muir & Rhonda Muir