Orkney Image Library

Forgive me for asking the question but why was the barrier built?.
Was it part of the war defences or was it for access to the island?I would like to know?.

My father always called Hunda 'The ammunition dump' Maybe this is where the ammunition for the coastal guns was kept. Well away from the general population.

Orkney tourism website:
It was built during the war to form part of the boom-defences against small surface craft.

As far as I know there is no answer to that. The rumour was that it was because Hunda was to be an ammunition store, but there is no confirmation of that, nor are there any buildings to confirm it. No amunition was stored there. It remains a mystery.

I was told it was a dummy run for the other barriers but that may not be the case

I remember my Dad, Jim Gow, talking about building the Hunda barrier but can't add anything useful at the moment!

Built close to the line of a natural reef or ayre between Burray and Hunda, this structure was begun in March 1940 and was completed in the autumn of 1941 by Messrs Balfour, Beatty & Co Ltd under a separate contract pre-dating the main group of barriers. Unlike them, it is a solid stone embankment sealed with a concrete skin, and it appears to have been designed and built - evidently at some expense - both as a barrier and a causeway from the outset, perhaps in connection with un-realised defence works on Hunda. About 1,800 feet in length with sloping flanks, it incorporates an open 'carriageway' some 10-12 feet wide, capable of taking vehicles....but only just and standing well above mean high water levels. The bulk of the stone came from a quarry on Hunda.

James Annal is my great grandad. Lovely photo!

I'm trying to place some old images that I bought. One of them depicts a group of men and a lad who's holding a sign saying 'Fitzroy Bridge 1934'. It appears to me that they may have been a working party who were engaged in it's construction. I've got many other photos showing men building a wooden bridge between what could be Hunda-Burray, and I'm wondering if this could be a forerunner to what is now known as the Hunda Reef? A lot of the photos show sheep on the wooden bridge which also had rails for pushing bogies which appear to be laden with bales of wool for shipping. Any help with this quest would be geatly appreciated.