Autumn Fruits

Autumn Fruits

grown under glass

from Stove

A hundred years ago greenhouses on the isles were only to be found disintegrating in walled gardens of mansions but rambling vines and peach trees showed what could be grown in northern latitudes. In the C21st greenhouses in many shapes and forms are becoming increasingly popular & commonplace on Sanday.

 

Canvas Stretcher

Canvas Stretcher

mid C20th, unused, 6ft. tall, originally bound with twine

canvas, aluminium, wood, brass, hemp rope

found in a dusty corner of the Scarth Centre Warehouse, Kirkwall, Mainland Orkney

The stretcher was intended for airlift rescue on the Scapa Courier, a metal tug that sank while under tow in Scapa Flow.

 

Flight Feathers

Flight Feathers

from greylag geese ~ answer anser

12-14' long, shed during migration molt

found in a marshy hollow strewn with feathers on Start point, Sanday

Leaving their Icelandic breeding ground in Autumn the geese stop in a safe and plentiful place to shed their flight feathers and rapidly grow new ones. 

Due to global warming the number of greylag geese overwintering so far north on Sanday has dramatically increased. In the 19890's a few hundred ended their migration on Orkney; mostly flying further south in Scotland. Now tens of thousands stop here and the sky is filled with flocks until the spring. Stove is a favoured place: the geese settle on the bay, gently honking through the night especially when it is calm and the moon is bright.

 

Copper Radiator

Copper Radiator

mid C20th, 7" high

found on the rocky shore below disused dump at Ayres Rock, Sanday

 

ERCON Lamp Head

ERCON Lamp Head

infra-red radiant heat, 5.5" across, ceramic, brass, rusty wire, aluminium

from the sea

200/ 250V   W-450

 

Limpet Rings

Limpet Rings, 

worn by time and the sea

collected on the North Shore of Egilsay

Oh dark dark dark. They all go into the dark,

the vacant interstellar spaces, the vacant into the vacant,

The captains, merchant bankers, eminent men of letters,

The generous patrons of arts, the statesmen and the rulers,

Distinguished civil servants, chairmen of many committees,

Industrial lords and petty contractors, all go into the dark.

 

Sewing Machine

Sewing Machine 

belonging to Helen Scott, early C20th, Singer New Family series

violin base, hand crank, gold acanthus pattern

The sewing machine was found in one of the downstairs rooms facing the sea occupied by the Scott's at Stove. This room appeared to be where Helen Scott made things and kept her tools and collections which included 37  empty biro tubes. A lot of material for the museum came from the abandoned objects found here. 

Invented in 1850 by Isaac Merrit Singer, this early and popular model would have originally rested on a shallow wooden stand.

Twinings Tea Tin

Twinings Tea Tin

commemorating royal wedding, rusty enamelled tin, 7"high

containing Helen's Scott's string collection

found at Stove

 

Plaster Cherub

Plaster Cherub

 broken frame, mother of pearl button, pill-box & cloth flower; the cherub 4" high

found in a top drawer of Helen Scott's chest of drawers

from Stove

 

Hungarian Caps

Hungarian Caps

capulus ungaricus

also called Bonnet Limpets & Caps of Liberty, 1.5 across at mouth

rare on Sanday; found only on the shell beaches of Start Point

from the sea

 

Party Dish

Party Dish with Petals

for jelly

plastic, 7" across

from the sea

 

Grate

Cast iron plate

made lustrous by sand & sea

6" across, may once have fitted with 3 others

found on the shore in the vicinity of disused dump, Ayres Rock, Sanday

 

Chair Back

Office Chair Padding

foam rubber, plastic radiating reinforcement, 17"across

from the sea

 

Vertebral Plates

Vertebral Plates of a Basking Shark

3.5" across

found at Woo, Sanday

from the sea

 

Unnatural Remnants

Unnatural Remnants

plastic, nylon, 2020

from the sea

 

Dragon bowl

Dragon Bowl

Chinese, cloisonné enamel, C19th, Qing Period, 4"across

rounded base with lotus pattern

from Sanday Recycling Centre

The five-clawed dragon representing the Emperor is chasing a flaming pearl - wisdom, across the clouds.

