01/05/2025
Latan, Stronsay
•
•
The Orkney island of Stronsay was once well known for its thriving kelp industry. It was Stronsay man James Fea who introduced kelp-making to the people of Orkney around 1720. Kelp soon replaced grain as Orkney’s largest export, and many Orcadians grew wealthy due to the exportation of kelp, especially during the Napoleonic Wars when Mediterranean kelp could not be imported, and so Orcadian kelp was in significantly high demand. Much of Stronsay’s kelp was also shipped off to the North East of England, where it was used to produce glass and soap, and it was most commonly used to burn as a source of fuel on the islands.
However, in 1739 a three year famine spread across Orkney, as livestock died, crops did not grow, and the waters appeared to be scarce of fish. The burning of the kelp was found to be the problem, with the smoke that it released causing the crops not to thrive, and therefore the animals would grow weaker. On the morning of Sunday, 16 May 1742, Stronsay man Peter Fea headed to the local church and warned the islanders of the damage that kelp burning was doing to the island’s agriculture, and so began the Stronsay Kelp Riots.
Many islanders set out far and wide across Stronsay in search of those who were still burning kelp. They destroyed all kelp-making tools they came across, even attacking a local woman and her maid, although they could not find any of the other workers, who had all been hidden away when the news of the riots broke out. The riots were soon suppressed by steward John Riddoch of Kirkwall, and in the end, two Stronsay men were fined, with one ending up in prison.
The croft of Latan, on the shores of Lady Parish, was home to a kelp working site, and possibly one of the crofts that was targeted across the island during the riots, likely with all of its kelp-making supplies destroyed or thrown into the sea. Today there remains a kiln at the farmstead, where kelp would likely have been burned in times past.
