Orkney, Stromness, Dundas Street. View from S showing part of SSW and ESE fronts of number 5 on left with numbers 2-4 on right

Description Orkney, Stromness, Dundas Street. View from S showing part of SSW and ESE fronts of number 5 on left with numbers 2-4 on right

Date 10/9/1894

Collection Papers of Erskine Beveridge, antiquarian, Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland

Catalogue Number SC 748821

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of O 594

Scope and Content Dundas Street, Stromness, Mainland, Orkney Islands Stromness, the second town in Orkney after the capital, Kirkwall, lies in the south-west of Mainland. It developed in the 18th century as a prosperous port through trade with ships on the northern sailing routes, and boomed as a herring port in the late 19th century. This photograph of Dundas Street, a section of the town's long main street, was taken in 1894 by Erskine Beveridge. This narrow little street, which twists and turns along the waterfront, is lit by gas lamps and lined with a carriageway of stone slabs. The houses, dating from the mid-19th century, are built in the distinctive Orkney style with flagstone walls and crowstepped gables fronting the street. The flagstone has diverse building uses and can be split to form large thin slabs for steps (left), or cut to form lintels and margins round windows and doors. The shop on the right displays a wide range of goods for sale, including gentlemen's boots and shoes and coils of rope. Erskine Beveridge (1851-1920) was a writer, antiquarian and linen manufacturer whose private income allowed him to indulge his two main passions, archaeology and photography. He travelled widely with his camera, photographing villages and small towns all over Scotland and often recording scenes of everyday life in the late 19th century. His photographs are remarkable for their excellent quality and composition, and many were published posthumously in 'Wanderings with a Camera 1882-98' by his son, John Henry Beveridge, in 1923. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

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File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap