Orkney Image Library

My GGG Grand Father and Mother are shown on their marraige certificate as being married in Purgatory in 1827. I have not been able to find a church called purgatory in the Orkney's so it may well be they were married at this location. Why they would pick to be married in Purgatory is a little strange.

Anyone know anything about purgatory...?

William McGhie Perth Australia

Neither Purgatory nor Hell appears in Hugh Marwick's splendid Orkney Farm-names. (Neither does Sailors Home.) All three names figure briefly in his The Place Names of Birsay, where he adds: The reason for such house names as Hell and Purgatory in Orkney is forgotten today. (The book was first published in 1970, so another four decades of forgetting have elapsed - but perhaps some devoted local historians/researchers will have come up with something.)

Most marriages were held at the bride's home back then, so your GGG grandmother most likely came from Purgatory, though not necessarily this one. Is there no parish mentioned on the certificate?Church weddings are comparatively recent, (mid twentieth century onwards?)

Better to be married in Purgatory than Hell.

There is more than one Purgatory in Orkney. This one is in the Northside district of Birsay and can be seen on the National Library of Scotland website www.nls.uk under their Ordnance Survey 25 inch series 1855-1882. Orkney Sheet LXXXVIII.7 (Birsay)
In former times it was considered very unlucky to let the fire in a house go out. When this happened at Hell it resulted in the story being circulated that the fires of Hell had gone out!
If you let us know what your ancestors names were it could be established if this is the Purgatory where they married.

I have been looking into info about Sailors Home as my Great Grandfather is said to have died in Sailors Home 6-13-1904. My grand mother passed away in Globe Lands 5-3-1908. I will be travelling to Orkney in August to look for these places.