The lovely little island of Eynhallow lies between the island of Rousay and the Mainland. It was not always there though, but was won from the Fin Folk by magic. Here is the tale as it has been told for hundreds of years.
The goodman of Thorodale married a woman and they had three fine, strong sons. But trouble was lurking not too far away, for the wife died. The man was left with the three boys who had now grown up to be young men. Thorodale took himself another wife, and she was said to be the boniest lass in all the parish of Evie. Thorodale loved his new wife very much and they lived for a time in happiness. One fine day Thorodale and his bonnie young bride were down in the ebb gathering shellfish. Thorodale sat down on some rocks to tie the lace of his rivlin [a type of shoe made from untanned hide]. His back was to his wife, and she was close to the edge of the water. Thorodale heard a terrible scream which made him leap to his feet. He turned just in time to see a dark man dragging his wife towards a boat. Thorodale ran towards them, but it was too late. The Fin man had his wife in the boat, and as Thorodale waded through the water the man pulled the oars and shot across the water. Thorodale ran to his own boat, pushing it into the water, but by the time he had got it afloat the Fin man’s boat was out of sight, sped on by his magic. Thorodale never saw his bonnie wife again, but he was not the sort of man to take such a blow lightly. He rolled up his breeches, took off his stockings, and went down on his knees below flood-mark and swore that, living or dead, he would take his revenge on the Fin Folk.
Many days and sleepless nights were spent deep in thought as Thorodale plotted how to avenge his loss. Try as he might, he could not think of a way to punish the Fin Folk. Then one day he went out in his boat to the fishing. He lay in the Sound between Rousay and the Mainland; there was no Eynhallow there in those days you see. As he lay there in the slack water he heard a woman singing. Thorodale recognised the voice at once, for it was that of his own dear wife. He could not see her, but he listened as she sang:
“Goodman, greet no more for me, For me again you’ll never see; If you would have of vengeance joy, Go ask the wise spae-wife of Hoy.”
Thorodale headed to the shore as fast as he could row. He took his staff in his hand, put his silver in a stocking, and set off for the island of Hoy. He found the spae-wife, and told her his mission. She said that there was nothing that would hurt the Fin Folk more than to lose any part of Hilda-Land, their summer island homes. She taught him the spell that would let him see Hilda-Land, for it is usually hidden from human eyes. She also told him what to do when he did see it. Armed with this knowledge Thorodale returned home and waited.
For nine nights, when the moon was full, Thorodale travelled to the Odin Stone in Stenness. Nine times he went round the stone on his bare knees, then he looked through the hole in the stone and wished that he had the power to see Hilda-Land. On the ninth night he knew what he was to do. He went home, bought a large quantity of salt, and filled his meal girnel with it. Next to the girnel he set three caisies [straw baskets carried on the back], and he told his three sons to be ready to follow him when he gave the word.
One beautiful summer morning, just after the sun had risen, Thorodale went out and looked towards the sea. There I the middle of the Sound lay a pretty little island that had never been there before. He knew that if he took his eyes off it for one moment he would never see it again. He wasted no time, but shouted to his sons, “Fill the caisies, and hold for the boat.”
The three sons ran to the boat, each one carrying a caisie of salt on his back. They joined their father in the boat and pushed her out to sea. Thorodale never once took his eyes off the island, for he was the only one who could see it.
Suddenly, the boat was surrounded by a school of whales. The sons wanted to set after them and drive them onto the shore, but Thorodale knew better. They were only a magic trick of the Fin Folk to try and distract the men from their mission. Thorodale cried, “Pull for bare life! And the Devil drook [drench] the delayer!” A giant whale lay between the boat and the island and it slowly turned and headed towards the boat. It opened its huge mouth so the young men thought that it would swallow the boat, and them with it. Thorodale, who was standing in the bow of the boat, thrust both hands into the nearest caisie and scooped up the salt. He threw it into the monster’s gaping mouth and it disappeared in an instant, for it was only a trick of the Fin Folk.
As the boat headed towards the shores of Hilda-Land, two beautiful mermaids stood singing. They were naked from head to waist and their golden hair floated around their snow-white skin like dancing sunbeams. The song that they sang was so lovely that it went to the hearts of the rowers, and they started to slow down. Thorodale gave the two sons nearest to him a hard kick on their backs, saying to the mermaids, “Be gone, you unholy limmers; here is your warning,” and he threw crosses made from dried tangles [kelp stems] at the mermaids. They screamed, and sprang into the sea.
At last the boat touched the beach of Hilda-Land and Thorodale leapt out. There in front of him stood a terrible monster. It had tusks as long as a man’s arm and feet as broad as quern stones. The monster’s eyes blazed in its head, and it spat fire from its mouth. Thorodale took a handful of salt and threw it at the monster, hitting it right between the eyes. It disappeared, giving a terrible growl as it did so.
Then there stood in front of Thorodale a mighty man, tall and dark with hate in his eyes. In his hand he held a sword, and he roared out a challenge. “Go back, you human thieves, that come to rob the Fin Folk’s land! Be gone! Or, by my father’s head, I’ll defile Hilda-Land with your nasty blood!” His speech frightened the sons, who called out, “Come home, father, come home!” The Fin man made a thrust at Thorodale’s breast with his sword, but Thorodale was too quick for him. He sprang to one side and threw a cross at the Fin man. The cross was made out of a kind of sticky grass known as cloggirs, twisted together. It stuck to the Fin man’s face and he roared with pain. The Fin Folk are heathen, and cannot bear the sight or touch of the cross. Unable to brush it away, the Fin man ran off roaring in pain and anger. Thorodale smiled; he had seen that Fin man before; he was the one who had stolen his wife.
He shouted to his sons who were sitting in the boat, amazed by what they saw. “Come out of that, you duffers! And take the salt ashore!” The sons went ashore, each one carrying a caisie of salt. Then their father made them walk abreast around the island, scattering salt as they went. When they began to sow the salt there arose a terrible noise and commotion throughout the island. The Fin Folk and their cattle all ran helter-skelter to the sea like a flock of sheep with a score of mad dogs behind them. The men roared, the mermaids screamed, and the cattle bellowed like it was the end of the world. It was awful to hear them. At last every soul and mother-son of them, and every hair of their cattle had taken to the sea, leaving only the four men to carry out their task.
As the rings of salt were growing around the island Thorodale took out a knife and cut nine crosses in the turf of the island. The three sons had sown three rings each around the island, making nine rings of salt in all. Well almost nine rings, for you see the youngest son had large hands and he ran out of salt before he had finished his last ring. He asked his brothers for salt to finish it, but they said that they had none to spare. So the last ring of salt was never finished, and that is why Eynhallow is still a magical place. No rats, cats or mice can live on the island. No iron stakes will remain in the ground after sunset. They jump right out, freeing any cattle, sheep or horses that are tethered there. They say that if you cut corn after the sun has gone down on Eynhallow the stalks will bleed.
That was the story of how the Fin Folk lost part of Hilda-Land. The island was called Hyn-hallow, for it was the hinmost holy, that is, the last island to be made holy. And that is all that I can tell you about it
My thanks to Tom Muir for allowing me to reproduce this from his book The Mermaid Bride and other Orkney Folk Tales, and to Bryce Wilson for the use of his illustration.
There was once a woman in Rousay who had a baby. It was a bonnie healthy bairn, and was the apple of the proud parents’ eyes. But then it began to change. It grew weak and started to waste away and pine. The mother was very worried, and called for help from a wise woman who lived in the district.
The wise woman came to see the bairn and took a good long look at it. The mother pressed her to find out what ailed the bairn; she was at her wits’ end with worry. The wise woman said that her bairn had been taken by the fairies and they had left one of their own in its place as a changeling. She told the mother that if she wanted to have her child restored to her she must go to a rock face called the Hammers of the Sinians. It was up the hill past Muckle Water. She must take with her a wedge of steel and a Bible. There she would find a cleft in the rock at a certain place, and she had to drive the steel wedge into the crack. The rock would then open and she would see a woman sitting with her bairn on her knee. She must not say a word, but strike the fairy woman three times on the face with the Bible. She must then turn around, without uttering a sound, and return home.
The mother took steel and a Bible and headed up the hill to the rock face. She found the cleft in the rock as she had been told by the wise woman, and drove in the steel wedge. The rock opened and there was the fairy woman, sitting with the bairn on her knee. The fairy woman tried everything she could to make the woman speak, but to no avail. The woman remembered what the wise woman had said, and held her tongue. She raised the Bible and struck the fairy three times on the face, then she left. She went home at a brisk speed, hope and fear burning in her breast. When she arrived at her house, there was her baby back before her, as fat and healthy as when it was taken.
My thanks to Tom Muir for allowing me to reproduce this from his book The Mermaid Bride and other Orkney Folk Tales. – the original being in Duncan J Robertson’s ‘Orkney Folk-Lore’, published in Vol I Proceedings of the Orkney Antiquarian Society, 1922-23, 38.
The illustration, used in Tom’s book, is courtesy of Bryce Wilson
The Loch of Knitchen in Rousay had a water-horse. It was a beautiful black horse, and it would leave the loch when the neighbouring farmers had their animals on the hill. The water-horse would join the herd, but never let itself be caught. – In another version the horse would let itself be caught, but anyone who got on its back was carried into the loch and drowned.
There was once a king and queen who lived with their three daughters on the island of Rousay. The king died, and the queen lived with the princesses in a small house. They had a kailyard and a cow that gave them milk. One day the queen found that someone had been stealing their kail from the yard. The oldest daughter said that she would catch the thief, so she took a blanket and sat in the kailyard all night.
After a time what should she see but a huge great giant coming striding into the kailyard. He cut the kail and threw it into a caisie on his back. As he filled his caisie the princess was always asking him why he was taking her mother’s kail. The giant just replied that if she would not be quiet he would take her too, and so it was. When the giant had filled his caisie he took the princess by the arm and leg and threw her into the caisie on top of the kail and off home he went.
When they arrived at the giant’s house he set her down and told her what work she had to do. First she must milk the cow, then put her up to the hills called Bloodfield. Then she had to take wool, wash it, tease it, comb it, card it, spin it and make it into cloth.
The giant left her to get on with her work. She milked the cow and put her up to the hills, then she put on a pot to make some porridge for her breakfast. As she sat down to sup her porridge she found that she was not alone. A hoard of little yellow-headed folk came running in, and they all begged her for some of her porridge, but this she refused, saying
“Little for one, and less for two, And never a grain have I for you.”
When she took up the wool she found that, try as she liked, it would not work for her. When the giant returned he found that she had not done her work. He took her, and starting with her head he pulled all her skin off down her back and over her heels. He then threw her body over the rafters among the hens.
That night the giant took his caisie and off he went to the queen’s kailyard again. When he got there who should he meet but the second princess. As he cut the kail she kept on asking him why he was stealing her mother’s property. He warned her that if she did not hold her tongue he would take her too. When the caisie was full he picked up the princess and tossed her on top and off home he went.
He gave the second princess the same tasks as he had given her sister. She milked the cow and put her to the hills, then put on her pot of porridge. The same little yellow-headed people came running in begging for a share, but they got the same answer;
“Little for one, and less for two, And never a grain have I for you.”
If the wool had not worked for her sister, it worked even worse for her. When the giant came home he found the work had not been done. He took the princess and tore a strip of skin from her head down her back and over her heels. He threw her over the rafters alongside her sister and the hens.
The next night the youngest princess said she would take a blanket and spend the night in the kailyard. She would find out who the thief was who was stealing the kail, and her sisters. Before too long the giant arrived and started to cut the kail. The youngest princess asked him why he was stealing her mother’s kail, but the giant would only say that he would take her too if she was not quiet, and so he did. He picked her up by the arm and leg and tossed her into the caisie.
At the giant’s house he gave her the same orders as he had given her sisters, and off he went. She milked the cow and put it to the hills, then she put on a pot of porridge. Again the little yellow-headed folk came running in begging for some food. She was a kind girl and told them to go and get something to sup with, and so they did. Some took heather stalks, some took bits of broken dishes, some got one thing and some another. They supped the porridge until it was all done. After they had left a little yellow-headed boy came in and asked her if she had any work to do; he could do any work with wool. She said that she had a lot of work to do, but she could not pay him. He said that all he asked for was that she should tell him his name when he had finished. She agreed thinking that it should be easy enough, so she gave him the wool.
