Beneath the feet of gulls

Herring Gull?

The gulls on the Isle of Sanday were oblivious to the pre-history beneath them. All they knew was that we were intruders, which sufficed to raise a cacophony. They were startled. Truth be told, so was I.  

No expert on birds, not by a long shot, but if I had to hazard a guess, I would say the excitable birds were herring gulls nesting, it just so happened, in a cairn which dated to the Bronze Age.  An ignominious fate, that. 

Twenty-seven 'known' Bronze Age cairns are on Sanday's Elsness Peninsula.  Gulls notwithstanding, most 'cairns' are yet to be  excavated.  We say 'cairns' and 'known' because many rock piles may simply be field clearings from later agricultural settings.  And then there are the new finds being made almost daily now, like the Early Bronze Age village that we did not see.

April 18, 2022  Outcrop with seals on Sanday

We visited Sanday on April 18, 2022, and planned to walk the Elsness Peninsula's shoreline to Quoyness chambered cairn and back.  The walk was fine.  It crossed white sands and a few rocky outcrops.  The only complaint was that it was intermittently damp, like all Scottish walks in early Spring.  As to difficulty, I assign it a moderate level walk due to its length...from 3 1/2 to just over 5 miles round trip from Lady Village, depending on how far you want to walk.

The walk had its moments.  Just past the surf's break line a seal watched us with a cautious eye, swimming parallel to our beachcomber steps.  He (or she) accompanied us over a fairly extensive distance along the shore, before moving on to whatever seals do.  At least we broke up its monotony.     

April 18, 2022  MV Varagen, on Sanday 

As for the gulls, my assumption these were herring gulls is solely based on their being the most commonly seen.  Herring gulls breed and nest in April on coastal cliffs and shingle beaches in loose colonies like the cairn on Sanday.  So, for our purpose, we'll check the birder box but note.  Not everyone is thrilled with herring gulls given they also colonize urban rooftops.

At some point, lost in antiquity, the Bronze Age cairn in which the gulls were nesting is thought to have been robbed of its contents.  With so many Bronze Age cairns centered around the Quoyness chambered cairn, it suggests the central tomb and its immediate landscape were revered as burial or ritual grounds for some 2000 years.  And in fact, even modifications were made during the Bronze Age, like secondary casement walls and platforms.  

Quoyness, a funerary monument from the Neolithic Age, still held a number of human remains when it was rough-handedly excavated in 1867 by so-called antiquarians James Farrer and George Petrie.  Skeletal remains of at least 10 adults and 5 children were uncovered along with animal bones, stone and bone tools, Grooved Ware pottery, cup-marked stones and a bone pin.  Quoyness also contained rare examples of Neolithic scratch 'art'....similar to Skara Brae.  [For discussion of 'written language' see:  https://whitleyworldtravel.blogspot.com/2022/06/severely-miscalculated-neolithic-proto.html].

Farrer and Petrie, once they were finished pilfering, back-filled the cairn with the over-spoil, including the rather delicate human remains.  This would hardly be acceptable today; but we do live in different times.  

In 1951 - 1952, V. Gordon Childe re-excavated Quoyness and partially restored it.  

Quoyness is said to be one of only a few Maeshowe type chambered cairns.  Yeah, but not exactly.  First,  doubts exist about the relevance of the classic categorization of tombs.  This is due to their great variety, at least externally.  To my eye, Quoyness closely resembles the cairn at Wideford Hill, which we visited to start our Orkney sojourn. [See:  https://whitleyworldtravel.blogspot.com/2022/05/wideford-leaning-wind.html.]  But internally, yes, I can agree.  They are similar to Maeshowe tombs.

April 18, 2022  Central Chamber at Quoyness cairn

Quoyness was built sometime around 3,000 BC to 3,300 BC, give or take a few hundred years.  It pre-dates the Scottish Bronze Age, gulls be damned, by nearly two thousand years.  And throughout that time, Quoyness was in use, a part of the sacred landscape.  One that was connected to the community.

