Reading the latest Shetland Breeds magazine I was reminded that the Shetland Sheep Society is
celebrating its Ruby Anniversary, I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the invaluable
work carried out by past and present supporters in safeguarding the future of our native Shetland
Breed of sheep.

Looking through P.B.A. Hunter ( Benji’s ) writings it is very obvious he played a significant part in the
establishing native Shetland Sheep outside our Islands through his dealings with the Rare Breeds
Survival Trust and individuals who went on to form the Shetland Sheep Society. According to the
records the first shipment 42 animals a mixture of ewes, ewe lambs, ram lambs, and adult rams left
Shetland on the 3/11/75 and arrived at Ash Farm Iddelsleigh, Devon, breeding centre for
endangered species part of the Rare Breeds Survival Trust arriving on the 14/11/75.

The recipient of the sheep writes – “We are very pleased with their aspect and in retrospect cannot
understand why we waited so long to acquire a meaningful selection of this fascinating breed”. This
same gentleman places another order/enquiry on 18/4/1978 for a further 200 sheep. Benji replied
26/4/1978, “Bad weather at lambing it has been a severe winter with very heavy stock losses, hard
to meet your requirements by early June, some Shetland breeders have lost a third to half their
stock. On 12/3/1980 Benji writes “may I congratulate you on being appointed chairman of the Rare
Breeds Survival Trust. Incidentally I notice in the “Breeders” directory a lady offering Shetland sheep
for sale, checking my records I find she got some Moorit sheep from me in 1974, I was wondering if
it is their offspring she was offering”. The reply “I have met the lady a few times and in fact it was
through my first visit to her to collect some pigs that I obtained your name and address”

In the records the first contact with Colonel Dailey Benji’s name was passed on by the Rare Breeds
Chairman, who on 3/3/1980 agreed to maintain the sheep purchased by Colonel Dailley for export to
Canada delayed by a slight case of Orff. “Agreement is we will arrange the mating of the sheep and
keep them until shipment next summer and would receive payment with the offspring”. When you
add this stock to previous shipments to R.B.S. plus 6 other individuals who received sheep from the
1970s through the early 1980s one can see the importance of Benji in supplying sheep to breeders
from out-with the isles.

When we purchased “Monarch of Cockairney” from Archie and Fiona Hipwell, Wester Ross I was
reminded of the importance of having access to bygone sheep blood lines through the Shetland
Sheep Society members on the U.K. mainland. If my memory is correct if one goes far enough back
through the blood line register there is a connection with Benji breeding stock, some of the offspring
are from a sire called Island Benji. Just recently I have become aware of the ongoing collaboration
between Shetland Island and U.K. sheep breeders, through Island Ollie a Shetland Ram belonging to
Kate Sharpe and bred by the person who also named him George Morrison from Haggersta,
Whiteness, Shetland. Island Ollie was a ram lamb from Olligarth Ness in Whiteness hence its name
and is from the same flock as a ram I placed as overall champion in the wool on hoof section of the
Shetland Flock Book association annual show and sale in 2023.

Island Ollie has a truly exceptional pedigree and reading through his achievements and with careful
handling has achieved awards of the highest accolade being the only Shetland Sheep ever too do the
double at the top two shows winning both the Royal Highland Show and Great Yorkshire Show no
other person or sheep has achieved that lofty heights as well as numerous other mainland shows.

Island Ollie typifies not only all the unique characteristics of the Native Shetland sheep especially its
superfine wool but also the important connection between the Shetland Flock Book Association and
Shetland Sheep Society on the U.K. mainland in preserving and promoting Shetland sheep globally
which Benji had played such a major part in all these years ago.

I would like to thank Kate Sharpe and George Morrison for the information and photos, and the
Hunter family for the use of their records and photos.

When tasked by our employer at Curtis Wool Direct in mid- September 2010 to set up a Shetland Wool Week in Shetland I first contacted the Shetland Flock Book society a fairly obvious starting point for creating a local Wool Week as they were a community of crofters and farmers founded in 1927 their aim was to safeguard the future of Shetland sheep and their fine wool from the mass amount of imitation Shetland fibre which is to be found both near and far and passed off as the real thing. I had been judging their wool on the hoof section of the Annual Shetland Flock Book Society since 1995 the perfect stage to hold such a prestigious event.

