Recently we have been restoring the character of Annie's Place, our self catering apartment within the Old Manse in Palace village, Birsay. As detailed in a previous Blog, we had traditional Scottish lime plaster applied to the outside of this listed building, and we commisioned a date stone for above Annie's Place front door, the original entrance to the Old Manse. Below the construction date of 1761, there is a carving of a wild geranium. This is intended to highlight our garden ventures and to draw attention to the simple, pink wild flower which grows profusley in the garden area around the Old Manse.
The flower sculpture is also intended to commemorate the fact that the first parish minister to stay in the Manse was George Low. He was a pioneer of the study of so much of Orkney's history, archaeology, wildlife and tradition. Sadly much of his original work was not credited during his lifetime. Fortunately, his scholarship, on which so many contemporaries drew, has been acknowledged in more recent times.
Our datestone :
