rousay

In the 2001 census, Rousay had a population of 212. Most employment is in farming, fishing or fish-farming; craft businesses and seasonal tourism-related work are present.

File:Saviskaill cliffs.jpg]]

It is separated from mainland Orkney by Eynhallow Sound.

One road circles the island, about {{convert|14|mi|km|0|abbr=off}} long, and most arable land lies in the few hundred yards between it and the coastline. With an area of {{convert|4860|ha|acre|-1|abbr=off}}, it is the fifth largest of the Orkney Islands. Among several freshwater lochs{{cite web|url=http://www.britishlakes.info/orkney|title=Orkney|author=|website=www.britishlakes.info|access-date=2013-10-05|archive-date=2013-10-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131003114312/http://www.britishlakes.info/orkney|url-status=dead}} on the island, the biggest is Muckle Water.

Rousay is a 'Site of Special Scientific Interest' with notable cliff formations and wildflower colonies, and has an RSPB bird reserve. The hilliest Orkney island after Hoy, it offers good views of neighbouring islands from Blotchnifiold {{convert|249|m|ft|0}}, and Keirfea or Knitchen (both over {{convert|229|m|ft|-1|abbr=on|disp=or}}). Archaeological remains are present, especially a cluster of sites connected by a footpath near the western shore.

Its wildlife includes grey seals and European otters. Two sites, totaling some 630 ha, have been designated an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because they support breeding populations of moorland birds, including Arctic terns.{{cite web |url= https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/2588 |title=Rousay|author= |date=2024|website= BirdLife Data Zone|publisher= BirdLife International|access-date= 2024-08-31}}

File:Midhowe Broch.jpg

Humans first made a Neolithic settlement at Rinyo. Other remnants include Bronze Age burnt mounds, Iron Age crannogs and brochs (the highest density anywhere in Scotland: three within {{convert|500|m|yd|round=50|abbr=on|disp=or}} of coastline), Viking boat burials, remains of a medieval church and a stately home at Trumland.

Over 100 archaeological sites have been identified. Only a small fraction have been excavated and characterized. The most spectacular of the sites is the complex of Midhowe Broch and Midhowe Chambered Cairn. Blackhammer Chambered Cairn, Taversoe Tuick, and Knowe of Yarso chambered cairn are important tombs.

Rousay placenames reflect its Norse heritage. 'Hrólfs-øy' or 'Hrolfsey' was based on the male name 'Hrolf' (Rolf). Hugh Marwick's work showed the name developing from 'Rollesay' in the 14th century, through 'Rolsay' in the 15th, and 'Rowsay' in the early 16th, with the spelling 'Rousay' first recorded in 1549.Marwick, Hugh (1947) The Place-names of Rousay.

Most Rousay people earned their living from farming and/or fishing. In the 19th century, records reflect tradespeople supplying the needs of a rural community: blacksmiths and joiners, shoemakers and shopkeepers, with women making dresses and plaiting straw. Throughout the century, Rousay's landlords demanded high rents from crofters, many of whom became homeless in a series of clearances along the western coast, ordered by landowner George William Traill in the 1820s and 1830s.

Traill's nephew General Sir Frederick Traill-Burroughs inherited much of the island and bought more. Traill-Burroughs built a large house at Trumland, designed by David Bryce of Edinburgh.{{Cite web |url=http://www.familyauld.org.uk/trumland.htm |title=General Frederick William Traill-Burroughs Page |access-date=2011-06-21 |archive-date=2012-03-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120325230543/http://www.familyauld.org.uk/trumland.htm |url-status=dead }} From 1870 to 1883, improvements transformed the island: Trumland pier, island schools, a public market, the first steamship service, a post office, and the first resident doctor. He was known locally as "the little general" as he was a man of short stature. Poet Edwin Muir recalled in a memoir of his childhood seeing the little general walking around his estates.

Rousay's population in the mid-19th century was over 900, but emigration following land clearances reduced that to 627 by 1900, and half a century later it had fallen to 342. Depopulation accelerated, and in the next twenty years the number fell to 181, its lowest ever. From the 1970s onward new families settled on Rousay: most came from the south, especially from England. The population is now over 200.

