A couple of diverse ‘memories’ from our old friend Bertie Gillespie.
I have a story from the early 1950s. We were living in the cottage next tae Faraclett called Pow. Me aunty Maggie Anne was married tae John Gibson o Faraclett; he told me a story of a workman using a pinch bar doon near the North Sand beach above the high water mark near the Faraclett side o the Loch o Scockness.
Tae carry on the story he was levering a large bolder tae cart away when suddenly his pinch bar dropped out o his grip and seconds later he heard the clang as it hit the floor. We were later told it was a complete Picts Hoose, complete circular in shape approximately 12 feet across wae a domed roof about 25 feet deep. The only entrance was about a 150 feet away at the loch side at water level. The entrance was fairly small, about three foot square, so it would have been a crawl in job – mind they reckoned they were quite small.
[Known as the Taft o’ Faraclett, and mentioned by Hugh Marwick in his Antiquarian Notes On Rousay.]
That very phone box brings back a lot o happy memories as the shop at Hullion was a favourite meeting place for the island rockers wae their motor bikes – we thought we were rockers – Ha-ha! The favourite supper was a peedie tin o baked beans and a pack o crisps.