The Birsay Whalebone

In Birsay on the Point of Nether Queena, stands a whalebone sculpture. In the 1870s a whale came ashore and the local men of the Northside bought the carcass from the receiver of wrecks. They cut much of it up to sell the blubber, but they couldn't roll the whale over to get at the blubber on the underside, as they didn't have lifting equipment. The local folk of the Northside didn't loose money on the whale, as selling whale oil was very lucrative at the time, but there was great disappointment surrounding the enterprise. The remains of the whale were left for some time and one can only imagine the smell! Parts of the whale were washed away and many bones would have been ground up for fertiliser. The whalebone sculpture wasn't erected till at least 1880, four or five years after the whale was washed ashore. The families in the area were Spences, Mowats, Johnstons and Taylors, but who exactly erected the Whalebone sculpture is not recorded. The post is part of the jawbone and the top or crossbar of the whalebone sculpture is the back of the skull.