Early Bronze Age, a grouping of house foundations seem to indicate that builders modeled their houses after ring-cairns, a new form of construction, from stone and earth with an empty space in the center.  Over time, this empty space was utilized for burials and features stone cists similar to the Clava Cairns at Culloden.

April 18, 2022  Flat pit of unknown purpose

 

An aside, when visiting the Culloden battlefield, we had wanted to walk out to the Clava Cairns, perhaps the epitome of ring cairns.  Unfortunately, the weather was uncooperative with its low hanging snow squalls and fog which obscured line of sight. Rather than get lost in fairly brutal weather, we opted to return to Inverness on the bus, and warm up with a visit the pub.  [See: https://whitleyworldtravel.blogspot.com/2022/05/a-long-shadow-culloden.html]  

As to the central chamber at Quoyness, it is accessed by a low and narrow passage of some 24 feet.  If I count correctly, there are six sub-chambers.  There was also a small flat circular pit of unknown purpose.  I won't even speculate.   

April 18, 2022  Passage way at Quoyness cairn

We spent a considerable amount of time at Quoyness, very intrigued by it.  Or perhaps in reverence of it.  It is said that Quoyness is nearly identical to Quanterness cairn, which we did not visit.  

Quanterness--along with Wideford Hill and Cuween--comprises a trinity of significant Neolithic cairns on Mainland Orkney, all just below the crest of Wideford Hill.  In Orkney, one is forced to choose which Neolithic sites to visit.  It is not possible to take them all in on one visit.  So, Quanterness unfortunately was left off.  Next time.  Maybe by then the gulls will have settled down.       

April 18, 2022  Darla at Quoyness cairn

Rousay's Skaill Farm

On the west side of the Isle of Rousay lies the remains of the Viking Skaill Farm; known as Westness in the Orkney Sagas.  "Skaill" is derived from the term skáli, used to describe a Viking drinking hall.  The search is on, as it were, to find the Viking settlement near Skaill.

April 16, 2022

We visited Rousay on April 16, 2022 as Covid restrictions were being lifted around the world.  When we visited, the site had been buttoned up with rock-weighted heavy black plastic by archeologists in 2019, who expected to continue the dig the following year after they had just discovered the Viking drinking hall.  

April 16, 2022  Covered archeological site at Skaill on Rousay

The site would remain closed for nearly a three year hiatus due to the Covid pandemic.  Following our visit, digging again resumed.  Once excavation had continued, archeologists determined that Skaill Farm was a 'high status' site, most likely the residence of Sigurd of Westness.  Sigurd is mentioned in the Orkneyinga Saga.  

April 16, 2022  Black plastic covered dig at Skaill

The Orkney Saga, written by an unknown Icelandic writer sometime in the early 1200s, fuses myth, legend and history.  Not exactly gospel.  But with a large measure of salt, as an historical text, it is an accurate account...for those parts that can be verified.  Its English translation was published in 1873. 

In the sagas, Earl Paul Haakson traveled to Westness to feast with Sigurd many times.  They were close.  In 1135 or 1136, Earl Paul was captured by the Viking pirate Sweyn Asliefsson and taken to Scotland, where Earl Paul is said to have died in captivity.  This abduction opened Orkney for the taking by Earl Rognvald II, who then seized Orkney as Earl.

April 16, 2022  Malthouse at Skaill Farm

Skaill Farm ruin, is in the midst of important Neolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age sites--the so-called Egypt of the North.  According to archeologists, the farm evidently has an archeological layer below where it has currently been excavated.  Thus, Skaill Farm likely had its beginning long before the arrival of the Vikings.  It certainly continued long after Vikings departed, as a medieval farm followed by a Victorian Age sheep farm.  It witnessed, on Rousay, part of the infamous "highland clearances".  Depopulation at its finest.

Laird George William Traill (1787 - 1871) was the questionable individual who cleared Skaill Farm, replacing people (crofters) with sheep.  Arriving in 1816, Traill began a career as a politician, and began acquiring lands in Orkney.  By 1845, he netted the Skaill estate, and subsequently cleared the land of crofters, many of whom had crofted the land for generations.       

