Category: In Print

A Rousay Heritage Walk

by

Christopher J. Harris

Published by The Orkney Pottery, Rousay, Orkney, in 1978
and reproduced here with the author’s permission.

The Department of the Environment’s Guide to Ancient Monuments in Orkney is a great asset on any tour in Orkney and ought to be bought before crossing to Rousay.

Information about transport to the Island is to be found elsewhere in this booklet.

The tour, which will take us from the main pier, opposite Wyre, to Scabra Head in the West, follows the public road for most of the way and you can see where it runs as you sail round the skerries and enter Wyre Sound en route for Trumland Pier. The crossing looks innocent enough but the strong currents in Eynhallow Sound are very much respected by the boatmen and are still a hindrance to communications when wind against tide produces rough water.

PIER AREA – TRUMLAND HOUSE

The pier has just been extended to allow the inter-island cargo boat to call once a week at any tide. The original pier can be seen, and it was built in the 1870’s by the largest proprietor in the Island – General Traill Burroughs of Trumland House. He was the largest shareholder in the first steamboat company for these Northern Isles, and the “Lizzie Burroughs” plied a regular service from this pier, enabling him to ship sheep and cattle to market with relative ease. The larger of the two boathouses at the right hand side of the pier housed Burroughs’ private yacht and his boatman lived in “Pier Cottage” built in 1877. “Ivy Cottage”, a little nearer the Kirk was built in 1878 for his joiner.

Burroughs is a figure we shall recall several times during our tour.

Perhaps one of the first buildings to catch your eye to the left above the pier will be the Rousay Fish Processing Factory which processes shell-fish. It is a cooperative, owned by many of the Islanders who employ a manager to run it for them. The workers are men and women from within the parish and their numbers vary according to the season. Much of the product is exported to the Continent.

To the right of the telephone kiosk and adjacent to Pier Cottage is one of the Island’s two shops. We shall pass the other one later.

Continuing up the road we turn left at the War Memorial and walk up to the “main” road and the entrance to Trumland House. This imposing mansion, which is private property, comes as quite a surprise to most folk as it looms up from the low woodland round it. It was designed in Scottish baronial style by David Bryce who was the architect for the larger Balfour Castle in Shapinsay. Trumland House was built in 1873 for General Traill Burroughs. When he married he thought his previous residence, Westness House, too small for the largest landowner in Rousay. Burroughs had inherited the estate from his grand uncle, George Traill, in the middle of the century. Traill had made his fortune in the Indian Civil Service and on his return to Britain had bought the estate. Burroughs, too, did service in India where he commanded the 93rd. Sutherland Highlanders. These two men consolidated their fortunes and positions by the so-called land “Improvements” which made them notorious in the Islands and brought on Burroughs’ head the wrath of two Royal Commissions on Crofting. Both men evicted tenants from parts of the estate in order to make larger farms for the new Cheviot and Leicester-cross sheep and Shorthorn cattle. The old self-sufficiency of the crofters was being replaced by a market economy and it was this which lay behind the “improvements”. It is easy with hindsight to condemn Traill and Burroughs for the Rousay evictions but in their class it was thought to be the only way to improve everybody’s lot. They saw the abolition of the run-rig field system, the enclosures of land and a more intensive utilisation of it as a way of generally improving everyone’s standard of living. If some folk had to leave their homes and adopt a whole new way of life then it was said to be for their own good. Traill was responsible for the cruellest evictions in the 1840’s whereas Burroughs preferred “to leave the people in their houses and make them labourers,” as he said. When his tenants objected he told the Crofters Commission that “they all want to be masters and not servants, and that is impossible”. Despite their pronounced good intentions there is no doubt that these two landowners caused great hardship in Rousay and indeed completely changed the way of life of the Islanders. Trumland House stands here as a stark memorial to “the little General” who was even condemned by the other land-owners in Orkney.

It was this mansion that became the home of the late Walter Grant, Director of the Highland Park Distillery in Kirkwall and perhaps the greatest private benefactor ever to Scottish Archaeology. Most of the large monuments we shall visit were excavated at his expense by such well known archaeologists as Callender and Professor Gordon Childe.

Continuing along the road we come to the bridge, with Trumland Farm on the left. If you go through the small gate on the right of the bridge you can take the Burnside Walk, a pleasant path through the trees. At the other end of this path you come out into an open field across which our first monument can be seen. If you do not wish to take the walk through this delightful wood, you can keep to the road until you see the sign directing you to Taversoe, our first stop.

BLACKHAMMER

Hammer is presumably from the Old Norse “hamarr” meaning projecting rocks or cliff. Although presumed to be of a similar age (about 3,000 B.C.) this cairn is of a different construction which must reflect the builders’ different traditions or customs from their neighbours. This so called stalled-cairn contained only two burials with grave goods such as pottery, an axe-head and a flint knife. Why was so much energy used to build such a tomb which was only used twice? Were mound burials replaced by another burial custom? Were these the tombs of a ruling class – the Chieftains of a farming community or were they community tombs? These are just a few of the questions which archaeologists have speculated over for years. The sheer size the Rousay burial cairns makes one thing quite clear however: they were either built by a society whose farming methods created a surplus of time during which the tombs could be erected, or else they were built by a people with a dominant belief in the after life. The amount of time spent tomb building could so easily have been to the detriment of their food-gathering activities: fishing, hunting and farming.

Before leaving the Blackhammer cairn look down towards the shore, about a quarter of a mile east of the farm of Nears. Here there is a large turf-covered mound known as the Knowe of Hunclett. Hunclett is the name of the Norse township and probably means a place of many stones or stoney place.

The original head house of the township has never been identified but it seems most likely that it is not this which is under the Knowe but a Broch. The shores of the Eynhallow Sound are dotted with these Broch remains but few have been archaeologically investigated.

