Damsay, an island of Firth parish, Orkney, in Firth Bay, 4 miles WNW of Kirkwall. Measuring scarcely a mile in circumference, it is so beautiful as to have been sometimes styled the Tempe of the Orkneys; it anciently had a strong castle and a famous church, which have entirely disappeared; and it now is used for the pasturing of a few hundreds of sheep.

(F.H. Groome, Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882-4); © 2004 Gazetteer for Scotland)