Rousay

Geography and natural historyEdit

In the 2001 census, Rousay had a population of 212 people. Most employment opportunities are in farming, fishing or fish-farming; there are also craft businesses and some seasonal tourism-related work. There is one circular road round the island, about 14 miles (23 kilometres) long, and most arable land lies in the few hundred yards between this and the coastline. With an area of 4,860 hectares (18.8 square miles), it is the fifth largest of the Orkney Islands.

There are several freshwater lochs on the island, the biggest of which is Muckle Water.

Rousay is a 'Site of Special Scientific Interest' with notable cliff formations and wildflower colonies, and has an RSPB bird reserve. The hilliest Orkney island after Hoy, it offers good views of neighbouring islands from Blotchnifiold 249 metres (817 ft), and Keirfea or Knitchen (both over 229 metres (750 ft)).

Summertime brings visitors drawn by its natural beauty and wildlife, including Rousay's seals and otters, and by its archaeological remains, especially the cluster of important sites connected by a footpath near the western shore.

HistoryEdit

The island has evidence from every stage in the history of Orkney, with a Neolithic settlement at Rinyo, Bronze Age burnt mounds, Iron Age crannogs and brochs (the highest density anywhere in Scotland: three within 500 metres (547 yd) of coastline), Viking boat burials, remains of a medieval church and the stately home at Trumland.

Over 100 archaeological sites have been identified, but only a small fraction of them have been excavated and researched. The best known and most spectacular of the island's archaeological sites is the complex of Midhowe Broch and Midhowe Chambered Cairn. Blackhammer Chambered Cairn, Taversoe Tuick, and Yarso are also important tombs on the island.

Rousay placenames reflect its Norse heritage. 'Hrólfs-øy' or 'Hrolfsey' was based on the male name 'Hrolf' (Rolf). Hugh Marwick's work has shown 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.

Most Rousay people have always earned their living from farming and/or fishing. In the 19th century, records show there were also tradespeople supplying the needs of a rural community: blacksmiths and joiners, shoemakers and shopkeepers, with women doing dressmaking and straw plaiting. Throughout the century, Rousay's landlords demanded high rents from crofters, many of whom were made 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 1870-1883, there were a large number of improvements; the building of 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 and the 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 started to settle 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 goes down to the Loch of Scockness to drink.

Local educationEdit

There is a primary school, which provides education for boys and girls aged 3 to 12, and has a school roll of 24. Once a child completes his/her primary education, they must then move up to secondary school. Kirkwall Grammar School, Kirkwall, is the usual school, however, in recent years, Stromness Academy, Stromness, has been the secondary school of choice for many of the pupils.

Many of the pupils, both primary and secondary, are entitled to free school transport on the island.

ResidentsEdit

The poet Pauline Stainer spent several years on the island, and in 1999 published a collection of her poems about Rousay, Parable Island.

Robert C. Marwick is a local author whose publications include From My Rousay Schoolbag; Rousay Roots (1995); In Dreams We Moor (2000) ISBN 1-899851-04-6. Marwick was born on the farm of Innister, in the Wasbister district of Rousay.

The astronomer, musician and writer, John Vetterlein first came to Rousay in 1970 and has lived on the island full-time since 1995. He established the small publishing house Spring Ast LIX in 1997, whose publications include: Braes Woodland Diary - the First Ten Years by Ann Chapman.

The actor Graham Fellows owns a disused church on the Orkney island, which he intends to turn into an "artists refuge".

The late artist Margaret Gardiner spent a large part of her life on Rousay and founded, in 1979 the Pier Art Gallery in Stromness.