YARSO

Not far along the road from Blackhammer is the sign for the turn off to Yarso, the third of the Rousay Cairns under the guardianship of the Department of the Environment. It takes about 15 minutes to reach but as the path is badly marked it may take a little longer and many people find that they have not the time to visit the highest of the large Rousay cairns. It can be seen from the road on the edge of a small cliff, about 300 ft. above sea level, and is a good viewpoint for those who make the effort to visit it. Yarso means “mound of the edge” from the Norse “Jadarr” = edge, “Haugr” mound. It is a cairn of similar construction to Midhowe which we shall visit later, but much smaller. Despite its size it contained the bones of 21 humans, along with those of a dog, sheep and many red deer.

This cairn is just one of the several large tombs overlooking the fertile district of Frotoft which must have been densely populated already in the Neolithic and Bronze Ages, several thousand years ago. However, after retracing our steps to the road, just before we reach the road, on the left we pass the old Frotoft School, now converted into a comfortable home. We turn right along the road. After a few paces, on the left, is the one and only pub in Rousay, the new Taversoe Hotel. Here one can obtain sandwiches or a Bar lunch in addition to the usual liquid refreshments. It is a very friendly and convenient place to stop for a break in our walk.

From the pub it is just over three miles to our next “official” monument, but there are many places of interest on the way, and after visiting the prehistoric Neolithic tombs we now pass into the historical times, going down the Cot-a-fea brae into the Norse township of Frotoft. There is one last monument here from the distant past and that is the standing-stone which is at the roadside, at the end of the croft as we go down the hill. This croft has taken its name from the “longsteen” or “langstane”. The Longsteen is nearly seven and a half feet high and two feet three inches broad at the base. It is only one of many Standing-Stones in Orkney and exactly when they were built and to what purpose is a mystery. The crofts we pass on the roadside here bear the names Langstane, Cott, Broch, Burrian and Breek, in that order. Apart from names the crofts also have numbers, an unusual feature in Rousay and indicating clearly that they were erected to a plan. These are some of the crofts which were built in the 1840’s by those folk who were evicted from the Quandale district we shall see at the end of the tour. The least fortunate crofters had to either build outside the hill dyke or to leave the Island, but here in Frotoft a small number of buildings were erected along the new road.

The croft called ‘Broch’, No. 3 Frotoft, is certainly one of the most picturesque of the Rousay crofts, and very typical of the “improved” buildings of the last century. One of the innovations of the “improved” croft was the gable fireplace with chimney, whereas the traditional Orkney croft had an open hearth near the centre of the room with a smoke outlet in the roof.

BROCH – BREEK – HULLION

The names Broch and Burrian are taken from yet another unexplored Broch, the Knowe of Burrian, which is at the shore edge some 50 yards west of Langstane and can be seen as a mound if one looks down towards the shore. Further along the road we come to another croft in Frotoft called Breek. Although uninhabited it is interesting to know that there are still folk on the Island who used to live here.

There is much written about the buildings in Frotoft but there is only room here for a few general remarks. From Hullion we continue on the main road, past the Chapel Field and the turning down on the left to Hullion pier. For many years this was the pier for the mail-boat, and this crossing is also the shortest to the Mainland. Immediately opposite the pier, on the Mainland, is the Broch of Gurness, which is the second of the Orkney Brochs under the Guardianship of the Department of Environment. From the very sharp S-bend in the road we can look back up towards the Yarso cairn which is clearly seen from here on the edge of a small cliff.

BANKS

The next croft on the right hand side of the road is called Banks (from old Norse “Bakkar” steepish slopes) and this was the largest property in the district at the beginning of the seventeenth century. The name Banks was often used instead of the older name Frotoft. Today it is workshops of The Orkney Pottery. (visitors are welcome).

The large two-storeyed house on the left near the shore is Viera Lodge. This was once the home of the Factor for the Burroughs estate and later became a guest-house. There is yet another Broch-mound immediately to the West of the house at the very edge of the shore. Once again we are reminded of the continuity of the settlement from prehistoric times to the present.

Almost at the top of the incline, as the road rises, is the croft called Corse. It is the boundary between Frotoft and Westness, or the Westside, and the name tells us that at one time there was a wayside cross or prayer stone here. Such crosses were common in Catholic times and were erected on sites where a Holy place came into view. There are many preserved, especially round the Cathedral cities of Britain but others remain only in tradition of place-names. There was a double reason for such a wayside cross at Corse because both the parish church at Skaill, which we shall see, and the monastic settlement on Eynhallow came into view. From Corse we can look back over the populous, thriving community of Frotoft and then look Westwards over the depopulated Westside so cruelly cleared.

The view of the Westside and Eynhallow from along this part of the road is most beautiful. It is a view that has lingered in the minds of several Scandinavian authors, especially those who have been fortunate enough to see the sun setting behind Eynhallow and the evening-glow warm the Saga-sites on either side of the Sound between the Island and the Mainland. 

WESTNESS HOUSE

Just visible amongst the trees below the road on the left is Westness House and gardens. For several generations this was the home of the Traill family, who also owned Woodwick House, the large house you will see to the North West of Tingwall jetty on your return to the Mainland. Dr. Traill planted the trees and gardens of Westness which were thought to be the most beautiful of their kind in Orkney right up to the beginning of this century. Certainly the positioning of both Westness House and Westness Farm (the farm next to the house) have no parallel for charm in the Northern Isles. The story of Westness House has yet to be written, but when it is the eighteenth century John Traill will no doubt be one of the central figures. When suspected of supporting Bonnie Prince Charlie he is purported to have taken refuge, along with others, in the “Gentleman’s Ha” on Westray. It is said that his home was burnt down and presumably the present Westness House is basically his rebuilt home.

The house and gardens are open to the public, viewing by appointment only. (see General Information page). At the bottom of the garden is a small private chapel which seats nine people and is still used by the Episcopalians who live on the Island. This chapel was built at a much later date.

Having reached the bridge, Westness Cottage is on the right and to the right of the cottage is a track climbing up into the hills, keeping to the side of the geo or valley through which the Westness burn cascades. The track leads to Rousay’s two largest lochs; the Muckle Water and the Peerie Water, i.e. the large and the small lochs. The Frotoft folk cut their peats up there to this day. However, to visit the lochs and return would take over an hour and a half.

