From Jim Spence, Hamilton, Ontario – via Facebook:
My thanks to Jim for allowing me to reproduce the following:-
Magnus Murray was born out of wedlock. His mother was Barbara, born in 1746 to parents, James Murray and Margaret Knarston. James and his brother, John, were sons of Magnus Murray. James born about 1714 and John, about 1711. John married Bessie Alexander, and had 3 boys, Magnus, 1737; Alexander 1739; and George 1744.
James and Margaret had 3 children, George, 1740, Jacobina, 1743 and Barbara, 1746 who was the mother of our Magnus.
Some info on the Murray family of Magnus and Janet (nee Robertson):
1st born were twins, Barbara and Betsy, born September 30, 1809. Barbara married Alexander Logie on March 28, 1837. Betsy married William Manson, December 19, 1828.
Next came Ann, born March 25, 1812. She married Alexander Craigie, February 19, 1836.
Then sons, Magnus, born June 25, 1814 and James, born March 26, 1817.
Next was daughter, Janet, born July 3, 1819 in Brough Head. She married George Robson on June 15, 1841. These are my g-g-grandparents.
The came Charles, born December 22, 1821 and lastly, Mary, who was christened August 22, 1824. She married Robert Logie, March 26, 1855.
Janet (Murray) and George Robson had 6 children: Anne, 1842; James, 1844; Eliza, 1846, who married Magnus Mowat in 1872; Robert, 1852; Margaret Brotchie Robson, 1848, who married John Sabiston in 1874 (These are my g-grandparents); and Alexina, 1859, who married William Tinch in 1881. All the children were born in Rousay except for Alexina who was born in Outslap, Glebe, Birsay.
Janet (Murray) Robson’s obituary:
OBITUARY: Death of a Nonagenarian
On Friday 5th [1914]. Was laid to rest in the quiet churchyard the remains of one who has long lived past the allotted span. We refer to the late Janet Murray Robson, daughter of Magnus Murray and Janet Robertson, who was born at Brough, Westside, Rousay on the 3rd of July and baptised 15th July 1819 before witnesses. She had thus reached the prolonged age of 94 years and 11 months. In her childhood, her father removed to the farm at Tafts in Quandale, Rousay, where he died about the year 1848 when these parts of Rousay were being depopulated. In the Spring of 1850, her husband, the late Mr. George Robson, Schoolmaster, removed from Rousay to Birsay 61 years ago, crossing Eynhallow Sound to Evie, thence by road, the furniture being landed by boat from Rousay at Tanga to Skipi Geo, Birsay. Mrs. Robson was of a kindly and unselfish disposition and often used to refer to her happy, active days of her youth at her father’s farm at Tafts.
“Proceedings of the Orkney Antiquarian Society : 1923, Vol. 2: pages 7-14: Old Orkney Houses 3 by J. Storer Clouston”
…..I have left to the last one structure which I believe myself to be probably the oldest two-storey house in Orkney, since the question of its age can only be judged after one has examined examples of the various known periods. This house is Tofts, one of the roofless crumbling buildings in the deserted district of Quendale in Rousay, abandoned in the year 1846 to the plover and the rabbits. The spray of the Atlantic salted its fields and the houses were out of date and in need of repair, and it was not thought worth rebuilding them. So that this whole collection of derelict dwellings, untouched since their inhabitants left them nearly eighty years ago, is extremely interesting.
The old mansion, with five small farms on the slope above, formed what was really a separate township from Quendale proper. In the “Uthel Book” of 1601 it is entered as “Toftis ob terrae uthall (i.e., a halfpenny land odal). The samyne apperteins to the Craigies and Yorstons, occupyed be Johne a Toftis.” In 1668 a sasine* of certain lands in Rousay, from William Douglas of Egilsay to his son, included his “halfpenny land in Wesbuster called Tofts, with the privilege of the uppa thereof, as the samen has in use been in all times bygane past memorie of man”[Tankerness Charters]; a statement which implies that the “uppa” or right to the first rig in every field in the adjacent township of Wasbister went with the house of Tofts, and proves the early importance of its owners. *[a notarial record of a land transfer]
But though thus claimed by the Douglases, the Craigies actually remained the true owners, for in 1662 Magnus Craigie of Skaill wadset* his 1½ farthings in Tofts to Thomas Craigie of Saviskaill –and in 1664 the five daughters of the deceased James Craigie of Hunclett were infeft** in the other ½ farthing, which had belonged to their father. Later, in 1705, Jean Traill, daughter of James Traill of Westove and widow of Magnus Craigie of Skaill, lived there; so that it was presumably her dower house. *[Scotch law. A right, by which lands, or other heritable subjects, are impignorated [mortgaged] by the proprietor to his creditor in security of his debt] **[when a vassal (Feuar) obtains full title to land, he is said to be infeft]
These are the only documentary glimpses of the early history of Tofts, and we may now return to the house itself. Save that it has lost its roof, it still stands in tolerably good preservation, and externally there is, as at Tankerness, little to suggest great antiquity. It is a very small building, with a door in the middle, a window at each side, and, immediately above these, two upper windows, exactly like any elderly farm house of to-day, except for the size of the windows; which are only 1ft 6ins square below and a little smaller above. The east gable (the only one intact) is crowstepped, but that of course is a feature common to practically all the better houses down to comparatively modern times.
It is only when one examines the house in detail that the evidences of antiquity begin to appear. It is quite small; 32ft long by 12ft wide inside, divided with two rooms on the ground floor, of which H, in the illustration, is 12ft 6ins long and S is a trifle longer. The side walls are 2ft 8ins thick and the gable 3ft, all without lime, but exceptionally well built. Across the middle ran two cross walls, ‘a’ and ‘b’. ‘a’ still stands. It is only 1ft 6ins thick and ran up to the roof – ‘b’ has fallen. It was apparently of the same thickness, but only one storey high.