When it was getting dark an old woman came asking for a bed for the night. The princess said that she could not put her up for the night, but asked her if she had any news. The old woman said she had none and went off to sleep outside.
There was a knowe near to the giant’s home and the old woman took shelter under its lee side. She lay down on the side of its slope and found it to be very warm. As she lay on the knowe she was always climbing a little way up it until she found herself at its top. She thought she could hear a voice coming from inside the knowe, so she listened. The voice said, “Tease, teasers, tease; card, carders, card; spin, spinners, spin, for Peerie Fool, Peerie Fool is my name.” There was a crack in the top of the knowe and the old woman peered inside. There were a great number of little people working, and a little yellow-headed boy running around them repeating that rhyme.
The old woman now thought that she had news that might win her a night’s lodgings after all. She headed back to the giant’s house and told the princess all that she had seen and heard. The princess kept on saying “Peerie Fool, Peerie Fool,” over and over to herself. At last the little yellow-headed boy came in with the cloth. He asked her what his name was, and she made a few wrong guesses. Every time she guessed wrong, the tiny yellow-headed boy would jump about shouting “No!” At last she said, “Peerie Fool is your name!” He threw down the cloth in a perfect rage and ran out of the house.
When the giant came home he met a great many little yellow-headed folk, and they were a terrible sight! Some had their eyes hanging out on their cheeks; some had their tongues hanging down to their breasts. He asked them what was the matter, how had they ended up like that. They said it was with working so hard pulling wool so fine. The giant said that if his own goodwife at home was alright he would never make her do any work again. When he came home he was very relieved to find her well, and stunned to see all the webs of cloth that she had made. The giant was as good as his word and the princess had no more work to do. In fact, he was very kind to her.
The next day the princess found her sisters and took them down from over the rafters. She put the skin on their backs again, and they were as good as new. She set her oldest sister in the caisie with some of the giant’s fine things on top of her and covered it all over with grass. When the giant came home she asked him to take the caisie to her mother, saying it was food for her cow. The giant did as she wished, for he was fond of her now.
The next day she did the same thing with her other sister. The giant again set off with her in the caisie, along with other fine things from his home. When he got home the princess told him that she would have another caisie of grass for her mother’s cow ready for him the following night. She wouldn’t be at home though, as she wanted to go somewhere. The next night the caisie containing the youngest princess and all the other fine things that she could find in the giant’s house was left by the door for him. He could not see any of this, as it was covered over with grass. The giant picked it up and set out with it to the queen’s house. When he got there the queen and her two daughters were waiting for him with a big boiler full of boiling water. When he was under the window they poured it over him, and that was the end of the giant.
Credit goes to Tom Muir for allowing me to reproduce this from his book The Mermaid Bride and other Orkney Folk Tales. Also to Bryce Wilson for the use of his illustration.
The earliest mention of Pow is in an early rental of 1743-44, its occupant at that time being David Craigie. It is not until the census of 1841 that names and dates become clearer, with John Gibson and his family living at and working on the surrounding land at Pow, located south-west of the farm of Faraclett.
John earned his living as a farmer and fisherman. He was born on December 14th 1808, and he was married to Rebekkah Stevenson, daughter of James Stevenson and Rebekkah Sinclair, who was born in Stronsay on August 28th 1814. Between 1835 and 1854 they had eight children: James was born in August 1835; Rebecca, in January 1837; Margaret, in May 1839; Christina, in June 1841; John, in October 1843; Anne, in December 1846; Robina, in October 1850; and William, who was born in May 1854 – the same year that his father John died, at the age of 45.
In Sockness kirkyard there is a headstone to John Gibson of Pow. He died in his boat while out fishing on October 1st 1854, possibly of a heart attack. His son, James, would not set foot in a boat after his father’s death.
Rebekah and her children continued to farm the 28 acres of land at Pow for many years, oldest son James eventually becoming head of the household. The rent had increased over the years from £6.12s., to £11 in 1857, and £12 13s. between 1863 and 1878. In 1881 James was paying £18 a year rent, but this was reduced by the Crofters Commission in 1888 to £12 5s.
In 1881 James’ sister Anne married Stronsay born John Elphinstone. They had a family of three children: Mary Stevenson, born in 1882; John, in 1883; and Rebecca Jane, who was born in 1887. They all lived with James at Pow, though he remained unmarried all his life.
Later occupants of Pow were Hugh Grieve and his wife Janet Sinclair Mainland. Hugh was the son of William Leonard Grieve, Whiteha’, and Christina Craigie, Fa’doon, and was born on August 23rd 1908. Janet was the daughter of Hugh Mainland, Hurtiso, and Alice Gibson Craigie, Falquoy, and she was born in 1912. They were married in 1933 and raised a family of five children between 1936 and 1949.
The Grieves moved to Saviskaill, and Pow was later occupied by Bobby Gillespie and his family between 1940 and 1972. Robert William Gillespie was born in Wyre in 1918, and was married to Kathleen Christine Munro, daughter of Alexander James Munro, Old School, and Agnes Lyon, Ervadale.
Above left – Wedding Day 1939: Bobby Gillespie and Kathleen Munro, with best man Lionel Munro, and bridesmaid Violet Gillespie. In the centre are three of the Gillespie brothers, Leslie, Kenneth, & George, Pow. 1954. To the right is Bertie Gillespie, Pow, with Maggie Ann Gibson, Faraclett. c.1960.
Bertie Gillespie has been good enough to send me the following ‘snippets’ of information regarding his time at Pow:-
“Circa 1954 was a big move for the Gillespie family. We left our home in Longhope (The Old Manse) and moved tae Sourin in Rousay. Me Mum Kathleen was a Rousay Munro. We flit to a place full o’ relations – Pow. Me Dad, Bobby Gillespie, was a roadworker in Longhope, and transferred tae working on the roads in Rousay. His claim to fame was driving the road roller. At that time there was five o’ us: Bertie, George, Kenneth, Leslie, Maureen, and Norma – born in Rousay.
[Bertie says the above photo]…..was taken after I came back from the Far East in December 1965 & the reason we took the group photo George & Kenneth were heading doon tae England working on Hydro power so it would have been early 1966.
We moved to a stone-built cottage called Pow. It belonged to John Gibson and me aunty Maggie Ann, who lived next door at Faraclett. The last time Pow was occupied before us was Hugh Grieve, later Saviskaill, who was a farm servant at Faraclett. The house needed a lot o’ work tae make it habital. Me lasting memory was us four boys being put in the box bed. It was not easy tae get tae sleep mind it was really warm!
Another thing that always sticks in me mind is the carrying o’ drinking water, two buckets on a frame, one each side – the frame kept the buckets off your legs. I think it was at least half-a-mile, as the well was at the Head of Faraclett. I think it was about a year after we moved into Pow me fither invested in enough polythene pipe tae run the water fae the well to a tank doon at the hoose wae a stop-cock at the water tank. Whit a relief!!
I spent a lot o’ time at Faraclett after school helping on the farm, mainly working with the big Clydesdale horse, Big Harry. A big attraction too was they had purchased a new tractor, a David Brown Cropmaster. I got many a go on it. Mind you it was a help tae have an uncle as the farm servant. Hugh Munro later moved tae a dairy farm called Braebister in Deerness.
Some other activities I spent a lot of time at – going tae creels wae fither – and working on old motorbikes.”
FARACLETT
The old farm of Faraclett is situated on the south-eastern slopes of the Head of Faraclett, incorporating the lands of the earlier farms of Eastafea, Midfea, and Quoynanea. The pronunciation of Faraclett as it is spelled is rarely if ever used locally. In old rentals and birth registers the farm is variously spelled Faraclee, Ferraclott, Farraclet, and Faraclay, the latter being the common pronunciation today. The earliest mention of its occupants come from old rentals – William Yorston in 1734-5, and Patrick Sinclair in 1753.
In the early 1800’s William Louttit farmed the land at Faraclett. He was one of five sons of Thomas Louttit and Margaret Craigie, and he was born in 1771. He married Isabella Craigie, and they had six children; Isabella, born in 1798; Marian, on March 8th 1799; Jean, on January 14th 1802; twins Margaret and Janet, born on January 19th 1803; and William, who was born on April 28th 1805.
In 1841, William was a 70-year-old widower. Living with him was his son William who earned his living as a blacksmith. He was married to Christina Cormack and at the time of the census enumerator’s visit they had a 2-month-old son, also named William. There were two female servants, Nanny Wurke who was 45 years old, and 15-year-old Margaret Costie, and four agricultural labourers, Edward, John and William Louttit and Hugh Costie.
With such a large farm to run William senior need help. He got that by the use of farm servants, and the census of that year records the following details of those servants: the oldest was 36-year-old Hugh Costie; Anne Inkster was 23; James Inkster, 20; Margaret Inkster, 18; and James Leonard, Alexander Costie, and Thomas Craigie, were all fourteen years of age.
Farm work was very labour intensive. Horses were used to pull ploughs, harrows and carts, but sowing, weeding, harvesting and threshing was all done by hand. Cattle needed feeding up with turnips and other fodder, especially during the long winters. Horses were well cared for: their harness needed cleaning and upkeep, their stables mucking out and the horses themselves needed feeding, watering and grooming. Dykes needed to be dug and kept clear to improve drainage, and farm machinery needed cleaning and maintaining. All the farm servants, as well as the farmer’s family, needed feeding and accommodating. So Faraclett was well populated and was a busy place.
William Louttit senior passed away at Faraclett in 1862 at the age of 91. His son William and wife Christie had six children by that time, and the oldest, the above-mentioned William [2 months old in 3rd paragraph], was working as a ploughman and married to Helen Leonard. She was the daughter of Peter Leonard and Isabella McKinlay, Digro, born in March 1841. They had six children: Peter, born in April 1859; Mary, in November 1860; Margaret, in April 1863; Matilda Leask, in August 1865; Helen, in July 1870; and William, who was born in September 1873. Farm servants moved on on a fairly regular basis, and those at Faraclett at this time were Robert Sinclair, a 33-year-old ploughman; Robert Grieve, a 12-year-old cowherd; and Mary and Harriet Craigie, who were employed as domestic servants.
By 1871 William Louttit junior and his wife Christie, and their son William and his wife Helen, worked on the land at Faraclett, the area of which had increased to an impressive 400 acres. William died in April 1873 at the age of 67, and young William and his family moved to Digro with his father-in-law Peter Leonard, who was a wool weaver.
Christie Louttit, née Cormack, with her son William Louttit, Faraclett, his wife Helen Leonard, Digro, and their children, Mary, Maggie, Matilda, Helen, and William. Peter, their firstborn died of diphtheria at the age of seven.
The size of the farmland at Faraclett had increased to 408 acres by 1881, 74 of which were arable, and the tenancy had been taken over by 33-year-old farmer James Alexander, for which he paid an annual rent of £90 8s. He was the son of James Alexander and Isabella Louttit of Breckan, and he was born on January 5th 1848. On January 27th 1871 he married Ann Sinclair, daughter of Hugh Sinclair and Isabella Gibson, Stennisgorn, who was born on October 10th 1849. They had five children: Mary Sinclair, who was born in 1871; James Louttit, in 1873; Isabella Louttit, in 1883; Lydia Gibson, who was born in 1886. The family later moved to Hermisgarth, Sanday, where another boy, Alfred, was born in 1893.
Ten years later, in 1891, Faraclett was in the possession of 55-year-old William Learmonth, who moved there having previously worked at Westness Farm. The rent for Faraclett at this time was £90. per annum. William was the son of George Learmonth and Anne Wigham, and was born at Old Monkland, Lanarkshire on October 6th 1835. On June 5th 1857 he married Mary Sarle Gibson, daughter of Alexander Gibson and Janet Carmichael Marwick of Stennisgorn and later Geo, Westness, and she was born on May 12th 1830 when they were living at Bucket, Wasbister. William and Mary had seven children: Jane Lawrie, who was born in May 1858; Ann, in April 1860; George, in October 1862; William, in August 1865; and twins, Alexander, and Mary, who were born on June 15th 1868; and Robert, who was born in 1877.