April 16, 2022 Skaill Farm ruins

I don't know which is worse.  Despotism by the sword, or despotism by the pen.  At any rate, for the most part, the present farm buildings at Skaill roughly date to the 18-19^th centuries.  They were followed by the 'Rousay clearances' during the mid-19^th century.  

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Rousay and stoats

 

News from the Orkney Islands in early October (2026) mentioned trapping a single male stoat on the island of Rousay, which prompts some commentary.  This was a big deal.  And unfortunately, the news was too good to believe.  

BBC 'stoat sighting' map, updated October 23, 2026

It was hoped the stoat was a one-off.  Being strong swimmers, it was assumed the stoat may have swum Eynhallow Sound from Orkney Mainland to get to Rousay.  (The Rousay island group is circled in green on the BBC 'stoat sighting map' which is updated as of October 23rd).

While concerning, one stoat was nothing to worry about...until news of another stoat trapped on Rousay two weeks later.  Where there's two, it could be a party.  Three, and it could be an orgy, given stoats rear litters of between six and twelve kits per year.  Unmolested, in a couple years stoats are soon out of control.  A definite immigration problem.  

Currently, there's a concerted effort to rid stoats off Orkney Mainland. Concerted, as in a £15 million project to eradicate them under the auspices of the Orkney Native Wildlife Project (ONWP).  Since 2019 (when the program began), over 9,100 stoats had been eradicated off Orkney.  So, new sightings of stoats on new islands cannot possibly be good news.    

It could be that the stoats are moving to avoid eradication pressure.  But clearly, there's more work to do.  The invasive stoats, native to Mainland Britain and Scotland, are absolutely devastating wildlife, particularly ground nesting birds--Orkney voles, rabbits, curlews, red-throated divers, hen harriers and short-eared owls...)  And if anyone knows anything about Brits, it's that they take 'birding' seriously.

Another mobilization may be in the works.  Whether stoats establish themselves on yet another Orkney island or not remains to be seen.

An update on "Taxed Out of Existence"

Well, well, well.  The media has finally caught up with the reality.  We posted commentary previously on losing British pubs.  https://whitleyworldtravel.blogspot.com/2026/02/taxed-out-of-existence.html  

The British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) has just put the job loses as of the third quarter at 5,000, and the BBC is now reporting it.  Pub operators squarely put the high tax burden and regulatory costs as the reason for closing.  And this despite recent enactment of a 15% discount on business taxes to pubs.   

As of the third quarter, Great Britain--which includes England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland--has reportedly lost one pub a day.  295 pubs have shuttered their doors permanently in the first nine months of 2026.  The grim tally:  64 have closed in Scotland, 226 have closed in England, 5 have closed in Wales.  And closures keep rolling in.

According to BBPA, "When a local closes, the damage is felt far and wide."  "It's not just workers," says BBPA.  It's "communities, our heritage."  At a minimum, freezing the beer duty is an absolute must.  Locals need relief.

 

 

We endorse Sarah Zabel, Independent, for Idaho US District 1

It is out of the ordinary for this blog to engage in political affairs.  On occasion, we will venture a few words, but not often.  These are trying times.  And so, we take the liberty to endorse Sarah Zabel for Idaho US District 1 in the upcoming midterms.  

We encourage our readers to vote according to their interests.  Sarah, down-to-earth with a strong platform of reform planned for Congress, is certainly qualified.  She's spent 31 years in the Air Force, has been awarded the Bronze Star and retired at the rank of Major General.  She has managed military accounts totaling billions of dollars of taxpayer funds.  Those responsibilities are earned. 

America needs independent voices like Sarah Zabel to matter again, to make a difference, to bring about change that is so desperately needed in this nation.  

On November 3rd make your voice heard.  Vote.  It is doubtful you will find anyone better qualified for Idaho's US Representative District 1.  Therefore, we endorse.  