There was thus a stone passage a little over 3ft wide running through the house, and at each end of this was an outer door. The stone stairs are placed inside the room S, and rise along the north wall. Only a few steps are now left, but evidently one crossed the passage by a stone lintel.
Windows and doors are all grooved for frames and door posts, and the windows are splayed slightly outward beyond the groove. In each of the windows is a very neatly executed stone window seat.
Each ground floor room has two windows. H has a fire-place, but no recesses; S has three small square recesses but no fire. There is barely 6ft head room below the joist holes in these rooms.
Upstairs there were also two rooms, with side walls 3ft 9ins high, one small window in each, but no fire-places.
Outside the front door ‘y’ is a projecting wall to give shelter from the west winds.
Evidence of Age: – Taking the evidence afforded by these features, the cross wall ‘a’ in itself is proof of very considerable age, since no two-storey house with a cross wall is (so far as I know) to be found in Orkney later than the early part of the 17th century. The stone window seats and remarkable finish of all the stone work in the house show that it was originally a place of some pretensions, unquestionably a “gentleman’s house.” But what kind of gentleman indulged in stone window seats, and yet was content with rooms 12ft square and barely 6ft high, and with only one single fire-place in the whole building? These are the standards of a keep, and a keep of the earliest and simplest type, and give us a very significant indication that our gentleman lived in rude and far-off times.
And why did he have a stone tunnel through his house, provided with an exit at each end, and then stow away his staircase inside one of his rooms? Why also did the stairs rise awkwardly along the wall, where a bumped head at the top rewarded the careless, instead of across the house?
Again one is reminded not only of the standards but the uses of a keep. Suppose you wanted to raid this gentleman, with the view of either terminating his career or plundering his house, then you would begin to see some point in his arrangements. To begin with you must bring enough men to guard both doors, or he will slip out by one while you batter the other. Also, each party must be strong enough to resist a sortie, for you cannot tell which door he will sally forth from. Then suppose you have broken in; you find yourself enclosed in a stone passage with no room to swing a weapon, the inner doors still barred, the stair out of reach, and very possibly an aperture at the top of the stair for raking the passage with a blunderbuss. When one adds that the splayed windows are admirably contrived for firing out of and too small to jump in through, it becomes evident that if the houses were not actually built for defence, then it is a very curious coincidence that it should have been so well adapted for it. In fact the coincidence is so singular that personally I find it hard to doubt that it was originally designed as a semi-defensive structure.
In seeking for analogies for this type of house, one is met with the difficulty that the subject of early Scottish houses, other than castles, has never been dealt with save in the most fragmentary way. McGibbon and Ross, for instance, confine themselves to castles almost entirely. I have, however, been able to discover two buildings which seem to throw some light on Tofts.
One of these is an ancient house existing in Musselburgh at the end of the 18th century, of which a plan and some particulars are given in the Old Statistical Account [published in 1795]. It was only one storey high, but the ground plan was very like Tofts, consisting of two vaulted rooms with a vaulted stone passage between them running right through the house. In this house tradition stated that Randolph Earl of Murray, died in 1332.
The other is a 15th century house at Inverkeithing described, with plans, in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquities of Scotland for 1912-13. Here there was one room on each floor, with a stone passage running through the house alongside the ground floor room, leading to an outside stair at the back, which rose along the wall. The author says of this house:- “The high interest of this building lies in its showing that the first stone builders (of domestic structures), for lack of other tradition, followed closely after that of the small ‘keep,’ both in arrangement of parts and in details of workmanship.”
It seems clear that Tofts belongs to the same general type as these two ancient buildings, and in the second of them I think one can see the reason for the awkward position of the stair along the wall. It was simply an outside stair placed inside for safety, and the builder was so accustomed to outside stairs that it never occurred to him to turn it the opposite way and get more head room at the top. This at least seems to me the likeliest explanation.
We have thus, as very strong evidence of high antiquity, first the remarkable contrast between the finished workmanship and the single fire-place, and secondly the analogy of these two early buildings. But there are two further arguments that support this conclusion. At what period was a defensive house most likely to be built in Rousay? From early in the 15th century down to 1461 we know that the Orkneys were constantly raided by the Lewismen*, and traditions of these raids are actually still extant in Rousay. After 1461 there is no further record of them; and it may be taken that they had certainly ceased by 1471 when the Scottish Crown took Orkney into its own keeping; and therefore it is before these last dates that one would naturally look for a defensive structure in the island. * Records of the Earldom of Orkney and also Highland Papers, vol. I.
Again, it is the only old two-storey house of which there is any tradition in Rousay and it was clearly a good house in its day, so that the very absence of anybody “of Tofts” or even “in Tofts” in the numerous Rousay records extant from about 1570 down to 1700*, shows that through that period it was not inhabited by anybody of local importance and strongly suggests that its glories had already departed before the first of these dates. * The earlier records are contained in the Brugh estate papers, and in the 17th century, in the Saviskaill papers.
The illustration also shows the old farm buildings at Tofts:- The barn ‘Ba’, with kiln ‘K’, and neuk ‘n’; the stable ‘St’ attached, two byres ‘By’ and ‘T’, and a small building ‘D’. Another byre on the west end of ‘T’ is shown, though it is evidently later; but all the buildings in the plan are of the most ancient type. The narrow, thick-walled barn, in particular, is perhaps the oldest looking structure of the kind I have seen.
It is strongly to be hoped that this unique homestead will not be allowed to fall into further ruin, if any means, or any money, can be found to avert such a fate…..
This is Tofts – a deserted and ruinous house in Quandale, Rousay, almost in the centre of that wide valley which looks out to the Atlantic. Although small it must at one time have been a house of distinction, and originally a place of some importance.
