Orkney, Scotland. Days 23 to 26, 21st to 24th July 2013
These are some monochrome conversions of images that I have posted in colour in other Orkney posts:
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Farm buildings near the Stones of Stenness
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The Between Room, Earl’s Palace Kirkwall
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Abandoned Farmhouse near Dounby Click Mill
Orkney, Scotland. Day 26, 24th July.
Just outside Stromness I saw a signpost to this cairn, a short distance off the road, that I was not previously aware of. I had a plane to catch but I still had time to investigate….
Outside, the tomb is an oval grass mound. After crawling in through a tunnel entrance (lower right corner of the image) and looking to the right, we see this view. The tomb probably dates to between 2800BC and 3200BC. It was excavated in 1884 and 1934 and the concrete roof and skylight was added in 1934.
This is the entrance to a small side cell. Two crouched skeletons were found in this cell during the 1884 excavations. These probably date to a later period because it was not the usual method of neolithic burial in such cairns.
First the bodies were left out in the open until there were only bones left. Then the bones were deposited in the cairn but not by keeping the skeleton together. They could be randomly arrayed or in some cases similar bones stacked together. There were many such bones inside this cairn.
At the left corner of the lintel above the side entrance is a carving of a diving bird and what may be some runes. I can also see the body and head of a larger bird behind the diving bird. It may just be my imagination though. It is not known whether these are of great antiquity or relatively recent origin.
This is at the right-hand end of the tomb from the entrance way. There was originally a shelf at each end (presumably to hold bones) but the stones for this are no longer in evidence.
The stone on the left unfortunately has a lot of graffiti and not from the Vikings. Dates I can see are 1901, 1890, 1857 and 1891.
Turning around, this is looking to the other end of the tomb. There were many pots found in this tomb in 1884, finely made neolithic bowls some of which had grooved patterning below the rim. The cairn gave its name to this pottery which is known as Unstan ware. There is another type, grooved ware, which some suggest evolved from Unstan ware but they are mainly found on different islands in the Orkneys so it may be there were two groups of people living here.
The other end of the cairn, with the entrance passageway again on the left.
From the information board at the site, this is how the cairn may have looked when it was under construction.
Bibliography for Orkney:
Orkney by Patrick Bailey
The Other British Isles by David W Moore
Orkneyjar web site.
Orkney, Scotland. Day 26, 24th July.
I had a plane to catch to Shetland that afternoon but I still had a few hours to spare so I decided to go to Stromness and see whether I could find a cafe.
Stromness is the second largest town in Orkney with about 3,000 people.
It is the terminal for the vehicular ferry from Scrabster on the Scottish mainland and there is also a ferry from here to the island of Hoy.
Stromness is essentially a Napoleonic War boom town. During that period the Channel became dangerous for shipping so many ships went all the way round past the north of Scotland instead. Stromness was developed as a convenient stopping place along the way. Consequently, though there would have been a small port here before then, most of the houses are from that period.
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Orkney, Scotland. Day 26, 24th July.
From Tingwall I drove to Corrigal Farm Museum. It is described in some of the Orkney web sites as an intact nineteenth century farmhouse but it is much more than that. For one thing there is a broch nearby and the area has been farmed since neolithic times. For another, the farmhouse itself is an Orkney adaption of a Viking longhouse, so perhaps it even started as one.
And here is the office and behind it to the left, the museum.
Going past the office, here is a collection of old ploughs and farm machinery arrayed on the lawn. The actual museum is the second building and the entrance to it is the first door in the distance. I didn’t take a closer shot of the building from this side so I’ll talk about it here. Also known as a but and ben house, there are a series of rooms along its length. First is the ben or bedroom, then the but or kitchen/ living room. There is a door between these two rooms and the rest of the house to prevent unwanted access by animals. Next there may be a byre (for cattle) and a stable (for horses), then a grain preparation area and finally a kiln for drying the grain. Some young animals or animals in special need of attention might also reside for a while in the but.
Here is a space between the two buildings where peat is stored, for use in burning on fires.
This is the ben or bedroom. The structure behind is a cupboard or wardrobe but the structure in front is a box bed.
This is the but or living area, and probably some bread simmering over the fire.
