The Churchill Barriers are a series of four causeways in the Orkney Islands, with a total length of 2.3km. They link the Orkney Mainland in the north to the island of South Ronaldsay via Burray and the two smaller islands of Lamb Holm and Gimps Holm. In modern usage, a causeway is a road elevated by a bank, usually across a broad body of water or wetland. ... The Orkney Islands are one of 32 unitary council regions in Scotland, and form a traditional county and Lieutenancy area, and the Orkney constituency of the Scottish Parliament. ... The Mainland, Orkney shown within The Orkney Islands The Mainland is the main island of Orkney, Scotland. ... South Ronaldsay shown within Orkney Islands South Ronaldsay is one of the Orkney Islands in Scotland. ... Burray shown within Orkney Islands Burray is one of the Orkney Islands in Scotland. ... Lamb Holm is a small island in Orkney, Scotland. ...

The barriers were built in the 1940s primarily as naval defences to protect the anchorage at Scapa Flow, but now serve as road links. Scapa Flow is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, United Kingdom. ...

History

On 14 October 1939, the Royal Navy battleship HMS Royal Oak was sunk at her moorings within the natural harbour of Scapa Flow, by the German U-boat U-47 under the command of Günther Prien. U-47 had entered Scapa Flow through Holm Sound, one of several eastern entrances to Scapa Flow. October 14 is the 287th day of the year (288th in Leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... HMS Royal Oak was a Revenge-class battleship of the Royal Navy, sunk early in World War II. She was laid down at Devonport on 15 January 1914 and launched on 17 November of that year. ... Scapa Flow is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, United Kingdom. ... U-boat is also a nickname for some diesel locomotives built by GE; see List of GE locomotives October 1939. ... October 1939. ... Prien, Hitler and Ernst Schmidt Korvettenkapitän Günther Prien (January 16, 1908 - March 7, 1941) was one of the ten outstanding U-boat aces of the first part of the Second World War, and the first U-boat commander to win the Knights Cross. ...

The eastern passages were protected by measures including sunken block ships, booms and anti-submarine nets, but the U-47 entered at night at high tide by navigating between the block ships.

To prevent further attacks, the First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill ordered the construction of permanent barriers. Work began in May 1940 and the barriers were completed in September 1944, but were not officially opened until 12 May 1945, four days after the end of World War II The First Lord of the Admiralty was a British government position in charge of the Admiralty. ... Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, KG, OM, CH, TD, FRS (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British politician, best known as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. ... May 12 is the 132nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (133rd in leap years). ... 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... Combatants Allies: • Soviet Union, • UK & Commonwealth, • USA, • France/Free France, • China, • Poland, • ...and others Axis: • Germany, • Japan, • Italy, • ...and others Commanders Strength Casualties Full list Full list World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a large scale military conflict that took place between 1939 and 1945. ...

Construction

The contract for building the barriers was awarded to Balfour Beatty, although part of the southernmost barrier (between Burray and South Ronaldsay) was sub-contracted to William Tawse & Co. The first Resident Superintending Civil Engineer was E K Adamson, succeeded in 1942 by G Gordon Nicol. Balfour Beatty plc is a British based construction and civil engineering company based in central London. ...

Preparatory work on the site began in May 1940, while experiments on models for the design were undertaken at Whitworth Engineering Laboratories at the University of Manchester. The University of Manchester in Manchester, England, was formed by the merger of the Victoria University of Manchester (commonly known as the University of Manchester before the merger) and UMIST (University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology) on 1 October 2004. ...

The bases of the barriers were built from gabions enclosing 250,000 tonnes of broken rock, from quarries on Orkney. The gabions were dropped into place from overhead cableways into waters up to 18 metres deep. The bases were then covered with 66,000 locally-cast concrete blocks in five-tonne and ten-tonne sizes. The five-tonne blocks were laid on the core, and the ten-tonne blocks were arranged on the sides in a random pattern to act as wave-breaks. Historically, Gabions were round cages with open tops and bottoms, made from wicker and filled with earth for use as fortifications. ...

Labour

A project of this size required a substantial labour force, which peaked in 1943 at over 2,000.

Much of the labour was provided by over 1300 Italian prisoners of war, who had been captured in the desert war in North Africa, who were transported to Orkney from early 1942 onwards. During World War II the North African Campaign, also known as the Desert War, took place in the North African desert from September 13, 1940 to May 13, 1943. ...

The prisoners were accommodated in three camps, 600 at Camp 60 on Little Holm and the remaining 700 at two camps on Burray. Those at Camp 60 built an ornate Italian Chapel which still survives and has become a tourist attraction. The Italian Chapel on Lamb Holm in Orkney, Scotland was built by Italian prisoners of war during World War II. The prisoners were stationed on the island between 1942 and 1945 to help in construction of the Churchill Barriers. ...

External links

• Burray and The Barriers
• Undiscovered Scotland: The Churchill Barriers
• Our Past History: The Churchill Barriers
• Okneypics.com: photos of the barrier