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Falling off the edge of the world
Aug. 29th, 2009 04:39 pmOn August 29th 1930, the last 36 inhabitants of St Kilda were evacuated, at their own request, to the mainland of Scotland.
The Guardian points this out, in the context of an attempt to launch an annual 'Saint Kilda Day' for reasons that are not entirely clear; they link to a web site related either to the Scottish Tourist Board's 'Homecoming' promotion, a new opera, or both. Never mind - the article itself is interesting; and though the online version lacks the magnificent panoramic photo which leads off the print feature, it offers instead a slideshow with added audio, so you win some as well as losing some.
The author is a self-confessed 'Kildamane', suffering from an obsession with St Kilda, which is perhaps why he attributes the same affliction to Doctor Johnson. He explains that James Boswell wanted to buy the islands after their visit to the Hebrides in 1773, and quotes Johnson's reply: "Pray do, Sir. We shall go and pass a winter amid the blasts there." This may have been ironic: certainly they did not act on it.
I don't blame them. Even with modern equipment, St Kilda is not just remote, it's also inaccessible - in bad weather, it is still impossible to land. I can see why the islanders eventually decided to leave, and why now even the MoD has had enough (which presents the current owners, the National Trust for Scotland, with serious problems).
I'm not a Kildamane myself: an 'islomane' by all means, but even for me, St Kilda is an island too far. I'd love to visit, but maybe I'll make do with watching Michael Powell's film The Edge of the World, inspired by the evacuation but filmed in Shetland, on Foula. A map on the Shetland Heritage web site illustrates what it tells us about St Kilda, that in comparison Foula is a practical place to film...
The Guardian points this out, in the context of an attempt to launch an annual 'Saint Kilda Day' for reasons that are not entirely clear; they link to a web site related either to the Scottish Tourist Board's 'Homecoming' promotion, a new opera, or both. Never mind - the article itself is interesting; and though the online version lacks the magnificent panoramic photo which leads off the print feature, it offers instead a slideshow with added audio, so you win some as well as losing some.
The author is a self-confessed 'Kildamane', suffering from an obsession with St Kilda, which is perhaps why he attributes the same affliction to Doctor Johnson. He explains that James Boswell wanted to buy the islands after their visit to the Hebrides in 1773, and quotes Johnson's reply: "Pray do, Sir. We shall go and pass a winter amid the blasts there." This may have been ironic: certainly they did not act on it.
I don't blame them. Even with modern equipment, St Kilda is not just remote, it's also inaccessible - in bad weather, it is still impossible to land. I can see why the islanders eventually decided to leave, and why now even the MoD has had enough (which presents the current owners, the National Trust for Scotland, with serious problems).
I'm not a Kildamane myself: an 'islomane' by all means, but even for me, St Kilda is an island too far. I'd love to visit, but maybe I'll make do with watching Michael Powell's film The Edge of the World, inspired by the evacuation but filmed in Shetland, on Foula. A map on the Shetland Heritage web site illustrates what it tells us about St Kilda, that in comparison Foula is a practical place to film...
