Eday (, ) is one of the islands of Orkney, which are located to the north of the Scottish mainland. One of the North Isles, Eday is about from the Orkney Mainland. With an area of , it is the ninth-largest island of the archipelago. The bedrock of the island is Old Red Sandstone, which is exposed along the sea-cliffs.
There are various well-preserved Neolithic tombs, as well as evidence of Bronze Age settlement and the remains of a Norse-era castle. During the period of Scottish rule the substantial property of Carrick House was developed at Calfsound, which became a burgh for a short period. During the British era many agricultural improvements were introduced, although there has been a substantial decline in the population since the mid-nineteenth century. In the twenty-first century the Eday Partnership has had success in promoting the island's economy. Local placenames reflect the diverse linguistic heritage and the landscapes of the island and its surrounding seas attract abundant wildlife.
Etymology
"Eday" is a name derived from the Old Norse eið and means "isthmus island".Waugh (2010) p. 550 This is a name specifically associated with economic activity used only where the isthmus has been a "route for the movement of goods and/or boats from one coast to another".Waugh (2010) p. 545
There are numerous other eið names in the islands of the North Atlantic and those in Orkney include Hoxa (Haugeið) on South Ronaldsay, Aith (found on Walls, Stronsay and the west Mainland) and Scapa in St Ola which is derived from the Norse Skálpeið.Waugh (2010) p. 551 Bay of Doomy, near the central isthmus on Eday, may also have a name derived from dómr-eið, meaning "isthmus of the courthouse", indicating it could have been an important meeting place during the Norse period of Scottish history. In the 17th century Eday was also known as "Heth Øy".Blaeu, Johan (mid-1654) "Orcadum and Shetlandiæ" in Irvine (2006) p. 33
In common with elsewhere in the Orkney islands, place names are generally a mixture of Norse, Scots and English influences. Any Pictish names that existed before the arrival of Scandinavian settlers on Eday appear to have been obliterated.Waugh, Doreen "Orkney Place-names" in Omand (2003) p. 115 The common suffix -quoy is from the Old Norse kví-ló and signifies an enclosure in a marshy area.Lamb, Gregor "The Orkney Tongue" in Omand (2003) p. 249 Skaill on the east coast is from the Norse skáli and suggests an important farm on good fertile land that was associated with several smaller tunships.Waugh, Doreen "Orkney Place-names" in Omand (2003) p. 124 The Bay of London also has Norse origins, lund-inn meaning "woodland", although this is no longer an apt description for this largely treeless landscape.
Orkney was Christianised before the arrival of Viking settlers, and there are various local "Papa" names that reflect the activities of the pre-Norse papar monks there. The farm of Papleyhouse near Linkataing may indicate such a link to the past, although the connection is by no means certain.Thomson (2008) pp. 14–16 The name "geo", which occurs frequently around the rocky coast, is from the Norse gjá and means a narrow and deep cleft in the face of a cliff.
Geography and geology
Eday is long from north to south but only just over 500 metres wide at the narrow neck of land between the Sands of Doomy and Bay of London and has been described as being "nipped at the waist".Hewitson, Jim "The North Isles" in Omand (2003) p. 185 The centre of the island is largely moorland covered with heather, and cultivation is confined to the coasts.Haswell-Smith (2004) p. 387
The highest points are Flaughton Hill at the island's centre, Fersness Hill at West Side, Vinquoy Hill to the north and Ward Hill to the south, which reaches . In Orkney this last name, which derives from the Norse varði, is a common one for the highest point on an island as in the past they were used for lighting warning beacons."Orkney Placenames - natural elements" Orkneyjar. Retrieved 15 July 2007.
The largest body of water is the sea southeast of Vinquoy Hill."Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI): Mill Loch" Orkney Islands Council. Retrieved 1 April 2012. Loch of Doomy lies on the western side of the narrow "waist" and the smaller Loch Carrick on the north coast.
The population is dispersed along the coastal farmsteads and nowhere on the island has the status of a village. Calfsound is the most populous of the settled areas, with other concentrations at Millbounds on the east coast, which has a post office and a community facility in a converted chapel, and Backaland in the south where the ferry from the Mainland docks.
Eday is surrounded by other small islands that make up the "seemingly impossible green and russet jigsaw of Orkney's North Isles". Calf of Eday lies north of the settlement of Calfsound. Further east is Sanday across the Eday Sound. Stronsay and Linga Holm are to the south east and Muckle Green Holm to the south west beyond the straits known as the Fall of Warness. Egilsay lies some due west. Rusk Holm, Faray and Holm of Faray lie beyond the Sound of Faray to the northwest, and beyond them is the larger island of Westray.
In common with its neighbouring isles, Eday is largely formed from Middle Devonian Old Red Sandstone deposited in the Orcadian Basin. The Eday Group is the name for a substantial sequence of sandstones that is found at many locations in Orkney, for which Eday and the area around Eday Sound are the type area. In places it is up to thick, and is largely composed of yellow and red sandstones with intervening grey flagstones and marls.Hall, Adrian and Brown, John Flett (September 2005) "Upper Middle and Upper Devonian Sediments". "Orkney Landscapes". Retrieved 4 Mar 2012. The rock is easily quarried and some of the yellow sandstones from Fersness were used in the construction of St Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall.Tait (2005) p. 474 The Devonian sequence is deformed into a major fold, the north–south trending Eday Syncline, with the youngest part of the sequence, the Upper Eday Sandstone outcropping in the north of the island from Bay of Cusby to Red Head. The oldest part of the sequence, the Rousay Flagstones are found on the eastern side of the island at Bight of Milldale and from Kirk Taing to War Ness, and to the west from Sealskerry Bay to Fersness. Veness is formed of Upper Eday Sandstone downfaulted against the flagstones.Mykura, W. (with contributions by Flinn, D, & May, F.) 1976. British Regional Geology: Orkney and Shetland, Institute of Geological Sciences, Natural Environment Council, 149pp.