Its pre-eminence is confirmed by a 1668 sasine by which William Douglas of Egilsay disposed of Tofts to his son ‘with the priviledge of the uppa thereof as the samen has been in use in all times bygane past memorie of man.’ The uppa, the first rig in each field or block of rigs distributed among run-rig sharers, was a privilege reserved for the most important house in the community.
Tofts consisted of two lower rooms, each 12ft. 6in. by 12 feet and separated by a passageway running straight through the house connecting a front and back door. Stone window seats of good construction were a feature of the design and one downstairs room had a fireplace. The upper storey was reached by a stairway from within one of the lower rooms and consisted of two further rooms with low sloping ceilings.
Arguing that the two doors, the narrow passage, the deep-set windows and the stair leading from the lower room rather than the passage are all features designed for defence, novelist turned historian Joseph Storer Clouston dated the building from before 1471, when persistent raids by Lewismen ceased. Such a dating seems highly conjectural, but there is no doubt that Tofts was old and had once been a place of importance.
Unlike the traditional Orkney farm, Tofts had quite separate outbuildings. These consisted of a barn with its threshing floor between two doors, a corn kiln, and a byre. Despite its original importance, by quite an early date Tofts had very little land.
In 1601 it consisted of only a half pennyland of udal land and, although it was occupied by a single tenant, John a Toftis, it did not belong to a single owner but was shared by Craigies and Yorstons. It would appear that Tofts was a victim of the sub-division which udal inheritance often caused.
Deprived of much of its land Tofts became the dower house and in 1705 it was occupied by Jean Traill, the widow of Magnus Craigie of Skaill.
Had Tofts retained its importance, it might have become a large farm gradually absorbing its smaller neighbours in the traditional Orkney way, but the very nucleus of the community had decayed.
Mary Downie, the firstborn child of George Downie and Janet Murray, was born at Tofts on June 5th 1814. and their second child, Margaret, was also born there on June 22nd 1817. Their third child William was born on November 1st 1820 at Nether Quandale, and their other child Isabella was born on July 20th 1823 at ‘Quendale in the hill.’
1837 November 10. From the John o’ Groat Journal.
THUNDER STORM IN THE ISLE OF ROUSAY. – On Thursday, 26th ultimo, about half-past 10. P.M., the farm house of Tofts of Skeaburgh-head, in the north end of the Isle of Rousay, was struck by lightning. Only one clap (loud and long) was heard by the inmates. The electric fluid had entered by what is called the cellar end of the house, which it levelled to the ground, tearing up the very foundation. Three wooden beds, a press, and some chests were literally smashed to splinters. It then appears to have gone through the fire house, every door and every pane of glass in which was broken; a dog was killed while lying before the fire at one of the servant’s feet, yet all the family escaped unhurt, although they were for a considerable time in a state of stupor. The byre also had been struck at the same instant; it too, was levelled with the ground, and three cows in it were killed. The wind was from the south, blowing a gale, with heavy showers of rain and hail.
The 1841 census was carried out on June 7th, and by this time Tofts, with 13 acres of arable land, was tenanted by 74-year-old farmer Magnus Murray, living there with his 60-year-old wife Janet, and their two children, 20-year-old James and Mary who was 15 years of age. Magnus was of the same economic status as the other crofters, although his holding still remained marginally the biggest and he paid rather more rent than anybody else did. He is said to have been the first farmer in Rousay to own a horse-drawn cart.
At this time Magnus was paying £15.12.0, though in 1842 the rent was lowered to £13.0.0. Rents were high for such exposed land and the Quandale community was generally 10% to 30% in arrears, a greater degree of indebtedness than in any other part of Rousay. Yet not all tenants were in arrears. Magnus Murray paid regularly until the last years of his life when a debt accumulated which his widow had some difficulty in clearing.
The Quandale crofters were given notice to quit after the harvest of 1845, the surrounding fertile pasture land having been cleared and converted into a sheep-walk by the laird, George William Traill. The Murrays moved across the valley to the farm of Whome, but Magnus died early the following year. His body was interred at the foot of the eastern gable-end of St. Mary’s, the Westside kirk.
Janet died some time in the 1850’s. In 1858 her son James, who was an agricultural labourer, married Janet Louttit, daughter of Alexander Louttit and his first wife Barbara Craigie of Lower Blackhammer, who was born in December 1816. They lived at nearby Greystane and had a daughter Janet, who was born in 1859.
James’s sister Mary was married to Robert Logie. He was a shepherd at Westness and was the son of John Logie and Mary Craigie, born on September 2nd 1833. Mary and Robert lived at Geo, where they raised a family of seven children, born between 1858 and 1871.
Prior to 1840 there were more than twenty farms below the hill dyke at Quandale – homes to nearly 250 folk. By the time of the clearances, some of the holdings had been amalgamated to around thirteen farms. Of these, there are recognisable remains at ten sites. The map below shows their location: click on it so it fills your screen!
Two old photos featuring Langskaill and its land – the smoking lums of the long house, and herding sheep on foot and horseback.
Above left is ‘Fiery Bill’ Inkster of Cogar. Born in 1860, he was the first of ten children born to William Inkster of Cogar and Mary Gibson of Langskaill. He was married twice, firstly to Jean Learmonth of Innister and latterly to Sarah Folsetter of Dale, Evie.
The text from a newspaper cutting below tells of his working life:-
Isabella Louttit of Maybank, Wasbister, and her husband Walter Muir of Breckan, later Warrenfield, St Ola. Isabella, daughter of William Louttit of Maybank and Margaret Gibson of Broland, was born in 1878. Walter came to Rousay and worked as a farm servant at Saviskaill. They had eight children, Maggie Jessie, Bessie, Walter, Bella, Clara, Ronald, Thomas, and Robert.
