Robert Louis Stevenson Day!

Today is the 163rd anniversary of Robert Louis Stevenson, author of Treasure Island, Kidnapped, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, A Child's Garden or Verse and, our favourite short story title ever; Thrawn Janet.

RLS is mainly associated with his childhood home, Edinburgh, but he did visit Orkney and Shetland as a nineteen year old with his father, Thomas Stevenson, a lighthouse engineer. Thomas' father, Robert, and his brothers, Alan and David, all built lighthouses and this was supposed to be his son's career until Robert Louis announced that he was going to be a writer.


RLS wrote letters to his mother during the 1869 inspection trips of the family's lights. He was not too taken with Stromness declaring it to be 'a cluster of gray houses in the upper end of a bight - not very inviting.' (bight, or bicht, is a loop)

Hoy High lighthouse, one of the lights being inspected on the 1869 trip.

He was more taken with Kirkwall, however, describing his first view as 'striking'and describing the 'glory' of the cathedral in some detail. 'I know nothing so suggestive of legend, so full of superstition, so stimulating to a wierd imagination, as the nooks and corners and by-ways of such a church as St Magnus, in Kirkwall.



St Magnus Cathedral, Pre-Restoration by Tom Kent



Cathedral Interior by Tom Kent

Another writer who kept a journal during a Stevenson lighthouse inspection was Sir Walter Scott whose visit to Orkney and Shetland inspired his novel The Pirate.



For more on the 'Lighhouse Stevensons' read Bella Bathhurst's book of the same name.

And for more on RLS himself see here.

Bod Almighty!

Today, in 1602, our esteemed forebear The Bodleian Library opened its doors to the public. Effectively the national library for England until the opening of the British Library, the Bod holds many valuable and thrilling manuscripts including a Gutenberg bible, Shakespeare's first folio and Richard James' A Description of Poland, Shetland and Orkney which is the first recorded description of Orkney in English.

The language (and spelling) are fantastic. Orkney is described as being 'manie Ilands' with a capital 'Kircwawe' and the Pentland Firth, or 'Penthland Frith' is 'dangerous with manie whirlinge tides and currents which will sucke in sheepes and botes in the passadge.'


The Orkney Archive hold a photocopy which has the reference D68/7/5 and is available to view as well as Evan MacGillivray's 1953 introduction and transcription which appeared in the first Orkney Miscellany.


Today we shall celebrate our Oxford cousin by trashing the Orkney Room with a raucous Bullingdon club-style feast whilst dressed up as Sebastian Flyte and/or Inspector Morse

We have also been serenading each other with this fab Minnie Ripperton (for she was born today in 1947) hit over and over again and, instead of gratitude, we have received only surly looks, complaints to the managers and downright grumpiness from the readers.

Good Ship Gudrun

Ever wondered why our ancestors moved from place to place in the 19th century. Here's a clue:

In just one 6 month period in 1894, the good ship Gudrun sailed from Kirkwall to South Shields to Orphir to Bridgeness Harbour in Bo'ness, back to Westray, then Bridgeness again then Finstown and finishing up in Grangemouth Dock. In any of those places crew could have been taken on or discharged.

This is all the information we have of this ship. If anyone knows more about it, please post a comment.

Archive Reference: D8/4/8 Official log and account of voyages and crew of the vessel "Gudrun", owned by Samuel Reid, Papdale House, Kirkwall. Master, William Hourston.

The Mystery of the Bluejacket Boy...

I write this post with a monocle screwed into one eye and an ill-advised moustache drawn onto my top lip with permanent marker pen. Dusty has taken the time to struggle into a mauve twin set and felt hat and both of us wield enormous magnifying glasses.

For we are detectives! And we invite you to be detectives too! Quick, pop on a trilby and light up a cigar, as we tell you the mysterious tale of ‘The Bluejacket Boy…’

One day, not so long ago, we received an email from a lady who wished to deposit an old letter with the archive. So far, so normal, but this was no ordinary family heirloom. The letter was written in 1916, in Orkney, by a young sailor to his family in Llanelli, Wales. We do not know his name as he only ever refers to himself by the nickname ‘your bluejacket boy.’

