The dramatic coastline of Hoy is what usually greets visitors to the Orkney Islands. It has extremes of many kinds: some of the highest cliffs in Britain at St John's Head; the impressive and famous sea stack, the [Old Man of Hoy]?; some of the most northerly woodland in Britain; the remote possiblity that [Arctic Char]? survive in Heldale Water and the most northerly [Martello Towers]?, which were never used in combat.
The main naval base for [Scapa Flow]? in both the First and Second World Wars was situated at Lyness in the south-east of the island. Some rather incongruous art deco structures nearby date from this period.
An unusual rock-cut tomb, The Dwarfie Stane, lies in a valley at the west of the island. It is unique in northern Europe, bearing similarity to Neolithic or Bronze Age tombs around the Mediterranean.
The even stranger [Martello Towers]? were built to defend the area during the [Napoleonic War]?.
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