Author: Max Fletcher

William Alexander Mainland was born in Frotoft, Rousay, in 1763, or thereabouts. He, his two brothers, David and Alexander, and their parents lived at Tratland.

On April 10th 1795 William is on record as being an Ordinary Seaman aboard the 32-gun frigate HMS Astraea. An ordinary seaman was a man assigned to deck jobs as a trainee on ships. Working and gaining experience as a trainee followed by a couple of years as ordinary seaman allowed an individual to get a promotion as an able seaman.

The Astraea was a 32-gun frigate of 689.27 tons burden with an overall length of 140 feet, the length of the lower deck being 126 feet, a beam of slightly more than 35 feet, and a draft of 17 feet forward and 17½ feet aft. She was built in Robert Fabian’s boatyard at East Cowes, Isle of Wight, and launched in 1781. Having been rigged and fitted out she was commissioned in Portsmouth on October 1st, 1781, and with a total of 220 men and officers making up her roster, she was finally ready for duty in the Royal Navy.

Seamen were assigned various duties and rates dependent on their capabilities rising from Landsman when unskilled through Ordinary Seaman to Able Seaman when they could ‘Hand Reef & Steer’. The youngest and nimblest would be assigned to sail handling and were called topmen. Experienced hands might be given a minor responsibility such as Captain of the Maintop overseeing sail handling in that position or coxswain of a ship’s boat. A seaman joined a particular ship not the Royal Navy and in theory his service ended when the ship paid off although in time of war he was likely to be pressed immediately if he did not volunteer for further service in a new ship.

With the treaties of Paris and Versailles in 1783 an end was put to the war and for a period of ten years Britain was at relative peace. With the French invasion of the Netherlands early in 1793, however, Britain was once again drawn into war; and so was Astraea. Although she had played only a relatively minor role in the capture of the South Carolina ten years earlier, she was to score her first real triumph on April 11th 1795 when she captured the larger 42-gun French frigate La Gloire off the French coast near Brest, Brittany. At the time Astraea was commanded by Captain Lord Henry Paulet and she carried a crew of 212 men, whereas La Gloire carried a crew of 280 men. The first gun was fired at sunset and only after a long and severe battle did the French frigate strike her colours just before midnight.

Two months later on the 22nd of June, while Astraea was cruising with a fleet of 25 vessels commanded by Admiral Bridport on board the first-rate vessel Royal George, a French fleet consisting of 23 vessels was sighted. Due to light and variable winds the meeting was delayed 24 hours, by which time the fleets were off Groix, an island off the coast of Brittany in north-western France. According to British sources the actual engagement lasted four to five hours and resulted in the capture of three French vessels carrying nearly 700 killed and wounded men, while the British claimed a loss of less than 150 men.

According to William’s service record his next ship was HMS Victory. On May 11th 1803 his rank/rating was Able Seaman, and his ship’s pay book/service number was SB519. Under the comments section the word ‘prest’ was used, meaning an advance of money had been paid to him when he enlisted in the Royal Navy.

The ship’s Captain and nine commissioned officers were in overall charge of the ship and the crew, whilst warrant officers like the Boatswain, Gunner, Carpenter, Surgeon and Purser were specialists responsible for a single aspect. The Master, for example, looked after navigation and the ship’s log. The Royal Marines provided the ship’s fighting force and numbered 11 officers and 135 privates.

The great majority of the crew – over 500 – were the seamen who sailed or fought on the ship. These men were rated (and paid) according to their skill and experience; from the 70 skilled petty officers, through the 212 experienced able seamen and the 193 useful ordinary seamen right down to the 87 landsmen – who were without previous experience of the sea.

Able seamen like William Mainland were very experienced sailors who could serve at any of the stations of the crew. They could tie dozens of different knots, and knew when and where to use each. They could find any rope or line in the dark, make emergency repairs and instruct the younger men. When the men worked in isolated parts of the ship such as in the masts and rigging, the senior able seaman took command of the others, supervising their work.

For these men, living and working at sea was dangerous; it is estimated that 90% of the 92,000 British fatalities during the French revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars with France were caused by disease, accident and shipwreck. However, many of the aspects of life at sea which appear to us harsh, such as child labour and corporal punishment, were also a part of life ashore. Navy service was attractive in many ways. Although basic pay was relatively low (23s. 6d. a month for an ordinary seaman in 1805) compared to that of merchant seamen, the crew were guaranteed regular food and drink and a chance of prize money. William’s prize money amounted to £1 17s 6d. He had a Government grant of £4 12s 6d, and his monthly pay was £1 13s 6d. Experienced sailors would have been aware that, with many more men aboard, their duties were actually lighter than on merchant ships. The old belief that Victory’s sailors were forced to serve by the Press Gang, or were convicted criminals who chose to serve in the Navy rather than sit in gaol, is too simplistic. Among the crew at Trafalgar were 289 volunteers, as against 217 who had been pressed into service and no one at all who had been recruited from prison.

In five hours of fighting, the British devastated the enemy fleet, destroying 19 enemy ships. No British ships were lost, but 1,500 British seamen were killed or wounded in the heavy fighting. The battle raged at its fiercest around the Victory, and a French sniper shot Nelson in the shoulder and chest. The admiral was taken below and died about 30 minutes before the end of the battle. Nelson’s last words, after being informed that victory was imminent, were “Now I am satisfied. Thank God I have done my duty.”

Victory at the Battle of Trafalgar ensured that Napoleon would never invade Britain. Nelson, hailed as the saviour of his nation, was given a magnificent funeral in St. Paul’s Cathedral in London.

Back to William’s service record. After Trafalgar he spent a brief time on board HMS Ocean, and then joined the crew of HMS Fame, a three-masted 74-gun ship of the line, on January 17th 1806. His ship’s pay book number was SB66 and his rank/rating was Able Seaman – but on January 31st he was promoted to the rank of Quartergunner.

There was one quartergunner for every four guns on board a ship. The main duties of a quartergunner consisted of assisting the gunner, keeping the guns and carriages in working order and ensuring that there were sufficient supplies for their use. One of his tasks was to keep two matches burning day and night suspended over a bucket of water, for the gun’s themselves would have been kept in a constant state of readiness. The quarter gunners wore no special uniform or distinguishing marks but they were allowed small privileges such as sleeping on the berth-deck or on the cable tiers. They were paid between £1.16s and £2.2s per month.

HMS Fame’s armament was as follows: On the Lower Gun Deck were 28 British 32-Pounders; Upper Gun Deck 28 British 18-Pounders; Quarterdeck 12 British 32-Pound Carronades; Quarterdeck 2 British 18-Pounders; Forecastle 12 British 32-Pound Carronades; Forecastle 2 British 18-Pounders; and in the Roundhouse were 6 British 18-Pound Carronades.

In the Mediterranean in November 1808, whilst under the command of Captain Richard Henry Alexander Bennet, HMS Fame joined a squadron lying off the Gulf of Rosas. Captain Thomas, Lord Cochrane, was assisting the Spanish in the defence of Castell de la Trinitat in the province of Girona against the invading French army. Boats from Fame helped evacuate Cochrane’s garrison forces after the fort’s surrender on 5 December.

In June 1813 HMS Fame, under the command of Captain Walter Bathurst, participated in the siege of the Spanish port of Tarragona and rescue operations of sunken transports at the mouth of the Ebro. Fame returned to Chatham, and William was discharged from the Royal Navy on October 3rd 1814 ‘per Admiralty order.’

Tratland was a farm west of Hunclett and adjacent thereto. The Old Norse word þrœt(u)-land, translates to ‘dispute-land,’  from  þrœta, a quarrel, dispute, litigation, etc. This farm is not recorded in the early Rentals, and is probably a later settlement than Hunclett. Situated as it is between the old Hunclett and Frotoft tunships, it has probably formed a bone of contention between these two at one time. So wrote Hugh Marwick in his Place-Names of Rousay. The earliest mention of ownership is in 1738 with names Rolland Marwick and William Lerro making an appearance.