The letter was sealed and obviously intended to be posted as it bears a stamp. But. It was found, sealed, 64 years later behind a fireplace in Bridge Street, Kirkwall. His family never received it and the family who eventually uncovered it in their home have no idea how it ended up in the chimney space.

We have a few clues. He mentions various family members and asks to be remembered to them. He also mentions sending a handkerchief with a picture of a sailor on it to ‘Ethel’ who said ‘that’s Uncle Dai’ when she opened it. Is Ethel his niece? Is the Blue Jacket Boy named Dai? He talks about his sister Hannah too.

We would like to find out exactly who this man was and if there are family members still around. We shall keep you posted as we try and track the family down and do please get in touch if you have any suggestions or thoughts. Some extracts below:

For an update on information found out by Jan 2014, click here.
Mystery Solved information here.

Quiz Answers

Answers to the bird quiz taken from the Orcadian dated 3rd April 1975. As you can see, 48 bird names were concealed within the letter. How many did you manage?

A Friday Quiz

Even we could manage this one, so there is no excuse... It was found amongst some old glass negatives in the photo archive.

Answers shall be posted tomorrow. If you fancy having a go then the prize is an Encyclopedia Britannica pencil (unused).

Orcadian Remedies

Man, it IS cold and we all HAVE colds. Autumn Schmautumn.

We had been feeling very sorry for ourselves as we downed cold and flu remedies and stocked up on tissues until we read this list of old Orcadian remedies from the Ernest Walker Marwick collection which is stuffed with local lore and legend.

For earache they used limpet juice! For sore eyes, try pee! Roast up some mice when your loved one develops whooping cough!

The most hilarious remedy by far is for warts. You were supposed to secretly rub your warts against the clothes of an acquaintance whose spouse had been unfaithful. This must have been so awkward:

CUCKOLDED WOMAN: "What are you doing?"

WARTY WOMAN: "Nothing."

CUCKOLDED WOMAN: "Are you rubbing your arm on me? Are those... warts?...
"MALCOLM!!!!!"

Clootie Dumpling Week

We have blogged before about our overwhelming love for The Great British Bake Off and it was, let's be honest, completely irrelevant to the archive. We just loved it. (We were early adopters! First Series!) But, imagine our joy when pastry week rolled round and the historical section concentrated upon the Clootie Dumpling.

The show may have gone to the isle of Mull to find out more, but the Clootie Dumpling is very well known in Orkney as these recipes taken from our Orkney Room collection will testify.

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( Birsay S.W.R.I's version, 1979).
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(Deerness S.W.R.I's version, no date).

( Taken from 'Favourite Recipes - Sandwick W.R.I. 1976).

(Orkney Hospitals' Recipe Book, 1984).

As you can see, the ingredients vary from Parish to Parish and kitchen to kitchen, but all end with the spiced and fruited dough being boiled in a scalded cloth or 'cloot' which has been generously coated with flour.

It made us laugh that it was deemed necessary to include four recipes from the two hospital kitchens which contributed. They obviously just could not decide which one was the best. Picture the scene:

Chef #1: "We cannat hae a recipe book withoot clootie damplin' in!".

Chefs #2,#3 and #4: "No indeed!".

Chef#1:(licking pencil) "Noo. To begin, tak 4 oonces o' margarine...".

Chefs#2, #3 and #4: "WHAAT!!!!!???????".

More Moberg!

Did the Gunnie Moberg open day leave you thirsty for more? Then you are in luck. A new micro exhibition of three of Gunnie Moberg's prints plus complementary material from the archive is now on display in the library.

See here for more.

3 STONE CIRCLES. Orkney Library and Archive, Kirkwall 1-31 October 2013

Winter Is Coming...

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The Orkney County Show is a wonderful thing. Taking place at the beginning of August each year, it is usually a balmy delight of farmyard animals, fairground rides, stalls brimming with local produce and, most importantly, home bakes. Yet there is always a cold shadow to be felt behind the warm joys of craft tents, crab - meat baps, 'refreshed' teenagers and wee lasses on their be-ribboned ponies..
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If you listen closely enough you can hear the whispers: 'County Show... then winter!'.

"Rubbish" You think to yourself every single year as you eat your third ice-cream and decide which of the roosters looks most psychopathic. "There's at least six weeks left of Summer time. My washing's out and everything. I'm only wearing one fleece for Pete's sake!".