We recommend that the walk should continue, not along the road, but down the track on the left just over the bridge down to Westness Farm. Pass through the farm and continue the walk along the shore, making sure to close all gates behind you. In the field between the burn and Westness House are a number of smaller cairns and nearer the farm is the disused threshing Mill with its large overshot wheel.

Westness Farm is one of the largest farms in the Northern Isles and as we have mentioned was cleared and “improved” by George Traill in the 1840’s. For as far as we can now see on Rousay and as far again there are no occupied crofts.

SHORE WALK

A walk along the shore brings us to an outstanding Norse site, still being excavated (1978) by Curator Sigrid Kaland from the Historical Museum, Bergen, Norway. It will eventually be laid out as yet another ancient monument – the first Norse one in Rousay and completing the time-scale from prehistoric times to the present on this South Western shore.

The “Noust” or boathouse is the first part of the settlement we come to on Moa Ness. It is remarkable that this site was not discovered until the 1960’s when one considers that after leaving Saviskaill Bay and sailing round the North Western coast, this is the first place one could pull up a boat, even at low tide. We can see clearly that the flagstones on the shore are naturally split and that there is a sandy inlet. The noust is sheltered from the strong currents of the Eynhallow Sound. The building has, presumably, been an open construction measuring 10 x 5 metres with low walls which were primarily a protection against strong winds.

Approximately 50 metres West of the noust on the highest ground of the Ness or headland lies the Norse cemetery. None of the graves can be seen on the surface and their exact numbers are not yet known, but four have been uncovered and there are certainly several more. The cemetery was accidentally discovered in 1963 when the farmer was digging a hole to bury a dead cow and by chance uncovered a richly equipped young woman’s grave. The famous Westness brooch now in a corner of the National Museum of Antiquities, Edinburgh, was one of three brooches found in the grave. Two were 9th. century and the Westness brooch itself is not later than the middle of the 8th. century, and was already an heirloom when buried. There were several other grave finds including a necklace of 40 beads and toilet equipment. From other skeleton material found it appears that this young woman died in childbirth. It is one of the best equipped graves ever found in the Atlantic Islands. A mere four metres away was revealed yet another outstanding grave with the remains of two skeletons.

The uppermost body in this oval 9th. century grave had been a woman in her sixties, and under both this skeleton and a layer of sand lay a 30 year old man. His head had rested on his shield and at his side were gaming pieces, arrows, sickle, knife, scissors and some toilet accessories. It is believed that the older man may have been a human offering at the burial. The 10th. century Arab ambassador, Ibn Fadlan, describing a Viking burial, wrote:- “When a Chieftain among them has died, his family demands of his slave woman and servants, ‘Which of you wishes to die with him’, then one of them says ‘I do’ “.

Just over 300 metres farther West lies the farmhouse and associated buildings. There are at least four buildings lying North South. The main house has two long halls with fireplaces and other smaller rooms, whilst on the Eastern side of a paved gangway are presumably a byre for cattle and sheep. There are several building phases and more buildings yet to be uncovered all round the settlement. Seeds found tell us that amongst the plants grown were flax, barley and oats. One problem here is the dating of the site and the great temptation to associate it with the Sigurd of Westness who features in the Orkneyinga Saga. The graves suggest that the settlement could easily be from the earliest Viking colonisation of Orkney while Sigurd lived in the 12th. century. Before briefly describing the Saga events that took place on the Westside we can notice the adjacent turf-covered mound known as the Knowe of Swandro. It is wrongly identified in the Inventory of Ancient Monuments for Orkney as a Viking grave, whereas it is, quite clearly, another Broch. This may have been a good quarry from which the Norsemen could carry building materials for that farm.

Although Sigurd of  Westness is the only Rousay man to feature in the Saga his position is an important one as a close friend of Earl Paul Hakonsson. As usual the Saga events are complicated with rival claimants to the Earldom plotting against each other with their respective supporters. In 1137 Earl Paul, son of Hakon who had slain Magnus on Egilsay in 1117, was visiting Sigurd at Westness, probably to seek his advice on the approval of the rival claimant Rognvald (the builder of the St. Magnus Cathedral). Before Rognvald and Paul could meet there was a very unexpected turn of events. Early one morning Earl Paul was out with some friends otter hunting when suddenly that Norse opportunist Swein Asleifson of Gairsay appeared with his men and attacked the hunters. (Swein had previously been out-lawed by Earl Paul). In the attack all were killed except Paul and he was kidnapped, never to appear in Orkney again. Sigurd and his two sons never swore allegiance to the new Earl Rognvald but waited in vain for Paul to return. It was after this successful return to Orkney from Norway that Rognvald began to build St. Magnus Cathedral.

Where did Sigurd live? One thing seems certain that the Chieftain’s “bu” or manorial farm was not at the present day Westness farm. There is no “ness” or headland there, unless the name describes the whole of this part of the Island. The obvious topographical “nesses” are those of Moaness and the one near Swandro. It is here we find the Norse settlement “noust” and cemetery, but on the other hand such an important 12th. century Chieftain as Sigurd would likely have lived in something more elaborate than this farm. We remember also that the Chieftains appear to have had private chapels, some of which later became the parish churches and this leads us to the strong rival claimant for the site of Sigurd’s “bu” a few hundred yards further along the shore. At the risk of discontinuity we can take up the story when we reach the site. We have dwelt on the excavations and Sigurd, but as nothing is mentioned in the Orkney Ancient Monuments Guide more comment was necessary than for the frequently described cairns.

KELP PITS

If we follow the shore line just a little west of the Knowe of Swandro we can see all that is left of a once important source of income for the landowners, i.e. kelp-burning. The ashes of kelp (seaweed) were used in the southern glassmaking industries and from the first half of the eighteenth century until towards the middle of the nineteenth century large quantities were shipped from Orkney. The industrial archaeological remains we see are the round shallow saucer-shaped stone-filled pits, a few feet wide, in which the kelp was burned. While the women earned from the spinning of flax or the plaiting of straw, the men’s summer work was partly the processing of kelp.

