Stronsay is one of Orkney’s most fertile of islands. It established the first Agricultural Society in Orkney in 1783, a year before the ‘Highland Society of Scotland’ (the forerunner of the ‘Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland’) was established in Edinburgh in 1784.
His idea was to create cheaper energy for the Highlands and Islands with the surplus produced being sold to the South for a profit.
“It was a time when the two independent nations of England and Scotland shared one king. It was a time of Covenanters and Cavaliers. It was a time of civil war, betrayal and regicide.”
Straw was once the choice material for Orcadians which they skilfully twisted and prepared for a myriad of uses around the farmstead.
At each stage of their pilgrimage the story teller had recounted another part of the life of this quiet son of Earl Erlend who was to become Orkney’s saint.
The £250,000 power station was 154 feet long and 79 feet wide. Constructed by Orkney Builders using local stone and reclaiming land from the Peedie Sea, it would be powered by diesel oil.
Described in the Saga as: ‘the greatest man the western world has ever seen in ancient and modern times’- this is part of his story.
“It was in the early hours of Saturday the 5th of March 1938 that a tremendous fire ripped through the buildings occupied by Gardens drapery, bakery and stores, Bridge Street, Kirkwall”
At each stage of their pilgrimage the story teller had recounted another part of the life of this quiet son of Earl Erlend who was to become Orkney’s saint.
There are only a few copies left of the publication available to purchase which went with the recent exhibition “The Rousay Clearances: Exodus from the Egypt of the North. “