John Sinclair was the son of Archibald Sinclair and Bell Louttit of Pow, and he was born there in 1785. He was at Hudson’s Bay from 1806 to 1813, and on his return to Rousay he lived at Breck for twelve months before moving to Tratland. In 1816 he married 24-year-old Magdalene Craigie, daughter of Mitchell Craigie and Ann Mainland of Hullion, and between 1817 and 1831 they had eight children. Ann was born in February 1817; Mary, in May 1819; Margaret, in August 1821; Janet, in October 1823; Sarah, in May 1826; twins John and Isabel, who were born on October 19th 1828; and James, on November 1831.

James and Margaret Mainland farmed the 14 acres arable and 9 acres of pasture land at Tratland throughout the rest of the 19th century. In 1875 their daughter Sarah married John Reid, son of George Reid and Janet Harcus of Wasdale, who was born on November 6th 1837. Between 1876 and 1887 they raised a family of five children: John was born in August 1876; Margaret, in January 1878; George, in July 1880; Anna Gibson, in September 1884; and Mary Mainland, who was born in July 1887.

As a young man John Reid senior went to New Zealand where he worked as a gold-miner for 15 years. When he returned to Rousay he married Sarah and settled at Tratland. He and James Sinclair, News, ran the mail-boat between Rousay and Evie, but tragedy struck when both men were drowned when the boat was lost in October 1893. Four passengers, a mother and her three children were also lost.

The following is an inscription on his gravestone in the Westside kirkyard:-

Erected by Sarah Mainland
in memory of her beloved husband
John Reid
who died by drowning
while crossing Eynhallow Sound
11th October 1893, aged 56 years.
Also the above Sarah Mainland
who died 27th July 1922,
aged 72 years.

Son George became head of the household at Tratland. He married Minna Gibson, daughter of George Gibson, Avalsay, and Annabella Logie, Pier Cottage. George and Minna had two daughters, Annie and Minnie. Annie married John Petrie, Onzibist, Wyre, and Minnie married his brother George.

[Photographs courtesy of Olive Kemp and Tommy Gibson]

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AN EARTH-HOUSE AT GRIPPS, FROTOFT, ROUSAY, ORKNEY

by WALTER G. GRANT, F.S.A.Scot.

Early in April 1937, while Mr George Reid, farmer, Tratland, was harrowing a field of oats on the adjoining farm of Gripps, one of the barrow tines so displaced a thin-edged stone that it would have interfered with future farm work. Mr Reid, on trying to pull it out of the ground, found it to be quite loose but could not extract it. When he let go his hold the stone fell into a cavity which, on a little investigation, proved to be an earth-house. A lintel stone that was broken across was removed, and access to the chamber, which had not been filled up by the infiltration of soil, was obtained. After the mouth of the entrance passage had been cleared of accumulated soil, the broken lintel, which had first drawn the attention of the farmer and was subsequently removed, was replaced by a similar slab from the beach nearby and the surface of the field was levelled up.

The building is situated about 40 feet above high-water mark, some 120 yards north-north-east of the shore of Eynhallow Sound and 150 yards west-south-west of the farm steading of Tratland. Before its discovery there was not the slightest surface indication of the presence of any building.

In constructing the earth-house a trench had been dug into the clayey subsoil towards the rising hillside, running in a north-east direction for 12½ feet, where it turned to the north into the widened chamber (fig. 1).

The trench and inner enlarged part were then roofed over with slabs set from 6 inches to 27 inches apart; these in turn carried generally lighter slabs laid lengthwise with the passage and chamber. The clay walls of the trench and chamber were left unfaced by building, but additional support to the cross-lintels in the chamber was given by five slabs set on end against its natural clay walls and by one pillar formed of built masonry.

Entrance to the passage is obtained by two steps down, the first cut into the clay and the second having a laid stone tread. The passage therefrom measures some 10 feet long with an average width of 2 feet 6 inches, a height of 2 feet 8 inches at its outer end, and, the floor rising some 4 inches, a height of 2 feet 4 inches at the inner end.

The inner chamber running south to north measures approximately 8 feet in length and 3 feet in greatest width; its maximum height in the centre is 2 feet 11 inches. From 2 to 6 inches of silt covered the floor, and the scarcity of relics which it contained was disappointing. Of stone there were an oblong object (1) with rounded corners, having two notches on one edge and measuring 11¼ inches by 7½ inches by 1⅛ inch; a rude club-like implement (2) 10⅞ inches in length; a cleaver-like implement (3) 10⅞ inches in length, and a hammer-stone.

Four pieces of pumice were also found, two being round and another grooved on one side. The pottery comprised the rim and portion of the wall of a vessel (fig. 2) of dark red ware containing crushed stone. The mouth has been about 8½ inches in diameter and the wall is 5/16 inch thick. There were also a small rim fragment, flat on top and ⅜ inch in thickness, a basal fragment, a few more fragments of other vessels, and two small pieces of what looks like a clay mould.

A human molar, parts of the tooth of an ox or deer, the crown of the milk tooth of a pig, fragments of animal bones (unidentifiable), and a splinter of flint were also recovered.

It is well known that in Orkney there is a class of earth-house of very small size which so far has not been recorded from any other part of Scotland. Such have the lintelled roof supported by pillar stones often brought up to the requisite height by the insertion of small slabs.

These pillars are frequently placed some distance from the wall. Sometimes the wall is of the natural clay, but at times this is supplemented by building. In the earth- house described the walls are formed entirely of the natural subsoil, against which the supports of the roof are placed, and it is notable in having a longer entrance passage than any of the other Orkney examples.

Mr Reid has earned the thanks of all Scottish archaeologists for the steps he took for the preservation of the building, and I was glad to have the opportunity of discussing the structure with the late Dr Graham Callander, who was able to visit the site a few weeks after its discovery.

[Reference: pp 273-275 Society of Antiquaries of Scotland Vol. LXXIII 1938-39
Available in the Orkney Room at Orkney Library & Archive.]

COTAFEA is a house in Frotoft to the south of the public road, between Langstane and Gripps, the site of which is now the excellent Taversoe Hotel.

William Mainland, born in 1788, was the son of James and Mary Mainland of Banks in Sourin. In 1813 he married Sicilia Mainland and they had six children; Marjory, Ann, William, James, Christopher and Hugh, who were born between 1814 and 1822.

In 1824 William married his second wife, Barbara Reid, oldest daughter of George Reid and Barbara Logie of Pow, Westside, who was born in 1801. They had two children while they lived at Banks, Sourin, George and Mary who were born in 1826 and 1827. The family then moved to Cotafea, where a further five children, Jean, Peter, John, Harriet, and Ritchie, were born between 1830 and 1843.

In the early 1900s Cotafea was occupied by the Sinclair family. Tom Sinclair was a son of Thomas Sinclair, Swandale, and Mary Gibson, Broland, and he was born on December 28th 1876. In 1905 he married Mary Inkster, daughter of Hugh Inkster, Ervadale and Shetland, and his first wife Isabella Kirkness, Quoyostray, and she was born in 1880 when they were living at Greenfield, Unst, Shetland. Thomas and Mary had four children; Thomas, born in 1907; Ann [known as Cissie] in 1908; Mary Isabel, [Mabel], born in 1910; and Lily.

The Sinclair family moved to Banks, Frotoft, and Tom Sinclair, father and son, ran the post-boat between Rousay and Evie for many years – and their story can be read under the heading of Banks, Frotoft in the main menu.

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GRIPPS, also known as No 7, Frotoft, was built in 1846-7 at a cost of £48.19s.1d. Its first tenant was Magnus Marwick who, having moved there from Nears, paid rent of £5.10.0. Magnus, born in 1795, was the second and youngest son of Magnus Marwick and Christy Craigie. On December 19th 1828 he married 35-year-old Rebecca Craigie, daughter of Rowland Craigie and Janet Craigie, and they had three children; Mary, born in October 1829; William, in April 1832, but died before the 1841 census; and Ann, who was born in April 1834, who died before the 1861 census.