The old Church of Skaill was dedicated to St. Mary but is more commonly called Swandro or Swendro and the name presumably deriving from the personal name “Swein”. It is a single chambered rectangular building 53 ft. by 14 ft. The Norwegian archaeologist Dietrichson and architect Meyer, at the beginning of this century pointed to similarities between Swendro Church and the Magnus Church in Egilsay, and they were in no doubt as to its early medieval origins. However, the inventory of Ancient Monuments published some 30 years ago says that the building is post Reformation. Two panels of Scots pine now in the National Museum, Edinburgh, were originally here, one dated 1622, the other 1798. The church was in use until the clearances and the churchyard, which is in need of repair, was used as late as the 1920’s.

BROUGH

However, we continue our walk towards the next building which was the important house called Brough. Dr. Marwick pointed out that there is a well, known as Mary Well, at the edge of the shore between Skaill and Brough. Although there is no tradition preserved, he believed it may have been a Holy Well. Today it is difficult to see.

Dr. Marwick wrote of Brough in 1948:- “Ruinous and deserted as it now is, Brough was in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries one of the most important houses in Orkney – no fewer than three Craigies of Brough having been Lawmen of Orkney”. The farm lay in Outer Westness and some evidence indicates that part of the Westness estate was private Earldom property which probably came into the Craigie family through James Craigie’s marriage to a daughter of Earl Henry St. Clair in the fourteenth century. The property was one of the most valuable Odal estates in the whole of Orkney. The previously mentioned Charter of 1556 was the sale of Brough by Magnus Craigie to his kinsman Magnus Halcro who was Cantor of the Cathedral. This ambitious and able opportunist married in 1563 the daughter and heir to Sir James Sinclair, the victor at the Battle of Summerdale in 1529. This was the last battle in Orkney. After Halcro’s death the property was acquired, illegally by all accounts, by Earl Robert Stewart. He evicted the Halcro heirs. Robert Stewart was the son of James V of Scotland and thereby half brother to Mary Queen of Scots. He had been created Earl of Orkney in 1581. It was he who built the Earls Palace at Birsay. However it came into the Halcro family again in 1593 and there it remained until the Traills took it over.

How sad it is that this once important farm is now but a ruin on a sheeprun. Between this building and the sea are the remains of a broch — the South howe of the three brochs in this area. It has not been excavated and every year that passes, more disappears into the sea.

MIDHOWE CAIRN

By now we are curious to see inside the hangar-like structure some yards further along the coast. This is the famous Midhowe Stalled Cairn, described in the Guide to the Ancient Monuments of Orkney. The building we see was erected to protect the tomb underneath after it had been excavated at the expense of Mr. W. G. Grant in the 1930’s. This megalithic chambered tomb from the third millennium BC is called a “Stalled” cairn because it is divided into twelve compartments by upright slabs projecting from the side walls just as the stalls of a byre. The barrow is exceptionally large, the external measurements 106 ft. long arid 42½ ft. wide. The chamber is 76 ft. long and 7 ft. wide. Lying on stone benches between the stalls were found the remains of 25 human skeletons. Otherwise the finds were few but included some pottery and a few animal bones: ox, sheep and Orkney vole.

For a more complete description and plan of Midhowe Cairn see the Department of Environment Guide. The guide also contains a good description and plan of the neighbouring Midhowe Broch. In many ways it is remarkable that so many major archaeological monuments should be found so close to each other but when we think about it nothing is more natural than a continuity of settlement in an area of good arable land with the sea at hand.

MIDHOWE BROCH

Midhowe Broch is, as the name tells us, the middle “haugr” or mound of three. The North Howe is the large mound 100 yards from the shore and 300 yards from Midhowe. Only Midhowe of the Rousay Brochs has been excavated and once again we are indebted to Grant of Trumland House for his efforts in the 1930’s. Nearly all brochs are to be found in the north of Scotland and there are great concentrations of them in Orkney and Shetland, roughly 100 in each Island group. They are generally considered to have been tower-like structures, as the best preserved example, Mousa Broch, Shetland shows, but most are now grass covered mounds like those we have already passed. After confidently dating them to the Iron Age from finds like Roman Pottery, coins, saddle and rotary querns we are then left to speculate who built them and why. Their sophistication and defensive positions speak for themselves and Midhowe is a superb example of both. With a spring inside and access to the food from the sea the Broch dwellers must have felt quite safe. Their builders may have been the indigenous farming population threatened by the invaders from the South; the culprits being either the Romans themselves, the tribes displaced by the Romans, or, the Brochs may have been built by an invading people. Their distribution corresponds approximately to the lands known to have been occupied by the Picts, but even here we are skating on relatively thin ice because the “Picts” are a thorny subject only now being archaeologically investigated. Whoever the Broch dwellers were their need of a defensive structure became less and the inner ditch was built up with secondary houses, one of which at Midhowe has an iron smelting hearth. Like the Cairn builders the Broch dwellers were farmers, and finds of spindle whorls and pieces of combs indicate that they knew how to both spin and weave cloth.

QUANDALE

On the Northern side of Quandale the sites of old crofts are still visible with their greener arable rigs close to the piles of stones. There is one croft which stands out though, and this is certainly no anti-climax even after the imposing Midhowe Monuments, for here we are faced with the old mansions of Tofts. The Orkney Historian J. Storer Clouston believed this to be the oldest two storeyed house in Orkney and in 1923 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”. Unfortunately nothing has been done and this ancient house is slowly falling down.

It is probable that a defensive structure would have been built at this time and we imagine Tofts in its present form to have been built then. Storer Clouston concludes that from 1570 to 1700 there was nobody of any local importance who was styled “of Tofts” or “in Tofts” which suggests that its day of glory was before this time. The buildings round the house are the stables and barn, plus two byres. It is a remarkable collection of buildings, inhabited only by birds today.

From Quandale we must wander back up to the road and begin our walk back to Trumland Pier. From the quarry on the bend of the road it takes about two hours to the pier and you would be wise to accept all lifts from passing Rousay folk if you have not arranged any transport to pick you up.

It has been a long walk but Rousay must be one of the few places where we can discover so many different monuments illustrating past ways of life. We hope it has been enjoyable and that these few pages have, in some way, kept your mind from thoughts of aching legs.

