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.

Malcolm tends to the pigs at Steenyha’.

St Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall is magnificent. It’s origins are in Viking times, when Orkney was ruled by Viking Earls. It’s the best preserved medieval cathedral in Scotland with massive Norman pillars built by the masons of Durham Cathedral.

Towering above the Kirkwall landscape, St. Magnus Cathedral, with its distinctive sandstone hues, is one of Orkney’s most significant landmarks. Parts of this impressive building have stood for more than 850 years and its attractive appearance owes much to the polychromatic effect of the alternating stonework, comprising red sandstone quarried from Head of Holland, north of Kirkwall, and yellow sandstone which is believed to have been quarried on Eday, one of Orkney’s northern isles.

http://www.stmagnus.org

Memento Mori – “Remember Death.” How could I forget death, as I walk around St Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall on Orkney. I’m surrounded by stunning 17th Century gravestones.

Here’s a double ladder that two men last went up in Kirkwall in 1722, yet only one man ever came down it. Explain.

It’s a steep climb up the tower of St Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall. The gravestones are so perfectly preserved, even those from the 17th Century, that it’s possible to see the last breath carved on the headstone.

It’s time for a trip to the Mainland. No, not the mainland of Scotland, the Mainland of Orkney. Mainland is an hour and a half away by ferry and this morning, braving the seas, it’s the Earl Thorfinn. There are three Earl Thorfinns. There’s Thorfinn Turf-Einarsson, Earl of Orkney, better known as Thorfinn Skullsplitter who was the son of Einar. There’s Thorfinn Sigurdsson, another Earl of Orkney known as Thorfinn the Mighty and then there’s MV Earl Thorfinn, a ferry in the Orkney Ferries fleet.

The bones of wind and wave washed cattle litter the sand dunes of the Links of Noltland. Here are a couple I brought home.

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.