Tradespeople in Tankerness, Orkney

About Tankerness

Tankerness is a rural parish on the eastern side of the Orkney Mainland, a few miles east of Kirkwall across gently rolling farmland.

The area is characterised by open agricultural land, scattered farmsteads, and a coastline of small bays and rocky shores facing the North Sea.

Tankerness House in Kirkwall, once the seat of the Baikie family who owned the estate, now houses Orkney Museum — though the parish itself remains a quiet, farming community.

The parish provides a peaceful contrast to nearby Kirkwall, with good road connections making it easy to reach the town's shops, schools, and services.

Missing a trade?

If there’s a trade you’d like to see listed in Tankerness, let us know and we’ll add it.

About Orkney

(opens in new tab)

Orkney is an archipelago of around 70 islands off the north coast of mainland Scotland, separated from Caithness by the Pentland Firth — one of the most powerful tidal races in Europe.

Of those 70 islands, roughly 20 are inhabited, and most of the population of around 22,000 lives on the largest island, known simply as the Mainland, where the towns of Kirkwall and Stromness serve as the administrative and cultural centres.

Orkney's history stretches back over 5,000 years. The Heart of Neolithic Orkney — a UNESCO World Heritage Site comprising Skara Brae, Maeshowe, the Ring of Brodgar, and the Stones of Stenness — represents some of the best-preserved prehistoric sites anywhere in northern Europe. The islands were under Norse rule for around 600 years, and that Scandinavian heritage remains visible in place names, dialect, and culture.

The islands are reached by ferry from Scrabster and Aberdeen, and by air from Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, and Inverness. Orkney's economy is built on agriculture, fishing, renewable energy, whisky, and tourism, and the islands have a quality of life consistently rated among the highest in Scotland.