Egilsay

A historical perspective, drawn from the Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical and Historical, edited by Francis H. Groome and originally published in parts by Thomas C. Jack, Grange Publishing Works, Edinburgh between 1882 and 1885.

This edition is copyright © The Editors of the Gazetteer for Scotland, 2002-2022.

It has taken much time and money to make the six-volumes of Groome's text freely accessible. Please help us continue and develop by making a donation. If only one out of every ten people who view this page gave £5 or $10, the project would be self-sustaining. Sadly less than one in thirty-thousand contribute, so please give what you can.

Use the tabs on the right of this page to see other parts of this entry

Eagleshay or Egilshay, a low-lying island of Rousay parish, Orkney, separated from the E side of Rousay island by Howa Sound, and lying 11 miles N of Kirkwall. It measures 3 miles in length from N to S, by 1½ mile in breadth, and includes a small bay of shell sand, a large tract of benty sand, burrowed by hundreds of rabbits, and a small fresh-water lake. The rocks belong to the Lower Old Red sandstone, and the soil is good, but poorly cultivated. Dr Baikie of Tankerness is the proprietor. Eagleshay is notable as the place where St Magnus was murdered by his cousin Hakon about the year 1110; and at its western extremity, on the scene, it is said, of his murder, are the remains of a small ancient church of St Magnus, with a round tower at its W end, and a vaulted choir at the E. There is a public school under Rousay school-board. Pop. (1831) 228, (1851) 192, (1861) 205, (1871) 163, (1881) 158.

An accompanying 19th C. Ordnance Survey map is available, or use the map tab to the right of this page.

Note: This text has been made available using a process of scanning and optical character recognition. Despite manual checking, some typographical errors may remain. Please remember this description dates from the 1880s; names may have changed, administrative divisions will certainly be different and there are known to be occasional errors of fact in the original text, which we have not corrected because we wish to maintain its integrity. This information is provided subject to our standard disclaimer