Sanday (/ˈsændiː/, Scots: Sandee) is one of the inhabited islands of Orkney that lies off the north coast of mainland Scotland.

[10] The Norse named the island Sandey[3] or Sand-øy[4] because of the predominance of sandy beaches and this became "Sanday" during the Scots- and English-speaking periods.

The narrow isthmus between them formed the boundary between the historic parishes Cross and Burness to the west and Lady to the east.

The underlying geology is predominantly Devonian sediments of the Rousay flagstone group with Eday sandstone in the south east.

[19] The eastern coast of Sanday has been designated an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports wintering and breeding waders.

[22] Excavations of a mound in 1991, ahead of road development on the Spurness peninsula discovered two cist burials with some cremated human remains from the Early to Middle Bronze Age.

Soapstone is not natural to Orkney and analysis indicated that the material came from Catpund in Shetland and that people or goods were moving between the two archipelagos at that time.

[25] The nature of the culture that built the brochs remains a matter of debate[26] but it is known that later Iron Age Orkney was part of the Pictish kingdom and from at least the mid-6th century onwards that Christianity had spread to the islands.

[27] However, the archeological record for this period is sparse[28] and little is known of life on Sanday at this time beyond that which can be assumed from a knowledge of Pictish society elsewhere.

In September 2021, archaeologists from the Central Lancashire University announced the discovery of  two polished stone balls in a 5500 years-old Neolithic burial tomb.

According to Dr Hugo Anderson, second object was as the “size of a cricket ball, perfectly spherical and beautifully finished".

[32] The enclosure, dated to 875—950 AD, was found to contain the remains of a man, a woman, and a child, along with numerous grave goods.

[15] The main farm for the western district may have been located between Pool Bay and Warsetter at a site called Housay that is now just a mound.

[34] In the mid-17th century an annexe to Blaeu's Atlas Novus of Scotland recorded that Sanday's low lying topography meant that "shipwreck often occurs to those who sail there at night.

John Brand described island life thus: "Both Men and Women are fashionable in their cloths, no Men here use Plaids, as they do in our Highlands; In the North Isles of Sanda Westra &c. Many of the Countrey People wear a piece of a Skin, as of a Scale, comonly called a Selch, Calf or the lik.

"[37][note 1]As part of the agricultural improvement movement of the 19th century the brothers Malcolm and Samuel Laing created a "New Model Farm" near the Loth ferry terminal at the south end of the island.

[38][39] During World War II, the Royal Air Force built a Chain Home radar station at Whale Head near Lop Ness.

[48] In 2004, three wind turbines with an installed capacity of 8.25 Megawatts were erected by Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) at Spurness.

This group became Sanday Development Trust in 2004, which has a vision to: Create an economically prosperous, sustainable community that is connected with the wider world, but remains a safe, clean environment, where we are proud to live, able to work, to bring up and educate our children, to fulfill our own hopes and ambitions, and to grow old gracefully, enjoying a quality of life that is second to none.Projects include the establishment of a sports hall and youth centre, the creation of a local sound archive, and until February 2020, a Countryside Ranger service.

It represents the sea, the distinctive sandy beaches and green meadows of the island, and the vertical stripes of Start Point lighthouse.

The main aim of project was to set up a music-teacher training programme that would provide additional music tuition in the school and throughout the community.