The New Firemaster of Aberdeen. – Mr Wm. Inkster, who was yesterday appointed firemaster of Aberdeen, is a native of Rousay, Orkney Islands, and is in his 36th year. A ship carpenter to trade, he sailed in foreign-going vessels for eight years. It was in April 1889, that he became a member of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade, and being located at the Whitechapel Station, he has had many opportunities of acquiring both a practical and theoretical knowledge of the most approved methods of dealing with conflagrations large and small. In the construction and repair of fire appliances his five years’ experience in the workshops of the brigade at headquarters has been of much advantage to him. He has also taken considerable interest in the internal construction of buildings, and in what he considers the best methods of providing for the security of the inmates. On several occasions Mr Inkster has visited this city, and has a very good knowledge of the main thoroughfares and principal streets. Capt. Simmonds, late chief officer of the London Fire Brigade, in a testimonial, says that Mr Inkster is a man of good abilities, and thoroughly understands the duties of a fireman.
Wasbister School: ‘The Old Comrades’, c1923.
Back row, from left: Boggy Shearer; Robert Sinclair, Newhouse; John Marwick, Breek; ? Shearer, Trumland; ?; James Marwick, Grain; John Craigie, Cruar. Middle row: Tom Marwick, Grain; James Taylor, Swandale; William Grieve, Digro; James Craigie, Deithe; James Leslie, Whitemeadows; Albert Munro, Old School. Front row: James Clouston, Tou; Hugh Craigie, Deithe; James Craigie, Corse; James William Grieve, Whitehall; Sandy Logie, Cubbieroo; James Munro, Breval.
Wasbister football team, 1923
Back row, left to right: James Craigie, Feolquoy; James Clouston, Tou; James Marwick, Grain. Middle row: Hugh Sinclair, Sketquoy; George Craigie, Feolquoy; ?. Front row: Bill Flaws, Hammerfield; Robert Inkster, Furse; Malcolm Hourie, Maybank; William Craigie, Ivybank; James Craigie, Deithe.
Sally and Clara Craigie photographed in 1922, and their younger sister Cathleen c1950. Their parents were John Craigie of Furse and Ann Russell of Brendale.
Robert Sinclair with his horse and cart going up the Leean, c1930. Robert of Stennisgorn, later Skatequoy, married Margaret Flaws of Hammerfield; they had four children – Robert, born in 1891, George in 1893, Annabella in 1903, and Hugh, who was born in 1906.
Wasbister School, 1931
Back row: Miss Tina Mathieson, Stanley Moar, William Marwick, David Wards, Sinclair Craigie, Thomas Donaldson, Thomas Marwick, James Craigie. Middle: Jim Sinclair, Clara Donaldson, Agnes Marwick, Netta Sinclair, Jean Marwick, Kathleen Craigie, Clem Donaldson, Anna Marwick, Robert Marwick. Front: William Donaldson, Jim Leslie, Donald Marwick.
Harvest time at Furse – 1955
All the black & whitephotos above are courtesy of the Tommy Gibson Collection.
Above left is a modern day view of Wester from the old peat track leading up to Loomachun. On the right, the Wester Loch, with Cogar, Ivybank and the old school to the left, Feolquoy in the centre, Vacquoy and Nedyar to the right.
A long lens shot from halfway up the Leean, with Nedyar and Langskaill in the foreground; Quoys, Ivybank, Cogar and the old school; the old smiddy, Quoygray/Quoyostray, Tou and Tou Cottage; and Hammerfield and Lower Hammerfield top left.
Details of some of the ‘vanished’ houses and sites in Wasbister.
Bakicrass was the name of an ancient house in Wasbister. William Craigie and his wife Isabel Gibson lived there and James, their only child was born there on June 4th 1802.
Barebraes was a small croft in Wasbister on the hillside above Cogar.
Bleaching Knowe: On the southern shore of Wasbister Loch, immediately north of the school building, there is a much destroyed burnt mound which is locally called ‘The Bleaching Knowe’. There are also traces of cist-like boxes formed of slabs set on edge in and close to the water.
Burrian, applies to a small island or crannog situated in the Loch of Wasbister. It contains the site of an ancient chapel and was formerly connected with the mainland with stepping stones still visible under the surface of the loch. From the fact of deer horns, bones, coins etc having been found on the site of the old chapel, it is thought that a more ancient building existed there prior to the erection of the chapel.
Bretta Ness. A chapel formerly stood at this spot, a small promontory on the eastern side of the Loch of Wasbister. Its stones have been removed and placed on the margin of the loch. A gently rounded mound at the extremity of Bretta Ness may be the remains of this chapel; presumably the dedication was to St Brittiva, Bridget or Bride.
Bucket is the name of a vanished house in Wasbister; on record as being mentioned in the Rousay Birth Register of 1830.
Castal. In a field immediately to the north of the old house of Stennisgorn in Wasbister is a site known as the Castal. Here an old building once stood, and the late proprietor told Hugh Marwick that when his father was removing stones from the site he came upon a metal basin-shaped object. It was broken, but standing out in relief on its outside were figures of what he termed ‘an angel and a dragon’. The dragon ‘had scales marked on it.’ Some who saw it thought it might have been a bell, but from his description it must have been too shallow for such a purpose. It ‘lay about the house’ for some time, but he had lost sight of it for many years.
Corse Kirk. The present Wasbister kirkyard is beside the old chapel-site, and was apparently dedicated to The Holy Cross.
Easter Lee was a dwelling between Turbitail and Burness. In 1851 it was occupied by Mary Flaws, who used to earn a living as a straw plaiter, but by this time she was classed as a pauper.
