43 chapters
4 hour read
Selected Chapters
43 chapters
ORKNEY AND SHETLAND
ORKNEY AND SHETLAND
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS London : FETTER LANE, E.C.4 C. F. CLAY, Manager Bombay, Calcutta and Madras : MACMILLAN AND CO., Ltd. Toronto : J. M. DENT & SONS, Ltd. Tokyo : MARUZEN-KABUSHIKI-KAISHA Tokyo : MARUZEN-KABUSHIKI-KAISHA ORKNEY The illustrations on pp. 3 , 7 , 9 , 12 , 27 , 38 , 46 , 54 , 62 , 80 , 81 are reproduced from photographs by Mr T. Kent, Kirkwall; that on p. 32 from a photograph by the Author; that on p. 40 by permission of Messrs J. Spence & Son, St Margaret’s
3 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PREFACE
PREFACE
I wish to thank Captain Malcolm Laing of Crook for the photograph from Sir Henry Raeburn’s portrait of Malcolm Laing, the historian; Andrew Wylie, Esquire, Provost of Stromness, for the portraits of Dr Rae and David Vedder; and J. A. Harvie-Brown, Esquire, Dunipace House, Stirlingshire, for the photograph of the Great Auk’s resting-place. J. G. F. M. H....
16 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
ORKNEY 1. County and Shire
ORKNEY 1. County and Shire
The word shire is of Old English origin, and meant charge, administration. The Norman Conquest introduced an alternative designation, the word county —through Old French from Latin comitatus , which in mediaeval documents stands for shire. County denotes the district under a count, the king’s comes , the equivalent of the older English term earl . This system of local administration entered Scotland as part of the Anglo-Norman influence that strongly affected our country after 1100. The exceptio
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
2. General Characteristics and Natural Conditions
2. General Characteristics and Natural Conditions
Rackwick, Hoy Orkney occupies the somewhat anomalous position of being a wholly insular shire whose economic interests are overwhelmingly agricultural. Most of the islands are flat or low; and in several, such as Shapinsay, Stronsay, Sanday, and South Ronaldshay, the proportion of cultivated land exceeds 70 per cent. of their total areas. In the Mainland, however, there are large stretches of hill and moorland, while in Hoy and Walls the natural conditions of by far the greater portion of the is
3 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
3. Size. Situation. Boundaries
3. Size. Situation. Boundaries
The Orkney Islands extend between the parallels 58° 41´ and 59° 24´ of north latitude, and 2° 22´ and 3° 26´ of west longitude. They measure 56 miles from north-east to south-west, and 29 miles from east to west, and cover 240,476 acres or 375.5 square miles, exclusive of fresh water lochs. The group is bounded by the North Sea and the Pentland Firth on the south, the Atlantic on the west, Sumburgh Roost on the north, and the North Sea on the east. Our measurements take no account of the distant
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
4. Streams and Lakes
4. Streams and Lakes
The streams of Orkney are, of course, mere burns of a few miles in length, draining the high ground, and save for the cheap motive power which they offer to farmers and millers, of interest only to anglers. Nowhere in Orkney are trees so much missed as along the burnsides, and for that reason the Burn of Berriedale, a branch of the larger Rackwick Burn, in Hoy, whose steep banks are covered with poplar, birch, hazel, and mountain ash, is a sort of Mecca to the aesthetic Orcadian. The broad estua
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
5. Geology and Soil
5. Geology and Soil
The geological formation of the Orkney Islands is, in its main features, of a very simple nature. If we except a comparatively small strip of land running northwestward from Stromness to Inganess in the West Mainland, and a still smaller patch in the neighbouring island of Graemsay, practically the whole county is underlain by the Old Red Sandstone formation. The two small areas above-mentioned—practically one, save for the intervening sea—are occupied by older crystalline rocks, consisting of f
6 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
6. Natural History
6. Natural History
The outstanding features of Orcadian zoology are naturally the very restricted number of land mammals as compared with that of the neighbouring mainland of Scotland, the relatively large number of cetaceans in the surrounding waters, and, above all, the richness of the avifauna, particularly in sea-birds, and autumn and winter visitants from more northerly climes. Although the bones and antlers of the red deer have been found among the matter excavated from the sites of brochs and Picts’ houses,
9 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
7. The Coast
7. The Coast
