It hasn't always stood here... up until 2005, it was hidden away in the yard of a local store... formerly the private garden of a house which had belonged to James Traill, prominent businessman and Provost, where it was built in 1730. In 2005 it was painstakingly dismantled and rebuilt where it now stands.
And how did it get its name? Well, Gow's Folly is due to the fact that the volcanic stones that make up its roof were originally used as ballast on board The Revenge... the ship belonging to John Gow, an Orcadian pirate (well, born in Caithness, but brought up in Stromness) with a short but successful career lasting only a few months. He had returned incognito from the Iberian Peninsula and, after he was discovered, an attack was attempted on Carrick House in Eday. However, he ran aground on the nearby Calf Of Eday, where he was captured and transported to London for execution.
Provost Traill reclaimed the ballast from the ship and used it for the roof of his summerhouse.
And The Groattie Hoose comes from the Groattie Buckie shells that decorate the roof.
The weather vane that you can see in the second photo hasn't always been there... it's a new addition.
Read more about John Gow here:
Orkneyjar: John Gow, The Orkney Pirate (© Sigurd Towrie)
There's a link between this structure and the memorial to John Rae which there are photos of here too... Before John Gow made his ill-fated attempt to attack Carrick House, he had made a successful raid on the Hall Of Clestrain, which would later be the birthplace of John Rae.
