Swinister, Delting, Crofts.

This spring and summer has been exceptionally dry and warm ideal crofting weather; we offered to help out on the Guddon croft in Yell and were delighted when we were taken up on the offer. As we journeyed north through the rugged hills of Dales Lees I observed several ruined croft houses located below the road on the steep slope leading down to the seashore. Across the narrow stretch of water which appeared to be connected by 2 “ayres” tombolo was a very imposing large island called Foraness.

The area of land called Swinister is situated in the North East of Shetland in the parish of Delting; Swinister was half a mile long by a quarter mile wide and in the 1800s was home to approximately 16 crofts. I often wondered what had been the fate of this remote crofting township, had they too suffered the same hardships as their fellow crofters of that era throughout the Highlands and Islands.

Throughout my working life with Shetland crofters I had often listened to their stories and fairly often they would tell of the clearances in the districts and the many ruined homes of a bygone era of crofting. That dialogue with the older crofters whilst working out their payment for their wool clip is what I miss the most in my life with wool, nowadays the wool payment  is computerised  thus taken away the “ social” side of my job. I remember a time when I could discuss the likes of Swinister with crofters from that era sadly missed and long gone, however I was most fortunate to meet up with the grand – daughter of one of the crofters I first knew in the 1960s /70s, their croft was called Sandgarth and was situated at the head of Dalesvoe.  She told me her aunt Nancy Johnson who had been brought up in Sandgarth and had been registrar for the district and had compiled a factual account of Swinister and its inhabitants and it was truly a detailed and remarkable but harrowing read. I have Nancy’s permission to share some of the details and words of this tale of life endured in the face of adversary thrust upon them by the greed of unscrupulous land owners and natural disasters such as the Delting fishing disaster.

Direct extract from Nancy’s research document.

*One hundred and eighteen people lived in Swinister in Delting in 1841. In 1861 there were 129. Now there are none. The people were many small farmers and / or fishermen (the term “croft “was not in use until the 1880s) who had a small patch of land rented from the Garth and Annsbrae Estate or other proprietors. They had free access to the Common Grazing (Hill land) which they used for grazing their animals. They would also have cut peats there (their only source for heating and cooking), cut “poans” a thin flake of turf used as the initial covering for the roof before thatch was placed on), and also heather for their roofs, and scraped” duff” (soft mossy peat unsuitable for burning) for bedding their cattle in winter.

Crops grown on their inbye land would have been potatoes, turnips, kale, bere, oats and hay – some for human consumption and some for their animals in winter. They would have relied also on “tang” (seaweed) for manure for their crops, shells to burn for lime, sand to improve their peaty soil and shell sand to keep hard shells on the hens’ eggs. It was a hard existence but it was possible for the able bodied to survive. The women spun wool from the sheep and knitted to exchange for goods. Rents were frequently paid in produce e.g. animals. There was no security of tenure but as long as the rent was paid and there was no debt accrued the tenant could usually have a roof over his head and grow enough food to feed his family for at least part of the year. All this was weather dependent and in bad years there was famine which necessitated outside aid.*

In 1866 there came a massive change which would signify a serious turn for the worse for the inhabitants of Swinister and make their living in most cases on the land impossible. Nancy goes into great detail about the owners of the estates of Swinister and once again they like many other land owners of the time were not interested in the welfare of their tenants and could not be bothered to run their estates so left it to unscrupulous factors to oversee the estate.

I will once again quote direct from the research carried out by Nancy on the plight of the Swinister folk.

* The estate owners appointed a factor in in 1866 and immediately started to initiate changes on the two estates which he had persuaded the owner were necessary. The people who lived in the small community of Swinister on the side of the Voe were to be included in the “improvements”. A fifteen page booklet entitled “Articles, Regulations and Conditions of lease” was issued to all tenants. This imposing document, which was probably confusing and incomprehensible to many of the tenants, had to be agreed upon and signed within a very short timescale or the tenant would have to leave his house and land. The “conditions of lease” included –

Bankruptcy on the part of the tenant would mean immediate removal. The houses were to be let out with only a small piece of land which was to be cultivated according to the rules of the factor. The rest of the land was to be given up to the Proprietor.

No bull or ram was to be kept for breeding without the approval of the factor. – No dog to be kept. – No straw, dung, hay or turnips could be sold. – No free access to peat in the scattald or to tang and sand from the shore. – No right of grazing in the scattald. – The Proprietor had the right to grant feus off any croft at any one time.

These new regulations made the crofters already meagre existence quite impossible. The loss of the scattald was particularly devastating.

A few tenants signed and kept their houses making their living by fishing and knitting and paying for their peat. Anyone who did not sign was obliged to leave and his land was appropriated by the factor and combined into bigger units for cross bred sheep which was the underlying purpose behind the improvements.

Many miles of fencing were erected and the Fanks or “sheep shed “as the factor called it was built for £220.00 in 1868 it is still there. *

When I read Nancy’s comprehensive records of crofting life gone by at Swinister, it had such an impact on me that I just had to visit the area and see for myself the conditions that those crofters of a bygone era had to endure. After reading the details regarding each croft house and its occupants I seemed to have more of an insight into what these impoverished people had to contend with at that time.

I am very grateful and would like to thank Nancy once again for giving me the opportunity to read her research on crofting life in the 1800s. We are very blessed in Shetland that we have local historians such as Nancy and our archivists who document the hardships our forefathers had to endure; it makes us appreciate all the modern amenities we have today as we speed by the remnants of a bygone age in our hybrid electric cars!