Einar was a school in 1874 and here’s the report by the headmaster written on 29 August 1874:

School in again all this week. As usual, lessons given in usual order but progress not so satisfactory. Seemingly the scholars are longing for the vacation.

Not much has changed.

She’s tiny, ginger and blonde and everyone refers to her as ‘Lady.’ Yes, it’s the new Shetland pony in the field at Einar.

Nancy remembers the Hall as it used to be; a school. So does Catherine. “It’s the first time I’ve been in here since I left 60 years ago,” she says. There’s so much history and memory surrounding the building because generations of Westray folk went to school there, firstly in the peedie (small) end and then in the big end of the two-room school. The great news is that three books are planned on the three schools on the island – and the first is on the Skello School or the Skelwick Academy School which is now Einar. Not many people have books written about their houses. I feel priviledged. Making measurements, drawing plans and recalling their memories, Nancy and Catherine reminisce about their days. “The toilets were a bucket with a wooden lid. And we had to use newspaper, everybody did. The newsprint rubbed off. It’s a good job I wore navy knickers!”

Times have changed, but given the state of the house now, not by much.

On the roof two slates have cracked and fallen. I have a box of replacements ready, because on Westray one slate missing and one bad storm means one roof missing.

… is the early plastic better known as Bakelite. It’s all the rage for people to use Bakelite light fittings in their houses nowadays to get that true retro 1930s, 1940s feel. I don’t have to in Einar. The original’s still there.

It’s wonderful to see that the Swallows who visit Orkney in the Summer to breed have done so well. There are at least three nests in the outbuildings here and the young are learning to catch flies on the wing and perching around the house. I don’t think that catching flies here can be too difficult. I cycled down the road with my mouth open and caught two.

One of the great things about having a decent sized space is the ability to get out of the wind and for Gabriel to try some of his freestyle football tricks.

In the morning, as soon as it was light, Einar and his men set out to scour the Islands to see whether anyone had escaped. Although only one-eyed, Einar was well known as clear-sighted and said, “I don’t know what it is bobbing up and down over there. It’s either a bird or a man. Let’s go and find out.” There they found Halfdan Long-Leg and Einar had the ribs hacked from his spine with a sword and then his lungs pulled out through the slits in his back – A ‘blood-eagle’, sometimes seen as a ritual sacrifice by Vikings to Odin. Always one for composing poetry, Einar made a verse:

Happy am I, keen
heroes have spear-hacked,
bloodied the king’s boy:
brave the bold act
- but hard to hide
what a howling I’ve caused:
the corbie croaks
over carrion in Orkney

Seems like a nice man.

So how does our house come to bear his name?

One of the great things about Westray is that there is a sense of continuity. Families have lived here for many centuries and have a long folk memory. Some of that has been captured in The Buildings of Westray – Fae Quoy Tae Castle – An Orkney Island’s Snapshot in Time.
This details how the house was built in 1878 as the Eastside School, also known as the Skelwick Academy School and was used as a school until 1968. It was then bought by a couple, Johnny and Marina who renamed it Einor after the sports ‘house’ they were in at Kirkwall Grammar School. Hold on, Einor? That’s not how you spell Einar is it? I looked at the Ordnance Survey map of Westray and the house appears as Einor. Why was it advertised as being called Einar, I wondered. In fact it troubled me so much, I phoned the previous owner and asked why it was advertised as Einar and not Einor when that’s the name on the OS map? He said “Oh that’s my fault. I didn’t know how it was spelled.”

The grand romantic tale of how our house came to be called after one of the Earls of Orkney? It was mis-spelled.

I looked up the name and found that one of the best-known bearers of the name was Earl Einar, Earl of Orkney. A 10th Century Norseman. Einar was the tall, ugly, one-eyed, bastard son of Rögnvald Eysteinsson of Møre in Norway, the son of a slave concubine.

Earl Rögnvald of Møre had three sons by his wife: Hrolf, Ivar and Thorir the Silent and three sons by other women: Hallad, Hrollaug and Einar. Hrolf was so big that no horse could carry him and he went on to conquor Normandy and the Norman Kings of England were descended from him. Earl Rögnvald’s son Ivar was killed fighting vikings, so King Harald gave Earl Rögnvald Orkney and Shetland in compensation for his lost son.

Rögnvald heard that two Danish vikings, Thorir Tree-Beard and Kalf Scurvy had set up camp on the islands. According to the Orkneyinga Saga, he asked his sons which of them wanted the islands. In a beautiful set-piece verbatim piece of 1000 year old reportage, Thorir answered that the Earl himself should decide. To Hrollaug he said “You’re not destined for the Earldom, your fate will take you to Iceland.” Then Einar came forward and said “Do you want me to go to the islands? I can promise you the greatest favour you could wish for, and that’s never to have to see me again. There’s little enough here to hold me, and I don’t see myself as being any more of a failure elsewhere.”
Rögnvald replied, “Considering the kind of mother you have, slave-born on each side of her family, you’re not likely to make much of a ruler. But I agree: the sooner you leave and the later you return, the happier I’ll be.”

Einar was given a fully equipped ship of twenty benches and given the title of Earl. He sailed west to Shetland, gathered forces and then south to Orkney and killed Thorir Tree-Beard and Kalf Scurvy in battle. He took over the islands and became a great leader. With that kind of parenting, who can imagine his mentality.

As the psychologists say, “If it’s not your mum, it’s your dad.”

Wikipedia: Einar Rögnvaldarson, Torf-Einarr or Turf-Einar (fl. early 890s–920s) was one of the Norse Earls of Orkney. His rise to power is related in sagas which apparently draw on verses of Einar’s own composition for inspiration. After battling for control of the Northern Isles of Scotland, Einar founded a dynasty which retained control of the islands for centuries after his death.