Last year’s Silver Shears competition 2023 run by the Shetland Flock Book and sponsored by Vispring held at the Shetland Auction marts in the middle of Shetland Wool Week was well attended by visitors interested in Shetland sheep and wool. Thankfully there were 3 representatives from the flock book who could help me out and also answer questions on Shetland sheep especially as they were all crofters.

I was asked lots of questions on wool handling and also colours and markings and in particular blue grey fleece, my reply was that I was not aware of such a colour but it could be a darkish grey. This question brought to mind my the records of P.B.A. Hunter fondly known locally as “ Benji”. I was most fortunate to have been given his records and have featured blogs in the past regarding his shipment of Shetland sheep to Canada also what he looked for in sheep. It is interesting to note reading through his correspondence on “Blue Grey “sheep.

Benji first mentions Blue/Grey sheep in his first contact with Michael M Rosenberg of Ash farm Iddelsleigh, Devon in October 1975, this intrigued me and so I started looking back through his records to see if there was any other reference on the subject. On the 13^th December 1979 in reply to C.R.Harris I have today received your letter of 6^th December requesting some Shetland ewes, it is a bit too late in the year. First to clear up the colours you describe “ Blue” there is no such native colour described as “ Blue” but a nice shade of dark grey is often described as Blue Grey these sheep are becoming very scarce”

“ Benji “ reply to Chambers 24/10/1980 on blue/grey sheep : * In theory a black ram to white ewes should and ( could ) produce blue / greys with fine wool they are indeed very scarce and as I explained grey sheep are bred true to colour but not all have good quality wool. I did obtain a first shear Black ram with a heavy fleece of fair quality wool I have selected four young white ewes with good quality wool which put to the Black ram should in theory breed good heavy quality wool suitable for hand-spinning*.

24^th October to Chambers- “On selecting hill lambs which are very small I found 1 Black ram lamb with good quality wool which I am keeping for next year. Our sheep graze on a very scattered area; we gather together our different flocks there are 9 share- holders in total”.

17^th November to Chambers “regarding the small black ram lamb this lamb was taken from very rough grazing and put on good grass. I could not believe it was the same ram lamb he had come on by leaps and bounds. He has very good wool and shows all the true Shetland sheep characteristics”.

15/6/81 letter to Benji from Chambers? Timothy the Blue/Grey ram went to 2 Katmogit ewes and the grey ewe from you. Again 100% lambing unfortunately a super ram himself, however his actual fleece has so much kemp in it and it appears that his lambs fleece are similar though this is becoming apparent.

Benji reply —- “Evidence of kemp in the fleece of the Grey ram, Blue/Greys are extremely difficult to come by. It is not so difficult obtaining the shade as getting the right quality of wool similar to good Moorit, Black or even Katmogit”.

When I started judging wool in the 1970s Benji was one of the more senior wool judges I was paired up with as I was very inexperienced in judging fleece. Benji would always be on the lookout for kemp which is mostly a short brittle fibre which does not take the dye I have never seen this in pure Shetland fleece only cross bred sheep. I never saw any sign of kemp in Benji’s “peerie” (small) Blue/Grey fleece which he sold to us which was always of very good quality. I can only speculate however looking at his records it would appear that “ Benji” started supplying Shetland sheep to U.K. mainland breeders in the early 1970s could it have been at that time that these breeders with a lack of knowledge of Shetland sheep and their attributes it could be that kemp was being confused with the white fibre sometimes found in grey and black fleece. This white fibre often was prevalent in Shetland black fleece and was pointed out to me at agricultural shows by some of the older crofters who specialised in breeding Shetland coloured sheep.

Nowadays thanks to science and in particular genetics there is a better understanding of how these various shades and coloured markings have evolved. I have often asked sheep breeders how these unusual shades come about the answer usually is it’s a throwback from the past. This summer I was fortunate to meet up with Irina Bohme a molecular biologist she worked with state-of-the-art DNA- sequencing methods, she explained her interest and work in sheep colour genetics Irina is also a sheep breeder, the old Nordic breeds is amongst her favourites. I admitted I was struggling to understand how genetics worked, and in order to help me understand she gifted me a copy of the book, Coloured Sheep a colour genetics primer, which I am now trying to understand. The book was written by Irina and Saskia Dittgen who is also fascinated with colour genetics; she also breeds pedigree Shetland sheep.

I am sure that this modern scientific research into coloured sheep and wool would have been of great interest to “Benjie”, I would like to thank the Hunter family once again for the images and the use of his records and writings.

