Whitehall, Norton, Kelp Store
and Fish Factory
Whitehall
The Village gets its name from the house purchased by Patrick Fea along with the land called North Strynie (Strenzie) in the late 1660s.
Norton
The two-storey building (gable-end on) stands on what was most likely the site of the original house called Whitehall, and it's had a varied existence and borne several different names through the decades. Part of this building was used as a post office and telegraph centre in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the main hub of communication before the arrival of the telephone in the late 1930s.
In living memory, this building housed John Fiddler's shop, where general merchandise, hardware and coal could be bought. It was also the place to fuel up, as shown in the photos.
The building is currently owned by the Papa Stronsay Transalpine Redemptorists, who use it as a home base on Stronsay. Their chapel, which used to be a kelp store, is right next door.
Our Lady's Chapel, former kelp store.
The kelp store once served as the location where the lairds carted kelp after it had been burnt and bagged up to await shipment, usually to Leith. This was a lucrative business for the lairds, but much less so for the tenants who had to manufacture the kelp. This building was later used as a coal store for John R. Fiddler, who had a shop and petrol pumps next door at Norton.
Photo from Orkney.com The original house White Hall likely stood on the site of the two-storey building on the left side of the photo, perpendicular to the current Stronsay Hotel and the Fish Mart Cafe and Hostel.
An early photo of the village, showing Norton (building facing the viewer), the kelp store and an early version of the fish factory on the left. The Fish Mart would be built in 1910.
Front view of Norton and kelp store (and Fish Mart on the left), 1950s (?)
William Work with horses in front of the fuel pumps at Fiddler's shop
Fuel pumps behind J Fiddler's shop at Norton.
Watts Supply Stores, which stood at the top of the pier until the Fish Factory was extended
Fish Factory
The fish factory was opened in the 1970s to process white fish and (later) to process crab. As time passed, this became no longer econoical and the factory was forced to close in the 1990s. Before it was converted to a fish factory, the building was used as a net store and also a store for goods coming and going on some of the steamers and coasters that called along Stronsay. A two-storey building, the first floor was given over to accommodation for the gutter girls. A shop stood between the fish factory and the side of the pier which was demolished when the fish factory was extended.
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