In a district where, despite the general existence of good roads, the shortest cut to church, post office, smithy, or mill is often by crossing a sound or skirting the shore in a yawl, the coastline spells something more than a mere alternation of cliffs and sandy beaches, diversified by the occasional appearance of a lighthouse or a harbour. Such things of course the shores of Orkney exhibit in no common measure, but to show how far they are from exhausting the coastal features of Orcadian life
4 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
8. Weather and Climate
8. Weather and Climate
Insular climates are almost invariably milder than those of continents, or even those of the inland regions of large islands, in the same latitudes, and the climate of Orkney is no exception to this rule. Like so many other things Orcadian, the climate is conditioned by the proximity of the sea, and in this case by a sea whose waters are considerably warmer than their latitude might lead one to suspect. The warm surface drift of the North Atlantic is of itself sufficient to explain the relativel
4 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
9. The People—Race, Language, Population
9. The People—Race, Language, Population
It is unsafe to dogmatise on the early races of Orkney; but from the undoubted community in blood, speech, and culture with other northern counties of Scotland during the Celtic period, we may fairly conjecture that the Islands must have similarly shared in whatever pre-Celtic population—Iberian or other—these regions as a whole possessed. Into the vexed question whether any remnant of Celtic population survived the Norse settlement of the Islands in the ninth century we cannot enter here. It is
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
10. Agriculture
10. Agriculture
Farming is the very life of Orkney, giving full or partial employment to no less than 6400 of the population. The great era of agriculture in the Islands followed, and was partly the consequence of the failure of the local kelp industry in the second quarter of the nineteenth century. The area under crop and permanent pasture rose from about 30,000 acres in 1855 to 86,949 acres in 1870. It is now 107,941 acres, while in addition at least 52,941 acres of heath and mountain land are utilised for g
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
11. Industries and Manufactures
11. Industries and Manufactures
The manufacture of kelp was introduced into the Islands in 1722, and by 1826 the annual export amounted to 3500 tons, valued at £24,500. The abolition of the duty on barilla, which is largely used in the manufacture of glass, destroyed this industry for a time; but since about 1880 there has been a considerable revival in the North Isles, the yearly export having again reached about 1500 tons. Orkney kelp is considered of the finest quality. Orkney Yawl Boats The making of linen yarn and cloth,
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
12. Fisheries and Fishing Station
12. Fisheries and Fishing Station
Of recent years Whitehall in Stronsay has become one of the great centres of the summer herring fishing, with an annual catch of from 80,000 to 90,000 crans, a total exceeded in Scotland only at the ports of Lerwick, Fraserburgh and Peterhead. As at many other places where this great industry is carried on, however, the boats, the capital, and the personnel come almost entirely from outside. There are smaller stations of this fishery at Kirkwall, Sanday, Stromness, Holm, and Burray, at the last-
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
13. History of the County
13. History of the County
Our knowledge of the Orkney Islands before the Norse settlement in the latter part of the ninth century is of a slight and fragmentary character. In particular, what Latin writers say gives no sure information, the references in poets like Juvenal and Claudian being manifestly for literary ornament. The earliest writer of British race to throw any light on the Islands is Adamnan, who mentions that in the sixth century Cormac, a cleric of Iona, with certain companions, visited the Orkneys, and ad
32 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
14. Antiquities
14. Antiquities
The Orkney Islands offer an especially fertile field to the archaeologist. The sites of a least 70 brochs have been located in the group, as against 75 in Shetland, 79 in Caithness, 60 in Sutherland, and some 70 in the northern Hebrides. These districts constitute the main area of the brochs, which rapidly decrease in number as one proceeds southwards, Forfarshire offering but two specimens, and Perthshire, Stirlingshire, and Berwickshire one each. Ground Plan of Broch of Lingrow, near Kirkwall
16 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
15. Architecture—(a) Ecclesiastical
15. Architecture—(a) Ecclesiastical
