About the author

"Here I was reared on this island, where the green fields roll to the rolling sea. Here among the seagulls and the falling spray."

My name is Sigurd Towrie.

Born on December 22, 1968, I, like my forebears for countless generations, have lived all my life in Orkney.

I am married to Fiona, who hails from the West Mainland town of Stromness, about 16 miles to the west of Kirkwall. Together with our sons, Audun and Einar, we live in Blackha', an old house in a small area known as Kirbister.

Kirbister sits on the border of the parishes of Stromness and Sandwick.

Our home originally belonged to Fiona's grandfather and sits in the shadow of the hill known as Cringlafjold, about four miles from Stromness and a short distance from the spectacular sea-cliffs at Yesnaby.

I work for The Orcadian, Orkney's newspaper. Based in the newspaper's Albert Street offices in Kirkwall, I spend my days in Kirkwall returning home to Kirbister each night.

Naturally, living in Orkney - as well as family influences - has instilled me with a love of the islands' history, folklore and landscape and I hope some of this appreciation comes across in these pages.

My Family

I am the eldest of three children - the only son of Ruth and Albert Towrie.

Of my two sisters, Melanie still lives in Kirkwall and is married to Clem, another islander but of the Gaelic variety. They have two sons, Jamie and Craig. My peedie sister Deirdre has been in USA now for a number of years. She's a kindergarten teacher in a place called Wadsworth in the state of Illinois.

Both sides of my family are from very old Orcadian stock.

The Towrie - pronounced "Toory" - family come from the island of Sanday, one of the most northerly of the islands, while my mother was a Borwick from the islands' main town of Kirkwall.

Gragor Lamb in his It has been suggested that the name "Towrie" is a variant of another Orcadian name "Towers" - pronounced locally as "Toors".

It has been recorded that this surname was first recorded in Orkney in 1481 and referred to one John Towers, a Frenchman from the town of Tours.

However, the surname "Turi" can also be found to the far north of Norway, and among the Saami people of Lapland. This also makes sense as the north isles, Sanday in particular, has strong traditions of the Norway Finns (the old name used to describe the Saami) settling in the islands. It is interesting to note that the Orcadian pronunciation of " Towrie" - Toory - is remarkably similar to this Saami name.

There is only one "Towrie" family and the majority of my relations still live on Sanday.

Like many Orcadian surnames, my mother's maiden name, Borwick, derives from a placename. In this case it is a bay in the West Mainland parish of Sandwick called Borwick.

Meaning "Broch Bay" in Old Norse, the name was first recorded in Orkney in 1579.