This is a trap for some small animal, I don’t remember what, but it looks very similar to traps I would later see in Greenland that the precursors of the Inuit set for foxes.
A loom.
A rather elegant-looking cart.
Stacked piles of dried peat for the fire.
Threshing machines.
A small hand grinder on the right and it must be the furnace for the kiln on the left.
Looking through to the kiln.
And finally, a view of the farmhouse, looking back from the outside.
Orkney, Scotland. Days 26, 24th July.
I arrived in Tingwall hoping to have time to catch a ferry to the Broch of Midhowe on Rousay but I think I had misread the ferry timetables and this was not to be.
The name Tingwall indicates there was a Thing here, a local Viking Parliament. This is probably the Thing where Earl Haakon and Earl Magnus agreed to the fateful meeting on Egilsay where Magnus was killed. The Thing was probably at a mound near where the pier now is. This is believed to conceal a broch but I was not aware of this at the time so did not photograph it.
Here we have the Tingwall Weather Forecasting Stone, a form of weather forecasting that may have been in use since the neolithic. The green building at the left is probably the local Meteorological Bureau.
You could click on the image to read the sign but since not many seem to do that, I’ll tell you what it says:
And once again, we have an assortment of fetching dwellings, mostly with sea views, that you might be able to get for a very cheap rent if you get on well enough with the local farmer.
I think this was a trailer for a boat.
Massive slabs on the roof.
I’d say that car has been waiting for the ferry for a long time.
Orkney, Scotland. Day 26, 24th July.
Skara Brae is a remarkable neolithic village, five thousand years old. It was rediscovered when a great storm stripped turf and blew away covering sand in 1850. It was excavated between 1850 and 1868 and slowly filled again with sand after that. Then in 1925 another great storm whipped away sand again, uncovering some more buildings and also damaging some. This lead to the building of a sea wall to protect the village, and further excavation between 1928 and 1930.
Here, we are inside a recreated house in the visitor centre. This is one of the later designs because it is a rounded rectangle rather than being circular. We can see the stone dresser against the wall and what we see on the right is a bed. There is a recess in the wall behind the bed, like an open cupboard. The hearth in the middle was used for both heating and cooking. In the roof, whalebone or driftwood beams probably supported a covering of turf, skins, thatched seaweed or straw, held down by straw ropes and stones. The smoke which would have suffused the interior is not shown in the recreation.
This is luxury accommodation for the neolithic period.
Here is a view of the village. It is now beside the sea but five thousand years ago would have been some distance away, with fields in between. There were six to eight dwellings at any one time, housing up to 50 to 100 people.
The patch of sand in the foreground is the remains of House 10, one of two from the earliest period. Later houses were built over the top of earlier ones and also into middens. While they appear to be subterranean, they were actually built up and roofed over, appearing as a mound from a distance.
This is one of the passageways between the houses, also roofed over so that you could travel between the houses without being exposed to the elements. Orkney’s climate could be wild, cold, windy and wet, so effective shelter was very desirable.
This is House 9. You can see the central hearth and there are beds on each side of it (which would have been filled with bedding material). The small round area in the foreground is likely to be one of the walk-in annexes that had drainage underneath and which appear to be neolithic toilets.
Another view of the village. From left to right, where the people are, is House 8 (“The Workshop”), House 2 and House 1. The village was occupied from around 3200BC for more than six hundred years.
This is House 8, or the Workshop. It is somewhat separate from the rest of the village and of a different design to the other houses. It has a central hearth but it does not contain beds or a dresser; instead there are numerous small alcoves and when excavated, the floor was found to be littered with fragments of chert and debris from the manufacture of stone tools. Thus it is thought to have been a workshop.
It has an opening for use as a flue to assist in making stone tools from the local chert. By heating stone up on a fire, then letting it slowly cool, it was easier to make flakes.
This interpretation as a workshop dates from the objects left from the period in which it was last occupied. It may also have had other uses, including as a community centre.
This is House 2. There is the hearth in the middle, a bed to the left and at the rear is the door. The houses all included a stone that could be slid in place as a door and held there with a beam, thus locked from the inside.
