Orkney Image Library

Burness farmhouse Finstown

My great grandmother, Crawford Harcus, was maid there in 1861 census. Her family came to Firth from Westray as a result of the Stewart Endowment settlement. The inhabitants at the time, the Stevensons, also came there from Westray and are still there. This Harcus family lived sometime at Quoys of Ayre,sometimes called Shoreside. Before that they were at Barebrecks just along the road from Shoreside and Burness.I lived for three years or so at Barebrecks in the early 1980s, not knowing at the time of the existing family connection, and spent time in the old house of Burness kitchen, passing time with George and Neva Stevenson where my great grandmother had been a maid to George's forebears.George said at the time that his family also came from Westray, but I had not made the connection at that time.Crawford Harcus married widower and former Firth schoolteacher William Firth, born at Wasdale, Firth in 1828.