Silk Weaving

Woven Silk

Japanese, 2cm wide, fine silk cord

found in a sewing chest among spools of thread

from a temple market, Osaka, Japan

Printing Blocks

Printing Blocks

steel plates on hardwood backing, 1960's

the skipping schoolgirl 3.5" high

found in a Kirkwall ironmonger's warehouse

from a  forgotten boxful

Horse Shoe

Horse Shoe

iron, 7" across

found among the rocks by Stove Bay

Helen Scott (born 1901) writes in her Childhood Memories: " From early in life I can remember the Clank of the Blacksmith's hammer from morning till night. I spent a wonderful day in his shop while something rather important was going on at home. I was then a little over two years old and of course quite able to be an apprentice. I was allowed to blow the Big Bellows that kept a nice little red glow to the Smithy fire while various bolts and straps of iron were heated and when with the long nippers the iron was removed I had to follow to the anvil and spit so that the iron would crack and the shoes would then be turned into shape".

Montbretia

Montbretia

iridaceae family

naturalised at Stove, native to Africa, planted by Helen Scott

found along the dykes and ditches

Named after Albert Coquebert de Monbret 1780 - 1801, a young botanist who accompanied Napoleon on his invasion of Egypt and died there from the plague.

Crushed Shell Sand

Crushed Shell Sand

a pocketful

from the small beaches of Start Point

A tidal island surrounded by rocks and reefs, Start point is the site of Sanday's Lighthouse; built in 1806, it is uniquely painted with horizontal black and white stripes. Beside the lighthouse is the flat roofed, lighthouse keepers house, empty since the 1960's, nowadays locked with bolted shutters. A few, flat fields inland, a neolithic burial mound creates a dramatic hump; a landmark to passing sailors who christened it Mount Misery.

Devil Mask

Devil mask

moulded plastic, string, 2008

from Kettletoft Stores, Sanday

This shop closed down in 2011 after an attempt was made by an angry island inhabitant to burn it down. Although the goods were blackened, the old two storey building survived and stands empty to this day beside the harbour at Kettletoft.

Small Tasseled Hat

Small Tasseled Hat

velvet, braid, satin lined, the silk hassle 16" long

from Black Rock Costumes, Sanday

which took place in a disused byre for a few years around the Millennium

Child's Necklace

Child's Necklace

glass beads, the flowers made with cotton thread

from Sanday Recycling Centre

Seabird Feathers

Seabird Feathers

found on the shores of Stove Bay

Slatted Pipe

Slatted Pipe

oxidised copper, 41" long

found at Start Point, Sanday

from the sea

A number of ships have been wrecked at Start Point, a tidal island at the North End of the island. This pipe may have come from the Goldfinch, a British destroyer wrecked during dense fog in 1915. Reputedly there are large quantities of non-ferrous metal littering the seabed from this ship.

Bait Pot Lid

Bait Pot Lid

plastic, 4.5" across 

SUNDSTROM SWEDEN

from the sea

Laundry Hanger

Laundry Hanger

plastic, steel sprung pegs, missing spokes, 3 ft across

from the sea

Seashell

Seashell

plastic, 4cm. across, stamped in circle FG28

from the sea

Shore Crabs

Shore Crabs 

carcinus maenas

empty carapaces, bleached, the smallest 1' across

which float to the shoreline of Stove Bay on the incoming tide

from the sea

Bamford Lion Horse Rake

Bamford Lion Horse Rake

 rusty cast iron plaque, 8" across

originally attached to a horse-drawn rake

dug up from Stove Bay

The Bamford Ironworks was established in the mid C19th in Utoxeter, Staffordshire, England. Horse rakes which are listed in their catalogue until the early C20th, were pulled by a single horse with the seated driver operating the raising and lowering of the tines by lever.

" Messrs Bamford's Horse Rake leaves nothing to be desired in a strong, well made, & at the same time, simple rake". Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society 1919

Wooden Wheel

Wooden Wheel

C19th, oak, steel, iron rim, 20" across

mended with small horseshoes & copper wire

found in the ruins at Stove

Elecampane

Elecampane

also called Horse-heal & Elf-dock

The steam can grow up to 6 feet tall: a plant sacred to the Celts, still found growing where Helen Scott planted it, at the entrance to her small wood at Stove.

Spoons and Fork

Spoons and Fork

corroded metal, the fork 6.5" long

found in rock pools below a disused dump at Ayres Rock, Sanday

sifted out by the sea