The Yetnasteen stone is said to have once been a giant who revives every New Year at midnight and visits the Loch of Scockness to drink.{{cite web |title=History and Archaeology |url=http://www.discoverrousay.co.uk/historyandarchaeology.shtml |publisher=Discover Rousay |access-date=29 July 2014 |archive-date=17 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130917004347/http://www.discoverrousay.co.uk/historyandarchaeology.shtml |url-status=dead }}

A primary school{{cite web| url=http://www.rousay.orkney.sch.uk/| title=Rousay Primary School| access-date=2007-06-05}} enrolls 24 boys and girls aged 3 to 12. Once a child completes his/her primary education, they attend Kirkwall Grammar School or Stromness Academy.

Poet Pauline Stainer spent two years on the island, and in 1999 published a collection of her poems about Rousay, Parable Island.

Robert C. Marwick (1922–2013) was a school teacher, headmaster and author born on Innister farm, in the Wasbister district. His publications about Rousay include From My Rousay Schoolbag (1995),{{Cite book|title=From my Rousay schoolbag|last=Marwick, Robert C.|date=1995|publisher=Brinnoven|isbn=1-899851-03-8|location=Livingston|oclc=34849878}} Rousay Roots (1995) and In Dreams We Moor (2000).{{Cite book|title=In dreams we moor|last=Marwick, Robert C.|date=2000|publisher=Brinnoven|isbn=1-899851-04-6|location=Livingston|oclc=316511910}}

Actor Graham Fellows owns a disused church there, which he intended to turn into an "artists refuge".[https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/comedy/features/graham-fellows-my-icy-windswept-island-paradise-970909.html?action=Gallery "Graham Fellows: My icy, windswept island paradise"]{{dead link|date=August 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}. The Independent. Retrieved 21 June 2011.

Late artists' patron Margaret Gardiner spent a large part of her life there and in 1979 founded the Pier Art Gallery in Stromness.

Rousay is separated from the neighbouring island of Egilsay by Rousay Sound. The sound experiences strong tides, which creates the perfect conditions for maerl beds to form. The maerl beds in turn provide a sheltered habitat for species such as peacock worms and various sponges, as well as small fish, shrimps, gobies and crabs.{{cite web|url=https://apps.snh.gov.uk/sitelink-api/v1/sites/10413/documents/48|title=Wyre and Rousay Sounds Marine Protected Area summary leaflet|access-date=12 October 2020|publisher=Scottish Government|archive-date=18 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210118013759/https://apps.snh.gov.uk/sitelink-api/v1/sites/10413/documents/48|url-status=dead}} Since 2014 the sound, along with the neighbouring Wyre Sound (which separates Rousay from Wyre), has been designated as a Nature Conservation Marine Protected Area (NCMPA).{{cite web|url=https://sitelink.nature.scot/site/10413|title=Sitelink: Wyre and Rousay Sounds Marine Protected Area|access-date=12 October 2020|publisher=NatureScot}} Fishing activities are controlled within the MPA, and no dredging, beam trawling, demersal trawling or Seine fishing is permitted.{{cite web|url=https://apps.snh.gov.uk/sitelink-api/v1/sites/10413/documents/47|title=The Inshore Fishing (Prohibition of Fishing and Fishing Methods) (Scotland) Order 2015|access-date=29 November 2019|publisher=Queen's Printer for Scotland|archive-date=18 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210118003859/https://apps.snh.gov.uk/sitelink-api/v1/sites/10413/documents/47|url-status=dead}}

{{Portal|Scottish islands}}

• List of islands of Scotland

{{Reflist}}

• {{Haswell-Smith}}

{{Commons category|Rousay}}

{{Wikivoyage}}

• [http://www.aroundrousay.co.uk/rousay.shtml AroundRousay.co.uk: Information on the island of Rousay]
• [http://www.discoverrousay.co.uk DiscoverRousay.co.uk: Tourism website for the island of Rousay] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124224533/http://discoverrousay.co.uk/ |date=2020-11-24 }}
• [http://www.rousayroots.com/rousay.html Rousay Roots - Rousay history] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181001124813/http://www.rousayroots.com/rousay.html |date=1 October 2018 }}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20061017151909/http://www.visitorkney.com/orkney_isles/rousay.html Visit Orkney: Orkney Tourist Board: Rousay]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20060414050129/http://www.visitrousay.co.uk/rrousay2.htm Visit Rousay: Overview of Rousay]

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{{Prehistoric Orkney}}

{{North West Orkney}}

{{Orkney Islands}}

{{Islands of Scotland}}

{{Marine Protected Areas in Scotland}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Islands of the Orkney Islands

Category:Archaeological sites in Orkney

Category:Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Orkney

Category:Important Bird Areas of Orkney

Category:Nature Conservation Marine Protected Areas of Scotland