Product Code Database
Rousay (, ; meaning Rolf's Island) is a small, hilly island about north of Mainland, the largest island in the Orkney Islands of Scotland. It has been nicknamed "Egypt of the north", due to its Archaeology diversity and importance.
Like its neighbours Egilsay and Wyre, it can be reached by ro-ro ferry from Tingwall. This service is operated by Orkney Ferries, and can take up to 95 passengers (reduced to 50 in winter), and 10 cars. The ferry links the islands of Rousay, Egilsay, and Wyre with each other, and with the mainland of Orkney.
Its wildlife includes and . Two sites, totaling some 630 ha, have been designated an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because they support breeding populations of moorland birds, including .
Over 100 archaeological sites have been identified. Only a small fraction have been excavated and characterized. The most spectacular of the sites is the complex of Midhowe Broch and Midhowe Chambered Cairn. Blackhammer Chambered Cairn, Taversoe Tuick, and Knowe of Yarso chambered cairn are important tombs.
Rousay placenames reflect its Norse heritage. 'Hrólfs-øy' or 'Hrolfsey' was based on the male name 'Hrolf' (Rolf). Hugh Marwick work showed the name developing from 'Rollesay' in the 14th century, through 'Rolsay' in the 15th, and 'Rowsay' in the early 16th, with the spelling 'Rousay' first recorded in 1549.Marwick, Hugh (1947) The Place-names of Rousay.
Most Rousay people earned their living from farming and/or fishing. In the 19th century, records reflect tradespeople supplying the needs of a rural community: blacksmiths and joiners, shoemakers and shopkeepers, with women making dresses and straw plaiting. Throughout the century, Rousay's landlords demanded high rents from crofters, many of whom became homeless in a series of clearances along the western coast, ordered by landowner George William Traill in the 1820s and 1830s.
Traill's nephew General Sir Frederick Traill-Burroughs inherited much of the island and bought more. Traill-Burroughs built a large house at Trumland, designed by David Bryce of Edinburgh. From 1870 to 1883, improvements transformed the island: Trumland pier, island schools, a public market, the first steamship service, a post office, and the first resident doctor. He was known locally as "the little general" as he was a man of short stature. Poet Edwin Muir recalled in a memoir of his childhood seeing the little general walking around his estates.
Rousay's population in the mid-19th century was over 900, but emigration following land clearances reduced that to 627 by 1900, and half a century later it had fallen to 342. Depopulation accelerated, and in the next twenty years the number fell to 181, its lowest ever. From the 1970s onward new families settled on Rousay: most came from the south, especially from England. The population is now over 200.
The Yetnasteen stone is said to have once been a giant who revives every New Year at midnight and visits the Loch of Scockness to drink.
Robert C. Marwick (1922–2013) was a school teacher, headmaster and author born on Innister farm, in the Wasbister district. His publications about Rousay include From My Rousay Schoolbag (1995), Rousay Roots (1995) and In Dreams We Moor (2000).
Actor Graham Fellows owns a disused church there, which he intended to turn into an "artists refuge". "Graham Fellows: My icy, windswept island paradise". The Independent. Retrieved 21 June 2011.
Late artists' patron Margaret Gardiner spent a large part of her life there and in 1979 founded the Pier Art Gallery in Stromness.
|
|