The church is a cruciform building, comprising nave and nave aisles, choir and choir aisles, north and south transepts, with a chapel off each transept to the east, and a central tower. The interior length of nave and choir is 217 feet 10 inches, exterior length 234½ feet; interior width of choir and aisles at the east end 47 feet 5½ inches; interior width across the transepts 89½ feet; height to vaulting 71 feet; height from floor under central tower to top of weather-cock 133 feet 4 inches. Th
3 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
16. Architecture—(b) Castellated
16. Architecture—(b) Castellated
The early Norsemen in Orkney built their houses of wood imported from Norway, with only a slight foundation of stone; and the Norse theory of defence lay in attacking the foe, preferably on sea. Save, therefore, for a few buildings erected by Jarl or Bishop, and by one or two powerful Viking chiefs, stone masonry during the purely Norse period (870-1231) was practically confined to churches. Even during the Scoto-Norse (1231-1468) and Scottish periods men of sufficient power and wealth to erect
6 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
17. Architecture—(c) Municipal and Domestic
17. Architecture—(c) Municipal and Domestic
Kirkwall Municipal Buildings, a handsome three-storeyed structure in the Scottish style, erected in 1884, forms the one specimen of municipal architecture in the county that calls for mention. The buildings include a Council Chamber, a Town Hall, a meeting-room for the Commissioners of Supply, a post office, and four or five suites of offices for the burgh officials. The main entrance has a fine semi-classic door-piece, surmounted by two statues of the ancient halberdiers of the burgh in full un
3 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
18. Communications, Past and Present
18. Communications, Past and Present
Before the days of steam communication there were two ferries across the Pentland Firth to Huna in Caithness, one from Walls and the other from South Ronaldshay. Edinburgh was the usual objective of Orcadians using this route, and Shanks’ nag the common means of locomotion, save for persons of quality, who rode horses. The only other means of reaching the Scottish capital, the sole place out of the Islands which old-world Orcadians considered of much account, and a place where all the well-to-do
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
19. Administration and Divisions
19. Administration and Divisions
Orkney forms one Sheriffdom with Caithness and Shetland, and has a resident Sheriff-Substitute at Kirkwall. There is one Lord-Lieutenant for Orkney and Shetland, but his deputies and the Commission of the Peace are appointed separately for each group. In all other matters of county administration Orkney forms a separate unit, and for the purposes of the Local Government (Scotland) Act of 1889 the county is divided into four districts, one comprising the Mainland, one the North Isles, one the civ
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
20. The Roll of Honour
20. The Roll of Honour
Of heroes of the sword and men of high ruling capacity Scandinavian Orkney produced many, who on a wider field of action would assuredly have left to the world at large names now chiefly known to the special student of Orcadian history. Apart too from mere men of action, personalities like St Magnus, St Rognvald, and William the Old, first Bishop of Orkney, would grace the annals even of a great people. Of distinguished men of the soldier and statesman type modern Orkney has, however, produced f
12 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
21. The Chief Towns and Villages of Orkney
21. The Chief Towns and Villages of Orkney
(The figures in brackets after each name give the population in 1911, and those at the end of each section are references to pages in the text.) Finstown is a small village in the parish of Firth, the half-way house between Kirkwall and Stromness. The village has a pier, an inn, and a monthly cattle fair. ( p. 27 .) Kettletoft , a small village on a bay of the same name, on the east side of Sanday, is the business centre of the island, and a minor herring-fishing station. Stromness, Orkney, abou
9 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
SHETLAND
SHETLAND
By T. MAINLAND PREFACE The author begs to acknowledge his indebtedness to Messrs Peach and Horne (in Tudor’s Shetland ) for the notes on Geology in Chapter 5; to Mr John Nicolson author of Arthur Anderson , for the Notes and photograph in Chapter 18; and to Goudie’s Antiquities for historical information. [2] See p. 1. Shetland or Zetland is derived from the Norse Hjaltland , variant spellings being Hieltland , Hietland , Hetland . The Norse word is of doubtful origin. Like Orkney, Shetland cann
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
1. County and Shire.[2] Name and Administration of Shetland
1. County and Shire.[2] Name and Administration of Shetland
Ecclesiastically the parishes are divided into three presbyteries, Lerwick, Burravoe and Olnafirth, which make up the Synod of Shetland....