 One could ask what a cow has had to do with my life with wool, from my work place point of view Shetland sheep has been the most valuable animal on the croft however I feel it is very important to acknowledge the vital role the cow played in crofting life.

In an earlier blog I mention my time as a student at McRobert’s Farms Douneside Tarland Aberdeenshire and in particular working with a byre full of Friesian cows a shock to the system taking into account the only cow in the north of my former home Burra Isle in the 1950s/60s belonged to two crofting sisters whose croft overlooked the picturesque Meal sands. It was on my childhood holidays in the early 1960s in Vidlin that I first experienced the worth of the family cow and how it provided for the crofting family and had been an integral part of crofting life especially in past times when food was scarce and the men of the family away at sea.

I was 9 years old when I first went to Vidlin in the north east of Shetland for my holidays I was told my first time away from home I was very homesick little wonder coming from a small island to what looked to me at that time a vast panorama of moors and hills. I enjoyed the croft work especially working with the family milking cow I cannot remember if it was a Shetland only that it was black and white and on my first attempt at milking her she had a very fierce kick and sent the bucket flying through the air. I remember in the summer months tethering the cow by its “ baand “ a rope with a sharpened stake which was driven into the ground securing it while the cow grazed on the new grass.

The cow was milked in the morning and at night and when it calved then it was three times a day not only did it provide fresh milk  also several valuable by products which was an essential part of sustenance for the crofting family which often struggled to put food on the table. I have vivid memories of how most of these food stuffs were created not because of my culinary skills it was the fact on trying to learn the art of ‘ kirnin’ the milk that is churning in a round wooden churn I managed to capsize the kirn, ( churn) all over the kitchen floor thus loosing valuable surplus milk which had been stored in containers and left to ‘run’ (curdle) and make ‘kirn-mylk curds as well as butter, butter milk which was kept for baking  or as a drink, ‘ blaand’ was sour milk which was kept as a drink. This experience of the Kirkabister croft cow was to hold me in good stead when I was confronted by a byre full of Friesian cows at least I knew how to milk by hand and all about sour milk.

The cow was possibly the most prized possession on the croft considering its worth in providing much needed nourishment its “muck” or dung was captured in the “runnick” an open drain which usually ran from the byre to the midden or dung heap. The cow dung combined with the bedding usually straw made an ideal compost type material which was eventually spread on the fields as an excellent fertiliser. I found the clearing of the “ runnick” to be a quite messy and hard work removing it by wheel barrow out to the midden. One cow was bad enough it was nothing compared to the thirty five I had to clean up after on my side of the byre when I worked on the Douneside dairy farm. There was no such labour intensive work involved at Berry farm the byre was fitted by a mechanical cleaner which deposited the manure straight into the storage trailer, typical invention of my old boss Jim o Berry.

 My first knowledge of pure bred Shetland cattle came about on a visit to the A.I. centre as a student at the North of Scotland College of Agriculture in 1966/7. We visited the Chapel Croft A.I. centre at Bucksburn not far from our base at Craibstone; we were given a tour by a veterinary surgeon Mr Semple. At that time there was 24 bulls at the centre four Friesians three Ayrshire the remainder made up of various beef breeds. In the laboratory Mr Semple explained about frozen sperm which could keep for years as an example he showed us a slide taken from a pure bred Shetland bull its origins was from the west side of Shetland.

 I learned more about the Shetland breed from my employers the Smith family of Berry Farm who had a copy of the Shetland Cattle Herd Book Society which was formed in 1910. My old boss John ‘Sheepie’ Smith was amongst other things a cattle dealer hence his involvement with the herd book.

The origins of the Shetland cow appear to be very similar to that of the Shetland sheep in the distant past it supposedly had a connection to Scandinavian breeds and could have been brought over by the Vikings when they settled here in the 8^th/9^th century. They were a smaller animal as was the native Shetland sheep and able to survive on the natural Shetland pasture, in the winter months they were kept in a byre attached to the croft house. In fact on a lot of crofts in the distant past the byre was accessed through the dwelling house which provided much needed warmth from the body heat of the animals. A good example of this type of building we found at the derelict croft house remains of the South Hill / Hapwell at Sandsound. In the adjoining byre we found a flat stone, built into the wall of the building with a hole through it which the cow would have been tethered by a rope called a “ baand “, there was a large knot on the end so it couldn’t pull through. According to the Shetland dictionary this stake was called in our dialect a “ veggel “ and was normally made of hard wood the rope which tied the cow was called a “ veggel-baand “. In the 1960s I asked a former resident of Sandsound who remembered people working the croft if this was very securing the thatched roof, he told me no it was for fastening the “ Kye “, in the byre.