On November 8th 1861, elder daughter Mary married her first cousin, 31-year-old James Marwick, the son of Rowland Marwick and his second wife Isabel Craigie of Nears. In 1871 James was head of the household and farming 10 acres at Gripps and by that time he and Mary had four daughters; Mary Robertson, born in August 1863; Ann, in October 1865; Margaret Robertson, who was born in July 1867; and Sarah Mainland, in October 1868.

Rebecca Craigie Marwick died in April 1863 in front of Tratland from “suicide by drowning in a fit of insanity.”  Her husband Magnus died at Gripps in 1879 at the age of 84. Between 1879-1887 James paid an annual rent of £8.

James Marwick’s half-brother Magnus was 27 years old when he emigrated to Canada in 1843 with his sister Christina and their 24-year-old cousin James Clouston, son of David Clouston [weaver, living at Moan, Wasbister] and Janet Alexander (Barbara Marwick’s (sister of Rowland Marwick) daughter). The men were allocated 50 acres of land each: Magnus’s was on Conc. 11, lot 33, east half, Brant Township, Bruce County, Ontario, and James Clouston’s 50 acres was on the west half of Conc. 11, lot 33. A handwritten note to the land agent dated Oct. 19, 1854 exists to this day, stating that Magnus deposited 5 pounds for the north half of lot 33. The 1861 census lists him as owning a 100-acre farm worth $300 with a one-storey log house. In fact he only had three acres cultivated with potatoes, turnips and spring wheat which made family members today think he wasn’t the greatest farmer! The 1881 census has Magnus and Christina living together on the farm, but he died in 1886 and left the farm to his sister.

It was then she asked her half-brother James to leave Rousay and come to Canada and help her on the farm. It was in 1888 that James, his wife Mary, and their three daughters left Orkney and crossed the Atlantic. Unfortunately James died in 1891, and Christina passed away in 1902, leaving the farm to her three nieces, Annie, Maggie, and Sarah. By 1903 though, the girls had started to sell off the land, half to surviving members of the Clouston family and half to the Thater family. By that time Annie and Sarah were married, and Maggie and mother Mary were living with Annie and her husband in Toronto.

My grateful thanks to Sandra Grant, of London, Ontario – great granddaughter of Sarah Mainland Marwick, for the use of her information and photographs.

Regarding a correction in the name of the lady in the middle of the above photo Sandra comments: ‘I think it is Annie – she had a longer face than Maggie. My grandmother (Sarah’s daughter-in-law) was pretty good about labelling pictures but I notice that one has my dad’s writing on it. I do wish more ancestors wrote names on photos!’

Meanwhile, back in 1891 Gripps was the home of James Mainland Craigie, a 32-year-old farmer and postman. He was the son of John Craigie, the ‘Young Laird,’ and Sarah Sinclair of Hullion, one of twins born on July 19th 1858. He married Maggie Mainland, daughter of John Mainland and Mary Sinclair of the Bu, Wyre, and they had two daughters, Adelaide, born on December 28th 1884, and Maggie, born on November 1st 1885. James was a postman first in Rousay and later in Firth on the Mainland.

In 1894 William Logie was the tenant of Gripps, paying £7 5s 0d rent for the property with 6 acres of arable and 4 acres of pasture land, the 1901 census describing William as 37-year-old farmer and post boatman. William’s mother was Betty Logie, whose parents were Alexander Logie, merchant, Quoygrinnie/Cott, Westside, and Isabel Harold. William married Isabella Robertson, daughter of John Robertson, Banks, Frotoft, and Isabella Corsie of Nears. William and Isabella had three sons, Charles, John, and William.

Sadly Isabella, or Isie o’ Gripps as she was known, suffered complications during a pregnancy, leading to heart failure and her demise at 2pm on February 13th 1910. The census of the following year showed William living up at Mount Pleasant with eight-year-old son John.

[The three photos above, and all those in black and white under
the Cotafea heading are courtesy of Tommy Gibson.]

In the mid-1850s there a house named Cott on the Westside, there was one in the Brinian, also known as Coatmode, and one at No. 4, Frotoft.

Living at No 4 at that time was Peter Louttit, a 69-year-old farmer of 6 acres, his wife Jean, who was 62, their son David, a 15-year-old scholar, and 22-year-old Lydia Mowat, who was employed as a house servant. Between 1847 and 1859 Peter was paying £5 10s 0d rent.

In 1871 James Mainland was farming the 8 acres of land at Cott and paying £9 rent. He was one of triplets born to Alexander Mainland, Cruseday, and Janet Kirkness, daughter of James Kirkness and Ann Harold. James and his siblings were born on February 23rd 1839. He was 19 years of age when he married Margaret Mainland, the daughter of Nicol Mainland and Margaret Louttit of Banks, Frotoft, and she was born on April 24th 1831. They had seven children; William, born in April 1858; Lydia, born in January 1860; another William, in March 1863; John, born in August 1865; Nicol, in January 1869; Harriet, who was born  in December 1870; and Margaret, born in May 1875.

In the early 1900s Cott was occupied by John Shearer, born at Lady, Sanday, in 1865, and earned a living as a farmer, cutter, and tailor. With him was his wife Lydia, and their six children: John, William, Robert, Eva, James, and David.

By the time the 1911 census was carried out on April 5th of that year, the Shearer family had left Rousay. Cott was then occupied by John Mainland, a 47-year-old seaman, who was captain of the steamer Fawn for a time. He was the son of John Mainland, Cotafea, and Mary Reid, Wasdale, and he was born in March 1864. His wife was Betsy Craigie Mainland, daughter of John Mainland, Cruseday, and Lydia Mowat from Scowan, below Redlums, Sourin. Married in 1896, John and Betsy had three children; George William, born in September 1897; John, born in September 1899; and Lydia Mary, known as Edda, who was born in August 1902. The family were living at Mount Pleasant, above Hullion, before moving down the hill to Cott.

Langstane was the name of a small croft in Frotoft, named after the old ‘standing stone’ adjacent to the farm buildings. It was also known as Section V, or No. 5, Frotoft, and John Mowat paid £7 10s 0d rent annually to farm the eight acres of land in the late 1840s.

John was the son of Thomas Mode and Helen Peace of Milnhouse, halfway between the public school and Woo in Sourin, and he was born in 1794. In 1824, he married 34-year-old Isabella Yorston of Trumland and they had five children; Margaret was born on February 25th 1825, Betty on April 17th 1827, Lydia on March 30th 1829, Jean on July 23rd 1831, and John, who was born on October 7th 1835.

John died in 1869 at the age of 75, and his widow Isabella moved into a cottage at neighbouring Cotafea. In 1852 their third oldest daughter Lydia married farmer and boat builder John Mainland of Upper Cruseday, and by 1871 they and their family had moved into Langstane. John was the son of David Mainland and his second wife Marion, and was born on March 1st 1819. Between 1854 and 1873 he and Lydia had nine children: Hugh, who was born in February 1854; John, in September 1855; Mary, in October 1857; Jane Hughina, in March 1860; Janet, in October 1862; Duncan, in May 1865; Betsy Craigie, who was born on February 16th 1867; Isabella, in August 1869; and Lydia Ann, who was born on June 18th 1873. John paid £11 5s 0d rent on the property in 1875. This rose to £13 in 1876 and stayed at that rate between then and 1887. Langstane was made up of 10 acres arable and 4 acres pasture land.

Langstane was eventually occupied by Mainlands again for many years – sisters Isabella and Lydia Ann ending their days there in the 1950’s when they were 90 and 82 years old respectively.

Grateful thanks to Graham Lyon, Sandwick, for allowing its reproduction here. Graham writes:- “This was a wedding gift to my great-grandparents Betsy and John Mainland, and dated the year they married.”  

[All black & white photos courtesy of Tommy Gibson]

In Frotoft, the houses were known by both name and number – Breek was No.1; Burrian, No.2; Brough, No.3; Cott, No.4; Langstane, No.5; the first recorded occupant of Cot-a-Fea, No.6, was John Craigie in 1794; Gripps, No.7, was built in 1846; and an old parochial register informs us that Tratland, No.8, was occupied by Rolland Marwick and William Lerro in 1738.