Farmer and miller John Gibson died at Hurtiso in 1893. The Learmonth family left Faraclett for Sanday, and John’s widow Margaret and her seven children moved into Faraclett, the oldest of whom, John Louttit Gibson, took on the responsibility as head of the household. The rent at that time was £78, and the census of 1911 records John’s occupation as ‘farmer/employer’, with his brother William working as a cattleman, other brothers Alfred and David employed as horsemen/ploughmen, and sister Maggie, who also assisted in work on the farm. On September 15th 1898 their other brother James, also a ploughman, married 21-year-old housemaid Mary Ann Cooper, daughter of the late William Cooper and May Linklater, Hillside, Sourin. The ceremony at Faraclett was conducted by the Reverend John McLeman, minister of the Free Church, and the witnesses were James’s brother John, and Mary Ann’s older sister Mary Elizabeth Cooper, who was a sewing maid.
In 1899 another of the Gibson brothers decided to get married. Hugh Gibson was 23 years of age when he wed Betsy Craigie, daughter of John Craigie and Betsy Leonard, Triblo, who was born on March 1st 1881. They lived at Oldman and raised a family of three children: Hugh, who was born in 1899; John, in 1902; and Annabella, who was born in 1920.
At the outbreak of the First World War, it was Field Marshall Lord Kitchener’s face and pointing gloved hand, on probably the most iconic poster in the world, saying “Your Country Needs You”, that incited thousands of eager young men to join up and fight the Germans. Many brave Orkney lads joined up – including young Hugh Gibson, who served as a private in the 7th (Service) Battalion Seaforth Highlanders. In 1918 they were fighting on the Somme, in the Battles of the Lys and The Advance in Flanders. Hugh died of wounds in hospital on 2nd May 1918, aged just 19, and is buried in the Etaples Military Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France.
Hugh Gibson [rear, right], photographed shortly before setting off to war. He is pictured with his parents, Hugh and Betsy, and younger brother John
In 1942 Hugh’s brother John married Margaret Ann Lyon Munro, daughter of Alexander James Munro and Agnes Lyon, Ervadale, who was born in 1923. They had a daughter, Annalizabeth Craigie, born in 1943 – and she married Frederick James Garson in December 1964. Fred was the son of Frederick Rowland Garson and Jean Gorie Miller, Midhouse, Costa, where he was born in April 1941. At the time of their marriage Fred was working at Westness Farm, tending more sheep than he cared to remember. Come the day of the wedding, Rousay was hit by a blizzard and guests from the mainland were stranded at Tingwall, unable to make the crossing. After the ceremony Fred and his bride had to wade through snowdrifts to Faraclett, Anna having to hitch up her long white wedding gown on the way. They had no honeymoon, for there were cattle to be fed and hard work to be done on the farm.
SCOCKNESS
Scockness was a peninsular farm in Sourin, the most easterly part of the island. Variously spelled in old rentals and records as Skowkness in 1549, Skoknes in 1576, and Scocknes in 1595, the first mention of any occupant was made in 1549 when Edward Sinclair lived there. It was in that year that Bishop Reid, in return for his “faithful kindness and support, especially in the defence of Christian faith and the liberty of the Holy Kirk,” granted a lease of “all and hail our landis of Skowkness in Rousay, with ye miln and holme of the samyn with yair pertinentis” to no less a man than Edward Sinclair of Strome and his wife – for their whole lives. Edward was a brother of Sir James Sinclair of Sanday and one of the Orkney leaders at the Battle of Summerdale.
In a court case in 1817 concerning grazing rights on the Head of Faraclett, Hugh Marwick stated that at one time he had been joint tenant of Scockness with his father Magnus. It is claimed by some that he was related to the Marwicks who were in Langskaill and Saviskaill in the 1700s.
According to Robert C. Marwick in Rousay Roots, Magnus Marwick was born and married during the period when there was a gap in the Rousay records, though his son Hugh’s birth is known to have taken place at Scockness in 1766. Hugh married Betsy Sinclair, daughter of George Sinclair, Brendale, later Faraclett. They raised a family of ten boys: first-born was Magnus, and though no date is forthcoming is was generally thought to have been in 1794; Thomas, was born in 1796; James, in 1798; William, in December 1800; John, in January 1803; Hugh, in July 1805; Robert, in July 1806; Hugh, in February 1810 [who died young – like his brother Hugh before him]; Isaac, in July 1812; and Craigie, who was born in January 1815. In her old age Betsy was asked how many children she had had. “ten devils,” she replied. Thereafter, her sons were collectively known as the ‘Ten Devils’.
The Marwicks were evicted from Scockness in 1830 after a dispute with the laird over kelp-making. Kelp was the ash produced by burning certain kinds of seaweed in stone-lined pits at the shore. Twenty tons of wet seaweed yielded about a ton of kelp. The ash fused into a solid mass which had to be broken up before being shipped south to chemical plants. The main chemicals obtained from kelp were potassium phosphate (about 12%) and iodine (about 4%). In the 1830s cheaper sources of these chemicals were found elsewhere and the kelp market, on which Orkney was heavily dependent at that time, collapsed.
It was the Stevenson family who took over the tenancy of Scockness after the eviction. James Stevenson, who was born about 1774 in Stronsay. He married Rebekkah Sinclair in 1813 and they had six children, all of whom were born on the island. Daughter Rebekkah was born in August 1814; James, in January 1817; George, in September 1819; Barbara, in October 1822; Robert, in August 1826; and Margaret, who was born in 1828.
Robert Stevenson [b.1826] married Margaret Marwick, daughter of ‘devil’ number 2 Thomas Marwick, Woo, and Ann Gibson, Broland, who was born in March 1837. They had eight children: Margaret, born in December 1860; Rebecca Ann, in January 1863; Isabella Marwick, in February 1867; Robina Gibson, in November 1868; Robert, in April 1872; James Mainland, in January 1874; William Neil, in 1876; and Mary Sinclair, who was born in November 1877.
In 1858 Margaret Stevenson [b.1828] married William Melville of Sanday, who came to Rousay to work as a miller at Sourin. Her sister Barbara [b.1822] married William Mainland of Cott Mowat. He came from a poor family and at first was not regarded by the Stevensons as a suitable husband for Barbara. He went to Australia for several years and made a lot of money. On his return he married Barbara. “At that time,” he boasted later, “I could have bought out all the bloody Stevensons!”
Robert Stevenson and wife Margaret Marwick, c.1912
Back to the census of 1841, and James Stevenson was a busy farmer and his sons George and James were fishermen. At this time there was another tenant at Scockness, Thomas Gibson, a 50-year-old farmer, and he and James paid £20 each a year rent. Thomas was the son of John Gibson and Isabella Craigie of Scockness, and he had a brother, Robert, who lived at Bigland. He married Isabel Harcus on December 5th 1815, and they lived at nearby at Bigland where their seven children were born between 1816 and 1823.
By 1851, Thomas and Isabella Gibson had moved over to Egilsay to farm the land at Onziebist and James and Rebekkah Stevenson were the sole tenants at Scockness. Rebekkah died in 1853 at the age of 70. Their sons Robert and George were employed as carpenters at this time. George married Janet Marwick, the daughter of Hugh Marwick and Mary Yorston of Clook, Frotoft, but she died in 1860 at the age of 40.
In 1861, 40-year-old widower George Stevenson was farming 50 acres at Scockness, together with William Mainland who was joint tenant, and they both paid £30 a year rent. He was the son of Alexander Mainland and Mary Cooper of Cott Mowat, which stood near the shore on what is now part of the land of Avalshay, a short distance from Brinian House. He was born on February 16th 1823, and was 34 years of age when he married George’s sister Barbara in 1857. They had five children: Janet Margaret was born in May 1858; William Muir, in January 1860; Mary, in April 1861; James Alexander, in February 1863; and John, who was born in December 1866.
The following information is from the 1861 Rousay census, and tells us who was at Scockness farm when the enumeration was carried out on Friday April 8th. 38-year-old William Mainland was head of the household and a farmer of 50 acres. Wife Barbara was 37 and at this time they had three children; two year-old Margaret; one-year-old William; and 1-day-old Mary. Robina Marwick (28) was their domestic servant; William Johnston (14) was an agricultural labourer; Malcolm Corsie was an 11-year-old cowherd; Margaret Melville, Barbara’s sister, was then 32 years old and a miller’s wife; Mary Mainland, William’s 68-year-old widowed mother; Mary Mainland, his unmarried 37- year-old sister, who was employed as an agricultural labourer; and last, but by no means least, the lady who delivered baby Mary, 70- year-old midwife Isabella Donaldson from Sanday.
By 1871, the Mainland family had done what the Gibson family had done twenty years previously and moved over to Onziebist on the neighbouring island of Egilsay. This left George Stevenson as the sole tenant of Scockness, and by that time he had married again. His wife was Mary Gibson, daughter of Hugh Gibson and Janet Craigie of Skatequoy, born on August 26th 1830. They had two children, Mary, born in 1866, and George, born in November 1869.
George Stevenson died in 1877 and Mary his widow died in the late 1880s. Their children Mary and George took over the tenancy, the rent at that time being £73 per year, but this was reduced to £60 because they had been left as orphans. The pair left Rousay before the end of the century, for the census of 1901 tells us Scockness was occupied by Robert Marwick, who was by then a 56-year-old widower. Robert was the son of Robert Marwick, one of the Ten Devils who lived at Essaquoy, and his wife Bell Mainland of Cotafea. Born on September 4th 1845, Robert junior, or Robbie o’ Scockness as he was known, was 21 years old when he married Ann Blalick Hourston of Tankerness on October 25th 1866. They raised a family of seven children: Isabella, born in June 1867; Mary Ann, in July 1869; Jemima Baikie, in December 1871; Robert William, in April 1874; Margaret Johan, in August 1876; Elizabeth, in July 1879; and Jessie, who was born in November 1882.
Robert’s wife Ann was 52 years of age when she passed away on February 1st 1892 when the family were living at Woo. Robert moved to Scockness with unmarried daughters Mary Ann, Maggie, and Jessie. In 1903 Mary Ann married Hugh Corsie Robertson, son of Hugh Smith Robertson, South Tofts, Egilsay, and Margaret Mainland Corsie, Brendale, who was born in September 1847. They had three children: George Marwick, born in 1905; Annie May, in 1907; and Hugh, who was born in 1909.
Mary Ann Marwick had a son, William, born on July 2nd 1892. Her sister Margaret Johan also had a son, Robert William Marwick, who was born on November 18th 1903. In 1915 she married Hugh Craigie, son of Hugh Harold Craigie, Ha’breck, Wyre, later Swandale, and Mary Mainland, Ervadale and they had three children: Hugh Harold, born in 1917; Annie Mary, in 1920; and George Mainland, who was born in 1922.
The two photos, above and below, show Robbie o’ Scockness with members of his vast family. His daughters, Maggie and Mary Ann in the picture above left, both had children christened Annie, George, and Hugh – and the naming on the reverse of each photo is insufficient to properly identify who is who! – Above right are the Scockness sisters in their latter years – Mary Ann Robertson (left) and Maggie Craigie. – The photo below right shows Maggie’s husband Hugh Craigie carting ware at North Sand.
[All black & white photos are courtesy of the Tommy Gibson Collection, unless otherwise stated.]
Breck was a croft in Sourin, between Myres and Hurtiso. It was occupied by Alexander Gibson in 1734 and William Craigie in 1738.
In the census of 1841 it was spelt Braik, and was occupied by William Marwick, the fourth oldest of the ten sons of son of Hugh Marwick, Scockness, and Betsy Sinclair [another of her ‘ten devils], and he was born on December 13th 1800. He married Barbara Reid of Pow on March 14th 1820, but she died not long afterwards. On February 2nd 1827 he married 23-year-old Anne Shearer, the daughter of William Shearer and Isabella Rendall of Shapinsay. There were no children from either marriage.
In the census of 1851 the house is spelt Brake, the annual rent for which at this time was £8. William Marwick was then earning a living as a farmer and fisherman, and his wife Ann was 46 years of age. Living with them were two farm servants; 22-year-old Betsy Mowat and Mary McGillvary, the 12-year-old daughter of James and Hellenor McGillvary of Upper Cornquoy, Egilsay.
Living at Nether Brake at this time was William’s nephew Hugh Marwick. He was a 27-year-old boat builder when he married Margaret Sinclair of Swandale on March 9th 1849. This family emigrated to New Zealand in the 1850’s, and shortly afterwards moved to Australia. They had six children; Annie, born in 1853, who married her cousin William Yorston; Elizabeth, who died during the voyage aged 1 year; Thomas, born in 1856 and died in 1904, unmarried; Robert, born in 1858, but died in infancy; Hugh, born in 1859, and died in 1885, unmarried; and Margaret, born in 1861, who was also unmarried.