Keeping the cows inside in our fairly lengthy winters meant they required a great deal of fodder in times gone by hay, corn and root crops such as Kale was vital to help the animals survive. At Berry farm in the late 1960s we would thrash the corn and put it through the thrashing machine separating the stalks from the oats which we bruised and fed to the cattle, the straw was also used for feeding and bedding. In times past Shetland oats were grown and was vital to crofting life, the oats when dried were ground into flour and the straw was used to thatch roofs also in making carrying baskets ‘ kishies ‘ , and chairs as well as fodder.

In my previous blog on the hardships endured by the Swinister crofters of the late 1800s it came to mind the similarities faced by our fellow Islanders in Skye. I was to hear first- hand from an elderly Skye crofter of the clearances when on holiday in Skye in 1986 we stayed with my wife Catherine’s family who were crofters on the outskirts of Portree in the crofting township of Drumuie. It was here that I was made aware of a crofting legend John Macpherson known as the Skye Martyr so called as he was one of the leaders of a group of Glendale crofters who dared to stand up against the lairds and politicians who sought to clear the crofters from their homes. It was in Glendale in February 1882 that John Macpherson held a public meeting to set up the Land League, which was to give crofters more power in the running of their crofts. In 1887 after seven years and despite time spent in prison and standing up to the law and armed marines, in 1887 there came a breakthrough and a successful outcome in the courts the Glendale Martyrs changed the shape of crofting not only in Skye but in all crofting communities including Shetland giving the crofters more control over their lives.

That visit to Skye and our time spent on the croft was so like crofting life back home, the major difference as far as I could see and unfortunately feel whilst shearing was being bitten by the cleg-fly a common species of horse fly which thank goodness we don’t have in Shetland. Fortunately nearby was a river I could jump in to relieve the pain which was a bit more serious than our Midge bite!

This past spring and early summer was ideal weather for “Voar” work on the croft that is the time to prepare the soil for planting seeds and kale plants as we did earlier in the spring and early summer on Guddon croft in Yell. It was also the time of year weather permitting to cast the peat for the winter’s fuel for the fire in order to cook and keep the croft house warm in the colder darker winter months. In times past on the croft “Voar” work would have been a crucial part of the crofters life it would map out the rest of the crofting year a successful “Voar” could mean avoiding starvation in the event of a poor planting season.

Our own contribution to the spring work on Guddon croft brought home to me what an arduous and back breaking chore delving was, as I rested leaning on my spade I would look across at the long abandoned rigs of the neighbouring crofts of Murrister, and Swarister I could appreciate the demanding laborious work that went into improving that rugged land.

This was all put into context albeit in words I was to read at the Hay family history gathering in the Aith hall in June this year. One of my wife Catherine’s ancestors her Great Grand Uncle Gilbert Hay resided on his croft at Berfield, Sandsound in the 1930s. Looking through all the texts and writings documenting regarding the Hay family I came across a record of his crop work in spring and early summer 1935 written by Gilbert Hay which was discovered in the Shetland archives to which we are once again indebted to for saving a valuable piece of past crofting life.

  Started to delve the “ley” February 21^st, to prepare the land for cultivation. March 9^th finished the “ley”. March 9^th. Delved the Kale yard, March 11 (new one started). Started to Delve stubble, (the cut stalks of cereal plants left sticking out of the ground after harvesting) March 18^th sown Shetland oats next oats March 19^th. Delved stubble for tatties March 20. Delved the other yard & set the plants March 22^nd. Set the first taties 23^rd and 25^th, 3 “kishies” (straw basket or creel). Next tatties 26^th nearly 6 “kishies”. 1 “ kishie for Duncan’ ley. Black Orion corn sown 27 & 28 March. Set 3 kishies tatties 29^th March ( Kippletons).

Sown white oats 1&2^nd of April & 3. Snow on the ground 4^th of April. Snow the 4^th of April. 2 “kishies put into Duncan April 8^th. 1 “kishie” to ourselves the same day. Finished our “Voar” work April 13^th last oats sown 9-12 Tattie mould set the sprouts 15^th April & finished setting our tatties.

Finished the big Kale yard April 22 nd and hoed the new Kale yard, Turnips sown May 27, 28, 29 & 30^th and the mould gathered 31 & the 1^st of June and turned all the peats 3^rd.

