Sanday Heritage Centre is situated on the outskirts of Lady Village. Located within Temperance Hall, the centre displays some of Sanday’s natural and man-made treasures and showcases some of the community’s history. Current displays focus on farming, the sea, archaeology, natural history and Sanday’s contribution to the First World War.
The Horne Room, named in recognition of a significant financial bequest from the estate of the Horne family of Warsetter, houses the island’s photographic and oral history archives, as well as the beginning of a reference library of books and written archives. More information on the collection is available online.
Also within the centre is a small shop, stocked with greeting cards and postcards with Sanday themes, along with various island souvenirs and a chosen range of Orkney books.
The Centre opened in May 2014, and displays were enhanced the following year by new cabinets, an interactive media-booth, and live webcams; one overlooking a remote beach and another from an underwater camera.
Now on display is the Appiehouse Stone, a metre high Pictish Christian symbol stone, which was found under the floor of a nearby house during renovation work. Alongside the permanent displays is a temporary exhibition which has a different theme each year. Past subjects have included ‘The Isle of Sanday Knitters’, ‘Sanday and the Strange Stories of the B98 and U70’, and ‘Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’ , ‘Sanday School and Island Life in the 1980s and 1990s’, and includes work done by school pupils of that time for a BBC project carried out in 1986 to mark the 900th anniversary of the original Domesday Book – information from these is retained in files.
The Croft (a restored but’n’ben house), and the reconstruction of the burnt mound excavated at Meur are situated in the field next to the Heritage Centre.
Sanday Heritage Centre was made possible by the hard work and enthusiasm of many of the island’s residents and the generous support of many funders.
Entry to the Heritage Centre is free but donations towards the maintenance of the collection are greatly appreciated.