Third time's a charm

As mentioned in a previous post (see https://whitleyworldtravel.blogspot.com/2026/04/the-muses.html), a suspension bridge for foot traffic over the River Tweed is just beyond the ruins of Dryburgh Abbey and just below Bass Hill which is crowned by the Temple to the Muses (or, officially, the Four Seasons).

Here, a few words regarding the Dryburgh Suspension Bridge over the River Tweed may be appropriate, having been prompted by a recent report by the BBC.  Foremost, for all its subsequent issues, the Dryburgh Suspension Bridge exemplifies generous civic mindedness, the demonstration of which is often mischaracterized as something to be scorned or derided in society's general discourse today.  But it was not always so.  

For centuries beyond history's ken, a "ribbon of settlements" along both sides of River Tweed crossed the river at the ancient fords of Dryburgh.  In 1150 AD, Hugh de Morville established an abbey, and in consequence, the fords grew in importance, connecting villages, farmsteads, trade paths and ultimately the Premonstratensian monks at the abbey with the community at-large.  

Norbertines (Premonstratensian "White Canons" named after the color of their habits) were ordained to serve in the community.  They were active pastoralists, which was somewhat atypical, given the Church's age of excess.  Norbertines took the Rule of Saint Augustine seriously, emphasizing communal life, poverty, chastity and obedience.  At some point during the Medieval Age, a ferry was put in place.  And so things remained for 500 or 600 years until August 1, 1817, when David Stewart Erskine, the 11th Earl of Buchan, gave the community a suspension bridge to make the Dryburgh congregation's treks to church in Newton St. Boswell easier.   

The generosity had an ignominious debut, however.  Five months after being christened, the bridge was swept away in a "perfect hurricane" according to Thomas Smith, its designer.  Bridge plans were redrawn and a replacement bridge went into service in 1832, about 14 years later.  But this bridge too was blown down by a gale in 1838 only some six years after it was commissioned.  Then in 1872, long after the Earl of Buchan had passed, the bridge (a single span two tower construction) was put into place.  And this is the bridge which currently stands today.

Recently, the BBC reported that a 150 year old painting, a water color of the Dryburgh Suspension Bridge, was discovered on the back of an old ordnance map.  This has prompted a few more comments concerning the bridge.  The painting is attributed to Benjamin Peach, the renowned geologist with the British Geological Survey (BGS).  The painting dates to approximately 1873.  In other words, the year after the current suspension bridge finally stuck to the site.

 

Peach (September 6, 1842 - 29 January 1926), after a notable career in the BGS, was awarded the Wollaston Medal in 1921 for his lifetime achievements in geology and paleontology.   The Wollaston Medal, considered to be the most prestigious in geology,  has been awarded to such luminaries as Charles Darwin (1859).  So, there's that.

At any rate, third time's a charm they say.   

Two's company, three's a crowd

The Isle of Wyre is a small place.  One might even say a tiny place.  The inhabited island tips the scales at 1.2 total square miles.  Not the smallest inhabited island in Scotland, but still. Wyre is small. 

April 15, 2022  The "moat' at Cubbie Roo's

As for how many people currently inhabit the island, it depends.  Census data (normally considered the most accurate even if it somewhat lags) put Wyre's population at 18 in 2001.  Ten years later, the 2011 census reported it as 29.

April 15, 2022  Foot bridges on the "moat"

If true, that means Wyre had a net growth of 38%.  On our walk of the island in 2022, however, no such growth was evident.  We came across no one the entire time we were there.  

Some say the current population of Wyre is more on the order of 8.  Others will hedge bets and say the island's population is "maybe 20 residents".  Still others punt, calling Wyre a "fluctuating population".  In any case, whether it is 8 or 29, Wyre is a small and fairly remote island.

April 15, 2022  Bottom of tower ruins 

This post is about Wyre, specifically the ruins found there.  But first, I should mention some logistics.  To get to Wyre, Orkney Ferries runs a regularly scheduled route between the Orkney Mainland (at the ferry terminal in Tingwall just north of Kirkwall) out to the islands of Rousay, Egilsay and Wyre.  For reference, the whole of the Orkney Islands (population 20,020 per the 2024 census) is comprised of 70 islands, of which 20 are inhabited.  And of those, only 13 have scheduled ferry service. 

