Papay: Heritage | Westray and Papa Westray Orkney

The Kelp Store

siteAdmin — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 11:17:54 +0000

The Kelp Store near the Old Pier has been renovated by Papay Development Trust, and it is now open as a Craft & Heritage Centre. It was used for storing kelp – an alkali substance produced by burning seaweed which was in great demand by the soap- and glass-making industries. In the boom years of the early 19th Century Papay was producing more kelp per capita than any other island, making a substantial fortune for the island’s laird. The Craft & Heritage Centre is always open, and its cabinets house a captivating collection of artefacts and information about all aspects of the island’s heritage and displays of crafts made on the island. The facilities include toilets.

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Boat Nausts

siteAdmin — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 11:17:21 +0000

Walking around the shores of Papay one can see a number of these boat shelters cut into the dunes. The lack of any natural harbour here meant that the fishing boats had to be dragged out of the water and well above the high tide line after every trip. Of the 17 known sites round the coast, some date from Viking times while the most recent were built in the early 20th century. The best examples are at Nouster, where there are four large 19th century nausts, lined with stone walling and well preserved, and at Backaskaill where the iron winches still stand above them. There is also an unusual group at Cott, where the nausts have been formed by setting large flagstones on edge. The number of nausts indicates the former importance of fishing here – iin 1870 there were 254 boats on the island.

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Holland Farm

siteAdmin — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 11:16:51 +0000

At the centre of the island is the impressive steading of Holland, which until the end of the 19th century was the hub of a large estate which owned all the island and land on Westray and the Mainland as well. The extensive range of buildings, including a circular mill-tramp, corn-drying kiln etc, date from the late 17th to the 20th centuries. Visitors are welcome to look round (with care if there are animals or machinery about – this is very much a working farm!) and to visit the Bothy Museum, which is always open.

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St Tredwell’s Chapel

siteAdmin — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 11:16:02 +0000

On a small promontory jutting into St Tredwell’s Loch from the east, is a confusion of ruined buildings. At the core of the mound is an Iron Age fortification, but the rectangular walls on the top are those of a medieval chapel. St Tredwell is mentioned in a late medieval account of the mission that King Nechtan invited to Pictland: its leader was Boniface and Triduana or Tredwell was one of the “holy virgins” who accompanied him. Legend recounts that Nechtan fell in love with Triduana and praised the beauty of her eyes. She responded by plucking them out and sending them to him skewered on a thorn.

St Tredwell was widely venerated in Scotland and the lochs and wells associated with her were famous for curing diseases of the eyes. Pilgrims travelled to Papay from all over Orkney and the north seeking cures at St Tredwell’s loch, and were still doing so long after the Reformation

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The Holm of Papay

siteAdmin — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 11:15:27 +0000

Papay Development Trust now offer a boat service to get to the Holm from Papay itself. The south tomb is an exceptionally large Neolithic chambered cairn, with unusual carvings on the lintels above some of the chambers. At the north end of this uninhabited island is a small stalled cairn, of even earlier date, which may well have been the burial place of the people who lived at the Knap of Howar.

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St Boniface Kirk

siteAdmin — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 09:25:53 +0000

Two Pictish cross-slabs that were found in the kirkyard at St Boniface are evidence that there has been a kirk on this site since at least the late 7th century – probably originally founded as a base for missionary campaigns among the pagan Picts. The present building dates from the 12th century, and was enlarged around 1720 and furnished with gallery, pulpit and box-pews. Some of these have been restored and the kirk is in occasional use and always open for visitors. In the kirkyard is a very weathered hogback tombstone which has been dated to the 12th century; these stones were a Norse type, imitating in stone the longhouse with its roof of wooden shingles. The reddish stone is not local to Papay, it has been imported to mark the burial place of an important person.

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Knap of Howar

siteAdmin — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 09:16:19 +0000

The Knap of Howar is not only one of the most significant archaeological sites in Orkney, but the site of the oldest standing houses in northern Europe. These two buildings are significantly older than the village at Skara Brae, and were inhabited from about 3800 BC by neolithic farmers who grew crops on the fertile land and raised cattle, sheep and a few pigs. The builders designed for maximum protection from the elements, digging down into the midden left by an earlier settlement so that the houses are invisible until you are almost standing on them. The long low entrance passageways sheltered the dwelling areas from the Orkney wind, and you can see the slots in the door-jambs at the inner end, for a bar to hold a door against the stone checks.

The interior of the larger house is partitioned by stone flags into two rooms, the outer one furnished with a stone sleeping platform and

the inner with a hearth and trough quern. A connecting passage leads to the smaller house which seems to have been the workshop and storage area, the innermost room lined with stone cupboards.

The Knap is not a village like Skara Brae but seems to have been the home of a single, virtually self-sufficient family unit. Excavation revealed bone and stone tools, and Unstan-ware pottery – quite different from the Grooved Ware used by the people at Skara Brae. As well as farming, the people of the Knap were highly competent deep-sea fishermen, and hunted sea-birds such as the Great Auk.

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