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ACCESS TO ROUSAY

Rousay is easily accessible from Tingwall (MR. 402228 0.S. Sheet 6) in Evie on the Mainland of Orkney. There is a bus service from Kirkwall bus station on a Monday, Friday and Saturday, leaving at 9 am. and returning at 4.30 pm in the evening (subject to alteration on school days). This service meets the Rousay boat. At other times a taxi can be hired from any of the operators on the Mainland. J. A. Rosie, The Shieling, Evie (Evie 227) is prepared to run a mini-bus for larger parties

If you bring your own car, turn off the Kirkwall to Stromness road at Finstown and take the A966. After six miles a sign to Tingwall Jetty indicates a turn down to the sea. There is a free parking and a shelter with a phone.

BOAT SERVICE

Mr Magnus Flaws of Helziegetha, Wyre (Rousay 203), runs the boat service to Rousay, Egilsay and Wyre. The boat leaves Tingwall at 10.l5 am and 4.30 pm For a service outside these times, please check with the boatman.

TRANSPORT ON ROUSAY

Scheduled Bus Service – from the pier (meeting boat) to Midhowe Broch. Mon. Sat. at 10.45 am. (June, July, & August). Other times by arrangement.

Self-Drive Cars – Louise Owen, Taversoe Hotel. (Rousay 325).

Taxis and Self-Drive Cars – telephone Chris and Mary Soames, Brendale, Rousay. (Rousay 234). Also mini-bus hire, day tours arranged for parties to suit the unique requirements of each group. A Guide can be arranged if necessary.

Taxis – John Mainland, 4 Frotoft, Rousay (Rousay 270).

Bicycle Hire – Tommy Gibson, Brinola, Rousay. (Rousay 261). Just above the pier.

Pony & Trap – see Quoys Stables & Saddlery

ACCOMMODATION & SERVICES

Taversoe Hotel – licensed family hotel. Bed & Breakfast. Full Board. Bar Meals. Sandwiches & Coffee. Activities offered include Shooting, Trout Fishing, Sea Angling, and Diving. Near to all ancient monuments, ideal centre for ornithologists. lvan & Louise Owen, Taversoe Hotel, Rousay (Rousay 325).

Old Mlll Cottage – on a working farm, sleeps six, close to pier and sea. Farm produce available, fishing and shooting by arrangement. Jeremy Hulme, Trumland Farm, Rousay (Rousay 279)

OTHER SERVICES & ACTIVITIES

Quoys Stables & Saddlery – Hire a pony and trap for a leisurely island tour. Also riding lessons and pony trekking for beginners or experienced riders – all tack provided. Glyn & Carol Chrystal, Quoys, Rousay. (Rousay 330)

The Orkney Pottery – A Craft Pottery halfway between Rousay pier and Midhowe Broch producing a select range of handthrown Stoneware and PorceIain fired to a high temperature. A range of work is always on display in the showroom, where coffee and scones are available. Frank Harris, Banks, Rousay. (Rousay 266).

Hullion Shop – A general island store selling all manner of goods and petrol. David Gibson, Hullion, Rousay. (Rousay 264).

Pier Shop – A small general merchant – mainly for groceries. Dorothy Munro, Pier Shop, Rousay. (Rousay 391).

Rousay Processors – An island-owned shellfish processing factory. In season, Lobster, crab and scallop can be purchased at the door. Rousay Processors, The Pier, Rousay. (Rousay 216).

The island has a resident doctor and nurse.

EVERYDAY PAPERWORK

CERTIFICATES, BILLS, QUOTES, RENTS
1872 – 1936

Rousay School Board was an elected body. The Church of Scotland played a great part in education and parish ministers had supervisory roles, including the employment of teachers and carrying out periodic inspections. Rousay had three kirks; the Established, Free, and United Presbyterian, and each voter on this list, dated 1872, has his own particular ecclesiastical affiliation marked beside his name. The images below are enlargements of the document above.

THE SKELWICK FAIRIES

There was a green grassy knowe by the pond at South Tuan, Skelwick, Westray, that was the home of the fairies. A field called Savvoquoy was their field, and children were warned not to roll down the banks there, or tread on paddostools (toadstools) as the fairies used them as tables, and danced on them in the moonlight. They were said to dress all in green and were no bigger than a thimble. If you stood by the pond at South Tuan you could hear the fairies humming.

The Skelwick fairies came from Rousay on a simmans rope. They settled in the old picts houses at the shore below Garth. An old woman said that the fairies took over after the picts had left.

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THE TROW WIFE

There was once a peedie boy called Johnny who lived in the island of Rousay. His home was a type of house called a “twa built hoose,” that is two long houses with byres and barns at the ends. The boy used to go from one house to the other every night. One night he did not come in as usual. Time passed, but he never arrived. At last he was sent for, but there was no sign of him. A search followed, and his family called to him “Johnny boy, what has become of you?” After a while they heard him cry, “I’m on the back of the trow.” The old trow woman who was carrying him away dropped him when she heard the word “trow” mentioned, for she had lost her powers. She turned and gave him such a clout on the crown of his head that it took all the hair off him, and he was bald for the rest of his days.

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THE FAIRIES AND THE VIKINGS

A long time ago the Vikings left their homes in Norway and crossed the wide sea to the broken isles of Orkney. They sailed around the islands until they came to Rousay. There they saw a host of fairies standing on the hillside above Trumland. The sun glinted on their glittering spears so that it made a great impression on the Vikings. They turned their ship away from the shore and left. They did not stay away for long though, but returned to fight the fairies. The battle raged until the fairies were defeated and driven from their homes. They moved to the west side of the island and made new homes for themselves underground – and who knows, they may still be there.

From: The Mermaid Bride. The original source was from unpublished papers
of Ernest Marwick in the Orkney Library & Archive.]

A very long time ago there lived a young woman in the island of Rousay. One fine day she went to the hill to cut peats. When her work was done she sat down among the heather to rest. She was surprised to see that she was not alone, for there was a strange man on the hill too. He came towards her and started to talk. They sat there chatting away for some time. At last the man asked the girl if she would come home with him. She refused at first, but the man had a silver tongue and he soon gained her trust and she went with him.

