We could not match "BIRSAY" in our simplified list of the main towns and villages, or as a postcode. There are several other ways of finding places within Vision of Britain, so read on for detailed advice and 18 possible matches we have found for you:
- If you meant to type something else:
- If you typed a postcode, it needs to be a full
postcode: some letters, then some numbers, then more letters.
Old-style postal districts like "SE3" are not precise enough
(if you know the location but do not have a precise postcode or placename,
see below):
- If you are looking for a place-name, it needs to be
the name of a town or village, or possibly a district within a town.
We do not know about individual streets or buildings, unless they
give their names to a larger area (though you might try our
collections of Historical Gazetteers and
British travel writing).
Do not include the name of a county, region or
nation with the place-name: if we know of more than one place
in Britain with the same name, you get to choose the right one
from a list or map:
-
You have just searched a list of the main towns, villages
and localities of Britain which we have kept as simple as possible.
It is based on a much more detailed list of
legally defined administrative units: counties, districts, parishes,
wapentakes and so on.
This is the real heart of our system, and you may be better off
directly searching it.
These administrative units are not currently included within
"places" and exactly match your search term:
Unit Name Type of Unit Containing Unit (and Type) BIRSAY Scottish Parish ORKNEY AND SHETLAND (Scottish County)
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If you are looking for hills, rivers, castles ...
or pretty much anything other than the "places" where people live and lived, you need
to look in our collection of Historical Gazetteers.
This contains the complete text of three gazetteers published in the
late 19th century over 90,000 entries.
Although there are no descriptive gazetteer entries for
placenames exactly matching your search term (other than those
already linked to "places"), the following
entries mention "BIRSAY":
Place name County Entry Source Birsay and Harray Orkney Birsay and Harray, a united parish in the NW of the mainland of Orkney. It has two post offices, Birsay Groome Birsay and Harray Orkney Birsay and Harray , a united par., in NW. of Mainland, Orkney, 26,743 ac., pop. 2326. Birsay post-office is 20 miles Bartholomew Brough Orkney Brough, Orkney. See Birsay. Groome Cairston Orkney Birsay (q. s.), Hoy and Graemsay, Orphir, Sandwick, and Walls and Flotta. Pop. (1871) 10,465, (1881) 10,414, of whom Groome Costa Orkney Birsay parishes. Projecting to a point 4 miles ENE of the Brough of Birsay, it comprises a hill 478 feet Groome Evie Orkney Birsay, it has an utmost length from NW to SE of 15 miles, an utmost breadth of 4½ miles Groome Harray and Birsay Orkney Birsay , united par., in NW. of Mainland, Orkney, 26,743 ac., pop. 2326; contains Harray , vil., 4 miles NW. of Finstown Bartholomew Hundland Orkney Hundland , place with school, Harray and Birsay par., Orkney, on Loch of Hundland, 3 miles W. of Birsay church. Bartholomew Kirkwall Orkney Birsay, where it was first interred, and which was originally the seat of William's bishopric. It was also the temporary Groome Loch of Hurray Orkney Loch of Hurray , loch, Mainland, Orkney; is bounded E. by Harray and Birsay par. Bartholomew Marwick Head Orkney Marwick Head , headland, on S. side of Birsay Bay, Harray and Birsay par., Mainland, Orkney. Bartholomew Orkney Orkney Birsay (Harray and Birsay), Flotta (Walls and Flotta), Stenness (Firth and Stenness), Eday and Fara (Stronsay and Eday), North Ronaldsay Groome Pomona or Mainland Orkney Birsay, Sandwick, Stromness, Evie, Rendall, Harray, Firth, Stenness, Orphir, Kirkwall, St Andrews, Deerness, and Holm; but Birsay and Harray, Evie Groome Sandwick Orkney Birsay, E by Harray and the Loch of Harray, SE by Stenness and the Loch of Stenness, S by Stromness Groome Swannay Orkney Swannay , hamlet, Harray and Birsay par., Orkney, on Loch of Swannay, 14 miles NW. of Finstown; P.O. Bartholomew Twatt Orkney Twatt, a post office in Birsay and Harray parish, Orkney, 12 miles N by E of Stromness. Groome Twatt Orkney Twatt .-- Harray and Birsay par., Orkney, 11 miles N. of Stromness; P.O. Bartholomew
- Place-names also appear in our collection of British travel writing. If the place-name you are interested in appears in our simplified list of "places", the search you have just done should lead you to mentions by travellers. However, many other places are mentioned, including places outside Britain and weird mis-spellings. You can search for them in the Travel Writing section of this site.
- If you know where you are interested in, but don't know the place-name, go to our historical mapping, and zoom in on the area you are interested in. Click on the "Information" icon, and your mouse pointer should change into a question mark: click again on the location you are interested in. This will take you to a page for that location, with links to both administrative units, modern and historical, which cover it, and to places which were nearby. For example, if you know where an ancestor lived, Vision of Britain can tell you the parish and Registration District it was in, helping you locate your ancestor's birth, marriage or death.