This is House 1, the largest House, perhaps the house of the village chief. The small boxes beside the dresser are thought to be for storage of fish, either to keep them fresh to eat or for bait.
Stepping back a bit at House 1, we can see an overview of the design of the houses, which all followed the same plan. We are above the door. From the door you look past the hearth to the dresser which would contain an array of special objects. The Head of the household might be sitting on a stone in front of the dresser. Beds on the right are larger than those on the left. Men slept on the right; women and children on the left.
This is house 5, with the door below us on the left.
Finally, house 4.
Another house, House 7, which I did not photograph, is different from the rest in that the door locked from the outside. There are a number of speculations as to why this may have been so. It may have been for tiruals related to death, or for childbirth, or for initiation rituals, or as a place of incarceration.
Cattle and sheep were the main part of their diet and they grew barley and wheat in surrounding fields. They also ate fish and shellfish and would have hunted the island’s red deer and boar.
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In the background at the left of the image above is Skaill House. In 1615 Bishop George Graham received the estate after the execution of Earl Patrick Stewart. He built the central wing of the house in 1620 and it has been passed down through his family ever since.
Orkney, Scotland. Days 26, 24th July.
“Welcome to Evil Village. Please drive carefully.”
The two young couples thought they were making good time when their car shuddered to a halt as they were passing the village. They went to seek assistance at a nearby house and the front door was open so they went in. There was hardly any furniture and the rooms seemed to belong to a bygone age. Then they heard the front door closing and locking behind them. It was getting darker. The strange noises were getting closer….
No, hold on, it’s not Evil Village and we’re not in a Hammer horror movie from the 70s. It’s Evie village in a rustic corner of Orkney where the locals are likely to be friendly and bad things are unlikely to happen to strangers. The next three images are in Evie Village.
My accommodation wasn’t far away but I wasn’t staying here. Probably quite cheap budget accommodation though, with light and airy rooms.
Here’s another potentially fetching place to stay, still with the original slate roof. Very conveniently right on the main road. Maybe I should be starting a real estate blog.
A group of farm buildings beside the road, some maybe hundreds of years old, including the shed above.
A few miles away, here is the signpost to the click mill, with a picturesque ruined farmhouse behind it. In Orkney and in Northern Scotland generally, ruins like this are fairly common.
This is the click mill. It is a horizontal click mill, so called because the blades the water turns to drive the grinding are horizontal. It probably dates from the early nineteenth century and was renovated in 1932. The flour it produced would only have supported a couple of families at most.
The door is the opening at the left. Water from the stream the mill sits beside was diverted behind it and came out through the chamber at the right.
Inside the mill, here is the grinding mechanism and in front of it a large wooden box to collect the ground flour.
Underneath the grinding mechanism, this is where the water comes through to turn the horizontal blades and grind the grain.
The cereal most commonly used in this click mill would have been bere, a type of barley with four rows of grains instead of the usual two.
The term “click mill” comes from the projecting peg where the grain comes down from the feeder, that clicks away a little at a time to feed a small continuous amount of grain into the central hole of the grinding disk.
Orkney, Scotland. Days 24 and 25, 22nd and 23rd July.
In the West of Mainland in Orkney, on a spit of land between two lakes, is a remarkable array of megalithic monuments and settlements. We will briefly look at the Stones of Stenness, Maes Howe, the Ness of Brodgar and the Ring of Brodgar.
I appear to have discovered the original reason for building the Stones of Stenness, that no other sources have remarked on. They are clearly intended so that sheep can rub their backs against them.
The Stones of Stenness form one of the earliest stone circles in Britain, at 5,000 years old. Originally there were eleven with an unused place for a twelfth and they are up to six metres high. There were five different kinds of stones used and it appears that the stones came from all around the island. There are only four stones now, plus a few smaller ones. In 1907 the horizontal slab beside the small stones was mistakenly reconstructed on top of those stones as a dolmen (a small megalithic tomb). It was placed on the ground again in the 1970s. A wide water-filled ditch surrounded the circle with one causeway entrance. There was also a hearth at the centre of the circle.
