Between a pox and a hard place on Stac Lee.

From the cliffs on the NE coast of Hirta it is less than 7km across the Atlantic to Boreray and its two satellite stacs. They are Stac Lee and Stac an Armin (in the shade behind). They are the highest stacks in the British Isles. The islanders kept sheep on Boreray and also visited these islands for the sea bird harvest in August. Amazingly there are also about 50 cleitean on Boreray and about 80 on Stac an Armin!

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There were also bothies on all three. The one on Stac Lee can still be found. It is just below the dark "V" under the left of the white stained summit cap of the island. The island and stacs are too exposed to leave a boat, so work parties were dropped off by a boat from Hirta, which would return when a signal indicated the work was done.

In 1729 a smallpox epidemic was started after a St Kildan had died on Harris from smallpox the previous year. As his clothes were still good, they were brought back to St Kilda and the smallpox gripped the population. At the time, three adults and eight boys were marooned on Stac Lee because there were no surviving adults, strong enough to man the boat from Hirta, to rescue them. They remained on this windswept rock for 9 months, through the winter and into the next summer, until the factor's boat from Harris relieved them. When they returned to Hirta, they found only one adult and 18 children had survived the epidemic from the population of nearly 200.

Remarkably St Kilda was repopulated in the 1730's from Harris, Uist and Skye. Life may have been tough on St Kilda but it was even worse for many on these other islands. The incomers were taught how to climb the cliffs and harvest birds by the few survivors. By 1758 the population had risen to 88 but it would never again reach 200. The decline had started.

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A Rock at the Edge of the World: St Kilda

The slope up to the Gap ended abruptly. At my feet the ground fell away into vertiginous nothingness. The cliffs on the north coast of Hirta are the highest sea cliffs in the British Isles. This truly was the edge of the St Kildan's little World but it was upon the cliffs that their survival depended. They harvested eggs and birds, especially young gannets, fulmars and puffins from the huge breeding colonies on the cliffs.

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The mysterious enclosures of An Lag, St Kilda.

As I entered the hidden hollow high above the village, the slope levelled off and I was drawn towards some large, stone walled enclosures.


From up here, there was no sign of the village or the bay far below. Only the distant Atlantic could be seen through gaps in the rocky ramparts of distant Dun.


After the enclosures the slope steepened towards the Gap between Oisebhal (293m) to the SE and Connachair (776m) to the NW. Lines of cleitean marched boldly up the slope and I was soon perspiring in the hot June sun as I rested by each.


Nearing the top, I turned to catch my breath. Then I saw for the first time, the true complexity and apparent randomness of the enclosures. At first, I thought they were sheep fanks (stone pens) but they looked like they were designed to keep animals out rather than in. The exterior of the walls is vertical but the interior is sloped. It is thought they were built relatively late in St Kilda's history, probably about 1830. No one really knows their purpose or why they were built in such a way but one theory is that they were to shelter growing vegetables and crops.

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Cleitean on the climb to An Lag, St Kilda.

Leaving the village street on St Kilda, I proceeded up the hill towards the head wall. On the way I passed more cleitean.


Some of them appeared to grow out of the slope of the steep ground.


Some had two roofs of slabs forming a handy storage space well above the ground and out of reach of animals.


Inside they were remarkably dry. There is evidence that the survival of Soay sheep is enhanced by their use of cleitean in winter


Once through the head wall of the village the ground steepened. Looking back, the view included the spread of Village Bay, with Dun behind, and the houses nestling round the crescent of its shore. MV Cuma remained at anchor but all the other tour boats had left in the face of the increasing southerly wind.


The steep ground gave way to an area of flatter ground which was not visible from below. It is called An Lag Bho 'n Tuath.

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The village street, St Kilda.

Leaving the Factor's house we approached the village proper and arrived at No 1 St Kilda. The first 6 houses of the type built in the early 1860's have been restored by National Trust for Scotland work parties.


The 1860s houses were built after a hurricane in October 1860 stripped the roofs off of most of the blackhouses which were built in the 1830's which were built using the gift from Sir Thomas Acland. In this view looking back down the street you can see the older blackhouses between the more modern gabled houses.


In the fireplaces of many of the houses, a simple stone commemorates the last residents.


This is No 16, the last of the 1860's houses.


Beyond it you can see blackhouse "V". It has thick walls with rounded corners not to catch the wind. It is built end on to the sea and the low door which served for both animals and people is on the side. In winter the beasts stayed in the downhill part of the house. The dung stayed there (until spring) but their heat rose. There are no windows. After the new houses were built most of the blackhouses were used as byres but some of the old folk returned to them as they were warmer and quieter than the modern houses with their galvanized iron roofs.


Looking back down the street towards No 1. Three figures high in the gap on the horizon give scale.


The relationship between the houses, the blackhouses and the cleitean can be seen in this telephoto view from outside No 12.

03/06/2008 am

Oiling the wheels of commerce on St Kilda.

Leaving the church and the school, we made our way back up the hill to the street which connects the village with the store. Before we arrived at the cottages, we came across the factor's house. This was built in the 1860's and was the residence of the factor from the MacLeod estate on Skye. He visited the island about three times during the summer months. His job was to take payment in kind for the crofters' rent. For many years bird oil was the islander's most valuable export and the islanders had no problems paying their rent. The islanders would also barter tweed, dried fish, mutton and feathers in exchange for essentials such as meal.

In the late 19th century the discovery of paraffin on the mainland had rendered the oil extracted from birds near worthless and by 1930 the islanders had built up rent arrears of over 500 pounds. MacLeod tolerated this and evicted no one. His last factor was John Mackenzie. He was a popular figure on St Kilda as he brought stores including paraffin to the island for which no charge was made. After what was sometimes a token gathering of goods in exchange for rent he would distribute sweets and engage in long conversations with the villagers.

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St Kilda school days.

Leaving the St Kilda church by a side door, we entered the school room which was completed in 1900. The long silent room was brightly lit with windows front and back. The children's desk had a neat row of slates (very similar to those I used on starting school in the Highlands in the late 1950's). The teacher's desk overlooked that of the pupils. On the wall hung maps of Canada, the World and South Africa.

Although a school had been established on St Kilda in 1709 it was not until 1809 that a teacher was appointed by the Society for the Support of Gaelic Schools. He remained on the island until a resident minister was appointed in 1829. Education was then the responsibility of successive ministers until 1884 when the Ladies Committee of the Highland Society started to send missionary teachers out to the island.


On the teacher's desk a ledger lay open at the school roll. There were names of 50 children who had entered the school from 1892 until the late 1920's. The pages have been damaged by 116 years of dampness but some lines of copperplate writing in India ink are still legible. The final column lists "reason for leaving".

Drowned : This was the sad death on 2nd October 1906 of Norman Gillies.
Died
Left the island
Died
Went to Glasgow
Left the island
Left the island
Over 14
To help parents with home industries
Over 14
Over school age
Sick in hospital, Glasgow


The children had names like Niel (sic) Gillies, Margaret MacQueen, Rachel MacDonald, John Ferguson, Catherine Gillies, Rachel Gillies and Flora Gillies. This photo (from a display in the schoolroom) was taken in 1927. The man was a missionary teacher sent from the mainland.

Although the children learned about far away places such as Australia (and many left the island to go there) they received little instruction on sustenance farming which was vital to their survival. In many ways the charity of the educators failed the islanders. It did nothing to make their lives easier but it opened their eyes to opportunity elsewhere.

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