The Puzzle That Is The Past…...Another Past Time…..
by Bernie Bell - 10:18 on 08 January 2025
The Puzzle That Is The Past…...
Last Sunday Mike had a walk to and round the Rendall Doocot….
https://theorkneynews.scot/2020/04/25/walking-out-from-the-house-again/
…….where he noticed something neither of us had seen before - the Doocot is made of grey Orkney Sandstone, but there’s one block of pink granite. Just one block…..
I posted this on FB and contacted a few people asking if anyone knew anything about it, which led to various responses – some more realistic than others!…
AW….
“It is not uncommon to find repurposed stonework that originated from nearby ‘high-status’ buildings. In Orkney, some of the finer buildings used the more colourful sandstone. Perhaps this stone was once part of such a building in Rendall or close by?”
Me…
“Thanks Andrew – it occurred to me that it might have been part of the original old Hall of Rendall – but I think that dated from about the same time as the Doocot – tho’ – it’s likely that there have been high status buildings there for a loooong time …
http://www.spanglefish.com/berniesblog/blog.asp?blogid=16695
…..but….built using Pink Granite? A possibility though, definitely a possibility. I was hoping an archaeologist/historian might wade in with something – there’s time yet.”
There was also a suggestion via email that….
“I suspect just a bonny stone that could be fairly easily shaped to fit a hole to look good. Perhaps with a significance we can only guess at. A reminder of a day out and about along the Stromness west shore or the like.”
To which I responded…
“Yes – we bring home stones and place them here and there – why wouldn’t folk do so in the past?
Even if it remains a mystery – it’s stirring up ideas and memories.”
THEN…..
On Monday, Mike went for his constitutional and returned to the Doocot. He noticed two gaps in the wall, above and on the same side as the granite block…
He shone his torch down beside the granite and there’s stone behind it, so it’s likely that the two gaps also aren’t holes, but recesses. They appear to have lintels above them. Again – it’s very hard if not impossible to work out what they were for – but it all adds to the story of how the Doocot was built.
Something we’ve wondered about is….the top of the doocot is open to the sky, and the birds fly in and out through it. When folk went into it to catch them to eat, they could just fly out. Mike’s wondering if there was some kind of cover used, and were the recesses to enable folk to place the cover? And does the pink granite show the position of another useable recess? Just an idea. We will probably never know but that doesn’t stop us thinking ……
To be continued?
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Another Past Time….
https://theorkneynews.scot/2025/01/07/100-years-ago-what-were-the-hopes-for-1925/
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