There is a recently discovered neolithic farm settlement about 200 metres away and a nearby mound is thought to be a broch. There was a magnificent stone called the Odin Stone not far away until a tenant farmer (not himself a native Orcadian) dynamited it in 1814. It is variously asserted that he was annoyed by all the visitors who kept turning up or that he wanted a straighter path for ploughing. He was going to destroy the Stones of Stenness too. He pulled one down and destroyed another but was stopped after a public outcry by the community which included legal action and attempts to burn down his house.
Even the more recent buildings are of some interest. Here is a nearby farmhouse complex, at a guess dating from the eighteenth or nineteenth centuries.
Maeshowe is a chamber tomb dating to about 2700BC but photography is not allowed inside, so I cannot show you any images. Instead here are a couple of drawings from the information board.
The entrance is long and low but the interior chamber is large, with space for maybe twenty people to stand around. For several weeks around the time of the shortest day in mid-winter, rays of light may seep through to the chamber at the rising or falling of the sun, at least providing the weather allows the sun to shine. There are small side chambers for storage of bones though any bones that were there have been removed many centuries ago.
When the cairn was first excavated in “recent” times in 1861, they gained access through the roof and discovered that Vikings had also done so many centuries ago. There were at least two occasions when Vikings stopped for a while at Maeshowe and left runes behind, carved in the walls. The first was in 1150, when Earl Rognvald Kali Kolsson was gathering men to go on a Crusade. He and his men spent some time at Maeshowe and left runes behind. The Orkneyinga Saga relates some of their escapades but essentially, they would have been too late for the Second Crusade (1145-1149) which was generally a disaster for the crusaders. They returned in 1153. Also in 1153, around Christmas, Earl Harald Maddadson and a party of men took refuge at Maeshowe during a snowstorm. Two of the men are said to have gone mad there but the party left some runes behind.
Amongst the runic statements left by the Vikings are the following:
It may be that Maeshow was used for a Viking burial in the ninth century in which case the references to treasure would be Viking grave goods.
In use for about 1,000 years from 3200BC to 2300BC, the Ness of Brodgar was a remarkable ceremonial centre that was only recently discovered and is still largely unexcavated. It includes a massive “temple”, externally 25 x 20 metres (82 x 65 feet) though with walls five metres thick, so rather smaller inside. It appears to have been the centre of activities rather than the stone circles.
I arrived five minutes before closing and consequently just had time for a few pictures and can’t tell you any detail of what is visible.
As identified on the Orkneyjar site, this is Andy Boyer, an American student working as a volunteer on the site. She perhaps appears to have found a stone axe.
I think this is either part of the Lesser Wall of Brodgar or a section of the Temple.
The Ring of Brodgar is thought to date from 2500BC to 200BC. The ring is much larger than for the Stones of Stenness but the stones are smaller, between 2.1 metres and 4.7 metres in height. There are currently 27 of them and may once have been 60. It is thought to be the last of the great neolithic monuments built on the Ness.
![[Group 1]-_1382648__1382657-4 images-Edit](https://murrayfoote.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/group-1-_1382648__1382657-4-images-edit.jpg "The_Ring_of_Brodgar")
![[Group 0]-_1382726__1382729-2 images_s](https://murrayfoote.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/group-0-_1382726__1382729-2-images_s.jpg "The_Ring_of_Brodgar")
![[Group 1]-_1382731__1382737-3 images_s](https://murrayfoote.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/group-1-_1382731__1382737-3-images_s.jpg "The_Ring_of_Brodgar")
This last image is from the Stones of Stenness again.
Orkney, Scotland. Day 25, 23rd July.
Orphir is the site of two Viking-era ruins, the Earl’s Bu or Hall, known for many violent drinking sessions, and the Round Church of Orphir. There are also traces of many buildings in the immediate neighbourhood, thought to be the remains of the Palace of Earl Paul Haakonsson (Earl 1123 to 1136). It was a major settlement area, along with Birsay until the focus shifted to Kirkwall. You can see a picture of what it may have looked like here. (I cannot show you this directly because of copyright issues and because I do not know how to contact the site.)
After Earl Haakon Paulsson murdered Earl Magnus Erlendsson in 1116 (see previous post), his conscience was troubled and he may have thought his passage to Heaven threatened. Consequently, he went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. When he came back he built the round church of Orphir which is thought to be based on the Holy Sepulchure in Jerusalem. The church was in use until 1705, when a replacement was built nearby. It was then used as a storage shed until 1756 when much of it was dismantled for stone to repair the new church. Another church was built around it in the nineteenth century. Neither of the later two churches survive.