And yet every year the old wives are proven right. The day after County show always has a nip in the air and a distinctly autumnal smell. It is September now and the sunny show season is but a distant memory.

Winter is coming...

Bagsy we're Ned Stark.

Who Do You Think You Are?

About six months ago, I walked into our search room to find Dusty and the Fonds feverishly working away at their desks.

 "What on earth is going on?" I cried, "Are you ill?"

 Both looked up with glazed eyes and dopey smiles of joy.

"It has finally happened." Whispered Dusty.

 "The dream!" said the Fonds, " It has become our reality!"

Both leaped to their feet at the same time and screamed in my face "WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE HAVE BEEN IN TOUCH!!!!!!"

I wiped their spittle from my face and fell into a swoon.

Now.  Long-term readers may remember that we have gotten a teensy bit angry at WDYTYA in the past but that is only because we love it (We have a dysfunctional relationship.) In reality, being asked to research for the show is every archivist's dream and we had just won the equivalent of Best Picture Oscar, 100 metre dash at the Olympics or best haircut at the Smash Hit Poll Winners Party.

Imagine our desolation then when we could find no interesting, original documents to illustrate the mystery celebrity's family tree.

"There must be something that proves his birth date!" sobbed the Fonds.

"I've already picked out my outfit for the filming!" raged Dusty, "There must be a photo, something, ANYTHING!"

Readers, I wept a thousand tears.

Although it is clear from records in Canada that Sarah Millican(for it was she)'s, ancestor was an Orkneyman who travelled to the frozen North East of Canada to work for the Hudson's Bay Company we could find no primary documents of our own to lure the comic through to Kirkwall.

Instead, Sarah spoke to our esteemed colleague Janette of the Orkney Museum in Stromness where John Malcolm would have left Orkney for his new, very tough life.

If you missed the programme last night, it is well worth your time catching it on BBC iPlayer, it is a truly incredible tale of bravery, stoicism and the very Orcadian thirst for adventure. It's probably even more enjoyable when not watched through a veil of bitter tears...

Never mind, we are still clinging to our long-cherished hopes that Colin Firth's family originate from the Parish of Firth. Fingers crossed.

Weirdest Old Advert EVER.

What has this picture got to do with photography????!!!!

(Orcadian Newspaper 1936)

Please Meet Jason, the Unshrinkable Pants

Ahhh ha ha! I shall henceforth refer to my own underwear as 'Deborah'. You?

Oh Daddy, My Daddy!

This week in 1858 saw the birth of E. Nesbitt, author of many wonderful books including 'Five Children and It', 'The Railway Children', 'The Treasure Seekers', 'The House of Arden', 'The Story of the Amulet' and 'The Enchanted Castle' to name but a few.

In celebration, here are some examples of the magnificent Minervian library, a collection of nearly 100 stories and plays written by contemporaries of Nesbitt; Maria, Clara, Malcolm and Alfred Cowan. London born, but Orkney residents in 1865 when they began to write their tales as children, the Cowans wrote in notebooks, sheaves of paper held together by pins and handmade jotters. The Minervian library became a functioning lending library between friends and aquaintances.

(Orkney Archive Reference D98)


Instead of a Friday afternoon boogie, let's have a Friday afternoon weep as Bobbie greets her long lost, beloved father at the train station.(sob!)

Do you believe everything you read in the paper?

Whilst trawling through the pages of our Orcadian newspaper archive recently, I found a couple of interesting stories. In 1870, the paper did not just report news from Orkney but from all over the world.

Reported in the 5th March edition, these are both from the USA:

"A South Carolina paper declares that a young man who lost his wife last week married another while friends were making preparations for the funeral, and with his bride followed the remains sorrowfully to the grave"

Even Jeremy Kyle looks shocked at that story!









Then tragedy and a very cheeky comment:

"A young man at Muscatine, Iowa lately crawled into a boiler to clean it out, but the engineer, being ignorant of the fact, closed the door and fired up. The young man became uncomfortably warm, and in his horror discovered the boiler filling with water. His shrieks were unheard, but fortunately the engineer opened the door and the half-suffociated prisoner was released. A contemporary thinks it was shameful that the engineer should have spoiled so good a story by opening the door when he did"