St Margaret's Hope
Orkney

A picturesque village and ferry-port at the northern end of the island of South Ronaldsay in the Orkney Islands, St Margaret's Hope looks out onto a bay that forms an inlet of Water Sound. A former fishing station and landing place for the ferry from Gill's Bay in Caithness, there are two possibilities as to the source of the name. One theory suggests it was after a chapel dedicated to St Margaret, the Queen of Malcolm Canmore, while another, perhaps less likely, suggests that Margaret, the Maid of Norway, died here in 1290. In addition to a school and post office, the village has pottery and knitting craft shops and a cottage museum.

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