William Marwick died at Breck in 1880, at the age of 80. When the census was carried out in 1881 his widow Anne was still living there, and was helped by Ann Inkster, a 52-year-old general servant. Anne died later that year in her 77th year.
Another tenant at Breck at that time was Craigie Marwick, who was farming the 36 acres, for which he paid an annual rent of £15, but in 1888 this was reduced by the Crofters Commission to £10. He was the son of James Marwick and Janet Craigie of Eastaquoy and was born on July 16th 1845. He married 22-year-old Ann Mowat of Evie on February 6th 1869. They had no children. In 1881 they employed Jean Harcus, a 16-year-old general servant, and Jessie Alexina Craigie, who was then a 12-year-old farm servant, and daughter of James Craigie, Falquoy, and Janet Sinclair, Stennisgorn. [Jessie Alexina married John Mainland Craigie, Cruar, in 1916 and lived to the age of 101]. Craigie Marwick was said to have been a well-liked and much respected man in Sourin.
John Marwick Craigie, son of John Craigie and Mary Wood Marwick of Grips, Sourin, was born on November 30th 1866. At a young age John and his family went south, and he worked as a coachman to the Coats family of J. & P. Coats Thread Mills in Ferguslie, Paisley, Renfrewshire. John decided to return to Orkney, and when he left their service, he was presented with a bicycle, apparently the first one to come to Rousay. On December 6th 1906 he married Helen Louttit, her second marriage, and they lived at Breck, where, on March 30th 1908, their son John was born. Helen was the daughter of William Louttit, Faraclett, and Helen Leonard, Digro, and was born on July 1st 1870. On April 1st 1892 she married fisherman James Craigie, Cruar, but he passed away on May 1st 1903. They had four children: James William, born in June 1892 [he married Lizzie Craigie, Bu, Wyre, in 1915]; John, in April 1894; Helen, in February 1896 [she married John Harcus, Westray, in 1918, and had three children: James, Nellie, and John Angus]; and William, who was born in July 1898.
Later occupants of Breck were John Craigie, just mentioned as being born in 1908, and his family. On June 29th 1933 he married 16-year-old domestic servant Jane Maria Harrold Clouston, daughter of Archer Clouston senior and his first wife Helen Findlay (Ellen) Lyon. John and Jane had four daughters, the first of whom, Ellen Mary (Lena), was born in 1936. John and Jane are pictured above, on their wedding day, and proudly showing off their first-born.
Breck was eventually home to members of the Marwick family. John William Marwick was the youngest of the six children of William Marwick and Sarah Inkster Leonard, Quoygray, who were married in May 1871. Born in 1892, he was 21 years of age when he married Agnes Elizabeth (Aggie) Johnston, daughter of James Johnston, Brinian, and Isabella (Bell) Corsie, Breek, who was also born in 1892. They had three sons: John William, James Leonard, and Hugh Edward, all born in November of the years 1913, 1914, and 1915. John William junior married Lorna Margaret Miller in 1943; James Leonard married Ella Simpson, also in 1943; and in 1941 Hugh Edward was married to Margaret Annette (Netta) Sinclair.
MYRES
Myres was a croft in Sourin, formerly a cot of Scockness, described in volume 16 of the Orkney Ordnance Survey Name Books (1879-1880) as ‘a farm house situate at 9 chains north east of Breck. It is built of stone thatched one storey high and is in fair repair. It is the property of Colonel Burroughs C.B.’
It first known occupants were John Craigie, originally Hurtiso, later Myres, and his wife Marian (Mary Ann) Louttit, Faraclett, both of whom were born in 1799. John was the son of John Craigie and Christian Marwick. Married in February 1823 they had three children; Lydia, born in December 1823; John, in February 1826; and Margaret, who was born in July 1829.
John Craigie passed away before the census of 1841 was carried out. Between the years 1845 and 1862 Marian was paying an annual rent of £4 10s. Employed as a midwife, Marian’s rent gradually rose to nine guineas by 1863, and higher still by 1879, when she was paying £15.
On December 1st 1857 Marian’s daughter Lydia married John Gibson, son of Hugh Gibson, Burness, and his third wife Margaret Harcus, who was born in February 1834. Between 1858 and 1868 they raised a family of four children: John, born in 1858; Allan Corsie, in 1861; Lydia Craigie, in 1864; and Agnes Davie, who was born in 1868. On January 26th 1860 Lydia’s brother John married 28-year-old Margaret Inkster, daughter of William Inkster and Margaret Gibson, Ervadale, and they raised a family of seven. The first two children, John and Margaret Gibson, were born in Rousay in 1860 and 61, but they moved to Unst, Shetland, where William, Ann Cameron Mowat, James Jaffray, Mary Jane, and Isabella, were all born between 1865 and 1872.
The 1881 census reveals that Marian was then in her 81st year and described as being a farmer of 28 acres. Living there with her at that time was her unmarried 50-year-old daughter Margaret. Daughter Lydia died of lung cancer in May 1873. Her farmer/fisherman husband John Gibson married a second time, in November 1874, his bride being Matilda Smith Saunders, who was born in December 1848. She was the daughter of Peter Saunders and Mary Louttit, St. Ola, and was working as a domestic servant at Scockness at the time of the marriage. They lived at Myres and at the time of the census John’s daughter Agnes was 13 years of age.
In 1888, the Widow Craigie was, according to the Laird, “bedridden and forced to become a crofter by her grandson Alan Gibson!!! £8 15s 0d rent – so reduced by Crofter’s Commission!!!” Marian Craigie died in 1890, her daughter Margaret continuing to live at Myres on private means.
Come the census of 1891 we find Alan Corsie Gibson [referred to above and being born in 1861], and his sister Agnes Davie Gibson living at Myres. In 1898 Agnes married Hugh Inkster, son of James Inkster, Ervadale, later Quoys, Sourin, and Margaret Pearson, Kirkgate, who was born in January 1869. They later emigrated to South Africa. In 1899 Alan Corsie Gibson married Jane Agnes (Aggie) Sinclair, daughter of Peter Sinclair and Catherine Bain, and was born in 1876. They had two sons, Hugh Inkster, born in 1900, and John Stanley, who was born in 1905.
John Logie, son of Westside shepherd Robert Logie and Mary Murray, Tofts, Quandale, was born October 13th 1871. In 1897 he married Mary Jane Inkster, daughter of Hugh Inkster, Gorn, Hammer, Geo, later Knapper, and Georgina Harcus, Westray, and she was born on March 20th 1873. John and Mary Jane had five sons: John William, born in May 1898; James Robert, in July 1900; George Harcus, in February 1902; Alexander (Sandy) Reid, in February 1912; and David Hugh, who was born in March 1919, but died just less than four months later.
[All black & white photos are courtesy of the Tommy GibsonCollection]
The Sourin Mill is a large well-built stone building of three storeys, situated at the end of the Sourin burn near Lopness and Nethermill. This was the largest building in Sourin, and today still stands as straight and square as it was when it was built. On the west end of the building four plaques have the dates of 1777, 1861, 1880, 1937. The first date is presumably when the building was constructed. It is not known if there was a mill there before, and I doubt if there were. The wheel on the east end of the mill is a cast iron construction, and was made in sections. The wheel was 14 feet in diameter, and 4 feet across with 48 buckets. The axel, holding everything up, was 5 inches of solid steel. The arrangement at the wheel for the water was overshot; this was quite a powerful wheel to drive all the equipment, which were three sets of grinding wheels. The first one was for bere meal; the stone was from Derbyshire, called Derby Burr. The oatmeal stone was manufactured; it was made in sections and then banded with iron hoops, called a French Burr. The shelling stone usually came from Yesnaby in Sandwick. Also the hoist; this was to lift the sacks of grain to the top of the mill, and elevators and separators and fans. The water driving the wheel came from the Muckle Water, with a small dam that was built at Woo. A ditch was dug from the dam to the wheel above the burn to the mill course as the wheel was overshot. A wooden trap in the mill course diverted and governed the amount of water to and from the wheel. In the 1940’s a small shed was built at the rear of the mill.
This was a room to house a small dynamo driven by a small water wheel, to provide electric light in the mill. The only light was from paraffin lamps, and this was the only light used since the mill was built. Before the days of the mill, most of the houses had a kiln attached to the barn, which the corn and oats for drying was done. After the mill was built, a lot of drying was still done but then the grain was sent to the mill. This practice was continued up to the 1850’s, then more and more grain sent to the mill undryed. The kiln at the mill became too small, and in 1861 a larger kiln was built. This was slightly wider than the mill and slightly higher. This increased the floor area for grain drying. I have no record for 1880, but there must have been some structural work taken place. In 1937 the kiln took fire. The roof of the kiln was badly damaged and the mill was out of production for a while. Had the fire gone into the main building the whole lot would have been destroyed. There is a tremendous amount of timber in the mill. Heavy beams under the floor, holding up untold tons of grain, huge beams, a foot square holding up the hoist mechanism, which is housed in a wooden structure in front of the mill. Repairs to the kiln and a new roof was put on and the mill started up again.
The miller, or his son or servant, had to walk up to the tepping (sluice) early on a Monday morning to open the sluice as it took a few hours for the water to flow down. This water ran till Saturday when it was closed in the afternoon. The water ran on till 9-10 o’clock when the mill closed for the day. Only in the springtime when the water was not so plentiful that the sluice was closed every afternoon. The miller usually worked for 14 hours a day and six days a week and usually employed a kiln man and at busy times a labourer. On the average working day the mill ground 25 sacks of oats and 22 sacks of corn or bere. A sack of grain was 2 cwt, this was traditionally the correct weight for the mill, and the meal came in how (boll) sacks. A boll was 10 stone.
Corn or bere had only two rows of grain while barley has four. Long ago it was mainly black oats and red sandy; it was only in later years that heavier oats were available. The best yield was from the smaller oats. Products from the mill were oatmeal, bere meal, grapp and souan sids. Grapp was an inferior grade of grain and hull, ground for pig and poultry feed. Souan sids, was when the flour was riddled small bits of husk and the finest flour was gathered up. This was then soaked and made into a sharp porridge. I remember in the mid 1950’s Robbie Seatter of Banks had a square of corn growing in a field above the mill. The area was about half an acre, and this was about the last of the corn grown in Rousay for the Sourin mill.
Each sack of grain weighed 2 cwt. each. This was traditionally the correct weights for the mill. Carts which came to the mill with grain usually went under the hatch in front of the mill. The grain was then lifted to the top of the mill by a hoist. Once the hoist was engaged the sack had to travel to the top of the mill. A chain with a loop was then put around the sack. Once a farmer put the chain around the sack, and unfortunately the hoist was engaged before his fingers were out of the chain. The miller looked down when he heard shouting. “Woe, woe, stop, stop,” the farmer was coming up holding on very, very tightly to the sack! The Sourin mill took most of the grain in Rousay. In the springtime when the weather dried, the Sourin mill had plenty of water and grain came from Westray, Eday, North Fara, Egilshay and Wyre. When the North Fara men came to the mill, they went to Hurtiso for a horse and cart to take the grain from the boat to the mill. Sometimes the horse was working, or in the hill, so they were quite happy with a cart. Fara men were big and strong: they pulled the cart themselves. Three Westray men were drowned near the Clett at Scockness. The boat was a Westray skiff, loaded with grain. Northerly wind and a back tide cause a nasty upheaval in the water along the Clett. The boat, perhaps too close to the shore, missed a tack and capsized at the shore. The mill was a meeting place for local boys from the district of an evening. Some of the more popular ones were going hand-over-hand over the twartbaeks (couple backs) in the roof. Another thing they did was to write their name on a wall using a fifty-six pound weight as a pen, hooked on their little finger and only very few of them could do this. In many ways it is a pity that the mill had to close, for it was a source of food and as a social gathering place in the evening for the people of the district, for news, views, contests and trivia etc. The mill closed down in 1955.
SOURIN MILLERS
The first miller on record in Sourin was Hugh Marwick, born c.1776, and was living at Clumpy in the early 1800s with his wife Janet. His brother William, born c1786, was an ‘under miller’ according to the census of 1841. William, originally of ‘Oot-o-dikes, Sowrine’, was married to Jane Work and they lived at Hanover. They had a family of ten children, born between 1816 and 1838. Son John, born in August 1822, was also a miller, and married to Margaret Costie, daughter of David Costie and Betty Gibson.
