No 201. The Crofter's Barn

“THE CROFTER’S BARN”. // regards // morris //

No 1. “THE CROFTER’S BARN.”

HORSE MILL GEAR TO THE GRIND.

“Rain on my Window” was of my younger days in Stronsay. But perhaps another title for an occasional article on early crofting days in Caithness and in Orkney. There is still a great deal of information around, and “The Crofter’s Barn” comes to mind as a title, encompassing all of what crofts still have to offer. A huge and worthy subject, and a challenge too before all is forgotten.

Nothing brought home to me the inter-relationship between crofts and large farms more than my recent discussions in the John o’ Groat Journal about Mary-Ann’s Threshing Mill in Dunnet. I also went to Laidhay Museum in Dunbeath and photographed many of their treasures. Time is running out for those of us who can still tell about and indeed used many of the artefacts in Laidhay.

It would be nice if I could record some of the fascinating days gone by, of crofters, of their hard struggle to make a living on much too small a piece of thin ground, often lying outside the boundary dyke of the good land which was gathered in the 1800s by rapacious Landlords into the “Home Farm” of so many Estates.

Dim in the past, and the not too far gone past, much farm equipment was handed down from a big farm to a croft. As mechanisation proceeded and larger farms put in new machinery, or bought more modern implements, so their previous equipment frequently went on to do sterling service on many a croft. Worth very little as scrap iron, it still could be made good use of by a knacky crofter.
I got rid of our horses from Lower Dounreay in November 1955 when we were moved by the U.K.A.E.A. to Isauld, the carts and much of the horse equipment went West in the truest sense. Sutherland crofters took away my carts, my harness, my horse ploughs, drill ploughs, harrows and much else. Mostly bartered away for a fresh run salmon or two, or a haunch of venison, but sometimes for money.

Crofters took our two old horse reapers, our old 1938 Massey Harris binder went to R.B.Henderson, Achreamie. My first Combine, a small green Activ bought early in the 1960s and made in Sweden, could be seen years later just off the road up Strathnaver, still working. A nice size for a small farm or for a croft, it did me for a start with combining at Isauld, as the joined up farms of Lower Dounreay, Buldoo Croft and Isauld were now called.

Just on 100 years ago, on August 24th 1912, Wm Tait at The Bay, Stronsay, ventured into the Machine Age with a new oil engine for his thrashing mill. Until then he had worked his threshing mill with two horses on a mill course outside the barn wall. Shipped in from Kirkwall. “Oil” was an abbreviation for paraffin oil, sometimes later called Vaporising Oil, or TVO, not petrol. I had forgotten until I read in his Diary that these engines were frequently called “Oil Engine”, which would have differentiated them from steam engines. John Scarth, Millwright, Kirkwall, had been at the Bay on June 13th taking measurements of the Mill. It would have required alterations to pinions, pulleys and shafts to change from horse course drive to the new engine.


On 28th Aug 1912 William got home wood for his new engine house, 2 bushels of cement and a cask of paraffin oil.
On Sept 7th he put in the concrete base for the new engine.
On Sept 12th he put the shaft and pinion of the horse mill course gear to James Peace of the Grind, a croft in Rousam Head, and lifted the heavy Crown Wheel out of the pit. Next day he put the Crown Wheel and the two heavy pit stones to the Grind.

On the 14th Aug. “Mr. Scarth came here today to fix up engine - fine day.”
On the 16th “Fixing up engine. Scarth at Whitehall (Sinclair) seeing their mill a.m. ”
On the 17th “Mr. Scarth working at mill & engine.”
On the 18th “Mr. Scarth finished fixing up engine, then went to Rothiesholm. (David
Pottinger) Paid Scarth to a/c per cheque £2.10/- .”
On the 20th “Sorting barn, fixing up partition. John Lennie soldered leak in engine tank.”
On the 5th Octr “Cutting finished in Inyemoor, started Matpow. Jas Peace helping.
Received from James Peace, Grind, £2 stg. half price Mill gear.”

The balance of the money of £2.stg from James Peace for the old mill gear was paid on 29th Octr 1915, “Got from J. Peace, Grind, £2 payment for horse gear in full.” Definitely extended credit, £4 stg in all!!

These transactions between Wm Tait and James Peace brought home how crofts benefited in so many ways from larger farms tooling up and older but still quite usable farm equipment serving someone on a croft for long years afterwards.