5 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
2. General Characteristics
2. General Characteristics
The county of Shetland is entirely insular, and its characteristics are varied. The coastline is generally broken and rugged, and in many places precipitous; while the larger islands are intersected by numerous bays and voes stretching far inland, which form safe and commodious places of anchorage and easy means of communication. No point in Shetland is more than three miles from the sea. Detached rocks and stacks, some high above the water and others below the surface, present a forbidding aspe
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
3. Size. Position. Boundaries
3. Size. Position. Boundaries
In size, Shetland ranks fifteenth among the Scottish counties; but in population only twenty-seventh. The total area (excluding water) is 352,319 acres or 550½ square miles. The group consists of about one hundred islands, of which twenty-nine are inhabited. The largest is Mainland, which embraces about three-fourths of the whole land-surface; and the others, in point of size, are Yell, Unst, Fetlar, Bressay and Whalsay. Yell measures 17½ miles by 6½, Unst 12 by nearly 6. The smaller islands inc
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
4. Surface and General Features
4. Surface and General Features
The surface of the larger islands is hilly, and the general direction of the ridges is north and south, corresponding to the length of the islands. The inland parts present an undulating surface of peat bogs and moorland, dotted here and there with fresh-water lochs, which accentuate, rather than relieve, the monotony of the landscape. The hills are round or conical in shape and of moderate height, ranging from 500 to 900 feet. Unlike the rounded hills of the Lowlands of Scotland, which are ofte
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
5. Geology and Soil
5. Geology and Soil
The geological map shows that metamorphic rocks cover the greater part of Shetland. These rocks are represented by the clayslates and schists that extend from Fitful Head to the Mull of Eswick; and by the gneiss found from Scalloway to Delting, and also on Burra Isle and Trondra, Whalsay and Skerries, Yell, the west side of Unst and of Fetlar, the east side of Northmavine, and the north sea-board of the Sandness-Aithsting peninsula. Associated with the two series of metamorphic rock are bands of
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
6. Natural History
6. Natural History
The mammals of Shetland are comparatively few. There are no deer, foxes or badgers. Rats and mice are numerous, hedgehogs are fairly common. Moles and bats are unknown. So, too, are snakes, lizards, frogs and toads. The weasel is found in many districts, and its near relative, the ferret, is used for hunting rabbits, which are plentiful everywhere. Hares were imported some time ago, but have a hard struggle for existence with so many enemies around. Along the shore may occasionally be seen the s
5 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
7. Round the Coast—(a) Along the East from Fair Isle to Unst
7. Round the Coast—(a) Along the East from Fair Isle to Unst
The extent of coastline is enormous, and only the outstanding features can be noted here. Fair Isle, rock-bound, precipitous and lonely, with but one or two small creeks where vessels may shelter, has two lighthouses, each with a fog-siren and a group-flashing white light—the Scaddon, visible 16 miles, and the Scroo, visible 23 miles. It was on Fair Isle that El Gran Grifon , one of the Armada ships, was wrecked in 1588. Sumburgh Head and Lighthouse Sumburgh Head, the most southerly point of the
10 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
8. Round the Coast—(b) Along the West from Fethaland to Fitful Head
8. Round the Coast—(b) Along the West from Fethaland to Fitful Head
A mile or two off the point of Fethaland are the Ramna Stacks, huge rocks like giant sentinels guarding the northern extremity of the Mainland. From this point to the isle of Uyea, and onwards to Ronas Voe, the chief feature of the coast is the high and rugged granite cliffs, which gradually increase in height till the voe is reached. This fine natural harbour, lying round the base of Ronas Hill, forms, with Urafirth on the opposite side, an extensive peninsula to the westward. The coast line of
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
9. Climate
9. Climate
As Shetland is entirely insular, and surrounded by ocean currents considerably warmer than those of other places in the same northern latitude, the climate is wonderfully equable, extremes of heat and cold being rare. The prevailing winds come from the south and west, laden with warm moisture from the Atlantic to temper the atmosphere. Added to that is the general “drift” of the Atlantic towards the British Isles. Of this warm current, Shetland gets its share. When the air becomes laden with moi
8 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
11. Agriculture and other Industries
11. Agriculture and other Industries