The census of 1861 tells of 28-year-old miller William Melville, born in Sanday, living at Lopness with wife Margaret. At this time Robert Harrold was a 40-year-old, miller living at Hammermugly (Blossom). He was married to Mary Grieve, daughter of Alexander and Catherine Grieve, Howe, Egilsay. They had a family of five daughters born between 1855 and 1860, two of whom, Mary and Isabella, were twins.
In 1871, 29-year-old miller William Voy from Tankerness, was living at Lopness. He had recently married Jemima MacLellan Johnston, daughter of John Johnston, Brinian, and Elizabeth Reid, Pow, Westside, who was born in June 1842. They raised a family of seven children between 1869 and 1887.
The census of 1881, carried out on April 4th that year, recorded the aptly-named Alexander Miller as the Sourin miller, employing two men – though their names are not mentioned. He was born in Wick c.1850, and was married to Anne Mainland, daughter of John Mainland, Bu, Wyre, later Onzibust, and Mary Sinclair, Tratland, and she was born in November 1854. Alexander and Anne were the parents of four daughters and one son, born between 1876 and 1885.
The 1890s saw farmer/miller John Gibson living at nearby Hurtiso. Born at Sketquoy in January 1839, he was the son of Hugh Gibson and Janet Craigie, Cogar. In 1867 he married Margaret Louttit, daughter of William Louttit and Christina Cormack, Faraclett. They raised a family of eight children, born between 1869 and 1884. Also living at Hurtiso at this time was 35-year-old miller James Wood, who was born in Evie.
John Craigie was the miller at the Sourin mill for many years. The son of John Craigie, Shalter, and Betsy Louttit, Blackhammer, he was born in March 1859. In November 1878 he married Betsy Leonard, daughter of George Leonard, Stourameadow, and Margaret Clouston, Tou, born in November 1857. They lived at Triblo and raised a family of ten children born between 1879 and 1904. After Betsy’s death in 1932 John, along with daughters Isabella and Annie, took over the Queen’s Hotel in Kirkwall.
Sourin Miller John Craigie and his wife Betsy Leonard
NETHERMILL
There are three separate entries for Nethermill in the census of 1841. First occupant was 65-year-old Betsy Sinclair, who made a living from spinning. Then there was 35-year-old Alexander Reid, his wife Mary, who was 25, and their seven-month old daughter Mary. There was a bonnet maker there too, 25-year-old Julia (Giles) Mainland, daughter of Alexander Mainland, Banks, Frotoft, and Margaret Grieve, Hurtiso.
There is an interesting entry in one of the laird’s rent books regarding an inhabitant of Nethermill in 1845, William Inkster – “he poaches the Salmon Trout that come up the burn – must pull this house down.” A new house [pictured below] was built at Nethermill – but not until 1887.
There were two new families in 1851. Living at Nethermill 1 was 30-year-old seamstress Helen Grieve, her 25-year-old sister Mary who was an agricultural labourer, and their 23-year-old brother Alexander, who was a fisherman. These were three of the six children of navy pensioner James Grieve [born c.1776] and Elizabeth Davie. They were all born in Egilsay between 1816 and 1831. Helen, christened Eleanor Bews Grieve, married William Marwick, Hanover in 1852. Alexander married Margaret Harrold, Hammermugly.
At Nethermill 2 was 29-year-old fisherman John Marwick [William’s brother just mentioned], his 29-year-old wife Margaret Costie and their children, Betsy (3) and John, who was twelve months old. John and William were sons of William Marwick and Jean Work of ‘Oot-o-dikes, Sowrine’, and he was born on August 4th 1822. Margaret was the daughter of David Costie and Betty Gibson and she was born at Breek, Quandale, on May 6th 1822.
By 1861 Alexander Grieve and his family were the only inhabitants of Nethermill. His wife Margaret was the daughter of William Harrold and Elizabeth Grieve of Hammermugly, and she was born on August 10th 1818. Their three children were William, born in 1855, Alexander, in 1856, and John Yorston, who was born in 1859. As well as making a living from fishing in the latter years of the 1800s Alexander made ends meet making money as a weaver. Meanwhile, his son Alexander was a dryster – meaning he was in charge of the drying of grain in the kiln at the nearby mill.
[Above left] William McLaughlan Harrold Grieve [born 14 April 1855] and Mary Ann Clouston [born in Orphir, 1868], daughter of John Honeyman Clouston and Catherine Groundwater, were married in Kirkwall on March 28th 1903, witnessed by Maggie Jane Grieve and Archer Clouston. William and Mary Ann later lived at Upper Knarston.
[Centre] Teacher John Yorston Grieve, Nethermill, with his nephew David Marwick [son of Eleanor Bews Grieve and William Marwick, who went to Canada]. John was born on January 26th 1859. He married Anne Gibson Grieve, daughter of Malcolm Grieve and Frances/Fanny Costie, who was born on July 14th 1862. On July 14th 1881 Anne died of a fever during childbirth at the schoolhouse at Pierowall, Westray, where John was the assistant teacher. John died on Oct 28th 1889, aged 30, and they are both interred in the Scockness kirkyard.
[Above right] Alexander [Sandy] Grieve, the dryster mentioned above, born on November 7th 1856, died 1945.
LOPNESS
We have learned already that Lopness [pictured below] was where a succession of Sourin millers lived over the years…..
In 1861 it was occupied by 28-year-old William Melville from Sanday.
In 1871 William Voy, a 29-year-old miller from Tankerness, lived there with his wife Jemima Johnston, daughter of John Johnston and Elizabeth Reid of the Brinian. They were married in 1869 and by the time the census was carried out they had a one-year-old son William.
31-year-old Alexander Miller from Helzigatha, Wyre, a miller employing two men, lived at Lopness in 1881. He was married to Anne Mainland, daughter of John Mainland and Mary Sinclair of the Bu, Wyre, who was born on November 12th 1854, and they had five children.
Above left are sisters Alice and Cissie Craigie, who originally lived at Furse. Alice married Stanley Gibson, Bigland, later Lopness, and Cissie married his brother Hugh. Alice and Stanley had three children, Hugh Inkster, Margaret Gladys, and James William [in the picture – who later married Ruth Miller, Schoolhouse, Wasbister]. c.1934. – To the right is the afore-mentioned Stanley Gibson, son of Alan Corsie Gibson and Jane Agnes Sinclair, who was born at Bigland in 1905. Renowned for his expertise as a stonemason and builder, examples of his work can still be seen around the island to this day. Here Stanley takes a break from work, to pose for the camera with his dog at Viera Lodge, c.1940.
GUIDAL
Guidal was a cottage in Sourin between Hurtiso and Lopness, occupied in 1653 by Alexander Yorston, between 1735 and 1739 by Peter Sinclair, and in 1798 by George Craigie. In the Rousay Birth Registers in the 18th century the house was called Bergoodale, and in 1803 Bergoodal, though from 1816 onwards Guidal.
By 1840 shoemaker Isaac Marwick lived at Guidal with his wife Betsy Yorston. Isaac was the son of Hugh Marwick and Betsy Sinclair of Scockness, born on July 26th 1812 – another of Betsy’s “ten devils.” Betsy Yorston was the daughter of Magnus Yorston and Janet Marwick of Oldman, born on February 19th 1812. Married on January 15th 1836, Isaac and Betsy had three children: Hugh was born in May 1840; Isaac Elrick, in June 1844 [he married Mary Crossman Wilson on Holy Island, Northumberland in April 1875, and became a minister in Kirkcaldy]; and Janet, who was born in September 1848. [At the time of the 1871 census she was a teacher at the Sourin school]. Isaac and Betsy lived at Guidal all their lives.
In 1862, son Hugh went to New Zealand with his uncle Thomas. He worked there as a carpenter and boat builder until he returned to Orkney to be married in 1870. His bride, on May 31st that year, was Lydia Gibson of Langskaill, daughter of George Gibson and Ann Mainland, who was born on June 28th 1842.
Isaac and Betsy Marwick at Guidal.
After their marriage Hugh returned to New Zealand with wife Lydia, and their daughter Betsy Ann was born in Otago in 1871. They soon came back to Rousay though, for daughter Janet (Jessie) was born here on November 13th 1872, as were brothers, Isaac, on March 24th 1875, and Hugh, who was born on November 30th 1881. Hugh senior opened a shop at Guidal, but at the same time he carried on his other work of carpentry and boat-building. He was also employed as the island’s School Attendance Officer, and the Registrar of Births, Marriages and Deaths.
The census of 1891 tells us that Betsy and Isaac Marwick [pictured above] were both in their 80th year, and he was still making boots and shoes at Guidal. Son Hugh was a 50-year-old merchant, his sister Jessie was a ‘pupil teacher’, brother Isaac an apprentice shoemaker, and young brother Hugh was a nine-year-old scholar. Jessie Marwick was head teacher at the Sourin school between 1903/1911, and later head of Ely School in Cambridgeshire. Betsy Marwick died at Guidal on January 27th 1900 at the age of 87 and her husband Isaac was 94 when he passed away on December 16th 1906.
Hugh Marwick [born 1881] was educated at Kirkwall Grammar School and Edinburgh University, later becoming head of English at Burnley Grammar School in Lancashire. In July 1914 he married photographer’s assistant Jane Barritt. Born on February 20th 1888, she was the daughter of Burnley councillor Charles Barritt and farmer’s daughter Mary Martha Whittaker, who were married on November 30th 1873. Jane had four sisters: her twin Elizabeth, Ellen, Annie, and Florence Mary. Hugh and Jane has a son, christened Hugh Gibson Marwick, born in 1916. He was just 12 years old when he died in the Balfour Hospital as a result of an accidental fall on January 31st 1928, the family living in King Street, Kirkwall at the time.
Hugh Marwick was appointed Rector of Kirkwall Grammar School in 1914 and continued in that role until 1929, when he was made director of the Orkney Education Committee, a post he held until 1946.
His MA [Master of Arts] was from the University of Edinburgh, who awarded his D.Litt. [Doctor Litterarum, or Doctor of Letters] in 1926 after he had worked many years on his doctoral thesis, the basis for his book The Orkney Norn. Dr Marwick was one of the founders of the Orkney Antiquarian Society in 1922 with fellow Orcadian and Norse enthusiast John Mooney JP, FSA (Scot) and was its secretary for 17 years, during which he contributed papers to its Proceedings. He was also a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. Dr Marwick received many academic awards for his work both in this country and Scandinavia.
On Wednesday December 15th 1954 he was granted the Freedom of the Burgh of Kirkwall, a ceremony marking the occasion being held in St Magnus Cathedral where he signed the Burgess Roll. He was also an honorary sheriff-substitute for Orkney. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1965.
His published works include: The Orkney Norn (1926 University of Edinburgh D.Litt. Thesis, 1929 Oxford University Press); The Place Names of Rousay (1947); Orkney (1951); and Orkney Farm-Names (1952).
Dr Hugh Marwick passed away at noon on May 21st 1965. He is remembered in a memorial plaque in St Magnus Cathedral alongside a number of other ‘sons of Orkney’, including George Mackay Brown, Robert Rendall, Stanley Cursiter, and Edwin Muir.
A photo of a copy of the Stanley Cursiter portrait of Dr Hugh Marwick, painted to mark his OBE appointment in 1965. This portrait hangs in the Rousay Community School.
HURTISO
Hurtiso was an old farm in Sourin, occupied by Thomas Seatter in 1735 and George Craigie in 1798. When Robert Gibson became tenant of Hurtiso the Meal Mill of Sourin, Lopness or the Miller men’s House, and Nethermill or Mill House were included as well, for which he paid an annual rent of £50 in 1845. Robert was the son of David Gibson, Langskaill, and Jean Marwick, and was born in 1799. On March 14th 1826, he married Robina (Bethinia) Irvine, Rendall, and they had ten children, eight girls and two boys.
The Gibson family moved to Langskaill, and by 1851, the 35-acre farm of Hurtiso was in the hands of James Stevenson, a 34-year-old farmer from Stronsay. James was the son of James Stevenson, Stronsay, later Scockness, and Rebekkah Sinclair, and was born in January 1817. On November 27th 1851 he married Margaret Gibson, daughter of James Gibson, Flintersquoy, and Mary Marwick, and she was born in October 1832. They raised a family of eight children between the years 1852 and 1874. In 1853 James paid rent of £80, and by 1872 this had risen to £100.
