Lochend

Vaa Loch © Pat Christie

The Lochend Estate begins just south of Roersbrig and includes the Collafirth pier where a whaling station was situated a century ago, and later between the wars a herring station.

Lochend lies in a valley with a loch at each end and a beach separating the Vaa Loch from the sea. The walls of the old school can still be seen on this beach. The school was closed about 1922 and another built at the north end of Lochend. This too was shut in 1950 when the children from Lochend were sent to North Roe.

Archaeology at the Björgs © Claire Laurenson

Jannie’s Hill shelters Lochend from the east, and the township of Skea lies at the other side of the hill looking out over Yell Sound.

To the west of Lochend lies the stony hill known as the Björgs. At the foot of the Björgs is the Giants Grave; two large standing stones. Nearby is the Trowie Knowe; a rocky knoll.

At the back of the Björgs are the Pictish houses, all of which are large enough to have a ‘but and ben’. There is a legend that a man hid there from the Press Gang surviving the Napoleonic war, and was fed by family and friends.

Annie Manson, February 2007

Sunrise at Houster Loch © Ingrid Laurenson

Lochend is a picturesque valley between two lochs, the loch of Houster and the Vaa Loch. It is bounded on the west side by the Bjurgs, a high rocky hill, and Houster Ness. On the east side is Jannie’s Hill and the Ness of Lochend. Looking south is Collafirth Voe with the Ness of Queyfirth in the distance. Looking north beyond the Houster Loch is a low hill called Midisten where a lot of peats were once cut.

It is a very old settlement. This was proved when pieces of plate and bowls made from soapstone were dug up when the found for a new house was being excavated. This was identified as 10th or 11th century Norse by the museum.

There were originally nine croft houses and Lochend House, a very imposing building, where the landlords have lived for generations. Nowadays, many of the croft houses are derelict but a number of modern houses have been built mainly at the north end of the valley. All the land used to be cultivated as each croft kept a few cows but now with one exception it is sheep farming with little cultivation.

At different times over the years there has been a shop in Lochend but the last one closed some years ago so the nearest shop today is at Ollaberry. There was also a local hall, which is now closed too. There was never a church in Lochend and the people used to walk to the church in North Roe each Sunday. However there are records of a minister holding services on the Lochend beach to a large number of people and also sometimes a service would be held in a house.

Second Lochend School, Moors, c 1930s. Note the whalebone at the gate.

Before 1894 the children had to walk about four miles to the North Roe School but in 1894 a stone built school was opened on the Lochend beach and another school was opened at Collafirth. In the beginning this was only for pupils up to ten years old and the older children walked to North Roe. There was only one teacher for both schools so pupils went to Lochend one week and Collafirth the next. This continued to work until 1915 when they got a teacher for each school. About 1922 it was deemed to be too dangerous for the children to cross the beach in winter so a new school was built at the north end of the valley. This was just a corrugated iron shed with a peat fire. This school was open until 1950 when it closed for good and the pupils were driven to the North Roe School.

Whale catchers, North Roe Brig c 1905-1914. Photo courtesy Magnus Tait

At the west side of Houster Ness at the north end of Collafirth Voe a wooden pier was built in the early 1900s for the Alexandra Whaling Company with various buildings around it. The whaling station was in business from 1905 until 1914. It reopened for one year only in 1919. There are still ruins of buildings from the whaling station to be seen.

Herring station, c 1930s. Photo courtesy Magnus Tait

Later there was a herring curing station owned by J.W. Robertson in 1926. After a break of five years it was restarted by J.M. Shearer in 1931 and continued until 1938. There was a lot of herring cured in these years with over 3000 crans being landed in 1934.

As the old pier had become unsafe it was demolished and a fine new concrete pier with a breakwater was built in 1980. Later there was a marina built inside the breakwater. This pier is much used by fishing boats today.

At the base of the Bjurgs on the east side are two standing stones called the Giants Grave. Farther north is the Trowie Knowe where on a fine moonlight night at midnight with a bit of imagination you might hear the trows playing the fiddle and making merry. At the west side of the Bjurgs is the Giants Garden – a sort of low wall built with big stones around a piece of green grass although all around it is very rocky. It is not known when or why this was built. Farther up there are a few small structures among the rocks known locally as the Picts Caves.

Magnus Tait, February 2007

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