Sown Duncan’s crub & the lower town one on June 27^th & started to barrow the Hammer peats and got 46 barrows in the stack & 14,17 and 12 in the “ roog” ( heap or pile). 28^th June 20, barrows. 29^th June 20^th 31 barrows. I have now found out that Duncan was a fellow crofter who lived to the north of Berfield this was another instance of the crofting community helping each other.

Bight peats. 46, 97,

July 2^nd          20, 43

52 barrows up 31, 143 BP

66 barrows down Stack 97.

 So as detailed above the winter fuel for heat and cooking  having climbed the steep hill above Berfield and walked through the former peat banks which Gilbert would have worked, one could appreciate the back breaking work of casting the peats and the journey back down to the crofts of Berfield most likely with his barrow. My photo taken from across the sea from Sand you can clearly see the impressions of former rigs which again were quite steep and back breaking work to delve.

At one time in Sandsound there were as many has 33 houses most of them home to crofters and similar to most Shetland crofting communities they would work together to “ caa” gather the hill sheep, we found evidence of this when walking out the headland called Russaness where we happened upon the remains of  a former “ cro “ sheep pen situated close to the banks and next to a convenient beach where sheep and their wool would be transported by boat along the coast to the East Beach and then onward to the croft.

My father told me when he was a young man they would journey by boat from Burra Isle to the East beach to collect shingle to use in the building of houses back home. The two dwelling’s remains situated just above the beach are called Beach House and the Bod one of which he said had been a shop at one time, he also said there was an old lady in one of the houses who would make them very welcome and give them a cup of tea.

Crofting life in days gone by was a struggle to survive back breaking work in order to exist a far cry from today with modern agricultural machinery such as tractors for ploughing, ditching and draining and motorised quads which replaced the arduous trekking through the knee high heather. I have been very fortunate in my work place to meet crofters and hear stories of life in days gone by in crofting communities, not just tales of hardship but also of happy times which I will write about in another blog on the social side of crofting life.

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.”

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!

In my last blog I mention Stewart Brother’s wool merchants formerly of Levenwick, Constitution Street Leith and then Galashiels who I became familiar with in 1967 they had a close working relationship with J & S this connection most probably began in the 1920s early 30s when one considers Stewart Brothers was founded in Levenwick and my old boss John “ Sheepie” Smith came from the closest village to the north, Sandwick where he began dealing with agricultural commodities such as wool.

 My direct contact was with the late Mark Stewart we would have a visit from him at least once a year to discuss wool matters such as fleece sorting and wool handling. In 1968 I had the privilege to assist Mark Stewart in the judging of a fleece competition held in our wool store. The competition was open to all types of wool, I had to unroll each fleece for Mark and he would explain by means of a British Wool Marketing Board fleece points scoring card what he was looking for in the characteristics of the fleece. At the end of the judging the points were added up, two fleece one Shetland and a Pettadale, a cross breed between the Romney and Shetland ended tied on the judges score card. I thought this was joint first however Mark said no we have to multiply the weight times the individual fleece score and the Pettadale was deemed the winner as it weighed 5lbs and the Shetland two pounds. I remember the comment from one older crofter to the other,” yon sooth man fishes we the owner of the Pettadale sheep when he comes to Shetland that is why he placed his fleece champion”!

 We had in place a valuation system with Stewart Brothers for each clip they received a farm or croft code from us on each sack or bale sent to them. The reason why this procedure was in place was due to the fact we at J & S had limited storage space and were unable to hand sort all the clips we took in, crofters and farmers also did not have the means to store the wool plus it was essential they required payment on the day. The sorting results would be noted on the purchase book page and that page recorded on the customer index card. When the individual came in the following season the previous year sorting results would be checked and depending on how the clip was sorted the price would be increased or decreased.

 Similar to clips sorted and valued by us Stewart Bros recorded each valuation after sorting the clip and this assessment help work out the price paid to the crofter in the following wool season. This method of handling changed in the early 1970s with the arrival of a wool press which meant more of the clips would be assessed by us. Shipping became easier with the wool press, gone were the days of trying to stow sacks on the small trucks to be transported to Victoria pier and at the north boat loading was by an on-board crane, sacks were placed in a cargo net often a bag or two would slip into the sea causing no end of trouble as they would be delivered back to us soaking wet. Our last sack shipment was September 1973 made up of 418 sacks plus 4 bales weight 12 ton – 7 cwt – 55 lbs.