Flottahall. Flotty was the name of a field on the south side of the road at Langskaill. An entry made in 1821 in the Rousay Birth Register records a house called Flottahall in Wasbister, and in the census of 1841 it was recorded as being somewhere between those of Whitemeadows and Langskaill. It was occupied by 40-year-old fisherman James Flaws and his 30-year-old wife Betty Barnetson. They had four children; James was born on July 22nd 1829 when they lived at Vacquoy. The other three were born at Flottahall; William, on May 27th 1831, Betsy Sutherland, on August 3rd 1834, and Margaret, who was born on August 25th 1836.
Gateside, another vanished house in Wasbister, was mentioned in the Birth Register in 1833.
Heather Hall was situated close to Blackhammer and Cubbidy on the hill above Wasbister and in the census of 1851 it was occupied by two families. Living at Heather Hall 1 was William Scott, a 28-year-old grocer and fisherman from North Ronaldsay, his wife Robina, who was 33 years of age, and their children; three-year-old William, and Ann, who was twelve months old. Jean Craigie lived at Heather Hall 2 with her son James. Jean was a 46-year-old stocking maker and her 22-year-old son earned a living as a fisherman. She was the widow of James Craigie, originally of ‘Giddystane, Wasbyster.’
Howatoft was the name of an old Wasbister house, probably in the neighbourhood of Saviskaill. In Heart’s Sasines is a record of a sale to Thomas Alexander, eldest lawful son of Henry Alexander in Saviskaill, by Katherin Brok, one of the lawful daughters and heirs portioners of James Brok in Howatow of her third of the halfpenny udal land under the house of Howatow in Wasbister. Sasine was given on March 5th 1624.
On April 26th 1625 Thomas Alexander obtained sasine on a charter to him from William Craigie of Papdale of 1 pennyland of udal land in Howatoft, of which half was called Brokeisland half Rigersland, which had been sold to him by James Craigie in Westray and Margaret Brok with consent of Magnus Hourston in Skabrae – heritors thereof. In 1634 William Craigie got a decree against Thomas Alexander’s widow for unpaid dues in respect of Howatoft, and two centuries later, in 1828, John Inkster had the cot-house of Howatoft included in his sasine of Saviskaill lands.
The Brok ownership of lands in Howatow and Howatoft seems to be sufficient proof that both names refer to the same property, and are only different forms of the same name. To Hugh Marwick the name seemed to point to an Old Norse hauga-topt, ‘taft of mounds,’ the site of some structure at or near mounds. He could not say definitely though that Howatoft actually meant a site marked by natural hillocks, or whether the mounds marked the ruins of previous structures, or whether they were perhaps prehistoric burial cairns, so-called picts-houses.
Lee was the name given to a dwelling, mentioned in the census of 1861 as being somewhere in the vicinity of Langskaill. It was occupied by 79-year-old agricultural labourer John Clouston and his 62-year-old wife Mary. Ten years previously they were living at nearby Claybank, and previous to that they lived at Croulay at Quandale.
Lerquoy was the name of a house in Wasbister built c1600. In 1733 William Yorston was the tenant, and when James Inkster was the tenant in 1840 he paid rent in kind, though by 1843 this had been established at the sum of £5.10.0. In 1847 Lerquoy was added to the farm of Quoys.
Lows House was in the neighbourhood of Feolquoy in Wasbister. It was most probably named after a family of that name, for the name Lowe is on record in Wasbister during the 17th century. In the 1840’s, it was occupied by shoemaker Alexander Marwick and his family. Alexander was paying £4.11.6. rent for Loweshouse and half of Negar at this time. By 1851, the Marwicks had moved to Corse at Frotoft. Loweshouse was then occupied by Alexander Craigie and his wife Ann Murray, and it was not long before they moved into Feolquoy.
Meeran, or Quoymeeran, was an old house below Feolquoy in Wasbister occupied in 1814 by John Mowat.
Negar was an old farm in Wasbister, spelt Niagair in 1633, and Neager in 1657, and was situated on land close to that of Feolquoy. William and Elizabeth Marwick lived at Heatherhall, Wasbister, in the latter part of the 18th century. They had two daughters, Rebekah, who was born in 1797, and Christian, born on July 4th 1799. The family then moved to Negar, and it was there that Elizabeth gave birth to three more children; Alexander, on July 11th 1801, William, on May 17th 1803, and James, who was born on September 7th 1807.
Alexander Marwick married Isabella Gibson, the daughter of David Gibson and his second wife Jean Marwick of Langskaill, on March 6th 1829. Writing less than a dozen years after the Quandale clearance of 1845, Alexander remembered how “in summer the hills swarmed with horses, cattle, sheep, pigs and geese.” The 40 families between the Dyke of Grind, the southern boundary of Westness, and the Lobust, the northern limit of Quandale, owned 70 horses, 220 cattle and between 600 and 700 sheep. “There was more beef and mutton used in Rousay in one year,” he wrote, “than is now used in ten years.”
Roadside, a cottage in Wasbister near the school, was also known as Maybank. In 1861 37-year-old boat builder David Inkster and his family lived there. David, born on September 21st 1823, was the son of James Inkster and Barbara Mainland of Saviskaill. In 1849 he married Janet Gibson, daughter of Hugh Gibson and Janet Craigie of Skatequoy, who was born on September 26th 1826. They had three children; Hugh, born on February 27th 1850, Janet, born in 1863, and Agnes, who was born in 1868.
In 1871 65-year-old Betty Craigie lived at Roadside. She was the daughter of Drummond Craigie and Barbara Murray of Whoam, and she was born on July 29th 1805. Unmarried, she was employed as the island’s letter carrier, and was commonly referred to as ‘Post Betty’.