BREEK was the name of an old house in Quandale, north of Tofts, and in the early 1800’s it was occupied by George Flaws and his wife Margaret Low. George was born about 1785 and Margaret was born in 1782. They had four children; Margaret, Janet, George, and Jane, all of whom were born at Breek between 1817 and 1825. They lived at Deal for a while before being evicted from Quandale in 1845. By 1846 a small croft and house, also named Breek, was built in Frotoft and occupied by the Flaws family, the annual rent being fixed at £4 10s. 0d.

The census of 1851 records the fact that 27-year-old son George was head of the household, and at that time he was earning a living as a blacksmith and farmer. Living with him was his father George, then 66 years of age, his mother Margaret, in her 69th year, and his 24-year-old sister Jane, who was employed in the house.

George worked in the smiddy for many years, and though retired by 1881 he still lived at Breek. At this time joint-tenant James Johnston and his family also lived there. At this time the rent was £7 0s. 0d. per annum, but was reduced to £5 in 1893.

James, an agricultural labourer, was the son of John Johnston and Elizabeth Reid of the Brinian, and was born in 1839. He married Ann Craigie of Hullion and they had two children, James and Isabella. He then married Bell Corsie, the daughter of Alexander Corsie and Ann Sinclair of Cruseday, who was born in 1850. They had three children; Alexander, William and Aggie.

John Marwick was a later occupant of No. 1. He was the son of William Marwick and Sarah Leonard of Quoygray, and he married the aforementioned Aggie Johnston. They had three children, John, born in November 1913; James, who was born in November 1914; and Hugh, also a November baby, born a year later in 1915.

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BURRIAN, also known as No. 2 Frotoft, was where joiner William Mainland and his wife Isabella lived in 1841. William, son of William Mainland and Alison Rendall of Testaquoy, Wyre, was born in 1813. They lived at Burrian for many years, originally paying £4.10.0. rent in 1846 and £6.15.0. in 1879.

Burrian is situated between two other crofts, Breek and Brough. 34-year-old crofter/fisherman David Johnston was the son of John Johnston and Elizabeth Reid of Brinian. In 1891 he lived at Burrian with his wife Fanny Mackay of Thurso and niece Eliza Reid, a 13-year-old scholar. In 1894 David paid £6.0.0. rent. In an old estate account book the laird, General Frederick William Traill-Burroughs wrote, “He may have become a crofter but decided to be dishonest!”

Later occupants were James Alexander and Sarah Ann Marwick. Sarah Ann was the second of ten children born to Hugh Marwick, Whitemeadows, and Mary Inkster, Innister. She was born in April 1862, and had a son James Smith Marwick, born in 1885 – always known as James Smith. Sarah married James Alexander, son of Magnus Alexander, Cairn, and Margaret Inkster, Deithe, and he was born in 1854.

Sarah Ann’s son James Smith married Catherine Foulis of Deerness in 1907. They had three children, James, William, and Sarah. Sarah married Neil Flaws, son of Magnus Flaws and Williamina McKenzie of Halbreck, Wyre, but she died in 1942 aged just 26.

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BROUGH, the farm on the Westside of Rousay, was the famous old homestead of the Craigie family. From 1823 it was occupied by Magnus Craigie, and the census carried out in Rousay in 1841 tells us that Magnus was then a 40-year-old farmer, his wife Mary was 35 years of age, oldest daughter Janet was 20 and employed as a servant, and younger daughter Mary was 13 years old.

Moving along from Burrian in Frotoft we come to No. 3, and when the census of 1851 was carried out on March 31, it was occupied by 38-year-old widowed farmer James Smith and his two young children, seven-year-old George, and John, who was three at that time.

By 1861 Magnus and Mary Craigie had moved from Brough on the Westside to Frotoft and they took the name with them, the census revealing their occupancy of ‘Section 3’. Magnus was in his 63rd year by that time, and he was farming five acres of land there. His wife Mary was then 56 years of age.

Later occupants of Brough were James Craigie and his wife Isabella Kirkness. James was the son of James Craigie and his first wife Betty Marwick, and he was born in August 1822 at Quoyferras [Faro], the family later moving to Wasbister, when James senior married Jean Craigie of Claybank.

In 1868 James junior married 22-year-old Isabella Kirkness, daughter of James Kirkness, Quoyostray, later Grain, and Grace Craigie, Deithe. Their four children were Isabella, born in July 1869; Mary Kirkness, born in June 1871; James, born in February 1873; and John Kirkness, who was born on August 1st 1876.

The 1911 census reveals Brough being occupied by John Gibson and family. John was the son of David Gibson, latterly Hullion, and Ann Sinclair, Newhouse, and he was born in 1876. In 1901 he married 33-year-old Margaret Craigie, daughter of Hugh Craigie, Turbitail, and Ann Gibson, Langskaill, and he earned a living as a fisherman. They had a son David, born in 1906, also a fisherman, and he was married to Mary Jane Donaldson, second of nine children of Alexander Donaldson, Vacquoy, and Margaret Jessie Inkster, Woo.

John and Margaret had moved into Brough in 1906, along with Margaret’s mother Ann following the death of her husband Hugh at Turbitail. Apparently they had hoped to rent Corse, but the tenants of Brough got the Corse tenancy and so they were offered Brough instead. They rented it until the estate was sold off in 1922 when they paid £125 for it.

[All photos from the Tommy Gibson Collection]

Hullion – From 1907 Onwards

by Kathleen [Kitto] Gibson

Kitto Gibson was a daughter of Hullion merchant James Gibson and his wife Mary Cooper. She was born in 1907, and as a child lived at Hullion with her six siblings. She was later a teacher at the Frotoft school, married Robert Harcus, and passed away in 1974 at the age of 67.

My thanks to Edith Gibson for allowing me to transcribe her aunt’s valuable handwritten document, and giving new readers a fascinating insight into Hullion’s past.

Over the past sixty years, life and circumstances in Rousay have changed so much that it should be of interest to recall life as it used to be. The writing will certainly be deemed nostalgic, but I shall attempt to confine my efforts to recording the happenings at Hullion, where I was born. So large was the family there that many aspects of life will be presented to the reader.

Hullion is one of the oldest houses in Rousay. The title deeds were dated 1649 when my father had them. After the farm was bought by the late Walter G. Grant he had the title deeds altered, and all the ancient rights were deleted. At the time the Craigie’s lived at Hullion there was a drinking room there [our kitchen], a pork house, where pork was salted, and a sewing room above the shop. Certainly the shop must have been a busy place then. My grandparents came from Snelsetter, Longhope, to live at Hullion when my father was a young man. The Gibson family numbered nine – five girls and four boys. My grandmother was a sister of Hugh Sinclair of Newhouse, which is directly above Hullion. At right-angles to Hullion was the Post Office, owned by John Craigie, who had originally been at Hullion. These three homesteads, so near to each other, formed a township on their own. The Post Office was the only telegraph office in Rousay. The mails came from Evie to the Hullion pier, and the Rousay Co-operative Society had a shop at Newhouse for a time. This meant that in my father’s youth there were as many people at these three houses as are now in all the houses from Westness to Hullion.

My grandparents made many alterations to the house when they took over Hullion. I imagine that it was quite a grand house then, but to us it was just our home! The kitchen was a low, cosy room, with a flag floor [long slabs of stone]. Hefty undressed beams held up the ceiling, which was really the floors of the two bedrooms above. I can remember an architect from the Office of Works suddenly getting up from his chair in the kitchen one day. He begun to measure the space between the beams and told my father that according to all the rules of architecture the house should have fallen down. My father’s reply was that “the auld hoose wid be standin’ when they were both in their graves”. This has proved true, altho’ the old kitchen, now no longer used, has at last got a sagging roof. The walls were three to four feet thick and there were two windows which opened like doors. The one at the front of the house was normal size, with four large panes of glass. The one at the back was tiny and also had four panes of glass. Apparently there was no window at the back when the Gibsons came there. My grandmother selected the spot for her back window. When the masons made a hole in the wall there they found a little window, complete with glass, which had been built up. The present window is still the same size. Its hinges are of leather and it is secured by a wooden “tirlo.”

