St. Kilda

St. Kilda is a group of rocky islands west of Scotland in the Outer Hebrides, the westernmost part of the British Isles. The main one is Hirta and this is a photo of Village Bay where the small population lived. The island has been inhabited since about 2000 BC. Vikings may have settled there later although not permanently.

The island group is on the receiving end of the North Atlantic weather systems which makes landing on the islands dangerous, especially in winter. The highest recorded wind speed (198 mph) in Britan was recorded here. The only visitors were trawlermen seeking refuge from storms in this small bay. Life was primitive to say the least and the people were subsistence farmers / hunters for centuries in near total isolation from the outside world. None could read or write and the only spoken language was Gaelic. Most, adults and children, were barefoot and hygiene was poor.

The isolation defines this story. The people were crofters for the past 600 years, paying rent to MacLeod of MacLeod, the laird (chief) of the Scottish clan that owned the islands. They harvested the abundant nesting sea birds for their feathers and oil which they traded to the owner for the rent he charged them. The meat they salted for eating during winter when boats could not land to bring supplies.

This went on for generations. The small families all lived in one tiny area of the gale-blown isle (Hirta) called Village Bay. With a population never more than 200 souls everyone knew everyone else and they depended on eachother almost to the extent of being a single organism.

Then religion arrived. In the late 1600's Scotland was in the throes of a religious upheaval. Fundamental protestantism spread to Hirta and was embraced to the extent that productivity suffered. Subsistence living leaves no room for days off work but church services changed that and life became even harder. To make up for the hours lost in church, families worked into the early morning hours plucking the birds and preparing the oil before retiring. The stone hut in the foreground of the photo is a "cleit", the sod-roofed shelter St. Kildans used to dry the turf they used for fires and to dry the bird meat they used for food.

Then came the tourists. Brits by now had heard about the 'primitives' on this forgotten isle and they became curiosities. Soon the islanders were selling blown puffin eggs and the knitting they did during the dark winter months.

Enter money.

The islanders had for generations depended on eacth other. Every morning for example the men would meet in the street and decide what to do that day. (They were a talkative folk and the meeting sometimes lasted all day, with no action coming from it at all). There was no "boss", pure democracy ruled.

The seabird slaughter was always shared .... the elderly who could not climb the cliffs to catch the birds still got an equal share. Feathers and oil were for barter, to pay the annual rent to the owner of the isle.

But the population (rarely over 150) began to decline and reached a critical mass when there were not enough young men to harvest the birds. More and more the young men were supporting the older parents and some began to leave in search of a better life. As a result, fewer children were born each year and tetanus killed many. Working age men died too on the cliffs and from the boats, and the elderly and infirm suffered even more.

So in August of 1930 the Scottish government evacuated the entire village to the mainland where, unused to working for money, unaccustomed to living apart in different villages (with the man gone all day), and surrounded by English, not Gaelic-speaking strangers, the 36 survivors from Hirta struggled to make sense of it all.

Their (government) homes were better than the "black houses" on Hirta certainly. For the first time St. Kildans had running water, toilets, electricity, and dependable heat. But much of this went unappreciated by the islanders so drear was their longing for the simple island life.

All efforts before the evacuation to enable them to survive proved fruitless due to the intransient attitudes subsistence living had created. For example the little farming that was done was communal. Each family had several 3 by 25 foot strips of land to cultivate. Not very efficient in the unforgiving climate and soil conditions of Hirta, Stac Lee, and the other rocky prominences.

Even the Soay sheep, wild since time immemorial were "herded" by dogs who had their teeth filed or pulled to prevent damage when they finally grabbed their prey. Many sheep simply jumped off the cliffs to avoid brutal capture. Yet, when evacuation loomed most owners drowned their dogs rather than have them put to sleep humanely such was their limited willingness to accept new things. According to Tom Steel author of "The Life and Death of St. Kilda" (and producer of the BBC documentary "A Far Better Place"), this parochial mentality may explain the islander's sudden willingness to take the strict religion of the time so much to heart.

But cragsmen though they were, reality won out. Feathers became obsolete when cotton took over pillows. Gannet oil lost out to petroleum. Subsistance died and a money economy became the way of the world. A few McDonalds and Gilleses lived on but when this book was published (1988), most native St. Kildans were gone.

Google it. There is a big heart-felt story here.