Friday, April 15, 2011
LONG AYRE, DEERNESS
Long Ayre in Tankereness on the east side of Inganess Bay starts at Weethick Point and spans roughly 600m to a point about level in longtitude with the Hall of Yinstay. Actually it has two parts, a straight section at the west end and a longer arcing section at the other. From this I conclude that it is only partly natural, probably requiring the same regular upkeep once applied to Ayre in Kirkwall. It rises to a few feet high, not the great height of Carness Ayre but I believe the latter to be almost entirely made by man as the last stage of pushing back the sea from the Carness brecks [where there apear to be the remains of an early L-shaped pier or harbour] such as happened at Scapa (where the process started at least as far back as the Vikings and didn't finish until the late 19th century). On the south side of the water thus enclosed can be found the remains of earthen nausts. These are way deep, say the distance from the bottom of the Houton boat nousts to pier level. Unfortunately I do not have pictures of those at Long Ayre. They are shown in 1882 as nearly a dozen papillae (tiny tongues) on the south side between the two ayres (the boat nousts are genuine, being included amongst examples by a researcher). Sometimes this site is referred to as a double ayre. But I am certain that if this dated as far back either the site would not be Long Ayre or this short ayre would be named seperately. The 1st O.S. shows that Long Ayre does not span both pieces of land. The area behind it is Cockle Sand and the body of water behind the inner 'ayre' [now Cloven Ayre and the lochan a tidal pool as is Cockle Sand] is the Loch of Swarsquoy.One fine day in August, having traversed the coast around Weethick (I have never seen even the faintest sign of the vanished Roondles, vanished as thoroughly as the five clay mounds of Bossack quarry) and its ship dock on a particularly low tide, I was able to pick my way across the remaining pools and gain the ayre. It is almost entirely composed of large water polished stones, though there are small patches of grass by the base of the inner edge. Very slippery but well worth the effort. Of course I always have to do things the hard way, I think the western tip is how one should enter upon it as this starts higher and fully joins with the land - perhaps the eastern gap is not a product of erosion but to allow boats egress - and there is a winding track that connects with Smiddyquoy and then the main road. If coming this way I would recommend a visit to the Yinstay cairn, apparently built using stones from a Broch Age structure or being one such heavily remodelled. There was once also a standing stone and a souterrain here but the stone was removed long ago. There is in the vicinity a trail that goes around the shore of the Loch of Tankerness to the mill.
Long Ayre in Tankereness on the east side of Inganess Bay starts at Weethick Point and spans roughly 600m to a point about level in longtitude with the Hall of Yinstay. Actually it has two parts, a straight section at the west end and a longer arcing section at the other. From this I conclude that it is only partly natural, probably requiring the same regular upkeep once applied to Ayre in Kirkwall. It rises to a few feet high, not the great height of Carness Ayre but I believe the latter to be almost entirely made by man as the last stage of pushing back the sea from the Carness brecks [where there apear to be the remains of an early L-shaped pier or harbour] such as happened at Scapa (where the process started at least as far back as the Vikings and didn't finish until the late 19th century). On the south side of the water thus enclosed can be found the remains of earthen nausts. These are way deep, say the distance from the bottom of the Houton boat nousts to pier level. Unfortunately I do not have pictures of those at Long Ayre. They are shown in 1882 as nearly a dozen papillae (tiny tongues) on the south side between the two ayres (the boat nousts are genuine, being included amongst examples by a researcher). Sometimes this site is referred to as a double ayre. But I am certain that if this dated as far back either the site would not be Long Ayre or this short ayre would be named seperately. The 1st O.S. shows that Long Ayre does not span both pieces of land. The area behind it is Cockle Sand and the body of water behind the inner 'ayre' [now Cloven Ayre and the lochan a tidal pool as is Cockle Sand] is the Loch of Swarsquoy.One fine day in August, having traversed the coast around Weethick (I have never seen even the faintest sign of the vanished Roondles, vanished as thoroughly as the five clay mounds of Bossack quarry) and its ship dock on a particularly low tide, I was able to pick my way across the remaining pools and gain the ayre. It is almost entirely composed of large water polished stones, though there are small patches of grass by the base of the inner edge. Very slippery but well worth the effort. Of course I always have to do things the hard way, I think the western tip is how one should enter upon it as this starts higher and fully joins with the land - perhaps the eastern gap is not a product of erosion but to allow boats egress - and there is a winding track that connects with Smiddyquoy and then the main road. If coming this way I would recommend a visit to the Yinstay cairn, apparently built using stones from a Broch Age structure or being one such heavily remodelled. There was once also a standing stone and a souterrain here but the stone was removed long ago. There is in the vicinity a trail that goes around the shore of the Loch of Tankerness to the mill.
Labels: Carness, Long Ayre, Tankerness, Yinstay