A winding stair went from the outside door to the two bedrooms above. The first three steps were of stone and the others wooden. To cover up these steps in the kitchen a little closet was made. It was triangular and had a shelf about half way up the wall. The shelf was wide at the front and tapered into a point at the back. On the shelf were a basin and soap dish, while a long roller towel was fixed on the inside of the closet door. Here everyone washed their hands. At the back of the shelf there were boot brushes, stove brushes, flue brushes etc. Under the shelf stood the paraffin flask and the pail for dirty water. All clean water had to be carried in from the well, and all dirty water was carried out and emptied in the “middin”.

The kitchen furniture was plain – a table with drop sides and wooden chairs and armchairs which had to be scrubbed every Saturday. Other seating was a long wooden settle, an Orkney chair and a big creepie. A big press stood in one corner and a dresser and small girnel completed the furniture. The walls were always covered in gaily patterned paper and there were bright curtains at the windows. We had a downstairs sitting room and one upstairs. The one downstairs was in constant use, but “the best room” upstairs was seldom used. As children we called it the “chapel”, because of its unusual ceiling. The wooden ceiling was quartered, with lines running into a centre piece – rather like those in a church. There were quite a few good pieces of furniture in this room and many unusual ornaments. Pictures hung in tiers of three. There were thirty-six altogether. Father was quite dismayed when his young daughters reduced the number to twelve. He asked what we had done with “mother’s pictures”.

When I first remember there were eight bedrooms in use. Although the family was so numerous there was always room for guests. My mother kept boarders who had the use of the “best room” and the best bedroom and sometimes another smaller bedroom. The front door opened on to another stair – eleven wooden steps – which went straight up to the “best room” and four bedrooms. When paying guests were in the house we children didn’t use the front door and only used the stairs to get to and from our beds. In my schooldays there were five Gibsons, and four Leonards to get out to school every morning. The four Leonards were cousins – their mother was a sister of my father and a widow. It was quite easy, apparently, to keep nine children away from the front of the house. Instead of going up “the close”, which was what we called the nicely laid brigsteens, we used “the lower way” from the kitchen door. That way led down five rough stone steps to dairy, wash-house, byres etc. Then there was a cassied-walk for the cattle and a rough path along the midden dyke to the road. Although we children tried to be neither seen nor heard our boarders often found where we played with kittens and pups, or at some of our old fashioned games. They were anxious to speak with us and I’m afraid got some puzzling answers. One minister asked a cousin her name. She replied “ ‘Peggy’ – Maggie Jessie Leonard”. When asked what her brother’s name was she said “Billy Gibson”. Strangely enough we never used “thee” and “thou” when speaking. On looking back I think this may have been because even then we were talking very proper English in school and had teachers, doctors and ministers as family relations. The funniest sentence I recall is a question asked by a school inspector. He said to my mother, “Mrs Gibson, do you “thee” and “thou” your husband?” He must have noticed they did just this, although we children seldom used the words.

Our boarders came from various walks of life. We had our regulars – pension-officers, school inspectors and travellers. Dr Mackintosh, from Evie, often had to spend a night at Hullion. He attended patients in Rousay when there was no resident doctor. Other names that come to mind are the Storer Clouston family, and old Colonel Johnstone. He seemed a very quiet and retiring man, and thus we missed a golden opportunity for improving our botanical knowledge. We are often asked if the house is haunted. To this I can find no answer. Like all houses it has sounds that cannot be explained. The most peculiar one at Hullion is the opening and shutting of a door. Whoever hears it so often calls out, “Anybody there?”, or goes to see who has come in. Over the years we have exclaimed – “Oh, its that man again!” I cannot say that this has ever alarmed me and there is not a trace of a hostile or antagonistic “presence” about the place. If often wonder if Dr Mackintosh got a fright one night when he had to occupy the best bedroom unexpectedly. In the wee sma hoors a little girl in her goonie and carrying a lighted candle opened the door and came into his room. Never glancing at the bed, she lifted the carafe of water and walked out again, closing the door quietly afterwards. He certainly mentioned it at breakfast the next morning. My mother had to explain that the children knew they could always find a drink of water in the two spare bedrooms. His nocturnal visitor had been a thirsty member of the family who certainly didn’t realise that the room was occupied that night. As a child I hated the long dark passages, both upstairs and downstairs, but this is quite a natural reaction in children I find.

People with all “mod-cons” ask how we managed without piped water and no bathroom. When one is brought up without these, one can live quite comfortably. Our best bedroom had a double bed and a double washstand, with towel rails at each end. On each hung a huckaback hand towel and a terry towel. There were two oval-shaped blue and white china basins and one fat dumpy ewer for cold water. One big soap dish and two little ones and a china jar also stood on the top. This vase-shaped jar was for a gentleman’s shaving water. There were two drawers below the top surface. Under the drawers there was a little cupboard which held the chamber [po, we called it]. In the corner there was a china slop pail with a lid and a wicker handle. For hot water we had tin hot water cans. They resembled garden watering cans, but had a lid hinged in the middle. A can of hot water and the visitor’s cleaned boots or shoes were set on the mat outside their bedroom door every morning. The other spare room had a single bedroom-set, a less elaborate washstand and an enamel slop-pail, with lid. All other bedrooms had a washstand, some with a tabletop, and some with a hole cut in the top for a basin. All basins were enamel and a saucer served as a soap dish. The po always stood under the end of the bed.

There was work around the house called men’s wark and other work was exclusively wimen’s wark. One of the jobs for women was to make beds and empty the slops from basin and po. This was no-one’s favourite task, but undertaken as part of the daily round. Emptying the slops was quite a ceremony according to mother’s instructions. Armed with a large tinnie of water, a zinc bucket and a “po-cloot” we had to do the rounds of the bedrooms. First we emptied the basin and washed it out with clean water. Then we emptied the po, rinsed it out with water and wiped it clean. The slops were emptied on the middin and the pail rinsed out at the soft water barrel. The “po-cloot” was hung up on a nail on an outside wall.

There was the “peedie-hoose” – an outside W.C. or dry closet for visitors. When any member of the family was confined to bed the commode was moved to the room where it was needed. Otherwise the women and young children used the byre and the big boys and men used the stable. The upper part of the oddlers was used because younger kye banded there and there was little danger that they would annoy you. After you had relieved yourself you were supposed to cover your mess with a wisp of hay or straw. This practice always reminded me of cats scraping earth over their dirt! When the byre was cleaned all was pushed out with a big scraper through the dung hole. The stable had a little pile of dung just inside the door. This was the men’s W.C. As we grew older we had two W.C.s – one for the men, above the hoose, and one for the women, below the hoose. Now, of course, there is a flush lavatory. But during the summer of 1968 I had a most nostalgic experience. I visited the nicest, tidiest, little place I had been to for a long time. Before we left for a long drive home I asked if I could go to the bathroom. The lady of the house said, “You could pee in the byre”. I said I’d do just that. She showed me into a very clean byre with sanded floors and I felt like a bairn again!

Even if you had to answer the call of nature out in the fields you were always supposed to cover up your mess with a stone or with grass. Nowadays it seems a child must have a potty or a bathroom or have to dash wildly home before it can get relief. In the old days the call of nature was always respected. I heard a tale of a lonely little boy who never wanted to leave his playmates and go into a meal with his grown-ups. Many times when he heard his name shouted he used to pop his head above a dyke and call back, “I kinno come noo for am dirtin!” It seems this excuse was always accepted and allowed the lad to stay with his companions a bit longer.