As an agricultural county, Shetland is comparatively poor, and that for various reasons. Although in certain districts the soil is of good quality, and produces crops that compare favourably with any Scottish county, yet much of the land may be classed as indifferent or poor. Only 4 per cent. of the whole land surface is arable. Permanent pasture might be 10 per cent. Fourteen per cent. may thus be taken as the limit of profitable agriculture. The other 86 per cent. is used for grazing. Shetland
5 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
12. Fishing
12. Fishing
For centuries it has been the custom—lately, however, to a less extent—for the crofter-fisherman to fish in the summer and to work on his farm during the rest of the year. Every voe and creek had its fleet of small boats engaged in line fishing; but owing to the depredations of trawlers on the fishing grounds and other adverse circumstances, the system gradually declined. Line industry has now shrunk to very small dimensions, and herring fishing has taken its place. At a few creeks round the coa
3 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
13. Shipping and Trade
13. Shipping and Trade
Long after Shetland was annexed to Scotland, trade and friendly intercourse continued to be carried on with Norway and other countries across the North Sea. Dutch and Flemish fishermen also frequented the islands, and established a considerable trade, exchanging foreign produce for fish and articles of native manufacture. There was regular communication with Bergen, Hamburg, Bremen and other Continental ports; and people from Shetland often travelled to Scotland and England by way of the Contine
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
14. History
14. History
Little is known for certain of Shetland in early times. If by Thule, visited and described by Pytheas of Massilia, the ancients meant Shetland, then the first mention of the islands in our era is when Tacitus, telling of Agricola’s fleet in 84 A.D. says “Dispecta est et Thule,” assuming that it was really part of Mainland that the sailors descried in the dim distance. Irish missionaries christianised the natives in the sixth and seventh centuries. The nearness of the islands to Norway naturally
3 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
15. Antiquities
15. Antiquities
Standing stones occur in every parish. Other prehistoric relics are the stone circles, the earth-houses or underground dwellings, and “pechts knowes.” The last are artificial mounds of burnt stones and earth. In some of these are found stone coffins or cists, in others urns containing the ashes of the dead. Ground Plan, Broch of Mousa Implements and weapons of the Stone Age are being continually unearthed. Some are rough and include hammers, clubs, whorls for spinning, stones for pounding corn,
3 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
16. Architecture
16. Architecture
Patrick’s house in Sumburgh had been built on sand and had collapsed, it is said. Muness Castle, Unst Muness Castle dates from 1598 and belonged to Laurence Bruce of Caltmalindie, Lord Robert Stewart’s half-brother. He was at one time Grand Foud of Shetland, but for his oppressive rule he was brought to trial at Tingwall and deposed from office. As no one could conscientiously praise him, he did so himself in the following inscription over the Castle doorway:— At Sumburgh is the ruin of Jarlshof
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
17. Communications
17. Communications
Till the middle of last century Shetland was almost devoid of roads. All traffic had to go by water, while travelling by land was on foot or on horseback over moorland tracks. The failure of the potato crop in 1846 and following years caused much distress in the islands; and the food and money sent by the Board for the Relief of Destitution in the Highlands enabled labour to be hired for road-making. Between 1849 and 1852 about 120 miles of roads were constructed, joining Lerwick with Dunrossnes
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
18. Roll of Honour
18. Roll of Honour
Although Shetland has produced no names of worldwide celebrity, yet many sons of the “Old Rock” have risen to distinction both at home and abroad. Arthur Anderson The first place must be given to Arthur Anderson, (1792-1868), who, commencing life as a humble fish-worker at Gremista, near Lerwick, was in 1840 one of the founders of the P. and O. Steamship Company, and ultimately its chairman. Much of his wealth he spent on Shetland. He established the first newspaper in the islands— The Shetland
6 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
19. The Chief Towns and Villages of Shetland
19. The Chief Towns and Villages of Shetland
Lerwick (4664), the capital and the only burgh of the county, and the most northerly town in Britain, lies on the west side of Bressay Sound, which forms a safe and commodious harbour. During the Dutch War, Cromwell built and garrisoned the fort. This may be taken as the beginning of the town. In 1781 the fort was put into a state of defence, and named Fort Charlotte in honour of George III ’s Queen. It is now a Coast Guard Station and Royal Naval Reserve Headquarters. The Old Town, built on the
4 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter