From the north coast of Caithness to the south coast of Flotta, Orkney, are three islands in an almost straight line - Stroma, Swona and Switha. The last one is 101 acres in extent and has no authenticated record of habitation. It does have two standing stones and place-names that are memorable - with The Kiln and The Kirn on its east coast while the headlands in the south-west are The Ool and Point of the Pool. Between these two and pictured below is The Pool. However, the legend of two brothers, Eric and Ronald Harcus, their sinister mother, and a beautiful girl from Flotta, Sibella Fea, is dramatically related in A Tale of Switha.
Scottish Islands Explorer - an unsettling story of an unsettled island
If you can find a rare copy of The Sites and Monuments of Cava, Rysa Little and Switha by JR Hunter SJ Dockerill and JI McKinley University of Bradford 1984 there is a full an history through the ages. Other booklets cover (Muckle Skerry)Pentland Skerries and Fara.
ReplyDeleteI wrote to the authors who sent me free copies.