NB: On Wednesday 3rd June 1970, my brother, David Gibson, had the old iron grate and wooden mantelpiece removed from the downstairs sitting room in Hullion. He is to install an electric fire there. When sweeping the chimney before boarding it up he discovered a large iron hook firmly imbedded in the back wall of the chimney. To remove it would have damaged the wall, so it was left there. My sister tells me that this room was at one time the kitchen and must have had an open hearth fire.

The building now covered with ivy at Hullion was one of the early two storey houses in Rousay [known as Holland]. It had only two rooms. The downstairs room had a big open hearth and the upstairs one a tiny fireplace and a very small window. There was an outside stone stairway that led to the upper room. Built into this stairway was a recess, which I’m told was a peat-neuk.

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In the mid-1930s Kitto was the teacher at Frotoft school, at which time there were just six pupils – one of whom was her brother Dave. Two of the other pupils were John Mainland and his sister Sheila of Nears. My thanks to Sheila for allowing me to reproduce her memories of those Frotoft schooldays.

Kitto with her pupils in 1936: Ronald Stevenson and Dave Gibson, and in front:
Harry Marwick, John Mainland and Jimmy Pirie. Unfortunately Sheila
had left the school by the time the photo was taken.

[Photo courtesy of Tommy Gibson]

“When I started at Frotoft school there were only six other children. One, Ronald Stevenson, left after three months and another, Dave Gibson, after six. Dave’s sister, Kathleen was the teacher throughout my time at school. She became Mrs. Harcus when I was 12. As the oldest pupil at that time it fell to me to present her with the wedding gift from the pupils. She cycled over from Hullion every morning and we would watch as she went past the window trying to judge by her expression what kind of mood she was in.

The day always started with the Lord’s prayer followed by copybook time using pen and ink. We had a cup of cocoa at peedie playtime and kept our piece for the longer break. Playtime games included rounders, football and picko. On wet days we played marbles and ‘Pussy wants a corner’ in the boys’ lobby.

The teacher’s desk had two compartments which we never got the chance of looking into. We knew the strap was kept in one of them for it was frequently brought out and used. Sometimes it was left on the desktop to act as a warning. Another thing that was kept in the desk was a set of mental arithmetic cards. The teacher sometimes took us out to the floor and asked us questions from these cards. The strap would have been preferable!

The highlight of the school year was the picnic held at the end of June. Everybody in the district attended, old and young. I cannot remember a picnic day when the sun did not shine. The grown-ups enjoyed watching the children’s races, and some of the youngsters’ fun came from watching their elders making fools of themselves at the wheelbarrow, sack, and thread-the-needle races. The dance that always followed the picnic was always a lively affair with all ages joining in. The old ladies would enjoy watching the latest romance and who was dancing with whom, and how often. Dresses old and new would be commented on. Supper was served as darkness fell and the oil lamps were lit.

The school cleaner had the task of emptying the bucket from the girls’ toilet several times during the evening and from time to time she sent me out to take a look and report back if it was time for another trip to the midden.”

Many years ago Hullion was a little township in itself, comprising a merchants house and farm, shop, post office, bakery, mill, and drapers. According to the earliest Rental available Hullion was occupied by Magnus Chelling in 1607, and in 1627 by Magnus Irwing, though these could have been the same person. In 1739 William Craigie was the tenant and from that time onwards a succession of members of the Craigie family, all merchants and grocers, lived and worked at Hullion.

It was here in the mid-1800’s that clothier and grocery merchant John Craigie carried on his business. John was the son of Mitchell Craigie and Ann Mainland and they lived at Holland [the ivy-covered building in front of the Hullion of today – which, I’m lead to believe, housed the ‘murderer Kirkpatrick’ – about whom, unfortunately, further information is lacking!]. John Craigie was born on March 18th 1795. In 1819 he married Margaret Inkster, daughter of John Inkster and Barbara Marwick of Saviskaill, who was born in 1794. Between 1820 and 1838 they raised a family of nine children, six girls and three boys: Mary was born on May 10th 1820; Margaret on April 12th 1822; Janet, on May 10th 1824; John, also born on May 10th, but died two years later in 1826; Ann, born on June 10th 1828; Hugh, on November 4th 1830; Janet, on January 4th 1833; Robert, on June 11th 1835; and finally Isabella, who was born on July 11th 1838.

This is a report from the John o’ Groat Journal, dated February 24th 1843

SHOPBREAKING AND THEFT. – On Tuesday week last, Mr Craigie, merchant, Rousay, had his shop feloniously entered by means of removing a pane or panes of glass, when a quantity of goods, together with a sum of money, was abstracted. Today (13th inst) the Sheriff-Substitute, Procurator Fiscal, Sheriff-Clerk Depute, and a party of officers are starting for that island to investigate the matter.

Unfortunately, subsequent editions of the newspaper failed to report any further proceedings.

In the 1861 census John Craigie, ‘The Auld Laird,’ then 65 years of age, was described as a landed proprietor. His wife Margaret had died in 1855, at the age of 61. Second oldest daughter Margaret had married Hugh Marwick of Feolquoy in 1847, but now widowed she worked at Hullion as a milliner.

John Craigie junior, born on May 10th 1826, was head of the household in 1871, and he was postmaster at Hullion. In 1851 he married 25-year-old Sarah Sinclair, daughter of John Sinclair and Magdalene Craigie of Tratland, and they had seven children between 1853 and 1867. First-born was John Inksetter, born on July 1st 1853; Anne Marwick was born on March 27th 1855; twins James Mainland and Margaret Marwick were born on July 19th 1858; Sarah was born on September 29th 1861; Hugh, on November 6th 1863; and Robert, who was born on June 29th 1867. John I. Craigie married Mary Sinclair of Stennisgorn; Anne married John Logie of Rose Cottage; James M. married Margaret Mainland of Bu, Wyre; his twin sister died in infancy; Sarah married Hugh Sinclair of Stennisgorn, later Bellona; Hugh emigrated to America where he died at the age of 26; and his younger brother Robert also went to the States, but remained unmarried.

Another newspaper article, this time from the Orkney Herald, dated August 18th 1861

CAPTURE OF WHALES. – “From the late unfrequency of the visits of the bottle-nosed wanderers from the polar regions, it might perhaps have been inferred that they had bottled up the recollection of the sad fate of such of their race as had previously visited our shores, and had finally ‘turned tail’ upon us, if they had not indeed resolved to abide henceforth within the comparatively safe precincts of their own icy homes. Not so, however, for on the morning of Wednesday last the inhabitants of Sourin, in the Island of Rousay, observed another large arrival moving about the anchorage of Holm [Bay of Ham], and not more than 300 yards from shore. Crowds of men, women, and children were forthwith collected, while several boats put off to intercept the retreat of the whales seaward. The huge animals allowed themselves to be quietly driven towards the shore by the men in the boats, and in a short time they were stranded, the boats still keeping close together to prevent their escape. Immediately the men, with sharp instruments, rushed on them, and in a short space the whole of them, to the number of nearly sixty, were captured. Some of the fish measured about eighteen feet long by sixteen feet in circumference. On Friday the whole were sold, and realised the sum of nearly £240, the principal purchasers being Mr. Craigie, Hullion, Rousay, and Mr. Malcolm Green, Kirkwall, in company with some others. In the comparative failure of the herring fishing, we congratulate our Rousay friends on this ‘windfall’ – we should rather say ocean gift.”

Known as ‘The Young Laird,’ John died in 1881.Though his son John carried on at Hullion as postmaster he was later declared bankrupt and by 1891 the farm and grocery business had been taken over by David Gibson. He was the son of George Gibson and Ann Mainland and they lived at Langskaill.

David, born on April 29th 1844, was the youngest of their children. In August 1868 he married Ann Sinclair of Newhouse, Frotoft in 1868, It was Ann’s father James Sinclair who bought the Hullion business for his daughter and son-in-law when John Craigie was declared bankrupt. David and Anne had nine children: Mary, born in June 1869 and later married Major William Spence of Evie; Alice, born in July 1871, who married Charles Logie, a joiner at Rousay pier; James, born in 1872 and married Mary Cooper; George, who emigrated to America; John, born in 1877, married Margaret Craigie of Turbitail; Maggie Jessie, who married William Miller of Hestival, Evie; Hugh, who went to Canada; Annie, born in 1883, who married John Leonard of Cruannie; and Rose Ida, born in 1883 and married Alexander Craigie of Hunclet.