Orphir is mentioned several times in the Orkneyingen Saga, which is well worth reading.
It is related as the site of the bizarre accidental murder of Earl Harold Haakonsson in 1130. One morning he came upon his mother Helga and Aunt Frakokk making a magnificent white garment. Ignoring their entreaties, he put it on and died. It had been intended for his co-Earl brother Paul. Both Harold and Paul were sons of Haakon who had killed Magnus Erlendsson (and who later became St Magnus).
The Earl’s Bu was the site of another murder outlined in the Orkneyingen Saga. The remains of the Bu suggest one long building 15 x 6 metres, or two conjoined buildings with several internal divisions. The walls and roof would have been covered in turf and there would have been no windows. We see the remains above. The entrance was said to be “a few steps from the church”. We can see what may be the entrance up against the wall which must date from the eighteenth or nineteenth centuries. The wall is more than two or three steps from the church so perhaps the building continued beyond it. No excavation is possible beyond the wall because the graveyard is still active.
In Christmas 1136, Svein Breast-Rope and Svein Alseifarson were amongst the people drinking around the table in the hall. Svein Breast-Rope repeatedly complained that he was in various ways receiving more alcohol than the other Svein (it was evidently something of a drinking competition). Then he was heard muttering under his breath “Svein will kill Svein” which was taken as a threat. Consequently Svein Asleifarson hid behind the door and hit him with an axe. Svein Breast-Rope did not initially fall but after staggering he struck back – killing not Svein A but his relative Jon.
In 1156 there was conflict between the then three Earls of Orkney. The three were Rognvald Kali Kolsson (who vanquished Paul Haakonsson and built St Magnus’ Cathedral), Harald Maddadsson (grandson of Haakon Paulsson who had killed Magnus Erlendson or St Magnus) and Erlend Haraldsson (son of Harold Haakonsson, who had died accidentally by donning the poisoned clothing). Erlend launched a surprise attack on Orphir, and Rognvald and Harald escaped only narrowly and fled to the Scottish mainland. A few months later, Rognvald and Harald succeeded in killing Erlend in another surprise attack, this time at the Island of Damsay on the other side of Mainland in Orkney.
Just across the road, these are some abandoned farm houses of much more recent vintage than Viking times.
Orkney, Scotland. Day 25 , 23rd July.
St Magnus’ Cathedral is a very remarkable building with a very remarkable history.
How much is legend and how much is fact is not known but the story goes like this: In 1098 there were two twin brothers who were Earls of Orkney, Erlend and Paul Torfinnson, who had sons Magnus and Haakon respectively. The Norwegian King Magnus Barelegs turned up, deposed the two Earls, shipped them back to Norway and installed his illegitimate son Sigurd Magnusson instead. King Magnus then took the Earls’ sons raiding. When they got to the Island of Anglesey, Magnus Erlendsson refused to join in because he thought it was an unjustified exercise in barbarism and instead stayed on deck and prayed. Unsurprisingly this did not endear him to King Magnus and Magnus had to flee, spending several years in the Court of the King of Scotland.
Haakon Paulsson became Earl 1n 1104, having previously been Regent for Sigurd Magnusson. In 1106, with the support of new King Eystein I, Magnus Paulsson became joint Earl. After nine years, there was building tension between the two Earls and their followers, which came to head at an Althing (local Parliament). The two Earls agreed to reconcile and meet on an Island, to which each was to turn up with two ships. Magnus turned up with his two but then Haakon turned up with eight, obviously intending trouble. Magnus refused to flee and accepted execution. He was initially buried where he fell and later reburied in Birsay. There said to be many miracles around his grave and in 1135 he was canonised.
Rögnvald Kali Kolsson, nephew of Magnus Erlendsson, was declared Earl of Orkney in 1129 by King Sigurd I of Norway. This was also confirmed by the next King, Harald Gille but neither offered military support against Earl Haakon Paulsson so Rognvald did little for some years. To help generate support, he declared that he would build a church dedicated to Magnus. It is likely that the canonisation of Magnus was in support of his candidacy. He landed successfully in 1136 and became co-Earl by agreement with Haakon. Then he had Haakon kidnapped and nothing was heard of him again.
