Spot The Difference

On one of my Sunday wanders around the Cathedral and grounds, I was up the back and spotted something just below the big window that was glinting in the sun... and there was this tiny plaque (just a couple of inches long, and maybe just over an inch high) stuck in at a slightly recessed stone.

I couldn't really read what was written on it, but I zoomed in with my camera (in the days before I upgraded to my current camera), and posted the photo on the Orkney Communities Photo Library to see if anyone else could make it out:

OC Photo Library: 11752

The question was answered, and I thought no more about it until I got my new camera.

I thought I would try it out by going back and taking another photo of the plaque, and see how good the detail was... But, imagine my shock when I discovered the plaque was gone!

So I took a photo, posted it on the OC Photo Library, and asked "Where's it gone!?"

OC Photo Library: Number 13177

Well, as you can see by the comment I posted after, it appears that the powers-that-be at the Cathedral hadn't known the poor little plaque was there, and they took umbrage at its existence... and took it down!

It wasn't hurting anyone, and I now feel guilty that me bringing it to their attention might have been the cause of its demise!

Gow's Folly, or The Groattie Hoose

This gazebo stands in the gardens of Tankerness House Museum, Kirkwall.

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:

Wikipedia: John Gow
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.

Pier Plaque

A lovely series of stone plaques down Kirkwall's West Pier, just near to the Lifeboat station.

(Click for a larger image)

The wording says:

WHEN THE WIND IS IN THE NORTH, THE SKILFUL (SIC) FISHER GOES NOT FORTH
WHEN THE WIND IS IN THE SOUTH, IT BLOWS THE BAIT IN THE FISHES MOUTH
WHEN THE WIND IS IN THE EAST, TIS NEITHER GOOD FOR MAN NOR BEAST
WHEN THE WIND IS IN THE WEST, THEN IT IS AT ITS VERY BEST