Scandinavian-Britain

THE EARLDOM OF ORKNEY 245some scholars read the name Naddodd, which isNorse ;the ornament, with ring-plaits and a peculiarform of interrupted double-strand interlacing, cannotbe earlier than the tenth century ;and the " son of theDruid " named on it, if that is a true reading, has aparallel at Rushen, Isle of Man, as the priest, horsemenand beasts reappear at Maughold (No. 67,Kermode's Manx Crosses). Again, the head betweenmonsters on the Papil stone (Shetland)is seen alsoat Braddan (No. 69, Manx Crosses).The twelfthcenturyMaeshowe runes and " Thurbiarn " runes atCunningsburgh have points of resemblance to Manxrunes. There is an evident link between Man andthe northern islands which is not without importancein dating the Orkney and Shetland Christianmonuments.There is also a link with the Pictish kingdomin thesymbol on the carved bone from the Broch of Burrian(Orkney), found with an ogam-inscribed cross-shaft.The fact of finding these relics in a broch of pre-Norsedays is not conclusive as to their date, for the Norsesometimes occupied brochs ;that of Mousa was inhabitedby a runaway couple from Norway about theyear 900, and in 1155 Erlend and Maddadh's widowheld it against her son, jarl Harald of Orkney. Butitshows that in Christianising the northern isles otherinfluences were atwork than those of the ColumbanHebrides, as one might conclude from the protractedoccupation of a great part of north-eastern Scotlandby the Norse. We find a few relics of their presencein the hogbacks at Inchcolm (Fife) and Brechin, and