A very long time ago there lived a young woman in the island of Rousay. One fine day she went to the hill to cut peats. When her work was done she sat down among the heather to rest. She was surprised to see that she was not alone, for there was a strange man on the hill too. He came towards her and started to talk. They sat there chatting away for some time. At last the man asked the girl if she would come home with him. She refused at first, but the man had a silver tongue and he soon gained her trust and she went with him.

My thanks to Tom Muir for allowing me to reproduce this from his book
The Mermaid Bride and other Orkney Folk Tales – the original being
in Duncan J Robertson’s ‘Orkney Folk-Lore’, published in Vol I
Proceedings of the Orkney Antiquarian Society, 1922-23, 40.

The lovely little island of Eynhallow lies between the island of Rousay and the Mainland. It was not always there though, but was won from the Fin Folk by magic. Here is the tale as it has been told for hundreds of years.

The goodman of Thorodale married a woman and they had three fine, strong sons. But trouble was lurking not too far away, for the wife died. The man was left with the three boys who had now grown up to be young men. Thorodale took himself another wife, and she was said to be the boniest lass in all the parish of Evie. Thorodale loved his new wife very much and they lived for a time in happiness. One fine day Thorodale and his bonnie young bride were down in the ebb gathering shellfish. Thorodale sat down on some rocks to tie the lace of his rivlin [a type of shoe made from untanned hide]. His back was to his wife, and she was close to the edge of the water. Thorodale heard a terrible scream which made him leap to his feet. He turned just in time to see a dark man dragging his wife towards a boat. Thorodale ran towards them, but it was too late. The Fin man had his wife in the boat, and as Thorodale waded through the water the man pulled the oars and shot across the water. Thorodale ran to his own boat, pushing it into the water, but by the time he had got it afloat the Fin man’s boat was out of sight, sped on by his magic. Thorodale never saw his bonnie wife again, but he was not the sort of man to take such a blow lightly. He rolled up his breeches, took off his stockings, and went down on his knees below flood-mark and swore that, living or dead, he would take his revenge on the Fin Folk.

Many days and sleepless nights were spent deep in thought as Thorodale plotted how to avenge his loss. Try as he might, he could not think of a way to punish the Fin Folk. Then one day he went out in his boat to the fishing. He lay in the Sound between Rousay and the Mainland; there was no Eynhallow there in those days you see. As he lay there in the slack water he heard a woman singing. Thorodale recognised the voice at once, for it was that of his own dear wife. He could not see her, but he listened as she sang:

“Goodman, greet no more for me,
For me again you’ll never see;
If you would have of vengeance joy,
Go ask the wise spae-wife of Hoy.”

Thorodale headed to the shore as fast as he could row. He took his staff in his hand, put his silver in a stocking, and set off for the island of Hoy. He found the spae-wife, and told her his mission. She said that there was nothing that would hurt the Fin Folk more than to lose any part of Hilda-Land, their summer island homes. She taught him the spell that would let him see Hilda-Land, for it is usually hidden from human eyes. She also told him what to do when he did see it. Armed with this knowledge Thorodale returned home and waited.

For nine nights, when the moon was full, Thorodale travelled to the Odin Stone in Stenness. Nine times he went round the stone on his bare knees, then he looked through the hole in the stone and wished that he had the power to see Hilda-Land. On the ninth night he knew what he was to do. He went home, bought a large quantity of salt, and filled his meal girnel with it. Next to the girnel he set three caisies [straw baskets carried on the back], and he told his three sons to be ready to follow him when he gave the word.

One beautiful summer morning, just after the sun had risen, Thorodale went out and looked towards the sea. There I the middle of the Sound lay a pretty little island that had never been there before. He knew that if he took his eyes off it for one moment he would never see it again. He wasted no time, but shouted to his sons, “Fill the caisies, and hold for the boat.”

The three sons ran to the boat, each one carrying a caisie of salt on his back. They joined their father in the boat and pushed her out to sea. Thorodale never once took his eyes off the island, for he was the only one who could see it.

Suddenly, the boat was surrounded by a school of whales. The sons wanted to set after them and drive them onto the shore, but Thorodale knew better. They were only a magic trick of the Fin Folk to try and distract the men from their mission. Thorodale cried, “Pull for bare life! And the Devil drook [drench] the delayer!” A giant whale lay between the boat and the island and it slowly turned and headed towards the boat. It opened its huge mouth so the young men thought that it would swallow the boat, and them with it. Thorodale, who was standing in the bow of the boat, thrust both hands into the nearest caisie and scooped up the salt. He threw it into the monster’s gaping mouth and it disappeared in an instant, for it was only a trick of the Fin Folk.

As the boat headed towards the shores of Hilda-Land, two beautiful mermaids stood singing. They were naked from head to waist and their golden hair floated around their snow-white skin like dancing sunbeams. The song that they sang was so lovely that it went to the hearts of the rowers, and they started to slow down. Thorodale gave the two sons nearest to him a hard kick on their backs, saying to the mermaids, “Be gone, you unholy limmers; here is your warning,” and he threw crosses made from dried tangles [kelp stems] at the mermaids. They screamed, and sprang into the sea.

At last the boat touched the beach of Hilda-Land and Thorodale leapt out. There in front of him stood a terrible monster. It had tusks as long as a man’s arm and feet as broad as quern stones. The monster’s eyes blazed in its head, and it spat fire from its mouth. Thorodale took a handful of salt and threw it at the monster, hitting it right between the eyes. It disappeared, giving a terrible growl as it did so.

Then there stood in front of Thorodale a mighty man, tall and dark with hate in his eyes. In his hand he held a sword, and he roared out a challenge. “Go back, you human thieves, that come to rob the Fin Folk’s land! Be gone! Or, by my father’s head, I’ll defile Hilda-Land with your nasty blood!” His speech frightened the sons, who called out, “Come home, father, come home!” The Fin man made a thrust at Thorodale’s breast with his sword, but Thorodale was too quick for him. He sprang to one side and threw a cross at the Fin man. The cross was made out of a kind of sticky grass known as cloggirs, twisted together. It stuck to the Fin man’s face and he roared with pain. The Fin Folk are heathen, and cannot bear the sight or touch of the cross. Unable to brush it away, the Fin man ran off roaring in pain and anger. Thorodale smiled; he had seen that Fin man before; he was the one who had stolen his wife.

