Gremister and the beach

[Grimr was a man’s name]

'This place is poor land and runrig with a North Westerly exposure. I think £5:10:0 might be enough for all the houses require repairs. Robertson’s and Mann’s houses are very bad – 1878'

Site of Medieval Chapel 2006

I told Chas that the next place we were going to see was perhaps one of the most intriguing to my mind just because of its age and the fact that we know nothing about its history. We went along the shore below the houses of Gremister to where lies the Kale Yard. The wall and parts which may have been buildings can be seen among the grass. The old word for church was kil, giving the names Kil Rigs and Kil Yard, but it seems the name Kale has been adopted as the yard was used for growing the vegetable. Old maps show this as the site of a medieval chapel and burial grounds. The yard was divided among the crofts of Gremister and because of the shelter it gave vegetables grew well. The vegetables were usually given to the animals as people preferred not to eat them. Shetland has many remains of medieval churches for leading families seem to have built chapels on their estates for local use. The Rev John Brand recommended that all old chapels should be removed as people were adopting the reformed faith slowly and they continued to observe Roman Catholic festivals until the beginning of the 18th century.

Fishermen and others asked saints to assist them in times of need by making promises or placing coins in the walls of some of the old deserted chapels.

'Charleton noted that the land shells, chiefly the ‘helix arbust’ that occur about the ruins of old chapels are looked upon with great veneration and are much employed for the cure of disease'

The crushed snails, gulsa wilks, were ground and put in bread and butter to be used to help in treating jaundice [gulsa]. Snails were found in plenty at the Kale Yard.

I would be interested to know when the burial ground there ceased to be used and why.

As we were now on the shore I could sense Chas's enthusiasm. The sea and the voe fascinate him. He was keen to enlighten me on the place names and all the activities which had gone on round about. He described and named each spot as we passed while pointing out special fishing stances.

At Poita the rocky shoreline forms a visible point where it turns towards the beach.

Tufficuddi is a basin shaped by rocks and submerged at high tide where woven tweed [wadmel] was waulked. The tweed was stretched and fastened with rocks so that it would be covered in water. Chas was uncertain were Tufficuddi is and as we walked along the shore we tried to find rocks that matched the description but again we were unsuccessful.

Sillocks were fished from craig stanes at the shore. At Gremister there is a craig stane with a small hollowed out bowl shape for holding bait. These hollows are known as soa pots and would have been made by the fishermen over time. The bait was scattered over the water to attract the fish.

The grassy bank near the east side of the beach is spectacular for primroses in springtime.

At the beach we enjoyed our view of the mouth of Whalefirth with Graveland on one side and Volister on the other. The voe is well sheltered except from north and north west winds. While sitting on the bank to enjoy a short break Chas spotted two seals swimming and diving just off the Grummond shore. We were captivated as we followed their capers through the binoculars.

The Beach 2005

The beach

The beach is sandy except where the burn flows into the sea.

From the Ayre we were able to see the Burn of Gremister winding its way along the valley floor towards Bouster. We crossed the lovely old wooden foot bridge over the burn and walked up the gaet which leads from the beach to Gremister. At low tide off road vehicles can negotiate the track to Graveland by fording the mouth of the burn. Boats were pulled up at the east end of the beach and there were noosts at the west end but these have been partly worn away by erosion. Almost every family owned a boat. Often an upturned boat would have been used as the roof of an outhouse when it was no longer seaworthy.

When I said that there had been a press gang capture in the voe Chas wanted to hear the details.

John Henry Johnson from Effstigarth and another man were fishing in Whalefirth and Simon Smith, Robert Blance and another hailed them and asked to be put to Volister. When the boat landed John was seized and he was taken to Mr Robertson at Westsandwick to be forced into the Navy. John volunteered to join so as to get the high bounty. All those pressed and volunteers were taken to Lerwick. One man was missing when the roll was called and John was sent to find him, however John took off and ran towards the Hillhead. He rowed to get to the Haaf. The next year he was called up again. That time he joined the Navy and returned home afterwards.

We knew that the earliest known school in the Herra was built on the Ayre nearer the Gremister end and 'der wis enough laand atween it and the beach to tedder a coo.' Much of the land has been eroded by the sea. To prevent further erosion a gabion of boulders and wire net has been erected as a coastal defence.

