The Name
Trows in Orkney and Shetland folklore
In the folklore of Orkney and Shetland, trows are night-time beings who live in grassy mounds called trowie knowes. The word comes from Norn, the old Norse speech of the islands, and is thought to stem from troll. Accounts of their appearance vary, from giants to small grey-clad figures.
Trows come out after sunset. In some stories a trow caught by sunrise must wait for the next dusk, and in others it turns to stone. Speaking of them was taboo.
Sources for this suggestion
For review:Whether to explain the name at all is for Kelvin and Rachel. The brief keeps the folklore in pictures and out of puns and taglines. The origin of the word is debated: older folklorists held that trows descend from Norse trolls, and a later writer argues for a blend of older creatures (seen in search snippets only). In Orkney most mounds are linked to hogboons, and the trow is commonly named as the dweller there.
The mounds
Mounds named in the stories include Long Howe in Tankerness and the Trowie Glen mounds on Hoy. The picture here is Maeshowe, a prehistoric mound in Orkney. It is shown only to give an idea of what a grassy mound looks like.
Sources for this suggestion
For review:Maeshowe is not a trowie knowe in the stories. It is used as a picture of a mound, and it is also the idea behind the logo draft on the Brand page.
Trows and music
Trows were said to love music and to play the fiddle themselves. Stories tell of fiddlers who went into a mound for what felt like a few hours and came out days or years later. One recording in the School of Scottish Studies archive, listed on Tobar an Dualchais, summarises (as the archive's catalogue describes it) a fiddler who reckoned he had been taken for three hours and found it was three days.
In Shetland, some tunes are said to have been learned from trows, and they are known as trowie tunes. Winyadepla and Garster's Dream are two examples. A Scottish Fiddle Orchestra newsletter notes that sceptics say fiddlers composed such tunes and hid the source. The same piece describes the Haltadans in Fetlar, where a fiddler is made to play for dancing trows until sunrise, when all turn to stone.
Sources for this suggestion
- Wikipedia, Trow (folklore)
- Scottish Fiddle Orchestra newsletter, Oct 2023, fiddle music from trolls, trows and the Haltadans
- Tobar an Dualchais, track 35956 (summary seen only as a search snippet)
For review:The Tobar an Dualchais summary was seen only as a search snippet, because the site blocked scripted access. Please check the recording before anything is printed from it. The named tradition of trowie tunes is Shetland's and not Orkney's.
North Ronaldsay
North Ronaldsay is the northernmost island in Orkney, about four kilometres north of Sanday. The name is probably Old Norse and appears in the thirteenth-century Orkneyinga saga.
Sources for this suggestion
For review:This describes the island only. No source ties the island to fiddle music. Kelvin's family connection to the island is not stated here. Kelvin, may this page mention your family's connection to North Ronaldsay?
The population figure on Wikipedia (59) was left out because it may be out of date.
The Old Beacon and the lighthouse
The Old Beacon, a tower of local stone about 70 feet (21 metres) tall, was first lit in 1789 and put out in 1809. The present lighthouse is red brick and 42 metres tall, and dates from the 1850s.
Sources for this suggestion
For review:Date conflict: the Northern Lighthouse Board says the lighthouse was established in 1854 and Wikipedia says it was built in 1852, so the text says the 1850s until a person picks one. NorthLink's page calls the tower "Dennis Head Lighthouse" and "last manned", which conflicts with the Board, so it is not used.
The sheep
The island's rare breed of sheep feeds mostly on seaweed. A dry stone dyke about 1.8 metres high runs round the island and keeps the sheep off the arable land and on the shore.
Sources for this suggestion
For review:One ferry company's page gives the dyke's length as 12 miles. That is a single secondary source, so it is not stated.