David and Anne’s oldest son, James Sinclair Gibson, was born on September 10th 1872. He eventually took over the business at Hullion and his horse-drawn van travelled to Sourin and Wasbister on separate days once a week. James married Mary Cooper in 1902 and they had seven children. Marjorie; James; Ann; Kathleen; William; John; and David.

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Billo Gibson with the van and two horses, needed when tackling the hilly route to and from Wasbister – Billo and young Jock Yorston harnessing horse to van outside the shop at Hullion

Mary died in 1932 at the age of 52, and husband James died in 1948 by which time he was 76 years of age. Their youngest son David, born in 1925, married Edith Gibson, daughter of John Gibson and Cissie Harrold of Avalsay, and Hullion was passed on to the next generation of Gibsons in 1947. Dave and Edith took the bakehouse over in 1952 when Brown the Baker moved to Australia and Heddle Omand became the baker. The horse-drawn van was eventually replaced by a motorised van, and petrol pumps were installed at Hullion in 1972, and fresh meat came across from John T Flett in Kirkwall. When Dave and Edith took over Hullion, all of their supplies came across with Tom Sinclair on the post boat, and when Mansie Flaws started the boat service at Tingwall, the supplies came across with him. The shop and bakehouse eventually closed due to the fact the population of Rousay had dropped to a quarter of what it had been before, meaning trading was no longer viable. Dave retired in 1988 – from a business that had been in operation for at least 150 years, under the ownership of the Craigie and Gibson families.

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Grateful thanks to Edith and daughter Julia for their help with names and dates.

All black and white photos are from Tommy Gibson’s collection, except the two above.
The one of Edith is mine; the other hangs on the wall at Burrian, where Edith lives now.

In 1893 James Sinclair of Newhouse, then in his 75th year, and 56-year-old John Reid of Tratland, operated the small open post boat which plied between Rousay and Evie. On Wednesday October 11th, while crossing Eynhallow Sound, the boat was lost in a south-westerly gale. It was struck by a squall and overturned, claiming the lives of not only James and John, but also 35-year-old Lydia Craigie, wife of Robert Gibson, originally of  Langskaill, and three of her children, David 9, Maggie Jessie 6, and Lily Ann 4, who were being conveyed as passengers. Another boat in vicinity saw the boatmen and passengers clinging briefly to the upturned hull but could do nothing to help, and several days later the mail boat was washed ashore on Papa Stronsay.

A painting of the Rousay post boat that capsized between Evie and Rousay in 1893,
with the loss of six lives

The bodies of James and John were recovered and interred in the Westside kirkyard – 68 years after James’s father was lost nearby at Scabra Head. Lydia and her three children’s lives are commemorated on a headstone in the kirkyard at Stenness, the family having earlier moved to Lochend in that parish. Lydia’s name is also inscribed on the family headstone in the Wester kirkyard on Rousay.

[Click here > Loss of the Rousay Post Boat < to read a full account of the tragedy]

Thomas Sinclair of Banks, son of Thomas Sinclair of Swandale and Hurtiso and Mary Gibson of Broland, took over the running of the new Rousay post boat. In 1905 Thomas junior married Mary Inkster, daughter of Hugh Inkster of Westness and Isabella Kirkness of Quoyostray. In 1907 they had a son, also named Thomas, and together they ran the Rousay – Evie post-boat for many years. Thomas junior married Bella Flaws of Wyre and they had two children, Thomas and Muriel – and my thanks go to them for sharing their collection of photographs of the boats used in the crossing over the years.

Tom Sinclair [sen], wife Mary, son Tom [jun] & daughters Lilly & Mabel at Banks, Frotoft.

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Photos by Kirkwall photographer J. Omand showing the post boat at sea in the early 1900s

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Above left: Rousay post boat men Tom Sinclair Sr, Banks, and Geordie Reid, Tratland. c1920

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The Rousay post boat in a breeze. Tom Sinclair [sen] and Geordie Reid steering

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Above left: Jim Gibson and Mr Sinclair landing the mail at Hullion on a Friday morning in
September, 1922 – Right: Tom Sinclair at the helm of the Rousay post boat c.1934,
Mrs Wilson and son Darney. The gentleman with them is unknown.

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The post boat approaching Hullion pier c.1930

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Loading mail onto the Alpha at Evie pier c1930 – George Reid, Tratland, and Thomas Sinclair jr
crossing to Evie with the post boat c1930

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A photo dated August 1933 – Boats at the Evie pier, c1932

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Above left: Bert Harcus, Burrian, waiting to board the Rousay post boat – On the right: Mrs Wilson and son Darney, steering is John Marwick, Breek, Jimmy Yorston sen, and Tom Sinclair jun

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Below the broch of Midhowe during excavation work in the 1930s – Tom Sinclair steering the Alpha

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Above left: It wasn’t only mail and locals that were carried over in the post boats. 1930s popular
singer Robert Wilson [on the right in sunglasses] and his fellow performers gave a concert on
Rousay. – To the right: Tom Sinclair and Major Bill Spence transferring mail

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Not only passengers – but sheep had to be taken to and from Eynhallow! – The young lad in some
of these photos is Thomas, the third generation of Sinclairs to man the Rousay post boat.

Thomas talks about his time on the post boat:- In my memory we had the run with post daily except Sunday and also three runs in the week (Monday,Thursday and Saturday) to connect with a bus at Evie, going at nine o’clock in the morning and returning at four in the afternoon and six on a Saturday. Fares varied over the years of course but I remember it was two shillings for an adult and children went free. A private hire cost ten shillings. That was about the time that I was crewman with him. Early 1950s.

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Tom Sn, Tom Jr, with John Marwick steering – Unloading with Albert Munro

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Tom sen. having a blether with his friend Mr Stevenson, Crismo, Evie. – Toms, sen & jun, in the Alpha, early 1950s’

Other folk have shared their memories of crossing to and from Rousay:

I crossed many times when I came home on leave; twa things that always stuck in me memory, one was if it was a rough day Tom would steer by helm at the stern & if it was really coarse the pipe he was smoking was held upside down tae keep the baccy dry; the other thing I mind him apologising about noise his new Lister diesel was making compared tae the ould petrol / paraffin Kelvin as she was so quiet you could barely hear it. Great times!! [Bertie Gillespie]

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Fred Garson sent me ‘a photo of a photo!’ He said; The boat is the Bella at the Evie pier, the motorbike on the front is mine with me back on, Tom Sinclair and Davy Pirie, Heddle Omand, Ronald Stevenson’s cap, and Darny Wilson (his folk had Sjo Brekka as a holiday home). [Fred Garson] – The photo on the right shows Tom o Banks with Sheila [Mainland] Lyon and husband Hugh Lyon and her brother John Mainland, Nears. Photo taken by her sister Rhoda in 1961.

