New book offers snapshot of seventeenth century Orkney life
Story dated: October 16, 2003

A new book offering an insight into life in Orkney in the seventeenth century was launched on October 16.

The Orkney Poll Taxes of the 1690s, by James Irvine, is a transcription of the surviving poll tax records, gather together and published for the first time.

Like their notorious namesake of the 1980s, the poll taxes of the 1690s were an unpopular and unsuccessful innovation in national taxation.

Many of the original records have been lost over the intervening years, but those that survive provide the equivalent of a census, a treasure trove for genealogists and local historians.

James Irvine has also drawn on earlier analyses of poll-tax records from elsewhere in Scotland to show that Orkney's records are no less comprehensive or illuminating. They offer a unique inside into the demographic, social and economic background of ordinary Orcadians immediately before the worst famine of "King William's ill years".

The author's detailed analyses highlight the extreme poverty of most Orcadians of the time, attributable to centuries of subsistence farming, udal subdivision and superior dues. He also identifies 150 surnames and 65 farm names not hitherto listed in previous publications on Orkney's rich history.

The Orkney Poll Taxes of the 1690s is available from local bookshops priced £9.95. Click here to buy online.