The photo below shows my father’s cousin Sandy Barnett harrowing with oxen at the Lythes, Longhope, Orkney, Scotland (parish of Walls).

Alexander Barnett (1907-1941), to give him his full name, was probably in his late teens or twenties at the time. That means the photo would have been taken in the 1920s or 1930s when the use of oxen, or ousen as Orkney folk would have said, was not that unusual. So an interesting photo in itself.

How I came by the photo is one of those happy coincidences. Knowing of my general interest in North Walls and Brims a cousin offered it to me a few months ago. This cousin is on my mother’s side so not related to Sandy at all. At that point neither of us knew of any connection beyond the general location. (Longhope is actually the bay between North and South Walls that you can see in the background here but the name is also often used for the whole area.)

I then posted the photo on St John’s Kirk – Walls Heritage’s Facebook page where someone immediately recognised the location as the Lythes, home of Sandy, his parents and sister. That made me look more closely and recognised that the man was Sandy! I suspect the photo came from a calendar for there is evidence of glue on the back of the mount. Probably someone then kept it for the curiosity value of harrowing with oxen.

For more on Sandy see my blog from several years ago.