The Stevenson family moved to Settisgarth, off the Lyde Road in Firth, and by 1881 49-year-old James Marwick was running the farm of Hurtiso. He was the second oldest of the thirteen children of Robert Marwick and Isabel (Bell) Mainland of Essaquoy. Born on September 24th 1831, James was brought up by his uncle and aunt, John and Betsy Marwick, at Ervadale. On March 4th 1856 he married Mary Baikie, the daughter of Peter Baikie and Helen Moar, who was born in Evie in December 1828. James and Mary had five children, all born at Ervadale.
They stayed at Hurtiso for a few years before moving to Bankburn in South Ronaldsay. Their third oldest son was christened George Richie Marwick, after the Rev. George Ritchie, at whose manse Mary had worked prior to her marriage. In the 1881 census 21-year-old George Ritchie Marwick is described as a former apprentice law clerk.
In 1889 John Gibson and his family lived and worked at Hurtiso. In the laird’s words in his rent book he called him a ‘late crofter from Skatequoy’ paying rent of £30 for Hurtiso and £40 for the Meal Mill. John, a farmer and miller, was born in 1839, and was married to Margaret Louttit in 1867 and between 1869 and 1884 they had eight children. They later moved to Faraclett where John died in 1893. A year later the tenants of Hurtiso and the Meal Mill were John Scott and his son from Sanday, paying a combined rent of £82 for the 63 acres arable 18 acres of pasture land.
John Scott was the son of farmer John Scott and Janet Dearness of Burness, Sanday, and he was born in 1837. On February 8th 1866 he married Ann Cumming, daughter of stonemason John Cumming and Margaret Mowat, Victoria Street, Kirkwall. They had seven children who were all born at Parlgo, a small cottage in Broughtown, Cross & Burness, Sanday: Margaret Mowat, born on December 7th 1866; John, in December 1868; William Stocks, in August 1871; Annie, in 1876; Jeannie, in 1878; David, in 1882; and Frederick Auty Scott, who was born on November 1st 1885. Margaret was a cook; John helped his father on the farm; Annie was a dairymaid; Jeannie, a general domestic servant; David was a miller; and Fred joined the army. William married dressmaker Jessie Campbell Muir, Clay Loan, Kirkwall, and they lived at Lopness. They had two children: Annie Buchan Cumming, born in 1905, and John Campbell, who was born in 1908. William and his family are pictured to the right.
Later occupants of Hurtiso were the Mainland family. Hugh Mainland [1891-1942], Weyland, Egilsay, Gairsay, later Hurtiso, was married to Alice Gibson Craigie [1891-1991], daughter of James Craigie, Falquoy, and Janet Sinclair, Stennisgorn. Between 1912 and 1928, they raised a family of seven children: Janet Sinclair, Alice Craigie, Margaret (Molly), Hugh, William, Dorothy Margaret, and Clara Cathleen.
Janet married Hugh Grieve, Fa’doon, later Saviskaill; Alice died in 1939, unmarried; Molly married James Craigie, Furse, later Dale, Stromness; Hugh married Kathleen Linklater, Kirkwall, and later lived at Sailan; William married Nessie Alberta (Netta) Russell, Brendale; Dorothy married John Inkster, Cavit, Wyre, and later lived at Old School, Sourin; and Clara died very soon after her birth in 1928.
[All black & white photos courtesy of the Tommy Gibson Collection]
[Map Section: Ordnance Survey 25 inch to the mile, 1st edition, Survey date: 1879, Publication date: 1880 – [Enhanced for clarity] – ‘Reproduced with the permission of theNational Library of Scotland.’]
Bigland is a very old Sourin farm, and referred to in the 1595 Rental as being skatted, or taxed, as a 3d. land. Its name probably came from the Old Norse word bygg-land, ‘bere-land,’ the word bygg meaning bigg or bere, a kind of barley.
The discovery on this farm of the now famous Rinyo settlement indicated human occupation from a very early date. This is where we have proof of a quite substantial island population in Rousay over 3,000 years ago. So that might suggest that the name Bigland is not bygg (bere) but bygð, in the sense of a place already ‘settled on.’ Its origin is therefore rather uncertain.
Bigland was jointly tenanted by David and Hugh Craigie in 1734. In the early 1800’s the land there was farmed by Robert Gibson, paying £21 16s. rent. He was the son of John Gibson and Isabella Craigie and was born in 1789. He married Christian (Christie) Hourston, the daughter of Walter Hourston and Margaret Harcus, who was born on March 8th 1793. Between 1815 and 1835 they had nine children, seven sons and two daughters: Robert was born in June 1815; John, in April 1817; William, in July 1819; Thomas, in November 1821; James, in April 1824; David, in February 1827; Samuel, in August 1827; Margaret, in August 1832; and Mary, who was born in July 1835.
Two views of Bigland and its surrounding land. Above left shows the farm buildings in the foreground; the houses of Breck and Myres; the northern parts of the Holm of Scockness and Egilsay; and the western coast of Eday across the firth. Above right is a southerly view from the Rinyo settlement area, with Bigland nearest the camera, and the prominent buildings of Hurtiso, the Sourin mill, and the farm of Banks in a line above it.
By the time the 1851 census was carried out Robert and Christie’s oldest son Robert and his wife and child also lived at Bigland. On February 27th 1850 Robert married Mary Gibson, daughter of Robert Gibson and Robina Irvine, Langskaill, who was born on July 14th 1829. Their daughter, christened Robina Irvine after her grandmother, was born on March 14th 1851, just 18 days before the census enumerator came knocking on Bigland’s door. Very soon after their daughter’s birth Robert, Ellen and Robina emigrated to Australia, arriving in Melbourne aboard the 841-ton three-masted sailing ship The Sea on August 20th 1851. This voyage was the first of two made by The Sea, transporting English, Irish, and Scottish emigrants to Melbourne. She arrived in August 1851 with single men and married couples under charter to Her Majesty’s Emigration Commissioners. According to the local newspaper of the day’s Shipping Intelligence we are told that during the 90-odd-day passage five births and six deaths occurred, all infants, and from ‘casual diseases’.
Three of Robert’s brothers, John, Thomas, and David, also emigrated to Australia.
John Gibson married Ellen Douglas [born 1827] in Victoria, Australia, in 1854. They had seven children: the first two were born in Collingwood, Victoria, William, in 1855, and John, in 1856. The family then moved to Morang, where their siblings were born: David, in 1859; Joseph, in 1861; Christina, in 1864; James, in 1867; and Ellen, who was born in 1869.
Thomas Gibson married Mary Ann Cook at the Church of St Thomas, Stepney, in London, on October 19th 1845. She was the daughter of Alexander Cook and Elizabeth Ann Grant, and she was born on December 18th 1825 at St. George in the East, Middlesex, England. They had two children: Thomas Meldon, born c.1846, and Robert William, born in July 1849 whilst living in London. They then emigrated to Australia, arriving at Port Phillip in May 1855. Son Robert William died that year, possibly during the voyage. They set up home in Collingwood, Victoria, where a further five children were born: a second child christened Robert was born in 1856, but died just four years later; Elizabeth Ann was born in 1859; Samuel James, born in 1861, but died within a year; another Robert, born in 1862, but also died very young, just four years of age; and William, who was born in 1863.
David Gibson married Christian Gibson on March 15th 1848. She was the daughter of James Gibson and Christian Hourston, of Brendale, who was born on June 14th 1820. They emigrated to Australia, departing from Plymouth and arriving at Port Phillip, Melbourne on August 18th 1848 aboard the 621-ton barque Cheapside – ‘William Lewis, master, with 233 emigrants; no cabin passengers.’ There they raised a family of seven children: John was born in 1851; James, in 1854; James Cattanach, in 1856; Christina, in 1858; Robert William, in 1860; Mary Ann, in 1862; and Margaret Jane, who was born in 1865.
When Robert Gibson senior died in 1872 at the age of 83, his youngest son Samuel took over the running of the farm, paying annual rent of £27. In 1879 he was paying £50 for Bigland and its 39 acres of arable and 75 acres of pasture land. Samuel married Ann Mainland, daughter of Robert Mainland, Classiquoy, and Julia (Giles) Mainland, who was born on May 20th 1849.
At the time of the 1891 census Bigland was unoccupied. Samuel’s mother Christie died on December 23rd 1881. Samuel retired from farming, and he and his wife Ann moved to Classiquoy, keeping her widowed mother Julia company.
By the turn of the century Bigland was in the hands of Westray-born farmer Peter Sinclair. Peter was the son of master tailor John Sinclair and Betsy Scott, South Ettit, Rendall, and was born in 1849. On November 28th 1872 he married 20 year-old Catherine Bain, daughter of farmer James Bain and Catherine Scott, of Dyke, Rendall. They had two daughters, both born at Dyke: Margaret Ann Linklater, on November 15th 1873, and Jane Agnes Cursiter, who was born on October 8th 1876.
In 1894 Margaret Ann Linklater Sinclair married John Harrold, son of John Harrold and Jane Walker, Kirkha’. They had two daughters: Annie Jane, born in 1895, and Catherine Agnes (Cissie), who was born in 1897. In 1899, 22-year-old Jane Agnes Cursiter Sinclair married Allan Corsie Gibson, son of John Gibson, Finyo later Langstane, and Lydia Craigie, Myres, who was born on December 5th 1861. They had two sons: Hugh Inkster Gibson, born in 1900, and John Stanley Gibson, who was born in 1905.
Son of John Marwick of Woo, later Bigland, and Margaret Gibson [mentioned as being born at Bigland in 1832 in the third paragraph], Robert Marwick was born on July 8th 1861. On May 23rd 1884 he married Matilda Leask Louttit, daughter of William Louttit and Helen Leonard, Digro, who was born on August 7th 1865. They raised a family of six children: Robert William was born in August 1882; Matilda, in September 1884; John, in December 1886; Margaret Ellen, in September 1892; Mary, in July 1897; and Lizzie, who was born in September 1899. Robert C. Marwick was told by their great-grandson that Robert and Matilda failed to win the consent of Matilda’s parents to their marriage until the second child was on the way.
Pictured above left are Hughie and Cissie Gibson. Hugh Inkster Gibson was 24 years old when he married Jessie Alexina [Cissie] Craigie at Furse on April 17th 1925. She was the daughter of John Craigie, Furse, and Ann Seatter Russell, Brendale. The ceremony was performed by the Rev. Frederick Fraser, and witnessed by John Craigie, Furse, and Lydia Gibson Baikie, Sourin Schoolhouse. – As well as farming the land at Bigland, Hughie was also an Auxiliary Volunteer in charge of Rousay Coastguard.
BROLAND
Known in 1562 as Brewland, and Browland in 1595, Broland was an old Sourin farm skatted as a one pennyland. It was occupied in 1653 by John Mainland, and in 1740 by Rolland Marwick.
In 1841 the land was farmed by John Gibson. He was the son of John Gibson and Christy Mainland of Sourin and he was born about 1771. He married Giles (Julia) Grieve of Hurtiso in 1799, and they had seven children between 1800 and 1814: Ann and John were born at Hurtiso on November 29th 1800 and October 17th 1802 respectively. Their five siblings were all born at Broland: William, in May 1805; Margaret, in February 1807; James, in September 1808; Robert, in May 1811; and Thomas, who was born in June 1814.
John Gibson had passed away by the time the 1851 census was carried out on March 31st that year. Spelled Brawland by the census enumerator, head of the household was John’s youngest son Thomas Gibson. On January 14th 1842 he married Jane Grieve, daughter of Robert Grieve and Ann Work of Outerdykes, who was born on August 22nd 1819. They raised a family of eight children: twins Ann and John were born on December 14th 1843; Thomas, on June 8th 1845; Robert, on November 11th 1847; Mary, on December 1848; Margaret, on December 27th 1851; Jane, on June 14th 1855; and Isabella Marwick, who was born on April 23rd 1859.
Thomas was paying rent of £11 18s 7d a year. Between 1879 and 1887 he was paying £33, but in 1895, when he was in his 81st year, he paid £24 rent for Broland and its 32 acres arable and 21 acres of pasture land.
Thomas’s son John married Janet [Jessie] Skethaway in 1877. She was the daughter of Simpson Skethaway and Margaret Craigie, Knarston, and she was one of twins born on December 26th 1853. They had two children: Margaret Jean [Maggie Jane], who was born on June 13th 1877, and Thomas, who was born on June 6th 1880.
