No 226 KELP BURNERS.

No  226. KELP  BURNING.

        Everyone knows about kelp burning. It was supposed to have made the Lairds rich, and, when it collapsed, so did they. The crofters did the work, the Lairds got the money.

It came into its heyday when Napoleon Bonaparte and the French prevented the import by  the United Kingdom of much needed materials from the Baltic. So Britain had to produce it herself. 

  Kelp actually had many uses for a long time. Our father was oversman for the Kelp burners on Grice Ness of Whitehall in Stronsay when we were there. I remember the kelpers, arguements over whose stint was whose, fist fights now and then, father keeping order as best he could. It was   “a sair weet could dour hard job”, and crofters made a little contribution to their meagre earnings by working at the kelp when the sea weed was ashore, catching it before the next high tide took it all out again. A storm from the right direction brought in the bounty, piled high. It was discovered that soda and potash, important chemicals in the soap and glass industry, could be extracted from burning seaweed into kelp. Iodine, still used by surgeons, could be extracted from seaweed. In Caithness where were these kelp shores?

In the Journal of Peter Campbell of Achnacly there was, dated 1808, a page of payments made to Kelp burners. They were made on behalf of the Freswick Trustee, and I guess Sinclair of Freswick was in Trusteeship because of financial problems which were endemic with most Caithness Lairds. 

Freswick must have had a monopoly on the Caithness Kelp Shores from Dunbeath round to the Haven o’ Warse at Gills Bay, which was in any case the extent of his Estate holdings. Further west the kelp shores belonged to others. Of interest are the names of the burners and no doubt there are descendants still around, the names are familiar enough. The payments were made over a Stamp Receipt - taxation again - which I have omitted from the entries. The names of the payees would have been a foreman on each beach and he would have paid the others working there.

Example was, see below, Malcolm Ross in Duncansbay furnishing articles to the Kelpers of Duncansbay and Stroma.

                       

F.K.Trustee                 Jany 25^th,  1808.

James Corner, Kelpburner, Duncansby. paid him amount of

his acct. for burning Kelp on the Shores of Dunbeath   £6.02.09d

F.K.Trustee

Walter Dunnet & Gilbert Laird, paid them amount of an acct.

for burning Kelp on the Shores  of Duncansbay,

Crop 1807 per acct .                                       £   7.06.08¾d

F.K.Trustee

John Sinclair, Feur in Stroma,  paid him amt of an acct.

for burning Kelp on the Shore of Stroma.

per dischd. acct .                          £ 12.01.02¼ d

F.K.Trustee

Ben: Henderson & Alexr. Ogstone, Feurs in             Duncansbay,

paid them amt. of an acct. for burning Kelp on the Shore of

Duncansbay per discharged acct                  £  9.12.05d

F.K.Trustee

John Manson, Girnell Man, Duncansbay, Cash given him per

Stamp receipt for paying freight of Boats for carrying

50 Bolls of Meal from Duncansbay to Thurso.                           £  2.10.00d

                        25 Jany. 1808.

.Freswick Trustee  paid William Thompson, mason, to acct for building

 the Store House of Duncansbay                 £27.04.03d

25^th Freswick Trustee paid Malcolm Ross, Mrcht in Duncansbay, Junr. of an acct for articles furnished to the Store House  of Duncansbay per discharged acct     .£ 0.16.1¼ d

25^th  F.K’s.Trustee paid William Thompson amount of an acct. for

burning  Kelp on the Shore of Warse, Crop 1807  . £2.10.00d

                       

Febr 16^th

F.K’s.Trustee paid Mr Ben: Calder of Mount Pleasant

the rent of his            Store House in Thurso                         £5.00.00d

Febr 20^th

F.K’s.Trustee paid Malcolm Ross, Merchant in Duncansbay

amount of an acct. for articles furnished the Kelpers of

Duncansbay and Stroma                                         £0.16.06½ d

F.K’s.Trustee paid John Manson, Girnalman at Duncansbay, for wood

& other Material furnished to the Store House of Duncansbay

per particular acct.                                       £16.13.04¼ d

Febr 20^th

F.K’s.Trustee paid John Manson, Girnal-man at Duncansbay

his wages for being Girnal-Man and for other articles furnished                                

to the Store House of Duncansbay per acct. & receipt.            £ 3.16.06d

F.W.Trustee

John Manson, Girnell Man, Duncansbay, Cash given him per

Stamp receipt for paying freight of Boats for carrying

50 Bolls of Meal from Duncansbay to Thurso.                           £  2.10.00d

Freswk paid George Brodie for giving to the Kelper Dunbeath            £ 5.00 00d

I keep in the reference to the Store Houses, both of Duncansbay and the one of Calder of Mount Pleasant in Thurso, though I do not know if they were solely for kelp if at all or for meal or grain. I do know that the kelp in Stronsay had to be safely stored in a building to keep it dry until shipping day. The Girnal of Duncansbay may well have held dry kelp, and Duncansbay of that time was later renamed the present John o’ Groats, not the cliffs.

From 1893 to 1913 in Rousam in Stronsay my grandfather David Pottinger had references in Wm Tait’s Diary of carting kelp for many Rousam Head crofters to the pier for onward shipping, and I think he stored it dry for them in part of the farm steading of The Bu’ of Rousam.

When burnt kelp was a heavy dense product, was only of importance to some, and it is a myth that it kept whole areas in gainfull and profitable employment.

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hi //  if you use this it will be an exercise in setting it all out !!! // will send fotos via Picasa of kelp burners // regards // morris //

The season must have started early as in 1896 Rousam was in the Diary “Apr 14 thur Carting ware to kelpers am - Carting ware to land pm.”