In past centuries sheep were often washed away by high seas in winter when they would forage in the ebb. Some were lost over the banks or buried in snow. One local recollected that,' I always mind the day we pulled them up out of Sahelier [hole of water where the tide ebbs and flows] when Andrew let his lamb go. Yae let do him go, heel come back. Yet I am afraid he’s no come yet.'

Whalefirth and the Burn of Bouster lie along the Arisdale Fault.

The flat land at the shore is known locally as The Skate Boddom [boddom is a rounded valley open towards the sea]. Here, on the Ayre, at the turn of the 20th century, football matches [playing the baa] were held between the Herra and Mid Yell. Time about they would play either at Mid Yell on Fridays or at the Herra on Saturdays. Games were also played at Christmas and New Year.

We wanted to go past the lower houses of Gremister so we walked up the gaet from the beach. In 1861 eleven houses were occupied in Gremister including Uphouse and Hamarsgarth.

Attached to Scarpoe’s Haa and behind the two lower houses of Gremister there used to be a shop and store. In 1907 Johnie Pole continued trading from his shop below the school. The newer shop had not started up at that time. When it did the newer shop continued until the late 1940s or early 1950s. By the 1950s the Herra population was declining and vans such as the Co-op had begun rounds every week. It was also easier to use transport to get to shops at Mid Yell or Westsandwick.

The Kitchen attached to Scarpoe's Haa 2005

Shetland's haas were usually larger than the croft houses so we wondered if the owner of Scarpoe had been a laird or if the house had been given the name haa because of his family's status.

The family, Ross of Scarpoe, came to Shetland in 1667. Captain John Ross, the first of that name, was a son of John Ross who was descended from the Balnagowan family representatives of the old Earls of Ross. Janet Scott, heiress of Scarpoe, Unst, married John Ross in the year 1739. Attached to the Scarpoe’s Haa is the house known as The Kitchen [Some houses known as kitchens were used as part of the main house but there were some given the name kitchen, which at the time meant cottage]. The back yard was shared by the crofters. In front of the houses was the Skew or Skeo Rig.

I could give Chas a good account of the following story as Jemima was my great grandmother and I had heard the story many times.

In the two houses lived the women who almost perished in snow in the blizzard of 1887. One was Jemima Spence, the other was May Robertson. May lived in Scarpoe's Haa and Jemima in The Kitchen. They had been to North-a-voe for aarles for the gutting and to the shop. When they set out for home the snow had started but quickly it became a blizzard. They decided to follow the coast of Whalefirth so that they would not get lost. At last they reached a boat noost where they tried to shelter for a time. They carried on and came on a roog of peats, which was probably north of Raga. Here they tried to make a shelter by burrowing into the roog but they were unsure of where they were and were becoming increasingly desperate. At last they glimpsed a flicker of light which they went towards and found it to be a house in Raga. They were taken in and given shelter. Thankfully the occupant had thought to put a light in the window to help anyone outside in the snow that night.

The Old Shop 2005

The next morning a search was made for them, some searchers going as far as North-a-voe but the house where the women sheltered was missed, and the two women returned to Gremister on their own. Jemima suffered frostbite on her hands as she had not brought gloves with her.

Every year on the anniversary of that day the women would meet, alternately in their two houses, to talk about their survival.

The Fairy Stone

The family who lived in the Kitchen built the larger house which stands just up the road. This house was built in the 1920s. Beside a ditch to the north of the larger house there is a ‘fairy stone’ where a person, especially the musically gifted, might be lured to entertain the little folk in their merry making. There the time is not measured as we know it and one of their evenings might turn out to be many years of our time. The markings on the stone show the features of a face to those with a good imagination. Many a time we as children put our ear to the stone hoping to hear the trowie music.

Across the road to the south is the remains of a boat house. The roof was an upturned boat. Boat houses were mainly used for housing poultry or lambs. This one was used to stable Foala, a horse.

After exploring Gremister we joined the gaet at the lower houses to go southwards. There is a wall part of the way and the gaet is fenced at both sides. We could see that it had been well used at one time. While passing the once cultivated fields we noticed several runies of stones taken from the rigs to make delling easier.

The Boat House 1930s