In 1881 Roadside was occupied by 30-year-old general labourer James Craigie. He was the son of Alexander Craigie and Ann Murray of Falquoy, and was born on July 11th 1850 at Loweshouse. On April 15th 1870 James married Janet Sinclair, daughter of Hugh Sinclair and Isabella Gibson of Stennisgorn, who was born on January 9th 1851. They had seven children: Annabella was born on June 7th 1872 at Falquoy, John, on March 30th 1875 at the Old School, Wasbister, as was Jessie Alexina, on April 25th 1879, Clara, on August 30th 1881, James, on April 13th 1884, and Sarah, on April 30th 1886.The youngest child was Alice who was born on December 10th 1891 at Falquoy.
Seaterquoy, mentioned in 1823 in the Rousay Birth Register, was a Wasbister house, long deserted and demolished, situated above Feolquoy.
Torcabreck was the name of an old house in Wasbister. Mary Flett, the first child of George Flett and Christian Inkster was born there on July 15th 1816. Their other children were born at nearby Hillhouse; Janet, in June 1819, and James, on September 11th 1822.
Toisterburn is the name of another vanished Wasbister house.
Upper Geo was the name of a dwelling in Wasbister. Hugh Craigie, who was born in about 1786, married Christian Gibson on January 22nd 1816 and their first two children were born at Upper Geo; Margaret, on October 15th 1821, and Sally on December 8th 1823. They had four more children who were born at nearby Castlehill; a second Sally, on November 16th 1825, Hugh, on July 12th 1829, Mary, on February 1st 1832, and James, who was born there on January 15th 1837.
Wasbister Field Names. Bregaday, on the north side of the Loch of Wasbister; Conquoy, a field name and also that of a geo on the shore north of Saviskaill; Kuiv at the NW corner of the Loch of Saviskaill; Kunquoy is another field name in this vicinity; Fauld, on the old farm of Stennisgorn; Fidge Meadow, a low-lying tract of ground on the north side of the public road below Vacquoy; Hungry Quoy, near Falquoy; Husen and Husmasay, near Skatequoy; Lamiger, near Skatequoy; The Nine Rigs at Langskaill running down to the shore east of the farmhouse; Owern, at Langskaill next to the Leean; Skooany, above Cogar; Swanaland, at Skatequoy; Flotty and the West Toon, at Langskaill.
Well of Ease was the name given to a fresh-water spring that bubbles up on the beach below Langskaill. Its origin is obscure; it is only a few hundred yards along the beach from the site of the ancient Colm’s Kirk – a ruinous chapel site of Celtic foundation, possibly dedicated to either St Colm of St Columba.
The earliest mention of Vacquoy was from a rental document when it was occupied by Rowland Couper between 1734 and 1737. Moving on to the first official census the house was occupied in 1841 by 30-year-old John Gibson, his wife Barbara Craigie, and children Cecilia (8), Alexander (5) and Mary (1). John was the second son of David Gibson and his second wife Isabel Mainland of Langskaill. Barbara’s parents were Hugh Craigie of Lerquoy, Wasbister, and Sicilia Gibson of Langskaill. She and her twin brother William were born on 27 April 1811 when they were living at Grithin. The census of that year tells us John Gibson was a wright, a skilled workman, especially in constructing items, though normally used together with the trade i.e. wheelwright.
Vacquoy was the inspiration for this painting, Croft, Rousay – 1940s, by Stanley Cursiter. Grateful thanks to Sinclair Robertson for allowing me to reproduce it here.
[Kirkwall-born Cursiter was one of Scotland’s most prolific twentieth-century painters as well as being a writer and curator. He was appointed Director of the National Galleries of Scotland in 1930 and King’s Limner for Scotland in 1948.]
1861, and John was now a farmer of 12 acres of land. Daughter Mary was a dressmaker, Hugh an agricultural labourer, while Anne and Isabella were at school.
John passed away in 1866, leaving Barbara to tend 8 acres of land at Vacquoy, with daughters Mary and Anne still living at home. Oldest son Alexander and his family were now living at Vacquoy too. By this time he was 34 years of age, employed as a joiner, and had married Margaret Learmonth of Westness in 1860. They now had five children: Ann, born in August 1862; Barbara, in August 1864; Maggie, in October 1865; John, in August 1867; and Elsie Clara, born in October 1869. In 1877 Alexander paid £6 to rent Vacquoy and its surrounding 10.2 acres of land.
When the census of 1881 was carried out on April 4 widow Barbara Gibson was described as a sixty-nine-year-old annuitant – the receiver of an annuity. An annuity was income paid to a beneficiary at regular intervals, for a fixed period or ascertainable period (usually the lifetime of a nominee) in return for a lump sum payment having been previously made into the scheme by a subscriber – i.e. a spouse, benefactor or employer.
Barbara’s son Alexander was now described as a joiner employing six men, the census revealing other joiners in Wasbister at the time:- John Sinclair of Stennisgorn, David and Hugh Craigie of Burness, Samuel Russell, a lodger at Innister, and John Kirkness of Grain. It was Alexander who designed and built the Wasbister School which was opened in 1881.
The image above left shows mention of joiner Alexander Gibson in the Rousay, Egilsay & Viera section in the 1878 edition of Peace’s Orkney Almanac. [Note the population figure at that time.] The document to the right, dated January 7th 1884, is in connection with Alexander Gibson’s proposed work on the U.P. Manse, now Brinian House.
Alexander passed away in 1887. His daughter Barbara married John Sinclair of Stennisgorn in 1883 and they lived together at Vacquoy. John’s parents were Hugh Sinclair of Newhouse, later Stennisgorn, and Isabella Gibson of Langskaill. Barbara and John had three children; John, Maggie Jessie, and Hugh Alexander. According to the Rent Roll of 1898 both John Sinclair and Hugh Craigie, who was also the tenant of Turbitail, paid fifteen shillings rent for Vacquoy and its extent of land in Imperial Acres – ten arable.