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I remember once in the early 70’s we were making ready to sail over to Eynhallow from the Evie jetty. One of the people who was coming over that day was a young boy about 13-14 years old from England. He wanted to row around in the dinghy while we were making ready so we said that he had to stay close into the jetty. In a very short time we saw him rowing out towards the moorings and we shouted to him. He paid no attention, and it seemed that in a matter of minutes the tide started to take him out towards the Burgar Roost. We hurried up to get the boat ready and head out after him, but then we saw Tammo Sinclair coming across with the bus/post boat and we pointed to the peedie idiot in the dinghy. Tammo changed course and headed after the boy. I think the dinghy would have been between Howe and Grugar before Tammo caught him. Tammo took him in tow and when we got the boy ashore at the jetty he was decidely whitefaced. He was very well behaved the whole of the rest of the day! [Stewart G. Miller]

And that isn’t the only person he has rescued from Burgar Roost. [Muriel Johnston]

Bertie, do you remember what Tammos other boat was called? She was pulled up in a geo just west of the pier, the same peedie pier as Sheila Lyon spoke aboot. I remember him out with it a couple of times; the last time I saw her she was in poor shape. I think he used her when the Bella was being refitted. Going back to the Lister diesel, I remember the engine bed came loose with the vibration and he had to get it sorted, was letting in a fair bit of water. [Leslie Craigie]

I think the new steering wheel wid tie in as I’m sure he had the Bella updated wae a higher & more modern wheelhouse? [Bertie Gillespie]

Thats right Bertie, he put on a higher wheelhouse and also changed the engine from a petrol Lister to a diesel one. [Leslie Craigie]

I remember that the old engine was rather temperamental. He always seemed to be fiddling with it. I don’t remember the wheelhouse though. It was just and open boat and steering was done by a conventional tiller, no wheel. [Ron Spence]

Hi Leslie I can vaguely mind Tom having a second ferry boat I doubt me memory fails on her name I wonder if Thomas might know her name ?? [Bertie Gillespie]

Somebody was asking the name of the other boat we had! Well it was the Alpha – she belonged to my grandfather and was built by Mackay’s boat builders in Finstown. She was slightly smaller and shallower drafted which made her handy at the pathetic little piers that we used. We put a canvas dodger on her which proved such a success that we put the wooden one that you see on the Bella later. [Thomas Sinclair]

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Yes if Tom o Banks crossed it was safe to go. One memorable crossing – a coorse night and not suitable to cross from Aikerness to Rousay untill around midnight with a precious cargo of horse harness for a ploughing match the following day. My friend Mary and I sat sheltered in the bow o his boat listening to the harness bells and singing hymns as we crossed the rough sea for our weekend home from KGS. [Rhoda Stevenson]

[Tam was]…..A lovely bloke …used to let me ‘help’ him on the crossing when I was on holidays at Yorville as a youngster. Would see him walking past with the thigh waders rolled down heading for the dingy, and chase after him. He must have been pretty patient as I must have been a right pain in the arse ! [Simon Harris]

[The Bella is]…..still on the go seen here renamed Hopeful lying in Lerwck marina 2015….. she’s been in Shetland a few years noo; the boy that owns her has a couple o jiggers on her and goes fishing for cod, ling and mackerel usually off Sumbourgh heed, weather permitting. [Gary Nicolson]

Buey she’s looking good. The last time I seen the Bella was in the mid 80s when Martin Williamson had her while he was in Longhope. I had the odd hairy trip tae Flotta & a bit o fishing for mackerel & dodging the US Navy on exercise in the Pentland Firth !!! [Bertie Gillespie]

The cluster of buildings that is Hullion today originally comprised a merchant’s house and shop, a post office, bakery, mill, and a drapers.

In 1881 the main house was occupied by James Mainland Craigie, born on July 19th 1858. He was the son of John Craigie, a merchant & farmer, known as the ‘Young Laird’, and Sarah Sinclair of Tratland. At this time James was employed as a letter carrier, and he was married to Margaret Mainland, daughter of John Mainland and Mary Sinclair of the Bu, Wyre.

John Inkster Craigie, post master, Hullion PO, with his wife Mary Sinclair of Stennisgorn,
and their children Anna, John, and Isabella. c1900

James’s brother John Inkster Craigie, born on July 1st 1853, became Rousay’s first sub-postmaster in 1881. His wife was Mary Sinclair of Stennisgorn, Wasbister, and their children were Isabella, born April 8th 1880; Anna Logie, born March 2nd 1883; and John Sinclair, who was born on June 14th 1884.

Bella (Craigie) Yorston and J. K. Yorston snr

James Kirkness Yorston was the son of Peter Yorston, Oldman, Sourin, and Mary Kirkness, Quoyostray, Wasbister. Oldman is a transferred house name – for the original was on the Westside, between the present third and fourth fields out from Westness Farm. The Yorstons were evicted from the Westside and their land laid down as a sheep-walk. They found a new site to build a house in Sourin, living in a quarry while the dwelling was constructed, and once complete the old house name was applied to the new.

James married, on December 29th 1914, the above mentioned Isabella Craigie, at that time employed as a telegraph clerk at the Hullion Post Office. They had six children; Mary, James, Lilla, John, and twins Hugh and Anna. John I Craigie was postmaster for fifty years, James and Isabella taking over in the early 1930s.

Hullion Craigies & Yorstons: Rear. Bella (Craigie) Yorston, John I. Craigie, Mary (Sinclair) Craigie,
J. K. Yorston snr. Middle. Anna Yorston,  Hugh Yorston; Front. Mary Yorston, John Yorston,
Lilla Yorston, J.K.Yorston jnr.

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Two groups of Yorston youngsters: James (jk junior), Anna, Mary, Hugh, Lilla, John. C1929
– and Bella Yorston, with Darny Wilson, left, & Hugh Yorston.

Daughter Mary married Kirkwall postman Hugh Borwick; son James married Jessie Thompson and lived in Stromness; Lilla married Stephen Groundwater and emigrated to Australia; John married Patricia Phillips and lived in London; and Anna married John Harris of Perth.

Hugh remained a bachelor and served in the RAF during the WWII. He kept a diary of his exploits: an entry on 22nd Jan 1945 stated he had by that time flown 399 hours and 45 minutes in Tiger-Moth, Master, Harvard, Hurricane, and Spitfire planes. Then in the following July he had his first solo in a P-47 Thunderbolt. His brother John was a rear gunner in Lancasters and Wellingtons and was awarded the Africa Star and clasp. After the war Hugh emigrated to Australia where he went on to fly for Trans Australia Airlines in Australia. He eventually returned to the UK and spent his latter years in Stromness.

James K Yorston and his like-named son have to take great credit for being involved with the unearthing many of Rousay’s archaeological sites.

Between 1930 and his death in 1947, Walter Grant owned the Trumland estate on Rousay, and during that time undertook a remarkable series of excavations. He was prompted by the work carried out at Skara Brae by Professor Vere Gordon Childe and after initial sites were unearthed he undertook what was to be his greatest archaeological achievement – the excavation of the broch of Midhowe on Rousay’s Westside.

With Dr J Graham Callander, director of the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland, giving personal supervision during the summer months, work continued from 1930 to 1933. In a paper written in 1934 it was stated that ‘The time taken to excavate the broch lasted for five consecutive summers and a few winter months and practically the whole work of cleaning out the structures was done by Mr James K Yorston. It has been computed that he wheeled out from 1500 to 2000 tons of fallen stones and debris.’

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Midhowe broch and chambered cairn as they appear today.

This strong archaeological team, organized by Grant, variously excavated and published 11 sites between 1930 and 1937. Grant continued his archaeological work after Calender’s death in 1937 and directed the excavations of the chambered cairns at Taversoe Tuick, Knowe of Rowiegar, Bigland, Kierfea Hill and the Knowe of Craie.

James and his wife Isabella are interred in the Wasbister kirkyard. The inscription of their gravestone reads as follows:-

Erected by James K Yorston
in memory of his beloved wife Isabella Craigie
who died 18 Jul 1937 aged 57 years.
Also the above James K Yorston who died
on 4 Feb 1956 aged 75 years.
“Abide with me”

James K Yorston jnr was gamekeeper and gardener at Trumland House for many years. Both he and his father were elected Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland – which goes to prove how much their archaeological work on Rousay was appreciated.

Stan Yorston Harris, son of Anna Logie Yorston, submitted this informative plan of the old
Hullion Post office. It even tells us who occupied each bedroom!

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[My thanks go to Tommy Gibson for the use of his black & white photos, and Brian Halcro,
for his photos and information regarding the Yorston family,
especially regarding Hugh, his Great Uncle]

[Concerning the archaeological text used, reference was made to the following publication:-

Walter Gordon Grant: an archaeological appreciation written by Diana M Reynolds and
J N Graham Ritchie and published in Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 115 (1985), 67-73]