He shouted to his sons who were sitting in the boat, amazed by what they saw. “Come out of that, you duffers! And take the salt ashore!” The sons went ashore, each one carrying a caisie of salt. Then their father made them walk abreast around the island, scattering salt as they went. When they began to sow the salt there arose a terrible noise and commotion throughout the island. The Fin Folk and their cattle all ran helter-skelter to the sea like a flock of sheep with a score of mad dogs behind them. The men roared, the mermaids screamed, and the cattle bellowed like it was the end of the world. It was awful to hear them. At last every soul and mother-son of them, and every hair of their cattle had taken to the sea, leaving only the four men to carry out their task.

As the rings of salt were growing around the island Thorodale took out a knife and cut nine crosses in the turf of the island. The three sons had sown three rings each around the island, making nine rings of salt in all. Well almost nine rings, for you see the youngest son had large hands and he ran out of salt before he had finished his last ring. He asked his brothers for salt to finish it, but they said that they had none to spare. So the last ring of salt was never finished, and that is why Eynhallow is still a magical place. No rats, cats or mice can live on the island. No iron stakes will remain in the ground after sunset. They jump right out, freeing any cattle, sheep or horses that are tethered there. They say that if you cut corn after the sun has gone down on Eynhallow the stalks will bleed.

That was the story of how the Fin Folk lost part of Hilda-Land. The island was called Hyn-hallow, for it was the hinmost holy, that is, the last island to be made holy. And that is all that I can tell you about it

My thanks to Tom Muir for allowing me to reproduce this from
his book The Mermaid Bride and other Orkney Folk Tales,
and to Bryce Wilson for the use of his illustration.

There was once a woman in Rousay who had a baby. It was a bonnie healthy bairn, and was the apple of the proud parents’ eyes. But then it began to change. It grew weak and started to waste away and pine. The mother was very worried, and called for help from a wise woman who lived in the district.

The wise woman came to see the bairn and took a good long look at it. The mother pressed her to find out what ailed the bairn; she was at her wits’ end with worry. The wise woman said that her bairn had been taken by the fairies and they had left one of their own in its place as a changeling. She told the mother that if she wanted to have her child restored to her she must go to a rock face called the Hammers of the Sinians. It was up the hill past Muckle Water. She must take with her a wedge of steel and a Bible. There she would find a cleft in the rock at a certain place, and she had to drive the steel wedge into the crack. The rock would then open and she would see a woman sitting with her bairn on her knee. She must not say a word, but strike the fairy woman three times on the face with the Bible. She must then turn around, without uttering a sound, and return home.

The mother took steel and a Bible and headed up the hill to the rock face. She found the cleft in the rock as she had been told by the wise woman, and drove in the steel wedge. The rock opened and there was the fairy woman, sitting with the bairn on her knee. The fairy woman tried everything she could to make the woman speak, but to no avail. The woman remembered what the wise woman had said, and held her tongue. She raised the Bible and struck the fairy three times on the face, then she left. She went home at a brisk speed, hope and fear burning in her breast. When she arrived at her house, there was her baby back before her, as fat and healthy as when it was taken.

My thanks to Tom Muir for allowing me to reproduce this from his book
The Mermaid Bride and other Orkney Folk Tales. – the original being
in Duncan J Robertson’s ‘Orkney Folk-Lore’, published in Vol I
Proceedings of the Orkney Antiquarian Society, 1922-23, 38.

The illustration, used in Tom’s book, is courtesy of Bryce Wilson

The Loch of Knitchen in Rousay had a water-horse. It was a beautiful black horse, and it would leave the loch when the neighbouring farmers had their animals on the hill. The water-horse would join the herd, but never let itself be caught. – In another version the horse would let itself be caught, but anyone who got on its back was carried into the loch and drowned.

There was once a king and queen who lived with their three daughters on the island of Rousay. The king died, and the queen lived with the princesses in a small house. They had a kailyard and a cow that gave them milk. One day the queen found that someone had been stealing their kail from the yard. The oldest daughter said that she would catch the thief, so she took a blanket and sat in the kailyard all night.

After a time what should she see but a huge great giant coming striding into the kailyard. He cut the kail and threw it into a caisie on his back. As he filled his caisie the princess was always asking him why he was taking her mother’s kail. The giant just replied that if she would not be quiet he would take her too, and so it was. When the giant had filled his caisie he took the princess by the arm and leg and threw her into the caisie on top of the kail and off home he went.

When they arrived at the giant’s house he set her down and told her what work she had to do. First she must milk the cow, then put her up to the hills called Bloodfield. Then she had to take wool, wash it, tease it, comb it, card it, spin it and make it into cloth.

The giant left her to get on with her work. She milked the cow and put her up to the hills, then she put on a pot to make some porridge for her breakfast. As she sat down to sup her porridge she found that she was not alone. A hoard of little yellow-headed folk came running in, and they all begged her for some of her porridge, but this she refused, saying

“Little for one, and less for two,
And never a grain have I for you.”

When she took up the wool she found that, try as she liked, it would not work for her. When the giant returned he found that she had not done her work. He took her, and starting with her head he pulled all her skin off down her back and over her heels. He then threw her body over the rafters among the hens.

That night the giant took his caisie and off he went to the queen’s kailyard again. When he got there who should he meet but the second princess. As he cut the kail she kept on asking him why he was stealing her mother’s property. He warned her that if she did not hold her tongue he would take her too. When the caisie was full he picked up the princess and tossed her on top and off home he went.

He gave the second princess the same tasks as he had given her sister. She milked the cow and put her to the hills, then put on her pot of porridge. The same little yellow-headed people came running in begging for a share, but they got the same answer;

“Little for one, and less for two,
And never a grain have I for you.”

If the wool had not worked for her sister, it worked even worse for her. When the giant came home he found the work had not been done. He took the princess and tore a strip of skin from her head down her back and over her heels. He threw her over the rafters alongside her sister and the hens.