Later occupants of Vacquoy were the Donaldson family. Blacksmith Alexander Donaldson was the son of Thomas Donaldson and Mary Sabiston of Watten, Egilsay, and he was born in 1887. Alexander, or Sandy as he was known, married Maggie Jessie Inkster, first-born child of John Inkster of Swartifield, Essaquoy, later Woo, and his wife Jane Irvine. Jessie, as she was known, was born in 1895. She and Sandy lived at Lower Blackhammer [Manse] for a while before moving to Vacquoy. They eventually had nine children: John (known as Tottie), Mary Jane, Thomas, Clara, Clementina, William, Elsie, Arthur Irvine, and Margaret.
The photo above, kindly loaned to me by Margaret Gray of Dounby, shows her grandfather Sandy and his wife Jessie, with her half-brother Jimmy Irvine on the right. The children are Tommy, Clara, Jeannie, and John (Tottie), all of whom were born at the Manse before the family moved down to Vacquoy.
Upper Grain, or the Breck o’ Grain, was also known as The Slap. In 1851 it was occupied by Isabella Inkster, widow of John Leonard of Grain, and by that time she was in her 74th year. She earned what money she could by knitting stockings, but she finally passed away in 1865 at the age of 89.
Living at the Breck o’ Grain in 1871 was Isabella Craigie, for which she paid rent of 12s., though over the years this fell gradually to 6s. in 1878/9 and 1s. in 1885. She was known as ‘Bell o’ the Slap’ and had a reputation for being well versed in the black arts of witchcraft and those who crossed her were in danger of having a curse called down upon their heads.
The following story was told to me some years ago by Robert Craigie Marwick, and it was later published in his book In Dreams We Moor:-
The Inkster family who were in Innister at that time, and who were about to flit to Nigley in Evie, had fallen foul of her in some way. On the day of the flitting they were making their way towards Frotoft from where a steam-boat was to convey them and their belongings across to Evie. As they approached the Slap they spied old Bell moving about on the road.
‘She’s crossed the road twice,’ observed Mrs Inkster to her husband. Being a Caithness woman, she knew about such things. ‘That’s no a good sign, I can tell thee,’ she added, shaking her head slowly.
Not a word was exchanged as they drew level with Bell at the side of the road, glowering at them from beneath the black shawl pulled low over her eyes.
‘That wis no a good sign,’ repeated Mrs Inkster. ‘I dread what this day will bring.’ As the boat took them across Eynhallow Sound a sudden, violent storm blew up, making it impossible to land on the Evie shore.
The storm raged all that day and all that night but shortly after daybreak it eased off and the Inksters, along with their stock and all their belongings were safely landed after a terrifying night at sea fearing for their lives. When they arrived up at Nigley they found that every window in the house had been blown in, such had been the violence of the storm. Later, Bell o’ the Slap gloated over what had happened and was heard to claim that if she had crossed the road a third time in the path of the departing Inksters the boat and all aboard would have perished.
In the early 1900s Grain itself was occupied by crofter/fisherman Hugh Marwick, his wife Isabella, and their five children; Hugh, Sarah Ann, Ida, Thomas, and James Gibson. The annual rent for that property was £2 Sterling. Hugh also paid the sum of six shillings for the half-year’s rent for Upper Grain on November 26th 1906.
This is an Ordnance Survey benchmark on a corner-stone at the Slap, and is shown on the OS map of 1903 indicating the height above ‘the assumed Mean Level of the Sea at Kirkwall and Stromness’ to be 292 feet and one inch.
Greysteen was the site of two houses south-west of Deithe, close to the Quandale dyke in Wasbister. John Yorston and his wife Margaret Harrold lived in the original building in the 1730’s. It was spelled Graceton in the Birth Register when their first child William was christened on December 18th 1734. At this time Wasbister was spelt Weybyster, and it was here their second son was christened David on November 9th 1738; and their third child, a daughter, was named Christian, on March 2nd 1744.
Agricultural labourer Henry Craigie and his family were the occupants of Old Greysteen in 1851. Henry’s parents were Hugh and Isabel Craigie of Brough, Westside, and he was born on January 30th 1811. He married 24-year-old Jane Craigie at Innister in 1842 and they had nine children between 1843 and 1862. The three eldest were born when they lived at Mid Quandale; Jane, was born on April 4th 1843; James, on October 20th 1844; and Janet, on December 13th 1847.
At about this time the Craigie family moved to Greysteen, and it was there the other six children were born: Mary, on January 16th 1850, Samuel Seatter, on May 20th 1852, David, on November 12th 1854, Margaret Inkster, on August 24th 1857, Peter, on September 21st 1859, and Neil Patrick Rose on November 23rd 1862.
At New Greysteen, James and Janet Murray were both in their 54th year, and daughter Janet was a 12-year-old scholar. Living with them was Janet’s first daughter Mary Sinclair, who was now an unmarried 25-year-old agricultural labourer – with a one-year-old son James to look after as well. On November 18th 1869 she gave birth to James Robertson, whose father was James Robertson, a servant at Scockness. On October 17th 1872 she had a daughter, Alexina Louttit Sinclair, but who the father was is not on record.
Between 1872/79 James Murray’s rent was 5s. a year. In 1876/77 Henry Craigie paid James’s share of the rent as he was not a fit man. In 1883 James was a pauper and paid no rent. He died in 1885.
In 1883 Mary Sinclair married John Craigie of Blackhammer. They had two daughters, Mary, born on October 26th 1884, and Jemima Janet, born on May 27th 1886.
When she was 32 years old, Alexina Louttit Sinclair had a son James Craigie Inkster Sinclair, born on October 19th 1904, whose father is not on record either. She later married blacksmith David Pearson Inkster and they went to Canada, taking the youngster with them. By then he was known as James Inkster, but he died in 1915.