April 15, 2022 Ruins of Cubbie Roo's Castle, Wyre

Ordinarily then, given Wyre's low population, one might not expect regular ferry service.  Even Egilsay is no large place, and that's at double Wyre's size (2 1/2 square miles with a population said to be 17).  Obviously, the economics of operating ferry service to such places are questionable.  But strictly speaking, Orkney Ferries is not a commercial venture.  It is a government-owned entity (by the Orkney Islands Council) to provide lifeline services to inhabited islands like Wyre that otherwise would not have them. 

April 15, 2022  No ground level entrances, Cubbie Roo's Castle

In Orkney in 2022, we set up camp at The Ayre Hotel in Kirkwall.  On day two, we stopped by the Orkney Ferries office in Kirkwall to book a number of intra-island ferries. The fares were nominal.  Roundtrip (passenger) from Tingwall to Egilsay was £3.45, and Egilsay to Wyre (passenger) was only £1.70.  As for taking a vehicle, the round trip from Tingwall to Rousay was only £14.45.  So, one can book cruises on the cheap in Orkney, "blue collar" cruises as it were.

April 15, 2023  Outer defensive wall Cubbie Roo's Castle

Given the small size of both Wyre and Egilsay, we opted to leave our rental vehicle at the terminal in Tingwall for the day and hoof it.  That decision proved a good one.  We're not adverse to using a vehicle to expand our range and decease the travel time.  And as such, we booked the passenger/vehicle fare from Kirkwall out to Eday.  But Eday is a significantly larger island, and we also needed to make sure our day trip could be done in time to make the last ferry off Eday back to Kirkwall.  So in this instance, we took a vehicle to make better use of our time. We're all for the environment; but just not teetotaler weenies.

April 15, 2022 View to Rousay; look close you can see the ferry

Afoot with the Tingwall-Egilsay-Wyre-Tingwall ferry schedule in hand, we split our day trip in half--about 4 1/2 hours on the island of Egilsay and about 3 1/2 hours on Wyre.  We boarded the MV Eynhallow at Tingwall, fortified with packed lunch items--rolls, meat and cheese, fruit, bottled water, beer, stem-ginger shortbread and a pack of Tannock's thrown in from TESCO in Kirkwall.  TESCO (which was only a block or so from The Ayre) was a relatively easy supermarket to access with ample parking.  [For disclosure, I hold a few shares of TESCO in a couple stock accounts.]

April 15, 2022  Taking lunch at St. Mary's Kirk, Wyre

 

Anyhow, we visited Egilsay the first half of our day trip, and Wyre the second half, before retrieving our rental vehicle back at the Tingwall ferry terminal that evening.

April 15, 2022  Thick walls Cubbie Roo's Castle

As to the ruins on Wyre, to borrow from the spouse, it was the first "proper castle" we visited in Scotland.  "Proper" taking the meaning of having a moat with a bridge over water that more or less surrounds it.  This proper castle belonged to Cubbie Roo (Kolbein Hrúga)--the oldest documented square stone keep castle in Scotland.  Built in 1145 AD, it is an impressive structure even in ruins.  

April 15, 2022  Earthworks at Cubbie Roo's Castle

Half myth, half historical character, the story of Cubbie Roo comes down to us through the Orkneyinga Saga.  Kolbein Hrúga, said to be a large man, was a Norse chieftan who settled in Orkney in 1142 and farmed Wyre.  He married into the Orkney aristocracy.  

Prior to settling in Orkney, Hrúga seemed to be a landowner of means in Norway.  Apparently, he was a tax collector for the Norwegian king, although who that may have been is somewhat uncertain.  Hrúga lived during the Norwegian civil war era, which first broke out in 1130 when Harald Gille (himself an Irish claimant of Norway's throne) seized the crown and ruled for six years until his death in 1136.  Hrúga may have collected taxes for Gille.