The next night the youngest princess said she would take a blanket and spend the night in the kailyard. She would find out who the thief was who was stealing the kail, and her sisters. Before too long the giant arrived and started to cut the kail. The youngest princess asked him why he was stealing her mother’s kail, but the giant would only say that he would take her too if she was not quiet, and so he did. He picked her up by the arm and leg and tossed her into the caisie.

At the giant’s house he gave her the same orders as he had given her sisters, and off he went. She milked the cow and put it to the hills, then she put on a pot of porridge. Again the little yellow-headed folk came running in begging for some food. She was a kind girl and told them to go and get something to sup with, and so they did. Some took heather stalks, some took bits of broken dishes, some got one thing and some another. They supped the porridge until it was all done. After they had left a little yellow-headed boy came in and asked her if she had any work to do; he could do any work with wool. She said that she had a lot of work to do, but she could not pay him. He said that all he asked for was that she should tell him his name when he had finished. She agreed thinking that it should be easy enough, so she gave him the wool.

When it was getting dark an old woman came asking for a bed for the night. The princess said that she could not put her up for the night, but asked her if she had any news. The old woman said she had none and went off to sleep outside.

There was a knowe near to the giant’s home and the old woman took shelter under its lee side. She lay down on the side of its slope and found it to be very warm. As she lay on the knowe she was always climbing a little way up it until she found herself at its top. She thought she could hear a voice coming from inside the knowe, so she listened. The voice said, “Tease, teasers, tease; card, carders, card; spin, spinners, spin, for Peerie Fool, Peerie Fool is my name.” There was a crack in the top of the knowe and the old woman peered inside. There were a great number of little people working, and a little yellow-headed boy running around them repeating that rhyme.

The old woman now thought that she had news that might win her a night’s lodgings after all. She headed back to the giant’s house and told the princess all that she had seen and heard. The princess kept on saying “Peerie Fool, Peerie Fool,” over and over to herself. At last the little yellow-headed boy came in with the cloth. He asked her what his name was, and she made a few wrong guesses. Every time she guessed wrong, the tiny yellow-headed boy would jump about shouting “No!” At last she said, “Peerie Fool is your name!” He threw down the cloth in a perfect rage and ran out of the house.

When the giant came home he met a great many little yellow-headed folk, and they were a terrible sight! Some had their eyes hanging out on their cheeks; some had their tongues hanging down to their breasts. He asked them what was the matter, how had they ended up like that. They said it was with working so hard pulling wool so fine. The giant said that if his own goodwife at home was alright he would never make her do any work again. When he came home he was very relieved to find her well, and stunned to see all the webs of cloth that she had made. The giant was as good as his word and the princess had no more work to do. In fact, he was very kind to her.

The next day the princess found her sisters and took them down from over the rafters. She put the skin on their backs again, and they were as good as new. She set her oldest sister in the caisie with some of the giant’s fine things on top of her and covered it all over with grass. When the giant came home she asked him to take the caisie to her mother, saying it was food for her cow. The giant did as she wished, for he was fond of her now.

The next day she did the same thing with her other sister. The giant again set off with her in the caisie, along with other fine things from his home. When he got home the princess told him that she would have another caisie of grass for her mother’s cow ready for him the following night. She wouldn’t be at home though, as she wanted to go somewhere. The next night the caisie containing the youngest princess and all the other fine things that she could find in the giant’s house was left by the door for him. He could not see any of this, as it was covered over with grass. The giant picked it up and set out with it to the queen’s house. When he got there the queen and her two daughters were waiting for him with a big boiler full of boiling water. When he was under the window they poured it over him, and that was the end of the giant.

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Credit goes to Tom Muir for allowing me to reproduce this from
his book The Mermaid Bride and other Orkney Folk Tales.
Also to Bryce Wilson for the use of his illustration.

The Knowe o’ Dale at Quandale, Rousay, is a large Bronze Age crecentric burnt mound. But did you know it is also a ‘trowie knowe’ – occupied by trows who do their best to lure strangers into their lair. I tell visitors the following story, ‘Jock in the Knowe’, and also advise them to dance a jig on the crest of the knowe so they do not fall foul of the trows’ dark intentions!

Two Rousay men were on their way home one evening from the fishing. The road they took went past a knowe. When they got near the knowe they thought they could hear music. On coming closer they could make out the sound of bagpipes coming from inside. They went round the mound, but could see nothing. Just as they were about to go, they saw a door standing open in the side of the knowe. They went to see what was inside, still carrying their heavies of fish on their backs. The one man had his knife in his hand and he stuck it above the door as he went in. His companion didn’t have a knife, but he went in as well.

As they stepped inside, and their eyes grew accustomed to the dark, they saw a host of fairies dressed in blue and white, dancing. The one man said, “Boy, Jock, it’s time to go.” He turned around, took his knife from above the door and left. His friend did not have a knife, and without steel he had no power to escape. The door closed and he was left inside. His friend got a party of men together and went to look for the knowe, but they could not find it.

A year later the same man was on his way home from the fishing once again. His journey took him on the same road as it had done the year before. Again he heard music, and found the knowe where he had lost his friend. He ran home and got two knives and an iron hoop from an old barrel and went back to the knowe as fast as he could. When he arrived he found the door, and there he saw Jock in the same place as he had left him, still with the heavie of fish on his back. He stuck the two knives above the door, entered, and threw the hoop right over Jock. As he did this the fairies all disappeared and the door closed when the two men came out. Jock thought that he had only been in the knowe for a few minutes, and it took some time to convince him that it was not so.

The fairies all set sail in eggshells across the sea. The ones from the parish of Sourin were crossing the Westray Firth to Westray when their eggshell boats sank, and they were all drowned. From that day forward there have been no fairies seen in Rousay.

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Credit goes to Orkney Museum Exhibitions Officer Tom Muir for allowing me to reproduce
this from his book The Mermaid Bride and other Orkney Folk Tales, – the original being
in Duncan J Robertson’s Orkney Folklore, published in Vol II Proceedings of the
Orkney Antiquarian Society, 1923-24.