The valuation of the clips by the actual hand sorting of the wool had certain advantages and to a lesser extent disadvantages. I dealt with why hand sorting of the Shetland fleece is essential in a previous blog however sorting the fleece meant that the finest sorted quality received a higher price and the poorer quality and soiled parts of the fleece for example daggings, excessive soiling ( peat), paint contaminated and wool damaged by poor storage. Spinners often said you would need 2lbs of greasy wool of the same quality to end up with 1lb of finished yarn to cover all the scouring, carding and spinning loss.

 From the wool buyers perspective this method of valuation meant the wool had to be handled once not like today where it has to be graded and then sorted meaning extra handling costs. Our parent company Nortura in Norway handled most of the wool produced there and on a trip to Bergen I met a Nortura employee a lady wool sorter on a croft visit and  discovered they pay the crofter on the finished sorted price.

One of the most positive benefits of us at J & S Shetland Wool Brokers working closely with Stewart Brothers meant that sorted wool either sorted there or by us could easily be dispatched to our customers on the mainland or orders taken from Shetland manufacturers to a spinning mill of their choice where ever that would be in the U.K. or abroad from their premises in Leith which was in close proximity to the docks.

Being the main wool broker on Shetland local knitwear companies would ask us to hand sort wool for them and instruct us to send it to the mills of their choice on the U.K. mainland. Looking back through the archives there was 10 such companies and were all knitwear manufacturers, sadly there are only 2 of those companies left. They would have their yarn spun to their own specifications at the mill of their choice, checking back through the archives the most used mill was T.M.Hunter of Brora, and to a lesser extent Pringle of Inverness and Wright & Jobson Galashiels.

  All the local manufacturers had their own marketing strategies but the brand that stood out for me was the Everest Knitwear range produced by T.M. Adie of Voe, they supplied the successful British Everest Expedition of 1953 with Shetland wool garments. In our company archives is records of transactions of hand sorted wool, black, moorit & white, starting in the 1950s for T.M.Adie and delivered firstly to spinner James Porteous Alva, Clackmannshire then with their closure in 1960 the spinning was carried out by Wright & Jobson of Galashiels. When I started in the wool store in 1967 I was shown the quality of wool had to be sorted for the Adie contract it had to be our finest number 1 sort. I remember being told that the under garments was a natural undyed Spencer weight yarn 2/28s Gala count and had to be spun from wool with the finest handle to ensure it was not abrasive. The outer garments were spun from natural undyed fawn the Gala count was 2/21s.

Not counting Stewart Brothers & T.M. Hunter there were another 12 companies made up of knitwear & weaving manufacturers and 5 wool mills, again sadly only 1 mill is left operating and 1 manufacturer. The only mill left that we supplied with Shetland Black and Moorit back in the 1960s is Snaeldan, they are based in a small town called Strendur located by a fjord. With the exception of T.M.Hunter the largest mill we supplied was Paton & Baldwin’s of Alloa.

At present we at Jamieson & Smith Shetland Wool Brokers in Lerwick handle over 80% of the local clip, according to Shetland trading standards figures, the remainder is shared by another 8 yarn producers who have their yarn spun here in Shetland or on the U.K. mainland, this is very encouraging as at one point fairly recently there were only 2 local companies involved with the production of Shetland wool.

On my return to work in January this year, I spent a little time helping clean up an old Hattersly weaving loom which was stored in our coloured wool shed. The loom was gifted to Sandra who works in J & S shop, her aim was to save it by restoring it into working condition. I was made aware of the looms recent history by one of our crofters. The loom had belonged to an old acquaintance of mine the late Annie Mouat, cottage weaver of Levenwick, I found out Annie had worked as an apprentice weaver to the Stewart family formerly from Levenwick.

 This intrigued me as I had a first come into contact in 1967 with a company called Stewart Brothers of 135 Constitution Street Leith & Galashiels who were wool merchants. We had a very close working relationship with them which I will add more detail to in another blog. The late Mark Stewart was the person who was our point of contact and appeared to me to be in charge of the company and would visit us once or twice a year. In 1968 I assisted Mark Stewart in a wool competition held at the wool store, I will talk about this in more detail in my next blog. I last met with Mark in 1978 in Galashiels at their Galashiels premises he had recently retired. I now needed to know if there was in fact a connection with Mark and the Stewart family from Levenwick.