In 1905 Maggie Jane married Archibald McCallum Leonard, son of James Inkster Leonard, Quoygray, later Cruannie, and Ann Marwick, Tou, who was born in 1881. They emigrated to Canada, raising a family of seven children in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
On May 9th 1932 Thomas Gibson [born 1880] married Mary Alexina Wylie, daughter of John William Wylie and Maggie Ann McLean, Grindlay’s Breck, who was born in 1911. They were married by warrant of the Sheriff-Substitute of Caithness, Orkney and Shetland at 5, Bridge Street, Kirkwall, by declaration in the presence of James Sinclair Scott, Tankerness Road, Kirkwall, and Clara Clouston Muir, Warrenfield House, Kirkwall. Thomas and Mary raised a family of four children at Broland between 1932 and 1946.
Thomas Gibson (senior), 1880-1958
ESSAQUOY
Variously spelled Ossaque in 1563, and Ossaquoy in 1595, other old rentals mention later occupants – James Mainland in 1653, and George Allan in 1734. This old farm of 24 acres lay immediately north of the old lands of Husabae in Sourin.
This was home to another of Betsy Marwick o’ Scockness’s “ten devils”, this one being Robert Marwick, born on July 29th 1806. On February 6th 1829 he married Isabel (Bell) Mainland, daughter of James Mainland and Christian Louttit of Cotafea, who was born on June 24th 1811. Between 1830 and 1857 they raised a family of thirteen children, seven daughters and six sons: Lydia was born in February 1830; James, in September 1831; Elizabeth, in September 1833; Mary, in June 1835; Ann Mainland, in April 1838; Margaret, in April 1840; John, in June 1842; Robert, in September 1845; William, in February 1847; Isabella, in July 1849; David, in April 1852; Elizabeth, in September 1853; and Isaac, who was born in October 1857.
Robert farmed the land here for many years, and having retired his son David took over the running of the farm. On May 26th 1876, 24-year-old David married Ann Leonard. She was the daughter of George Leonard and Margaret Clouston of Stourameadow and later Triblo and was born in 1856 when the family lived in Quandale. As a small child she was carried across the Rousay hills in her father’s arms when they were evicted from the Westside and moved to Triblo.
David and Ann raised a family of seven children at Essaquoy: Robert was born on February 10th 1877, followed by George on January 25th 1880, Bella, on January 11th 1882, Mary Ann on September 9th 1886, David Baikie on November 16th 1890, William Leslie on May 23rd 1895, and John Hourston, who was born on April 30th 1897.
Between 1880 and 1887 David was paying £16 a year rent, but in 1888 it was reduced by the Crofter’s Commission to £10 8s. At that time Essaquoy was made up of 24 acres arable and 1 acre pasture land.
In the early 1900s David and his family moved to Quoys in Wasbister. The new occupants of Essaquoy were widowed farmer John Mainland, with two of his daughters and a son to keep him company. John was the son of James and Mary Mainland, Onzibist, Wyre, and was born on January 4th 1839. On November 29th 1868 he married Margaret Mainland, daughter of Magnus and Janet Mainland, Testaquoy, later Cavit, who was born on May 21st 1846. They raised a family of eleven children between 1869 and 1891: Annabella was born in 1869; William, in 1871; Janet, in 1872; John, in 1874; James, in 1876; Magnus, in 1878; Margaret, in 1880; David, in1883; Hugh Wood, in 1885; Mary Jane, in 1887; and Robert, who was born in 1891. The children’s mother Margaret passed away in 1903.
Pictured to the right is John Hourston Marwick, born at Essaquoy on 30th April 1897, the son of David Marwick and Ann Marwick (née Leonard). Serving with the 58th Battalion, Machine Gun Corps, formerly 13092 Seaforths, he was killed in action near Epéhy in the Department of the Somme on 7th September 1918, aged 21. He is commemorated on Panel 10, Vis-en-Artois Memorial, Pas de Calais, France – and the Rousay War Memorial.
The name of John’s uncle, Isaac Marwick, is also inscribed on the memorial. Serving with the Mercantile Marine, he died on 25th February 1916, aged 58, in the sinking of S.S. “Southford” (Glasgow), which struck a mine and sank when leaving Harwich harbour. All the crew were saved, but Isaac died of a heart attack, brought on by the sudden immersion in cold water after being in the heat of the engine room.
Born at Essaquoy on 28th October 1857, the son of Robert Marwick and Bella Mainland, Isaac was married to Sarah Harrold from Rendall. They had two children, Robert and Maggie Ann. Isaac was a blacksmith at Rousay Pier, and was engineer on the steamer “Lizzie Burroughs” for a time. He was later engineer on S.S. “Hoy Head” for many years, and was aboard the S.S. “Southford”, when he met his death.
[All black & white photos are courtesy of the Tommy Gibson Collection]
Fa’doon is a croft in Sourin, Rousay, situated on the south-eastern slope of Kierfea Hill, lying at the foot of an abrupt and precipitous slope outside an old hill-dyke. What a view!
William Craigie, a farmer and fisherman, lived here in 1851. He was the son of William Craigie and Betty Leonard and was born at Cruar on November 14th 1807. On January 18th 1839 he married Janet Inkster, daughter of William Inkster and Margaret Gibson of Eastfea, Faraclett, who was born on March 2nd 1816. Between 1839 and 1861 they raised a family of eight children; Margaret was born on October 29th 1839; Mary, on May 19th 1842, but died very young; Betsy, on August 19th 1843; Mary, on October 15th 1846; William, on May 1st 1849; John Ritchie, on October 4th 1851; and James Gibson, on October 22nd 1856.
The family moved across Rousay Sound – to Newhouse, Egilsay, where another daughter, Jessie Ann, was born on May 4th 1861. Her father William Craigie was 54 years of age when he died of dyspepsia on the evening of May 14th 1862. His widow Janet moved back to Rousay, and moved into Mount Pleasant, Frotoft, where she lived with three of her children, William and John, who were sailors, and James, who at the time of the 1871 census was a 14-year-old schoolboy.
In 1864, 46-year-old John Craigie was tenant of Fa’doon, paying an annual rent of £6 for the 7 acres arable and 11 acres of pasture land. He was the son of James Craigie and Betty Marwick, born at Geordroine, Sourin, on December 30th 1817. [That house name is now obscure, though Hugh Marwick places it in the vicinity of the Old School.] In 1861 John married Betsy Sinclair, daughter of Robert Sinclair and Christian Inkster of Swandale, who was born on February 19th 1831. They had three children: Christina, born on March 26th 1862; David on December 21st 1863; and Elizabeth, who was born on February 7th 1871. Before her marriage Betsy had a son, John Harrold, who was born on December 11th 1855. He went to Melbourne, Australia, but after his half-brother David died whilst crossing the Red Sea on May 6th 1884 on his way to join him, nothing more was heard from John.
John Craigie passed away in the early hours of May 4th 1886. At this time the stock at Fa’doon consisted of one horse and two cows, the land covered 10 acres arable and 7 acres outrun, and now Betsy had to take over the running of the croft. On August 6th 1886 her daughter Christina married fisherman William Leonard Grieve, son of Robert Grieve, Outerdykes, later Whiteha’, and Isabella Leonard, Digro, and he was born on August 2nd 1850. Between 1887 and 1908 William and Christina raised a family of eight children at Fa’doon; William was born in 1887, married Ann Leonard Corsie, Knarston, and lived at Digro; John David, born on February 28th 1889, but was killed in World War 1; Robert, born on December 15th 1891, married Catherine Lyon and lived at Cruannie; Mary Ann, born on December 29th 1897, married James William Taylor and lived at Swandale; Isabella, born on March 26th 1900; Hannah Leonard, born on October 16th 1903, married James Irvine and lived in Kirkwall; James, born on April 8th 1906, married teacher Isabella Godsman Craigie; and Hugh, who was born on August 23rd 1908, married Janet Sinclair Mainland, Hurtiso, and lived at Saviskaill.
[All family photographs are courtesy of Alan Grieve]
Lee was the name of a cottage high up on the eastern slope of Kierfea Hill above Digro. Its first recorded occupants were John Pearson and his wife Janet McKinlay, both born c.1786. They were married on December 19th 1806, and had four children: James was born in May 1808; twins, John and Mary, were born in August 1810; and Robert, who was born in August 1813. On February 19th 1833 James Pearson married Mary Leonard, daughter of John Leonard and Isabella Inkster, who was born in August 1809, and they lived at Kirkgate, Wasbister.
In 1854 agricultural labourer William Logie paid 15s. rent for the property and it stayed at this sum all the time he lived there until the croft became vacant in 1871. On January 23rd 1829, William, who was born c.1793, married Janet Marwick, daughter of Magnus Marwick and Christy Craigie, and she was born c. 1790. They lived at Geramont, an old house above Nears in Frotoft, alternatively known as Cathole.
By 1861 William and Janet’s son William, a shoemaker, was also living at Lee, but was a widower by then. Born on July 24th 1831, he married Elizabeth Harrold on February 17th 1859. She was the daughter of Robert Harrold and Ann Banks, Cruannie, and she was born on March 13th 1827. They had a son, John, who was born in 1859, but tragically Elizabeth died within a year of his birth. At the time of the 1861 census Elizabeth’s unmarried 36-year-old sister, Mary, was nursing young John.
Circa 1890, Barbara Sabiston paid rent of 1 shilling for Lee and its 1.003 acres arable and 6.411 acres of pasture land. According to notes made by the Laird in his rent book, “the Widow Sabiston applied to become a crofter but was declared a cotter. Her children on Parochial Board relief in 1888.” [A cottar was a farm labourer occupying a cottage and land, supposedly rent-free].
‘The Widow Sabiston’ was born Barbara Harrold on November 7th 1824. She was the daughter of William Harrold and Elizabeth Grieve who lived at Hammermugly. On July 30th 1852, Barbara married 23-year-old George Sabiston of Whitemeadows, and they had seven children; Margaret was born in September 1854; Mary, in February 1855; James, in September 1856; John, in March 1858; William Harrold, in November 1859; David, in July 1861; and Alexander, who was born in April 1863. George Sabiston died in 1864 at the age of 34, and his young sons William and Alexander, at the ages of seven and four respectively, died of diphtheria in 1867, just 12 days apart. Barbara and her son James were the last occupants of Lee – both of whom passed away in 1905.
BLOSSOM
Blossom is today’s name of a house high on the ridge or shoulder of the hill on the eastern slope of Kierfea, just above the summit of the public road between Sourin and Wasbister. Years previously the croft was alternatively known as Hammermugly, Upper Quoys, and – The Blossan.
The 1841 census tells us that Upper Quoys, as it was known than, was home to William Harrold, a 60-year-old mason and small farmer, and his wife Elizabeth Grieve. William was the son of William Harrold and Mary Ann Mainland and he was born in 1777. His wife Elizabeth was born in 1781, and they were married on March 8th 1811. They had five children; Margaret was born on August 10th 1818; James, on November 26th 1819; Robert, on December 29th 1821; Barbara, on November 7th 1824; and William, who was born on September 16th 1826.
Come the census of 1851 William was described as a 73-year-old agricultural labourer, and eldest daughter Margaret earned a living as a dressmaker, her younger siblings no doubt also working on the land. Oddly enough there is no mention of their mother Elizabeth in this census – or the following one, in 1861 – but she does make a re-appearance at a later date.
A very old photo William and Elizabeth Harrold with one of their daughters
At the time of the 1861 census, carried out on April 8th of that year, head of the household William was recorded as an 80-year-old former seaman. No wife Elizabeth again, but living with him was his unmarried 34-year-old son William, who was a stonemason. His eldest son Robert, then a 40-year-old miller, also lived at Blossom as the house was then known, and with him were his wife and children. On November 11th 1853 Robert married 28-year-old Mary Grieve, daughter of Alexander and Catherine Grieve, Howe, Egilsay. They had seven children: Elizabeth, born in 1855; Mary, in 1856; Isabella, in 1857; Margaret Inkster, in 1859; Jane Seatter, in 1860; Robert Grieve, in 1862; and William Sinclair, who was born in 1868.
