Rousay

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Rousay shown in red, separated from mainland Orkney by the Eynhallow Sound

Rousay (from Old Norse Hrólfs-øy meaning Rolf's Island) is a small, hilly island about 3 km (2 miles) north of Orkney's Mainland, in Scotland, and has been nicknamed "the Egypt of the north" due to its tremendous archaeological diversity and importance.

In the 2001 census, it 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 long, and most arable land lies in the few hundred yards between this and the coastline. With an area of nineteen square miles, it is the joint third largest of the Orkney Islands along with South Ronaldsay and Sanday.

Cliffs in Saviskaill Bay, looking northward to Westray

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 (816 ft or 249 m), and Keirfea or Knitchen (both over 750 ft or 229 m). Like its neighbours, Egilsay and Wyre, it is reached from Tingwall on mainland Orkney by a short crossing on a small ro-ro ferry. 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.

[edit] History

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: 3 within 500 metres of coastline), Viking boat burials, remains of a medieval church and the stately home at Trumland.

Midhowe Broch on the west coast of Rousay

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 Midhowe complex of broch and chambered tomb. Blackhammer Stalled Burial 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, most of whom were made homeless in a series of clearances ordered by landowner George William Traill and his nephew General Sir Frederick William Traill-Burroughs.

Rousay's population in the mid-19th century was over 900 but emigration following on land clearances reduced that to 627 by 1900, and half a century later it had fallen to 342. Depopulation accelerated and in the next 20 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 poet Pauline Stainer spent several years on the island, and published a collection of her poems about Rousay, Parable Island (1999).

Robert C. Marwick is a local author whose publications include From my Rousay schoolbag (1995).