Shetland is a “ peerie”, small place nearly everyone knows one another and if not soon finds out what they need to know. I was out shopping when I met a friend of mine Magnus Shearer who lives in Levenwick he informed me he lives next door to the remains of the Stewart family home North Pund. In fact it was one of the Stewart family who built the house in 1900 where Magnus and his wife now reside. Magnus has provided me with images and information on the Stewart Family who were not only weavers but also wool brokers which confirms both parties are the same.  William Stewart born Levenwick 1832 died Richmond House Edinburgh 1927 was the founder of the wool broking business and his sons Andrew, George & John became wool brokers as well obviously carrying on the family business. I believe John eventually took over the running of the company until his death in 1951. However there was no mention of Mark Stewart in any of the documents, there was no one I knew who could provide the answers I contacted Stewart & Ramsden Galashiels now owned by British Wools sadly no one there could help. I decided to contact the Borders Family History Society Galashiels and provided them with names and dates. In no time at all a researcher from the society provided me with prove that Mark Stewart was a son of Andrew Stewart, who is listed as a weaving manufacturer, wool broker and missionary.

 It was now confirmed Mark Sprot Stewart was born in Musselburgh in 1905 and passed away in 1993 at his home in Melrose. Not only was Mark a highly respected wool broker and business man, I vaguely recall my old boss Eva telling me perhaps played rugby union for Scotland. I have researched this and found that Mark Sproat Stewart played 9 times for Scotland his first cap was against South Africa in 1932 at Murrayfield, he was also president of the Scottish Rugby Union in 1966/67.

The Stewart Dynasty offspring as my friend Magnus aptly called them were not only successful weavers and wool brokers; sportsmen representing their country, wool broker founder William Stewart had an older brother George author of the Shetland book “Shetland Fireside Tales”. After moving from Shetland to Leith William went into business with his brother John Stewart called ‘J & G Stewart Provision Merchants’. Part of this enterprise was the importing of rum, and “Stewarts Rum is still well known today. After some 30 years George immigrated to Canada to be with his sons who had already moved there. In 1902 two of his sons John and Robert joined the gold rush on the border between Canada and Alaska, they were very successful at this perhaps they had been involved in mining in the south of Shetland which was active in the 19^th century so already had prior experience which gave them an early start over the hordes of prospectors. They formed the Stewart Land Company in 1906 which had interest in most of the mines in the area. They were the founders of the fledgling town which was named Stewart after the town’s first post master George. Stewart is situated at the head of the Portland Canal a 90 mile saltwater fjord the longest fjord in the world, a bit longer than some of the voes back in Shetland that the brothers would have known.

I still needed to know if there was anyone around nowadays that could add more local substance to the Stewart Family, with this in mind I talked to Martin Colvin who works the croft close to the former Stewart home. Martin knew a bit about the weaving company but passed me on to his father Jim who I had known all my working life he provided details of his direct contact with the family namely on Andrew Stewart who was known locally as Andy, Jim had actually attended a gospel service in the Levenwick meeting hall held by Andrew.

The Stewart weaving company started in a small building in 1948 then built a large weaving shed further up the village, a community dance was held in the shed to celebrate its opening, weaving seemed to end in the early 1960s. I discussed the Stewart mining operation in Canada and was surprised to learn from Jim that in the cliffs to the north of their home is the site of a former iron ore mine, who knows George Stewart’s sons may have been involved in this!

Shetland for such a small group of remote islands in the North has produced its fair share of entrepreneur’s, preachers, scholars, businessmen, and explorers etc. I have now answers in my quest as to the origins of Stewart Brothers which in my opinion places the Stewart family from the North Punds, Levenwick in this exalted group .

 I am glad I started cleaning the weaving loom from Annie Mouat Cottage Weaver Levenwick it has not only answered my questions regarding my old friend Mark and his company Stewart Brothers it has taken me on a journey which highlights the work ethic and entrepreneurial endeavours of a band of brothers from a small croft in Shetland.

IMAGE FINISHED LOOM

I am very grateful and would like to thank the Borders Family History Society, Jim & Martin Colvin and Magnus Shearer for their help and information. Fairly recently I had all this information confirmed by Shetland archivist Angus Johnson from Levenwick and his father and uncle had worked for the Stewart family as weavers. I also met with one of our crofters Ian Smith from Troswick who informed me that early 1980s he had transported our in loom from Nibbon in Northmavine to Lerwick for Annie Mouat who had purchased the loom from a lady who had in turn taken ownership of it from Adie of Voe. I would like to thank Angus and Ian for helping to add substance to what I think is another valuable part of my journey with sheep and wool.

