June 24 Far-flung St Kilda

Throughout our trip, we were very fortunate weather-wise and as a result we managed to land on a couple of remote rocky scraps of land which are usually inaccessible because of the North Atlantic's gales and high seas. The island of Hirta, part of the far-flung archipelago of St Kilda, the western most point of Scotland, was one of them. Once home to self-sustaining communities dating back to the Stone Age, today it is a Scottish Natural Reserve and is World Heritage listed. Its only residents are the rare and ancient wild Soay sheep and seabirds plus a native mouse. 

While there, I learnt a chilling term - the Clearances. It refers to a period of forced eviction and emigration primarily in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, stretching from late C18 to mid C19. 

During the Clearances, many tenants were forcibly evicted from their homes to make way for more profitable land uses, particularly sheep farming, leading to significant displacement, emigration, and alterations in the cultural and demographic landscape of Scotland as a whole. A large part of the population left for Australia in the 1850s. The last human residents left the island in 1930: an island where people had lived for thousands of years. It is said that they left because they were concerned they would not last another winter on the barren North Atlantic archipelago, which was virtually cut off from the mainland for nine months of the year by rough seas and winds.  Yet people had survived there for 1000s of years. The truth is probably that their traditional lifestyle had been changed dramatically which impacted their economy and health. The newcomers, in their wisdom, built more ‘comfortable’ houses for the ‘primitive’ people on the island. Giving them glass windows which, when they inevitably broke, had to be replaced somehow - by buying new glass. So began the cash economy on the island. Of course the doors and windows faced the prevailing weather! As a result, more fuel was needed to keep their homes warm. But ..... the houses looked nice!? and made their Overlords feel good.

We clambered up the slopes, peering into abandoned Stone Age homes and cleits - drystone storage structures. The Stone Age cleits were used for storing all manner of things from dried seabirds to grains and hay - the sheep now use them for protection in bad weather.  One somewhat larger 'cleit' or 'stone house' is where Mad Grace (Lady Rachel Grange) was 'exiled' - she was the 'vocal' wife of one of the Jacobites and it was her husband who had her kidnapped rather than being accused of treason. They say she went mad and indeed you would go mad if you were banished from your family, children and home. The islanders tried to befriend and support her. 

Hirta, along with Foula in the north of the Shetlands, boasts Britain's highest sea cliffs.  Conachair, the highest peak on the island where we landed, forms a precipice of over 400m, dropping straight down into the sea. Hirta is probably the core of an ancient volcano. The whole area is home to some of Scotland’s highest sea stacks - bird-encrusted rock columns. During breeding season, over a million birds wheel around the cliffs and stacks.  It must look truly awesome!

The origin of the archipelago’s name is a bit of a mystery. There was no Saint Kilda, but some say it derived from the Norse word for sweet water because of the springs and wells on Hirta which is the local name for the main island often referred to as St Kilda. It would have been a key stop-off for seafarers to replenish water supplies in the ‘salty desert’ of the Atlantic Ocean. 

The whole area is home to many thousands of birds, particularly the beautiful gannets whose chicks were once collected as precious food - ‘guga’. We were to visit another gannet nesting place a couple of days later - Sula Sgeir, where the men from the island of Lewis still come to collect gannet chicks. It is the last vestige of a very old tradition. 

We landed at Village Bay, the only calm and safe landing spot on the island. 

After the Lairds came to 'enlighten' the people, this stone wall divided the high grazing land from the agricultural land. Note the cleit in the foreground

By the time this defence gun was operational, the war was over (there was a bit of local shenanigans it seems)

One of the Stone Age cleits - now used by the sheep as a shelter during bad weather

A deep well constructed around one of the many springs on the island 

A small flock of the ancient wild Soay sheep roam wild (our wee ship in the background)

It was to this stone building that the islanders brought their ‘rent’ to the Lord of the Isles - the McDonalds

The exile place for Lady Rachel Grange - 'Mad Grace'. I chose not to go in - too many bad vibes!

Lovely little houses but not practical compared with structures built mainly underground which protected against the frequent storms

Sad reminders - 1930 was when the last inhabitants left 

One of the many sea stacks