William Harrold died on March 8th 1865. By the time the census of 1871 was taken his widow Elizabeth, then in her 90th year, was back living at Blossom. Her son Robert and his family had moved to Kirkwall, so head of the household was her 44-year-old son William, a man of many trades. Stonemason, dyke builder, watch-maker and tinsmith, William married Betsy Marwick on June 9th 1865. She was the daughter of William Marwick and Jean Work, Outerdykes, and was born on November 29th 1837. They had three daughters: Jessie Ann (Jean) was born in November 1866; Betsy, in June 1869; and Mary Ann, who was born in June 1876. William’s mother Elizabeth passed away at Blossom on February 3rd 1874. William himself died in 1908, his widow Betsy still living at Blossom until she herself passed away in 1922 at the age of 84.
William and Betsy Harrold, with daughter Jean and her younger sister Betsy, c.1875
Later occupants of Blossom were the Linklater family. John Linklater was the son of John Linklater, Firth, and Catherine (Kitty) Grieve, Howe, Egilsay, and he was born in 1901. In 1921 he married Sarah Ann Mainland, daughter of John Corsie Mainland and Sarah Ann Rendall, Weyland, Egilsay, and she was born in January 1895. They had four children: Sarah Ann (Sally), who was born in 1923; Kathleen, in 1924; Thomas Mainland in 1925; and James Archibald, who was born in 1933.
SWARTIFIELD
Swartifield is the name of a small croft on the east slope of Kierfea Hill, north of Fa’doon. In the early 1800s it was occupied by farmer William Inkster and his wife Margaret Gibson. William originally lived at Eastafea, later incorporated into Faraclett, and he and Margaret were married on February 27th 1801. She was the daughter of John Gibson and Christy Mainland and was born in 1776. They had seven children: Hugh, who was born in December 1801; Christian (Christina), in January 1805; Margaret, in September 1807; William, in November 1810; Robert, in January 1813; Janet, in March 1816; and Thomas, who was born in November 1819. All the children were born at Eastafea, with the exception of Thomas, who was born at nearby Pow.
Come the census of 1851 William and Margaret were living at Nether Swartifield, she being in the 77th year by the on record as being 81 years of age and described as being ‘helpless.’ Their son Robert, born in 1813, was a fisherman and he lived in the main house at Swartifield with his wife Mary Leonard and 9-month-old daughter Anne. Married on January 11th 1849, Mary was one of the ten children of Peter Leonard and Isobel McKinlay of Digro, and she was born there on October 7th 1826.
In a hand-written land valuation roll dated 1865 Swartifield was spelled Swartaville, and its occupant, paying an annual rent of £1 5s 0d was – Robert ‘Inksetter’. Over the years the fishing became less profitable, and by 1871 Robert concentrated on farming the 30 acres of land at Swartifield, paying rent of £5 a year. By that time he and Mary had a family of eight children: Anne was born in 1850; Samuel, in 1852; James, in 1856; Mary, in 1858; Robert, in 1861; John, in 1864; Jessie, in 1868; and Margaret, in 1871. Their third oldest son Robert drowned in 1868 when he was just seven years old. His body was found off Warness, Eday, after falling from the cliffs close to home. Their oldest daughter Anne died in 1873 at the age of 23. Youngest daughter Margaret died in 1892, aged 21, the same year that her father Robert died at the age of 79. The second youngest daughter Jessie died in 1894 at the age of 26, and her mother, Mary, died in 1909, when in her 82nd year.
Click > here < to read of the problems Robert Inkster had with the laird when re-roofing and repairing the house at Swartifield in 1890.
By the turn of the century Robert and Mary’s son John and his family occupied Swartifield. John Inkster earned his living, not only as a crofter but also as a rural postman. His wife was Shetland lass Jane Irvine, and they married in 1894. After raising a family of eight children they moved down to Essaquoy and later to nearby Woo.
SWANDALE
Spelled Swindale in a Rental of 1595, Swandale was a farm in Sourin at the head of the valley between Kierfea and the Head of Faraclett. Hugh Marwick suggests the spelling most probably refers to the Old Norse word svin, swine – hence svin-dalr, swine-valley, and what better evidence of the existence of pigs in that locality is the superbly-built pigsty adjacent to the farm buildings, erected by stonemason William Harrold of The Blossan.
Swandale was jointly tenanted by Peter and John Allan in 1734. Archibald Sinclair was tenant in the early 1800’s. He was the son of George Sinclair of Brendale and later Faraclett and he was born at Wasthouse, Knarston, on May 1st 1752. He married Bell Louttit from Mouncey, Quandale, and they lived at Pow in Sourin, where their children, Robert, James, and John, were born, but they later moved to Swandale.
In the Sheriff Court Record Room in Kirkwall is preserved the record of a litigation (Spence v. Baikies) in 1817, regarding grazing rights in Rousay. From the evidence it appears that Archibald Sinclair ‘had acted as one of the Lawrightmen of Rousay the time of that order of these people in Orkney’. Lawrightmen were responsible, under the baillie, for law and order in their bounds.
The following story concerning Archibald Sinclair is from Robert C. Marwick’s book In Dreams We Moor. In it he appears to be on the other side of the law! A great deal of illicit brewing went on in Orkney in Archie’s time and Excise men were constantly on the prowl trying to track down those engaged in it. A quantity of malt ready for brewing was all the evidence they needed. One day Archie saw an Excise man coming down over the braes towards Swandale farmhouse. He immediately ran to the barn, heaved a sack onto his back and made for the nearby shore as quickly as he could. The Excise man seeing this as a blatant attempt to get rid of the evidence, gave chase. He soon gained ground on his quarry, who seemed to be making very slow progress even allowing for his load and the strong head wind blowing in from the shore. When the gap had closed to a few yards Archie turned and emptied out the contents of his sack, relying on the wind to do the rest. The irate Excise man realised he had been duped when he found himself covered in a thick layer of corn chaff with aans (bristles) that cling to clothing with an infuriating persistence and which are equally irritating to the skin. What added to the Excise man’s anger and, no doubt, to Archie’s enjoyment of the situation, was the knowledge that the ploy had been a mere diversion to give those back at the farmhouse time to find a secure hiding place for the malt.
Archie and Bell’s son James, born in 1783, married Marjory (Maidie) Hourston in February 1808. She was the daughter of James Hourston and Marian Craigie, and was born at Sound, Egilsay in 1780. They had six children: Mary, who was born at Guidal in July 1809; Margaret, at Brendale in April 1813; – and four more children who were born after the family had moved to Newhouse, Frotoft: Janet, in December 1815; James, in August 1818; Hugh, in March 1821; and John, who was born in March 1825. Their father James drowned off Scabra Head whilst fishing in 1825. His son James also drowned, when the Rousay postboat was lost in Eynhallow Sound in 1893.
James’ brother John was born in 1785. On January 4th 1816 he married Magdalene Craigie, daughter of Mitchell Craigie and Ann Mainland, who was born at Hullion in 1791. They raised a family of eight children, and settled at Tratland. John was at Hudson Bay between 1806 and 1813. He returned to Rousay and lived at Breck for a year before going to Tratland.
Archie Sinclair’s son Robert, born in about 1795, was tenant of Swandale in the 1840’s. On November 1st 1819 he married Betty Mowat, daughter of Thomas Mowat and Helen Peace of Scowan, who was born on July 9th 1798. They had three children; Margaret, who was born in August 1820; Robert, in May 1822; and Barbara, who was born in February 1824. Their mother Betty passed away soon after this last date, though no record of her death exists.
On November 10th 1826, Robert Sinclair married Christian Inkster, daughter of William Inkster and Margaret Gibson, who was born on January 25th 1805 at Eastfea, Faraclett, before the family moved to Swartifield. Between 1827 and 1849 Robert and Christian had ten children: eight sons and two daughters. In 1854 Robert paid an annual rent of eight guineas and in 1878 his son Hugh, born in 1849, who was then head of the household, took out a fourteen-year lease on Swandale’s 142 acres of land, for which he paid £35.0.0. a year. Hugh’s brother Thomas, born in 1841, also lived there with his family. Married on June 6th 1873, his wife was Mary Gibson, daughter of Thomas Gibson, Broland, and Jane Grieve, Outerdykes, and she was born in December 1848. They had five children: Jane, born in September 1873; Thomas, in December 1876; Annabella, in November 1879; Mary Marwick, in March 1884; and Jessie, who was born in November 1890.
Annabella Sinclair [born 1879] photographed in the early 1900s. [Orkney Library & Archive]
Robert C. Marwick tells us the Sinclairs of Swandale had the reputation of being very careful with money, even to the point of being thought tight-fisted. At the time of his death, in 1884, Robert Sinclair had savings amounting to £900, an amazing achievement considering that Swandale was not a good farm and that Robert had raised such a large family on it, and word had it that every penny he made ‘became a prisoner.’ It is said that his father Archie would go about in rags rather than spend money to make himself look more respectable. A story is told of a visitor to Swandale finding Archie dressed in his drawers, busily working away as usual. He had removed his trousers to avoid unnecessary wear and tear on them while he carried out some work in the farmyard midden.
In 1896 Hugh Craigie was the tenant of Swandale and its 43 acres arable and 102 acres of pasture, paying £23.0.0. rent. Hugh Harold Craigie was the son of Gilbert Shearer Craigie, Turbitail, and Jane Gibson, Burness, and he was born in April 1860. As a young man he moved to Balta-Sound, Unst, Shetland, where he was a master joiner. He returned to Rousay, and on April 1st 1886 he married 19-year-old Mary Mainland, daughter of boat builder John Mainland, Cruseday, and Margaret Craigie, House-finzie, later known as Finyo. The ceremony took place at Ervadale where Mary was living at the time; the officiating minister was the Rev. Archibald MacCallum of the Rousay Free Church, and Lydia Gibson and John Mainland were the witnesses. They later moved to Wyre, where Hugh farmed the land of Halbreck. They had two children: Hugh, born in 1886; and Margaret Jean [Maggie Jane], who was born in 1893. Their mother Mary was just 29 years of age when she died at the Balfour Hospital, Kirkwall, on January 9th 1896, having suffered from tuberculosis for almost a year.
On January 15th 1897 Hugh married again. His bride was 25-year-old Elizabeth Craigie, daughter of joiner John Craigie, Fa’doon, and Betsy Sinclair, Swandale, and she was born in February 1871. They had two daughters: Elizabeth, who was born on November 25th 1898, and Mary Ann, born on September 26th 1903.
Hugh Harold Craigie with his second wife Elizabeth Craigie, who were married in 1897.
In 1915 Hugh and Mary’s son Hugh, born in 1886, married Margaret Johan Marwick, daughter of Robert Marwick, Scockness, and Ann Blalick Hourston, Tankerness, who was born in August 1876. They had three children: Hugh Harold, born in 1917; Annie Mary, in 1920; and George Mainland, who was born in 1922. On March 17th 1916, Hugh’s sister Maggie Jane, born in 1893, married James Robert Lyon, son of Robert Watson Lyon and Catherine Lyon, Graemsay, later Ervadale, who was born in 1896. They had a family of seven children: Margaret Mary, who was born in 1916; Catherine Isabella, in 1919; James, in 1920; Ann, in 1923; Hugh, in 1925; Robert Watson, in 1929; and Elizabeth Craigie (Elsie), who was born in 1932.
From Hugh Harold Craigie’s second marriage to Elizabeth Craigie, daughter Elizabeth, born in 1898, was unmarried and passed away in South Ronaldsay at the age of 36. In 1938 her younger sister Mary Ann married George William Morrison, Kirkwall, and they had a daughter, Hazel Wilhelmina, who was born in 1940.
Hugh and Elizabeth are pictured below in their latter years – and on the right with their daughters Elizabeth and Mary Ann.
James William Taylor and his wife Mary Ann Grieve were later occupants of Swandale. James William was born in Stromness in 1893, the son of coach driver Henry Leash Taylor and Janet Montgomery, and he came to Rousay to work as a gardener at Trumland House. Mary Ann was third oldest of the eight children of William Leonard Grieve, and Christina Craigie, Fa’doon, where she was born in 1897. The house was also the setting for James William’s and Mary Ann’s wedding on February 16th 1923. The ceremony was performed by the Rev. David Simpson Brown, and witnessed by James Grieve, Fa’doon, and Maggie Ann Craigie, Trumland Farm. They had two children: James Gordon, born in 1926; and Mary Isobel (Mabel), who was born in 1933.
James William Taylor and Mary Ann Grieve, who were married in 1923
[All b/w photos, unless otherwise stated, are courtesy of the TommyGibson Collection.]