SIB FOLK NEWS - Orkney Family History Society

The Orkney Family History Society Annual Outing was held
on Sunday, 15 June 2008, when a group of approximately 25
members boarded a bus at the old bus station in Kirkwall
and set off for the Stenness Community Centre via the Old
Finstown Road.
George Gray was the first of several commentators who
entertained the group throughout the day, providing information
about buildings on the route, as well as their occupants,
past and present, as the bus travelled through St
Ola and Finstown to the end of the Harray Road. Adrianne
Leask then took over commentator duties until we reached
our destination at the
Stenness Community
Centre for morning tea
and coffee with shortbread
and scones.
After our morning
break, we set off for
Stromness, while Adrianne
continued her
commentary through
Stenness. On reaching
Old Ferry Terminal Building
Stromness, we were met
by Jim Troup, retired
teacher and commentator on matters of historical interest
in Stromness. Jim started by introducing us to a building
which was familiar to many of us as the Ferry Terminal
Building at Stromness Harbour. This building houses office
space on the ground floor with flats above and contains the
garage used by Brass’s Taxis. Jim explained that the building
had been constructed in the eighteenth century by a local
businessman for the purpose of checking goods in order
to collect taxes and dues payable
on imported goods passing
through Orkney during
time of war. However, in peacetime,
ships reverted to passage
through the English Channel
rather than around the north of
Scotland and the income from
taxes and dues diminished considerably.
The cost of the construction
of the building had
been considerable for the time
and the businessman, facing
bankruptcy, took passage to the
Carolinas. The building, considerable
in terms of cost, was also
considerable in terms of size for
its time and location, being challenged
in that regard only by the
Parish Kirk in Church Road.
Jim then led us a few short
Miller’s Close
Stenness, Stromness and Orphir – a grand day’s outing!
paces to a lane off John Street. After climbing some steps at
the top of the lane, we stood before an eighteenth century
merchant’s house known as Miller’s House, now operated
as tourist accommodation (13 John Street), where Jim commented
on the construction of the house and the possible
use of stones from an earlier construction within the fabric
of the building. A plaque on the house states “Miller’s
House. Earliest dateable house in Stromness belonging to
the merchant family of
Miller.” Written stonework
on the façade of the
house includes a marriage
entablature and joint coat
of arms of John Miller and
M Nisbet dated 1716. A religious
statement (“God’s
providence is my inherit-
ance”) is also written on
stonework above the door-
way and it is this which possibly indicates the inclusion of
stonework from another property dating from an earlier
period.
We then proceeded along Victoria Street, with stops outside
25 Victoria Street (Orcadia Cuts), opposite the site of what
is now the Pier Arts Centre; the Post Office; and the Royal
Hotel. Jim weaved a story of the operations of an eighteenth
century merchant woman called Mrs Christina Robertson
to reflect the
connections
between the
m e r c h a n t s
of Stromness
and the
Hudson’s Bay
Company during
that time.
For example,
Mrs Robertson
operated a
Mrs Robertson’s pier, now Maritime College building
By Elaine Sinclair, Secretary, Member No 1211
Decorated stonework above door
warehouse on
a pier next to
what is now the Maritime College Building (down the lane
from Argos Bakery), supplying barrels of coal, gallon casks
of whisky, supplies of sherry and even drams to local customers,
whilst also supplying provisions to ships. She also
operated whaling vessels sailing to the Greenland/North
American coasts.
Jim diverged, interestingly, into local sewage issues during
the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, explaining
that Stromness became a burgh in 1817, but it wasn’t until
the Police Acts of the mid-nineteenth century that the
burgh was able to raise or attract budgets to deal with is-
sues such as sewage disposal.
Containers (we would know them as skips nowadays)
were placed at six sites around the town, including one near
the water supply at Pumpwell Park and one opposite the
modern Royal Hotel. Residents were encouraged to place all
their wastewaste into these containers rather than throwing
waste onto the shore or in other dump sites and there
was a plan to sell the waste to local farmers. Mr Fortescue of
Swanbister, Orphir, arranged to take these containers, but
he only collected them, by cart, every six months, with resulting
poor health conditions, as we would perceive them
today. Eventually, he arranged to send a schooner to collect
the waste at one time.
We then proceeded down a lane
off Victoria Street to a building
(now a house) where the remains
of an archway could be seen in
the modern arrangement of the
stone façade – Jim explained that
this building had been the stables
and coach house associated with
the merchant’s trading operation
which had existed at the site,
using the pier associated with
that particular lane. Number 94
Victoria Street, when viewed from the street, appeared to
have only two levels – street level and attic level. However,
when viewed from the pier down the lane at the back of the
property, it contained another storey at a lower level. The
merchant, Robert Graham of Breckness, had used the lower
level at the rear of the property as a warehouse facility for
his operations. His initials
“RG” were clear in the
stone façade at the front
of the property on Victoria
Street.
We paused at the bottom
of Church Road while Jim
explained that the Parish
Kirk, situated to the
left of the road, had been
constructed in 1717 and a
Old Parish Kirk, now StromnessTown Hall
Robert Graham’s initials
monthly market had been
held in Church Road, not-
withstanding the slope or “cant” of the road, which must
have made display of goods particularly difficult.
Our group proceeded to Graham Place, where we stopped
outside the house of Alexander Graham, while Jim explained
that the space which we see today was, in Alexander Graham’s
time, occupied by another two houses jutting out into
what we perceive today as the open street. Housing was an
issue in the eighteenth century as it is today and the Gra-
ham family, while
occupying rooms in
one of the houses,
owned and rented
rooms in around four
houses to tenants.
The plaque on the
front of the house
today reads “Alexander
Graham’s house
who led merchants
to oppose tax liability to the Royal
Burgh of Kirkwall” which, ultimately,
led to the creation of the
Burgh of Stromness.
The discussion of housing continued,
as Jim explained the necessity
for households to have small
enclosures to grow vegetables or
dispose of waste – dunghills. As
we reached Dundas Street, Jim discussed one James Tait
of Orphir, who was a contemporary of William Tomison of
South Ronaldsay (Hudson’s Bay Company and Tomison’s
Academy) and was in charge of
posts over the winter seasons
for the Hudsons Bay Company.
James constructed housing at
what is now numbers 57 to 61
Dundas Street with a view to assisting
his pension in old age by
renting out rooms. On his death,
his will provided for the support
of financially poor scholars from
Stromness and Orphir.
We proceeded to a house called
The Haven in Alfred Street and
Jim explained that this had been
constructed by David Geddes, who
became the first agent in Strom-
ness for the Hudson’s Bay Comp
a n y
Stromness graphic by John Sinclair
Alexander Graham’s house at Graham Square
The Haven, Alfred Street
around 1791. Discussion then ensued
as to why the lands where
the Company operated were
known as the North West or Nor’
Wast. Churchill, the most northerly
of the Company’s posts, was
on the same latitude as Melsetter
House in Walls and was marginally
south of Stromness. However,
the weather conditionsA