Cogtoon Croft Stromness

Just recently I had the privilege to visit Cogtoon albeit from a boat, it brought back fond memories of my contact with this remote croft which I had first visited with my nephew Jonny in 1996, it was just the two of us so we had freedom to roam and explore.

When Catherine and I bought our house 89 North Road in 1973 our neighbour to the north of us at 91 North Road was an elderly lady Jessie Leask, it turned out that she was in fact a crofter who sold her wool to us. It was brought into us by one of her relations Davie who explained to me where the croft was situated at a place called Cogtoon he provided me with information about the croft as well as the lady herself. I remember running Jessie up to the Health centre and as a reward she offered me a Pan Drop sweet which was wrapped up in a rather grubby hankie, I accepted it and pretended I had eating it. I was thankful when I returned to take her back home there was no offer of a sweet! She was a very gracious person and although quite elderly was quite a fit person, and I was soon to discover more about her and how she was so sprightly.

In the spring she would travel out to Cogtoon and spend the summer months there, it is quite remote and best accessed by boat which she would row  single handed.  It is quite a hike of perhaps 2/3 miles out along the hills adjacent to Stromness Voe and the ground is covered with heather which makes for arduous walking. She would mail order the Shetland Times and each Friday the postman would have to trek there and back. Not only was this a problem for the postman I recall our local postman telling me when delivering mail next door he had to vault over the bonnet of his van to escape from Jessie’s old sheep dog named Fanny!

 As I got to know Jessie we discovered she was not just an ordinary run in the mill crofter but a well- travelled person indeed. She had a half- brother who was a merchant seaman captain and resided in Canada. Jessie and her brother emmigrated to Canada to find work as jobs at that time were scarce in Shetland. No doubt her life on the croft had influenced her choice of work as she joined a group of workers working for farmers and ranchers in the vastness of Canada. They would take in the harvest and then the cattle round up; her role was driving the chuck wagon and also the cook. This must have been a huge culture change from the remoteness of Cogtoon to the vast prairies of Canada.

Unfortunately they had to return home to Cogtoon to look after their elderly parents, Jessie’s brother took a job as boatman at a large house known as Binnaness and also Jacksville so called by its original owner Captain Jack who was a deep sea captain, and was used by his family as a summer residence which is understandable because of its beautiful idyllic location, which meant it had to be accessed by sea. When I was a child on looking north across the sea from my former island home of Burra the white building would stand out amidst the heather coloured headlands of Whiteness and Weisdale, as if it were some sort of a beacon placed there like a Lighthouse to make mariners aware of the rugged coastline, I had always wanted to know more about this structure it would be decades later that my questions would be answered.

I recall a conversation with Jessie when she told me that her father had planted trees behind their house next door in the 1930s to help soak up the water which finds its way to the back of our properties at the base of the Staney Hill, a very sensible solution to what is a continuous ongoing problem. It was obvious that he was a practical thinking person similar to most crofters work had to be carried out by themselves as there was not much income from the croft. This was certainly the case with the house at Cogtoon it was in the process of being built by a laird who prematurely passed away before the house was finished. Jessie’s father rented the croft and completed the building work.

Like many crofters at that time life on a small parcel of rough ground was extremely difficult however because of his ingenuity and resourcefulness he not only made ends meet he had the means to have a property in Lerwick albeit a modest dwelling. Cogtoon situated so close to the sea it meant they had easy access to the rich fishing grounds further out to sea at the back of the neighbouring Island, meaning they would not go hungry as well as salt fish which they would barter their produce at the shop further up the voe in exchange for essential supplies. Not only fish but dairy products such as cheese and butter, eggs, mutton, beef and vegetables as well as selling wool and of course livestock.

On my first visit ashore at Cogtoon in 1996 it was sad and also fascinating to see the remains and structures of what had been in its day quite a progressive croft going by its various outbuildings, one building in particular situated at the top of the beach could have been a water mill as there was the remains of what could have been a waterway / ditch now overgrown leading down to it.

The discovery which resonated most with me was the remains of the family boat lying above the high water mark in its “noost” (a sheltered hollow at the edge of the beach). Its resting place had been partially man made judging by the rocky embankment which appeared to have been man made, and its location had been well constructed and thought out that as all these years later the skeleton of the vessel remained untouched by wind and sea, like most crofts of bygone years the boat was integral toward the existence of a crofting family.

So once again I was very fortunate to visit Cogtoon  by boat and on returning home I simply had to discover more about the Leask family of Cogtoon and with the power of Google I was to discover that Jessie’s father had passed away next door in 1943 and Jessie herself in 1976 at the placed she loved Stromness.

Yet another poignant story of a crofter I was fortunate to know it has been a privilege to have known a small piece of the lives of a typical Shetland native family.

*I am grateful for the use of some information from the publication ‘ A Pictorial Dander Trowe’ Shetland’s Crofting Culture” published by the Shetland Cattle Breeder’s Group celebrating their centenary in 2009 and still available from Anderson & Company Market Cross Lerwick.”