SHAPINSHAY, an island and parish, in the county
of Orkney,;1 miles (N. N. E.J from Kirkwall; containing
9.'i."j inhabitants. This island is said to have been
visited by the Roman general Agricola, in his voyage
round Hritain; and a place still called (irucnla, on the
western coast, nearly opposite the Skerry of Vasa, where
tlie tide is rapid and the sea shallow, is sujjposed to
commemorate by its name the loss of one of his ships,
which, i)eing driven by the violence of the waves, was
.stranded near the spot. In 1263, Haco, King of Norway,
in his expedition against Alexander III. of Scotland, is
said to have Iain with the whole of his fleet for a considerable
time in a harbour near Kirkwall, called Elidaru'icit,
which is clearly identified with the harbour now
designated Elvvick, on the south-west coast of Shapinshay.
The parish, which is of very irregular form, is
about seven miles in length from south-west to northeast,
and five miles in extreme breadth; comprising
about 6270 acres, of which not more than 750 are arable,
2400 acres pasture, and the large remainder waste. For
the most part the surface is low and comparatively even,
but towards the centre rises gradually to a considerable
elevation, the Wart or Ward hill commanding an extensive
and richly diversified view over fifteen surrounding
parishes, with the North Orkney Isles and the various
firths. Along the shore the soil is rich and fertile,
producing excellent crops of grain of different kinds,
and the meadows and pastures are luxuriant; but inland
the surface is sterile and unproductive, affording
only scanty pasturage for sheep. Agriculture, with the
exception of some farms in the hands of one of the proprietors,
is in a very neglected state; and the general
aspect of the island is dreary, from the want of wood
and plantations. The substrata are chiefly sandstone
and sandstone-flag, with clay and a little limestone.
ClifFdale, the residence of Captain William Balfour, a
handsome modern mansion near the village of Elwick, is the only seat.
The small village of Elwick, built on the shore of the
harbour by the late Colonel Balfour, is inhabited chiefly
by fishermen, who for part of the year are engaged in
the cod and herring fisheries, in which about fifty boats
are employed. Eleven of these are during the season
used in the cod-fishery, and the quantity taken generally
averages about two tons and a half per boat, at £10 per
ton; the average quantity of herrings for each boat is
sixty cranes, sold at ten shillings a crane. The making
of nets, of which about one hundred, valued at sixteen
shillings each, are annually produced, also affords employment
to a considerable number of persons; and
nearly 200 females in the parish are engaged in the
manufacture of straw-plat. Ecclesiastically this place
is within the bounds of the presbytery of the North Isles
and synod of Orkney; patron, the Earl of Zetland. The
minister's stipend, including £S. 6. 8. for communion
elements, is £158. 6. 8., of which half is paid from the
exchequer; with a manse built in 1831, and a glebe
valued at £21 per annum. Shapinshay church is a neat
and commodious structure erected in 1821. There is a
place of worship for the United Presbyterian Synod.
The parochial school was established in 1804, and is
well attended; the master has a salary of £25. 13. 3.,
with a small dwelling-house, and the fees. A school is
also supported by the Society for Propagating Christian
Knowledge, the master of which has a salary of £15.
Opposite to the mouth of the harbour is the small island
of Kllerhohn or Elhardliolm, where arc some vestiges of
an ancient chapel of which iu)thing is recorded: leadore
has been found there, but it has never been wrought.
There is a large iipright stone in the parish, called the
Standing Stone, supposed to be Drnidical; and on the
north side, near the sea, is a large mass of black stone,
prostrate, called the Black Stone of Odin. In Shapinshay
are also several of those remains called Picts' houses,
along the coast; and nearCliffdale a subterranean
building has been discovered, consisting of upright pillars of
loose stones about four feet in height, sup|)orting a roof
of broad flag-stones that covered an area in which was
found an ancient ring of gold.