Construction of the Cathedral commenced in 1137, under the direction of Rögnvald’s father Kol. The remains of St Magnus were transferred first to a church in Kirkwall and later to the Cathedral. Rögnvald was killed by a rebellious Scottish Chieftain in 1158 and he also was canonised in 1192. It took around three hundred years to complete the Cathedral and it is in such good shape due to a major reconstruction programme in the early 20th century.
The carved figure of the founder Earl Rögnvald, holding a model of the original cathedral.
Kol, the father of Earl Rögnvald, who was a driving force behind the construction of the cathedral.
William the Old, first Bishop of the Cathedral.
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Inside the walls of the cathedral, through the arches, is a remarkable series of memorial plaques. I hope the formatting works for you. They were originally on the floor of the Cathedral, which may account for why some are quite worn.
The spacing of the text and the images below is relative. All I can do is to get it to work on my PC. I hope it makes sense on your screen. If you’re an email subscriber and the formatting is tangled, try it in your browser.
Here lyes ane honest man
Thomas Taylor Merchant
Burgess in Kirkwell
Spouse to Jennet Potenger
who departed the 1 of March 1666
Corps rest in peace into this wormie clay
Till Christ shall raise thee to a glorious day
Virtue triumphs o’er the grave
Remember death
Here rests the corps
of a virtuous and honest man
David Monroe
Dyer and Burgess in Kirkwell
who left surviving
Jean Richen his spous
and John and Elizabeth Monroes their children
They were married 21 Dec 1675
died 21 Sept 1684 aged 34
Live die world
Remember death
This one is much harder to read …
RI BW
… in the hope of blessed resurrection
ane pious and worthy gentleman
Robert …
… was married with Barbara Williamson
the 10 of June 1528 (?) and left with …
Margaret and Mary Irvings
their children …
If there were words on this one, they have eroded away.
All I can see is two coats of arms, one with the letters A and B on each side, a skull and bones and the word mort or death.
Since it is so worn, it may be older than the others.
This one is mainly abbreviated Latin, making little sense to me…
Hic tesitup = here lies???
Tomas Reid
CVI (=106) ELOS IVVENTVI
IS SPEM PRO…M
FEREN MORTE … OBIT
VR
TR
4 May 1603
Below is part of an earlier plaque, including hic iacet (here lies) and a year – 1564.
“If Aven Opened” is presumably “If Heaven Opened”
DCNT (?)
In hope of a blessed resurrection
Heer rests Nicola Trail
Spouse to Dave Covngtrie
Erd (?) and burgess of Kirkwall
Died 23 July 1688
Aged 33
And of some of her children.
IB (heart) SH
Heer is interred
James Bakie of Burnes
Late Baily of Kirkwall
Died 22 May 1679
And Hew John Tho Arthur Margaret Bakies his children
Procret betwixt him and Sibilla Halcro his spouse
Daughter to Hew Halcro of that ilk
And aged 50
Down below is a fetching cartoon: Ad Hoc/ Ab Hoc/ Per Hoc:
From this (corporeal body) by this (death) to this (heaven).
This is the burial place of Captain Peter Winchester where lye interred the bodies of his vertuous wife Jane Bakie, daughter to James Bakie of Tankerness and of their 3 children Alex Peter and Arthur
Here torn from her husband and surrounded by her three children lies a great glory of the female sex. She is dead but her virtue is still fragrant after death. (Then something like:) Jane was right dear on earth, leaves a bright … in heaven 1674
Death is the end of all things
This one is easy to read:
August 1750
Here was interred
the corps of Mary Young
Spouse to John Riddoch
Then one of the Magistrates of Kirkwall
And afterwards Provost of said Burgh.
She lived regarded and died regretted.
In hope of a blessed resurrection
Heir lye interred before this monument
The bodies of Elizabeth Cuthbert
Spous to James Wallace
Minister of Kirkwall
And of some of their children
(James Wallace was minister of the Cathedral).
Murray Foote 