On December 22nd 1870 James Craigie from Greysteen, who was descended from the Craigies of Brough, married Mary Craigie from Mount Pleasant in Frotoft. James, mentioned in the second paragraph above as being born on October 20th 1844 at Mid Quandale, was the son of Henry and Jane Craigie. His wife Mary was the daughter of William Craigie of Fa’doon, later Mount Pleasant, and Janet Inkster, Pow, and she was born on October 15th 1846. They emigrated to Canada, settling at Goderich, Ontario, on the eastern shore of Lake Huron at the mouth of the Maitland River. It was there they raised a family of ten children: Mary was born in October 1871; James Henry in September 1873; another James Henry in May 1875; Jane Jessie in December 1877; John William in October 1879; Alexina in November 1882; Frederick Thomas in September 1885; Margaret Ann in March 1888; Elizabeth Mabel in July 1889; and Neil Patrick Rose, who was born in February 1893.
James and Mary Craigie, photographed with the younger members of their family in Canada in the early 1890s.
[Picture courtesyof Liz Harmer – whose grandmother Alexina is seated front right]
In the summer of 2004 several Canadian and American descendants from those mentioned above travelled to Rousay to visit the places associated with their ancestors. They are pictured within the ruins of Mount Pleasant [below left] and at Greysteen with the late Robert Craigie Marwick, who was their guide and informant that day.
This is Lower Blackhammer, also called the Manse, on the hill overlooking Wasbister. In 1851 it was occupied by the Louttit family, 72-year-old stonemason Alexander, his wife 55-year-old Janet Craigie, and two of their six children – 28-year-old son Edward, and 15-year-old daughter Betsy, both of whom were employed as agricultural labourers. Edward Louttit was later expelled from Rousay by the laird for taking seagull eggs from the Lobust. He went to live in Stronsay.
The 1871 census tells us Lower Blackhammer was still occupied by Alexander, then 92-years-old and described as a farmer of six acres, and his wife Janet who was then 76. The oldest of their three daughters was Barbara, then 42-years-old and unmarried. She was employed as an agricultural labourer, and her illegitimate 18-year-old son William Louttit, earned money as an apprentice shoemaker. In 1873 the extent of the land at the Manse covered 15.3 acres, for which Barbara paid an annual rent of £1.
By 1891 Alexander and Janet Louttit had passed away, but Barbara still lived there, now 65 years old and described as a ‘small farmer.’ Also at the Manse was 37-year-old washerwoman Margaret Gibson, widow of William Louttit of Maybank near the Wasbister School who passed away in 1884. She was known as Maggie o’ Maybank and they had three children, Maggie Jessie, born in 1877, Isabella, born in 1878, and William, born in 1882. Maggie o’ Maybank died on May 17th 1931 at the age of 79.
In the early 1900s the Manse was occupied by the Donaldson family. Alexander Grieve Donaldson was the son of Thomas Donaldson and Mary Sabiston, Watten, Egilsay, and he was born in 1887. In 1914 he married Maggie Jessie Inkster, daughter of John Alexander Inkster and Jane Irvine, Woo, who was born in 1895. They raised a family of nine children. Second oldest was Mary Jane [known as Jeannie]. She was born in 1917 and left the Manse at the age of twelve when the family moved to Vacquoy.
Her father “Sandy” Donaldson, (Alec to his wife), worked as a blacksmith, first in the smithy below Feolquoy, then at the smiddy close to Quoyostray. They kept cabbage in the plantie-crue – about 50 young plants. Jeannie reminisces about her younger days in Wasbister:-
“The east part of the Manse was the original house, and one of Jeannie’s earliest memories was that it contained hens. At that time it was roofless, but it was later repaired and incorporated with the rest of the house. Jeannie remembered watching from a window at the Manse as Sally of Westness’s wedding procession made its way down the public road and round the Loch of Wasbister.
The children from the Manse went to school via Pig Street. There was a “duckie pond” below the well; the byre had hens in the inner piece and a cow, a calf, and a goat in the outer piece. The shed behind the west side of the house had ashes and hens and was known as the “ashie hoose.”
St Mary’s Church, on the Westside, is by the broch. Jeannie was told that Nelson’s cabin boy came from the Westside and was buried in the churchyard. The school above the bend in the road on the Westside was for the Quandale children only.
Jennie Murray, the “Fat Wifie,” lived in the house between Greysteen and the Manse. She sat in the blacksmith’s place for food when he was late home from work.
No-one lived at Helliatrow (Upper Kirkgate) in Jeannie’s time. Mary Mowatt, an ex-milliner, lived in the Garrett – others lived in Shalter and Everybist. Her nephew (?) was mayor of Johannesburg.
The Sinclairs lived in the Upper House at Blackhammer. There was Sena, who was tall, and Mary, who was fat, and they were sisters. Charlie Logie stayed there as a boy. His father Willie Logie lived at Mount Pleasant and when his wife died Willie went to sea, and it was at this time that Charlie lived with the Sinclairs in the Upper House.
Jock and Mamie Johnston lived in the Lower House, having returned from America (Canada ?). Mamie was a Sinclair before her marriage to Jock. Their daughter May became Mrs Baikie and lived in Kirkwall. May was mannish. Jeannie remembered baby-sitting in Blackhammer and listening to the rain on the metal roof.
Tom Marwick worked at Trumland House but was later sacked. When the Johnstons moved he and his wife Emma moved into the Lower House at Blackhammer. Emma was Ivy Cooper Craigie’s sister, and she and Tom had one daughter called Emma – who died seven or eight years later in the 1920s.
Jean of Kirkgate went off with Tom Marwick on his motorbike, along with a bundle containing money, pension book and a blanket – leaving Howie. Later she came back to him and stayed with him until he died.”
[In 1941 Jeannie married fisherman David Gibson, son of John Gibson of Hullion later Brough, and Margaret Craigie of Turbitail].