History
Prehistory The very limited archaeological record provides scant evidence of Mesolithic life in Orkney, but the later assemblage of houses and monumental Neolithic structures in the archipelago is without parallel in the United Kingdom.Wickham-Jones (2007) p. 20
Vinquoy chambered cairn, located in a commanding position overlooking the Calf Sound, is in diameter and high. The narrow entrance passage of this Maeshowe-type tomb leads to a central chamber with four side-cells.. Canmore. Retrieved 2 Mar 2012. Other sites of interest on Eday include the Stone of Setter standing stone that dominates the col north of Mill Loch, and which at high is one of the tallest monoliths in Orkney."Eday, Stone of Setter". Canmore. Retrieved 3 Mar 2012. There are two more chambered cairns at Braeside and Huntersquoy and another on the Calf of Eday. Rectangular in shape, it was excavated in 1936–37 and contains a small chamber with two compartments and a larger one with four stalls that has a separate entrance and was probably added at a later date.Noble (2006) pp 116–17
Although there are several Bronze Age sites on the island, they provide less dramatic remains. At Warness in the south west there is a burnt mound from this period and there are the ruins of two houses of a similar age on Holm of Faray near the Point of Dogs Bones.Wickham-Jones (2007) pp. 65, 76 The Fold of Setter is an Bronze Age enclosure located to the north of Mill Loch.Tait (2005) p. 476 There is the site of a large Iron Age roundhouse containing a saddle quern at Linkataing in north west Eday.Wickham-Jones (2007) p. 97 Latterly, Orkney was settled by the Picts although the archaeological evidence is sparse.Wickham-Jones (2007) p. 104
Norse colonisation It is not known "when and how the Vikings conquered and occupied the Isles",Ó Corráin (1998) p. 25 and although Norse contacts with Scotland certainly predate the first written records in the 8th century, their nature and frequency are unknown.Graham-Campbell and Batey (1998) pp. 2, 23 The place name evidence of a Norse presence on Eday is conclusive and very little is known about the specifics of life on the island at this time. The Norse-era ruins of the Castle of Stackel Brae, which dates from the 12th or 13th century, lie under a green mound to the east of the Bay of Greentoft.. Canmore. Retrieved 3 Mar 2012. The castle may have been the most important building on Eday at this time."Eday, Castle of Stackel Brae". Scotland's Places. Retrieved 3 Mar 2012.
Scottish rule In 1468 Orkney became part of the Kingdom of ScotlandThompson (2008) p. 220 and an influx of Scottish entrepreneurs helped to create a diverse and independent community that included farmers, fishermen and merchants that called themselves comunitatis Orcadie and who proved themselves increasingly able to defend their rights against their feudal overlords.Thompson (2008) p. 183Crawford, Barbara E. "Orkney in the Middle Ages" in Omand (2003) pp. 78–79 Nonetheless, the actions of the aristocracy continue to provide much of the information known about affairs on Eday at the time. In 1561, during the Reformation, Edward Sinclair was granted the feu of Eday by Adam Bothwell, Bishop of Orkney. These were turbulent times—Sinclair's duties included to defend the reforming Bishop "against whatsoever invaders"Thomson (2008) p. 258—and later that year he was one of the ringleaders of an anti-Catholic riot in Kirkwall.
His son William took over the running of the Eday estate in due course, but it became burdened with debt. In 1601 when Edward was "an auld decrepit man ... aged 100 or thereby" William attempted to sell the family interest to George Sinclair the Earl of Caithness.Thomson (2008) pp. 288–90 The new proprietor sent half a dozen boatloads of "vagabondis, broken Highland men of Caithness" to Eday, much to the alarm of the notorious Earl Patrick of Orkney. Earl Patrick was able to use the poor relationship between the elderly father Edward and his son, (the former claiming William fired muskets at him and grabbed him by the neck like a dog) to take action. Acting, so he alleged, on behalf of Edward, Earl Patrick evicted William, took the Eday the rents for himself and profited from the extraction of building stone from Towback quarry.
John Stewart, Earl of Carrick, the brother of Earl Patrick, was granted Eday in 1632. Canmore. Retrieved 3 Mar 2012. and he constructed Carrick House at Calfsound shortly thereafter. He used peat to manufacture salt from salt pans at both Carrick and on the Calf of Eday. The product was described as "quite fine" in the 17th century when it was undertaken on a substantial scaleStewart, Walter (mid-1640s) "New Choreographic Description of the Orkneys" in Irvine (2006) p. 24 although of "indifferent quality"Neill (1806) p. 38 in the early 19th century when it was being conducted as a cottage industry.Neill (1806) p. 39 Peat extraction was also an important industry in the past as Sanday and North Ronaldsay obtained most of their fuel from Eday and this material was also exported to whisky distilleries on mainland Scotland.