The stone buildings on the south-west edge of Saviskaill Bay (NGR HY 40116 33398) in the northwest of Rousay are locally regarded as fishermen’s huts (Canmore ID 182053).
Building recording was undertaken at the site by the ORCA team and local volunteers in May 2024.
Historical background
Prior to the nineteenth century, Orkney lacked any real fishing tradition, mainly because large supplementary incomes that could be gained from kelp burning. The collapse of kelp prices in the 1830s led to the expansion of Orkney’s fishing industry, particularly herring fishing.
The ‘herring boom’ saw the construction of buildings and infrastructure to support an itinerant, seasonal workforce. This included the construction of purpose-built fisherman’s accommodation. Once the fishing industry declined following the rise of agricultural improvement in the second-half of the century, such structures were no longer needed and they were quickly vacated and became neglected.
The huts at Saviskaill Bay may have been built to accommodate a small group of fishermen who fished the accessible stocks in local waters.
Building survey
There are five structures in total.
The two buildings (Hut 1 and Hut 2) nearest the road are free-standing, and built against the field boundary walling. The remaining three buildings (Hut 3, Hut 4 and Hut 5) form a single group with Hut 4 and Hut 5 being less substantial structures.
Both Hut 1 and Hut 2 have doorways in their north-west gables, and the form of the gables show they had double-pitched roofs. Hut 1 measured 4.4m by 2.5m and Hut 2, 4.87m by 3.2m. Both huts have walls preserved to the height of the eaves and Hut 1 has a couple of roofing flagstones still in-situ. These were solid, well-built structures. Hut 1 also has walling extending from the east corner of the south-east gable which defined a probable ‘yard-space’.
Hut 3 measured 4.84m by 3.18m and, though not quite as well as preserved at Huts 1 and 2, was also a well-built structure with a double-pitched roof. The doorway was in the same position but a short wall butted against the north-west gable to define a small space along with the field boundary wall.
Huts 4 and 5 comprised L-shaped walls extending from the field boundary wall. The north wall of Hut 4 was formed by the rear wall of Hut 3, and the north wall of Hut 5 was formed by the L-shaped wall of Hut 4. This plan meant that the external doorways faced north-east. The two structures were more like annexes that separate buildings. The shape of the walls indicated that both Hut 4 and 5 had double-pitched roofs and this may have been continuous across both structures.