Crofter's Barn: Lairds cashed in on crofters' kelp burning

EVERYONE knows about kelp burning. It was supposed to have made the lairds rich and, when it collapsed, so did they. The crofters did the work, the lairds got the money.

It came into its heyday when Napoleon Bonaparte and the French prevented the import by the United Kingdom of much-needed materials from the Baltic. So Britain had to produce it herself.

Kelp actually had many uses for a long time. Our father was oversman for the kelp burners on Grice Ness of Whitehall in Stronsay when we were there.

I remember the kelpers, arguments over whose stint was whose, fist fights now and then, father keeping order as best he could.

It was "a sair weet could dour hard job" and crofters made a little contribution to their meagre earnings by working at the kelp when the seaweed was ashore, catching it before the next high tide took it all out again.

A storm from the right direction brought in the bounty, piled high. It was discovered that soda and potash, important chemicals in the soap and glass industries, could be extracted from burning seaweed into kelp. Iodine, still used by surgeons, could be extracted from seaweed. In Caithness where were these kelp shores?

In the journal of Peter Campbell, of Achnacly, there was, dated 1808, a page of payments made to kelp burners.

They were made on behalf of the Freswick Trustee and I guess Sinclair of Freswick was in trusteeship because of financial problems which were endemic with most Caithness lairds.

Freswick must have had a monopoly on the Caithness kelp shores from Dunbeath round to the Haven o’ Warse at Gills Bay, which was in any case the extent of his estate holdings.

Further west the kelp shores belonged to others. Of interest are the names of the burners and no doubt there are descendants still around, the names are familiar enough.

The payments were made over a stamp receipt – taxation again – which I have omitted from the entries.

The names of the payees would have been a foreman on each beach and he would have paid the others working there.

Example was, see below, Malcolm Ross in Duncansbay furnishing articles to the kelpers of Duncansbay and Stroma.

F.K. Trustee Jany 25th, 1808.

James Corner, kelpburner, Duncansbay, paid him amount of his acct. for burning kelp on the shores of Dunbeath £6.02.09d.

F.K. Trustee

Walter Dunnet & Gilbert Laird, paid them amount of an acct. for burning kelp on the shores of Duncansbay. Crop 1807 per acct. £7.06.08¾d.

F.K. Trustee

John Sinclair, feur in Stroma, paid him amount of an acct. for burning kelp on the shore of Stroma per dischd. acct. £12.01.02¼ d.

F.K. Trustee

Ben: Henderson & Alexr. Ogstone, feurs in Duncansbay, paid them amt. of an acct. for burning kelp on the shore of Duncansbay per discharged acct £9.12.05d.

F.K. Trustee

John Manson, girnal man, Duncansbay, cash given him per stamp receipt for paying freight of boats for carrying 50 bolls of meal from Duncansbay to Thurso £2.10.00d.

25 Jany, 1808

Freswick trustee paid William Thompson, mason, to acct for building the store house of Duncansbay £27.04.03d.

Febr 20th

F.K. Trustee

John Manson, girnal man at Duncansbay, his wages and for other articles furnished to the store house of Duncansbay per acct. and receipt £3.16.06d.

I keep in the reference to the store houses, both of Duncansbay and the one of Calder of Mount Pleasant in Thurso, though I do not know if they were solely for kelp if at all or for meal or grain. I do know the kelp in Stronsay had to be safely stored in a building to keep it dry until shipping day.

The girnal of Duncansbay may well have held dry kelp and Duncansbay of that time was later renamed the present John O’Groats, not the cliffs.

From 1893 to 1913 in Rousam in Stronsay my grandfather David Pottinger had references in Wm Tait’s diary of carting kelp for many Rousam Head crofters to the pier for onward shipping and I think he stored it dry for them in part of the farm steading of the Bu’ of Rousam.

When burnt, kelp was a heavy dense product, was only of importance to some and it is a myth it kept whole areas in gainful and profitable employment.