OS1/23/4/86

Continued entries/extra info

Eday continued
There are three places of worship on this island two of which are situated about midway between the north & south ends, one belongs to the Established Church of Scotland, and the other to the United Presbyterian body. the other place of worship is situated towards the north end, at a place called Millbounds it belongs to the Wesleyan Methodists. There are two public Schools in Eday one situated within about 2 miles of the South end, and the other within about 2 miles of the north end, both these institutions are under the management of a Schoolboard.
The Antiquities of the island consist of the sites or remains of one old Chapel, which stood in the centre of the present Graveyard, & close to the Established Church. There are the remains of three, or four, Broughs or Picts buildings as they are more commonly called by the people, there are also underground houses, Funeral Piles and Standing Stones, what is called Funeral Piles consist entirely of an elliptical shaped mass of small stones which have apparantly from their appearance been subjected to fire. The history of the Standing Stones is almost as obscure as the other Antiquities named. One, however, of these stones & that the principal one on the island standing in the middle of a tract of moorland is said by tradition to have been erected by the Druids, and adjacent to this stone there are several of what is pointed out as underground houses, one of these says the tradition was the place where the victim was kept in confinement the night preceding the sacrifice, another where the victim was slain, and a third place called a Cist where the ashes of the victim was deposited . In the immediate vicinity of these last named places there is the site of a circular embankment. This place is where the Grove worship was held. there is also said to have been a pool wherein the victim for sacrificed was cleansed on the morning of execution. There is but one very old man who lives on the spot, who was able to give any information whatever regarding these old remains. Regarding the circular embankment mentioned hereon there is another of the very same appearance in the island of Stronsay, the Stronsay one was much larger than the one in Eday but the half of its site has been built over. Whatever these old remains have been there is scarcely a doubt but they were erected for the same purposes, but as already remarked there is but one man in Eday who ever heard anything whatever about them. There has been nothing written to this Circle as the authority was not considered sufficient to write Druids Circle.