April 15, 2022  Flagstone slabs at Cubbie Roo's Castle

The Norwegian civil war era lasted, on again off again, for over 100 years.  It turns out that Kolbein Hrúga played an instrumental part.  At the time Hrúga settled on Wyre, Norway was under a precarious collective joint rule, akin to a regency.  Three sons of King Gille were involved--one said to be legitimate, two not.  As long as their guardians were alive, a tentative peace held.  But guardians do not live forever, especially not in Viking times.

April 15, 2022  St. Mary's Kirk from Cubbie Roo's Castle

Gille's two young sons were: the illegitimate Sigurd II Munn (1136-1155) and the legitimate Inge I Krokrygg (1136-1161).  Yet another young son, Magnus Haraldsson, died c. 1145.  Into this already tenuous mix, a third son Øystein II Haraldsson (1142-1157)--apparently Gaelic and illegitimate but at least an adult--was installed by three prominent men in 1142.  Those three men were Árni Sturla, Þorleifr Brynjólfsson and none other than Kolbein Hrúga.  

Two's company; three's a crowd, as they say.  Civil war, which first ended in 1130 with Gille taking the throne, soon renewed.  In 1155, the three half-brothers met at Bergen, Norway.  Fighting broke out between men of King Sigurd and King Inge, and Sigurd was killed.  King Øystein, whether by design or by happenstance, arrived late at Bergen.  Sigurd was already dead. 

April 15, 2022  The Bu farmstead--on top of Cubbie Roo's farm

So, an uneasy peace now existed between Inge and Øystein  (It is claimed that Sigurd and Øystein planned to kill Inge and divide his holdings between them--but this is a disputed account.)  In any event, peace between Inge and Øystein did not hold for long.  Two years later, on August 21, 1157, both sides gathered forces for a confrontation, meeting at Moster, an island off the west coast of Norway (where King Olave imposed Christianity upon his heathen brethren).  Øystein was forced to flee, was caught and killed by his captors in the Oslofjord area.  This left only Inge.  

April 15, 2022  Cubbie Roo's Castle

Well played, except that followers of Øystein were disinclined  to pledge loyalty to Inge.  So, they propped up Håkon II Sigurdsson (called Broad-shouldered; only 10 years old at the time), and continued the fight against Inge.  On February 3, 1161, they succeeded in killing Inge at the Battle of Oslo.  Now King Håkon assumed the throne, and roughly a year later King Håkon would himself be killed (at the seasoned age of 14 or 15) at the Battle of Sekken on July 7, 1162.   

And so it went for a hundred years.  No less than 46 candidates emerged seeking recognition as king during the Norwegian civil wars era.  24 of these candidates succeeded, but only two held royal authority throughout the realm of Norway.  

April 15, 2022  Fortifications at Cubbie Roo's Castle

Kolbein Hrúga built his castle on Wyre defensively, to protect his family and livestock more from raids by fellow Norsemen than not.  The structure is mentioned in Haakon’s Saga, which describes the castle as "a difficult place to attack".  In 1145, according to the Orkneyinga Saga, "At that time there was a very able man called Kolbein Hrúga farming on Wyre in Orkney. He had a fine stone fort built there, a really solid stronghold."   

Solid indeed.  It's walls were over 6 feet thick. Thought to have been built on an Iron Age broch, the castle is a rare instance of Norsemen building in stone.  It rests on the highest ground on Wyre island, and consists of a tower (presumably three stories high) that gave it a commanding view over Gairsay Sound and the sea approaches.  The tower was set within an oval enclosure that was surrounded by two ditches, a wall, and ramparts.  It had no ground floor entrance.  So, presumably, internal ladders were used to access the top floors.  

April 15, 2022  Rock cut well at Cubbie Roo's

During his lifetime, Kolbein Hrúga never had to defend the castle, though historians believe that in 1231, Kolbein Hrúga's great grandson did successfully survive a siege at the site about 100 years after Kolbein Hrúga died.  In the early 1500s, the castle was finally abandoned.  So lived the alleged giant, Kolbein Hrúga--Cubbie Roo--the man, the myth, the legend.