Wool – Dyed. “Yarn which the fibre has been dyed prior to spinning, often in the production of mixtures. At one time wool dyed yarns and garments or fabric made from them were considered to be piece dyed articles and thought to keep their colour longer. Perhaps the source of the expression dyed – in – the –wool”. Our first dyed shades of yarn at J & S in 1967 /8 were naturals which were Moorit, Black, Fawn, Silver Grey, Medium Grey and Dark Grey the reason given was why dyed and not undyed yarns was that the end user required a definite colour shade to match up to when placing an order further down the line. In 1997 we along with Yarns International and Hunters of Brora introduced undyed natural yarns.

Woollen Spun. “In this system the fibres can be of widely varying lengths, are arranged as far as possible to lie in a random criss cross manner. This is the process usually employed for short fibres and typically for Cashmere, Lamb’s wool and Shetland. A woollen spun yarn need not necessarily contain any wool”. Woollen spun yarn has been a major part of my working life in order to sustain employment all year round since we had our own hand sorted Shetland wool spun into hand knitting yarns at T.M.Hunters of Brora.

Worsted.”  Yarns which are combed to remove the shortest fibre or fibres and in which the fibres lie parallel to one another. Worsted yarns are stronger and smoother than woollen spun yarns”. One of the most defining moments in my working life not only for me J & S, crofters and knitters and Shetland in general when the late Jeemie Moncrieff from the Shetland Amenity trust asked me if we could help supply the Shetland museum with “ Wirsit “worsted yarn to be used in their museum heritage collection of lace knitwear, and also to try and safeguard the future of lace knitting in the islands. As they say the rest is history I tell more about this subject in my blogs, if it were not for the Amenity Trust and museum and their request for a worsted yarn I sincerely believe Shetland Wool Week and all its positives would not have been the success it is today as this lace project brought us at J & S as the main buyers of Shetland wool together with the aim of marketing Real Shetland wool to a wider global audience. I am very proud to say our new Heritage worsted yarn was used in our 2014 Jarl Squad suit.

Yarn. For textile purposes a continuous strand of fibre or fibres which is capable of being used to produce cloth. The introduction of yarn and the marketing of it not only help employ me in the wool clip off season it created more jobs at J & S from 1969 through the 1970s, staffing levels went up to  eight full time responsible for retail and direct mail sales.

Yorkshire Skeins. “Yorkshire, England woollen spun yarn count system in which the count is the number of 256 yard hanks to one pound weight”. In 2000 with the sad demise of our spinner Hunters of Brora and their Gala count yarns, we were fortunate enough to discover a small Yorkshire wool mill 5^th generation spinners who could carry on the mantle of producing high quality Shetland yarns from our own hand sorted Shetland fleece bought from Shetland farmers and crofters.

2 Ply, 3 Ply, Double knitting etc. “These terms used to describe the thickness of hand knitting yarns. The terms are not exact as count numbers, there being slight variations between one spinner and another. The terms are not terminologically correct. For instance a four ply yarn is not necessarily four ends plied together.

Approximate hand knitting equivalents to the metric system are:

2ply — 2/14.nm

4ply — 2/9nm

Double Knitting — 3/7nm

Chunky — 2/3.5 nm

Aran — 3/4nm “

In my early years with Hunters of Brora we were able to supply a very wide and comprehensive range of yarns sadly more than half of them are no longer available, due to fashion changes and managing realistic financial stock levels. From a purely nostalgic view point I miss these shades however with the introduction of several worsted yarns, starting with the Museum lace and Heritage yarns and the possible introduction of other yarns are a positive way forward to add value to the Shetland wool clip we handle.

Unavailable Produce would be marked in red.

At the beginning of his technical directory, Alistair begins with a note of caution!

“In an industry which has evolved from various crafts it should realise that the meaning of some textile terms may vary from company to company, area to area, country to country.

 I am very grateful to Alistair for the use of his technical descriptions of textiles this is only a small part of an extensive directory compiled by Alistair from a life time in the textile world. I have enjoyed revisiting Alistair’s writings it has brought back pleasant memories of my work with wool and yarns throughout my working life. I have been very fortunate  to have come in contact with people such as Alistair for providing me with my limited knowledge of the textile world, sad to say there aren’t many of us older wool people left, I can only hope that these blogs on Alistair’s directory is has been of some use.