Tales of drovers crossing the firth from Orkney
AN excellent evening was had at Castlehill Heritage Centre on January 29. It was filled to the door with people who came to hear David Glass, of Brough, give a résumé on the possible drove roads out of Caithness.
His talk was of the roads rather than of droving itself, though he did refer to it. He mentioned the Orkney Islands in passing so I turned up some of my old records to see if I could add to the matter. A much greater subject than a wee John O’Groat Journal article can deal with but we can have a try!
Both Orkney and Caithness had a practice in the 1600s of pickling and barrelling beef for export and for sale to the King’s navy. In Kirkwall Wm Laughten, who died February 3, 1681, was a substantial operator supplying the navy. In Wick it was done at the Camps where on April 22, 1756, a John Sutherland sought permission to build a new store on a site described as: "The highest ground on this shore where boats and timber used to be caired up for security in time of stress or stormy weather. And this makes it necessary that the Camps between the school house and the north wall of the said storehouse should be langir in regard that it is the only place where the scollers can play and devirt themselves within the view of thire master, and the place where the beef that is made in this town is usually pickled and tighted [barrelled]."
In 1734 Aeneas Bayne wrote on Caithness: "They likewise drive considerable trade with Leith by exportation of tallow, barrelled beef, pork, hams, geese, skins and hides, feathers, calf skins and oil, etc. There was once a considerable fishing on the coast of Caithness which is now in great measure decayed for want of suitable encouragement."
In 1805 George Barry wrote in his History of the Orkney Islands, referring to droving: "As an instance to what extent the demand from these markets sometimes reaches, no longer ago than last year nearly two thousand live cattle were sold to dealers from the south, who carried them across the Pentland Firth, and drove them for feeding into the different districts of the kingdom" and "it is considered that our ordinary stock of black cattle is calculated to amount to upwards of fifty thousand".
So we have a partial move from killing and pickling at home to droving at least a certain number of cattle across the firth and Caithness would have added its contribution to these droves of cattle.
And an extract from Orkney Agricultural Discussion Society in 1936 by William Tait, of Ingsay: "My father, who was a Caithness man, used to tell me stories about crossing to Orkney with his father to buy cattle. The cattle were collected on places like the Point of Carness and herded there for about a week.
"On one occasion they had eighteen sail boats hired to take about 200 cattle across the Pentland Firth. When half across the Pentland Firth the wind changed, and it became so stormy they all turned back to Longhope. The cattle were landed, and they all remained there for a week waiting for better weather. When the weather improved they set out again on a fine morning but had not gone far till it became bad again. The first nine boats managed to get across all right, but the other nine had to put back, and they lay at Longhope for another week before they could venture to cross to Caithness.
"It was on this occasion that my father was in Sanday. I think it would have been in the spring months that they came to Orkney to buy cattle. These cattle would then be grazed in Caithness and, at the end of summer, they were driven south to Bonar market to be sold. My father was once sent south with the drovers to Bonar. It took about three weeks to drive the cattle from Caithness to Bonar. The cattle, which were driven slowly, grazed as they went and improved considerably on the way south. There were enclosures along the road in which the cattle were put at night, and at each enclosure there was a small hut where the men slept on beds of heather.
"The drovers’ provisions consisted of a small bag of oatmeal each. There were always some milking cows in the herd which would provide milk. They carried two pails, one for milk and one for water. Water was boiled in one of the pails. They had no bowls in which to make their brose, so they ‘hauked’ a small hole in the ground with their knives, filled it with oatmeal and poured on boiling water. They then stirred very gently, taking care not to touch the sides of the hole and so prevented earth getting mixed with the brose.
"The men sat round and ate their brose with wooden spoons. If the spoons got lost they whittled a branch of a tree for a spoon. When the men had eaten what they wanted, the dogs were allowed to lick up what was left. Speaking of how people fared on journeys in these days, a man would take a lump of oatmeal and whisky mixed, perhaps about the size of a good potato, and this was sufficient for a whole day."
These are but snippets from the past and Wm Tait you can take with a pinch of salt. I fear he was a bit of a leg puller, or else his 75 years were beginning to tell! Still, there is a very real and long story to be told on droving so watch this space.