Latest Jewellery Designs Out Of The Orkneys
Mens jewellery in the UK doesn’t get better than the expanded collection of rings, kiltpins and cufflinks you can buy. Even among the latest jewellery designs you will not come across a more tasteful and trendy set of collections. Orkney jewellers have created stunning good examples to rival the best mens jewellery in the UK.
Certainly one of the most popular rings within the mens jewellery in the UK selection is a ring given the name for and influenced by the island of Stroma that sits in the turbulent Pentland Firth in between Orkney and also mainland Scotland.
An additional not inhabited isle near by is Swona, that has been recently in the news, and inspired a new ring design which appears among our latest jewellery designs. Footage has been uploaded on websites online showing a lifeboat crew saving a trapped calf from the foot of the cliffs in the Pentland Firth. The Longhope lifeboat crew, based on the close by isle of Hoy, was on a search and also rescue exercise when they observed the calf had dropped to the edge of the water on Swona. The little inshore rescue vessel was launched and the calf was efficiently grabbed and brought back to safety.
Feral cattle live on the presently uninhabited island of Swona. This calf was caught in a geo, a ravine inside the cliffs. Fortunately it was rescued and re-united with the mother. The herd of cattle was left behind when the last residents of Swona were compelled to leave their lives of hardship for financial reasons in 1974. It is possible to still see examples of the islanders’ possessions within their old houses. The isle appeared to be populated from around 500 BC.
The islanders left behind eight cows and one bull (Aberdeen-Angus cross) therefore the herd has become classified as a breed in its own right. Mother nature seems to stop the herd numbers increasing by more than just one or 2 in number, as that is all the isle can support. Though two calves are generally born each spring; not all live to adulthood. Swona measures approximately one mile by half a mile. Each and every year a vet will go ashore on Swona to check how the beef cows and bulls are getting on. The creatures are self-selecting with regard to hardiness, easy calving, and low-maintenance, feasting off the grass and seaweed. Having been separated from the mainland for so very long, they are fully disease-free, and have reverted to wild behaviour. For that reason DNA samples have been taken, belonging to the ears of some of the cattle that passed away. Scientists are already performing a study on the herd, that’s unique within the British isles.
Orkney Island Themes for Mens Jewellery in the UK
During summer the main herd is commonly in the centre of the island. Recently a small grouping of artists spent several nights in an abandoned farmhouse, drawing the animals, landscape as well as other wildlife.
These kinds of isles undoubtedly are a continual motivation to innovative people, like designers of mens jewellery in the UK. Swona is the more northerly of 2 islands within the Pentland Firth – the second being Stroma. Part of the reason artists are drawn to them is their remoteness and, being located in the tidal flow of the Pentland Firth, a tidal race is present at both south and north ends of the island. These make for very sensational seascapes. There is also a calm eddy created as the tide increases and the waves get foaming over-falls in addition to whirlpools. What this means is even large ships could be pushed off course in the hazardous waters.
The island was the site of several shipwrecks due to the strong currents within the Pentland Firth. In 1931, a 6,000 ton Danish freighter called Pennsylvania was wrecked on the island. The Orkney local newspaper of the time asserted that it was one of the most richly-laden ships that was ever wrecked in the region. After a little salvaging, the wreck was ultimately bought by a syndicate of Stroma and Swona men.
The Swona Minor lighthouse was built in 1906 on the south west tip of Swona. It was initially a cast iron structure but was substituted by a strengthened concrete square tower around the 1980s. The earlier Stroma Lighthouse was built in 1896 and stands on the north end of Stroma island.
It’s administered as part of the Orkney Islands, whilst Stroma, to the south, is a part of the Highland Region (though traditionally part of Caithness). There isn’t any regular access on to the island, however, the ferry from Gills Bay, near John o’ Groats, to St Margaret’s Hope usually passes next to the island, dependent on the tidal direction at that time. Passengers peer from the boat to catch sight of the very rare cattle in their own kingdom.
This island got its name from Old Norse, Svney or Swefney, that means either “Swine Isle” or “Sweyn’s Isle”. There is a similarly named island, Svnoy, in the Faroe Islands. You’ll find prehistoric, pre-Norse and Norse remains around the island, like most of the Orkney isles, which inspire so many of our collections.
Check out the rings influenced by these stormy isles that are amongst the most impressive in mens jewellery in the UK. They really are sure to continue to inspire the latest jewellery designs.
It is time that mens jewellery in the UK got a bit of consideration from top jewellery designers. For those who are more attracted to products for ladies then best start from here.
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