Editing Rousay (section)

==History==
[[File:Midhowe Broch.jpg|thumb|left|Midhowe Broch on the west coast of Rousay]]
Humans first made a [[Neolithic]] settlement at [[Rinyo]]. Other remnants include [[Bronze Age]] [[burnt mound]]s, [[Iron Age]] [[crannog]]s and [[broch]]s (the highest density anywhere in Scotland: three within {{convert|500|m|yd|round=50|abbr=on|disp=or}} of coastline), [[Viking]] boat burials, remains of a [[medieval]] church and a [[stately home]] at [[Trumland]].

Over 100 archaeological sites have been identified. Only a small fraction have been excavated and characterized. The most spectacular of the sites is the complex of [[Midhowe Broch]] and [[Midhowe Chambered Cairn]]. [[Blackhammer Chambered Cairn]], [[Taversoe Tuick]], and [[Knowe of Yarso chambered cairn]] are important tombs.

Rousay placenames reflect its [[North Germanic peoples|Norse]] heritage. 'Hrólfs-øy' or 'Hrolfsey' was based on the male name 'Hrolf' (Rolf). [[Hugh Marwick|Hugh Marwick's]] work showed the name developing from 'Rollesay' in the 14th century, through 'Rolsay' in the 15th, and 'Rowsay' in the early 16th, with the spelling 'Rousay' first recorded in 1549.<ref>Marwick, Hugh (1947) ''The Place-names of Rousay''.</ref>

Most Rousay people earned their living from farming and/or fishing. In the 19th century, records reflect tradespeople supplying the needs of a rural community: blacksmiths and joiners, shoemakers and shopkeepers, with women making dresses and [[straw plaiting|plaiting straw]]. Throughout the century, Rousay's landlords demanded high rents from [[croft (land)|crofters]], many of whom became homeless in a series of clearances along the western coast, ordered by landowner George William Traill in the 1820s and 1830s.

Traill's nephew [[Frederick Traill-Burroughs|General Sir Frederick Traill-Burroughs]] inherited much of the island and bought more. Traill-Burroughs built a large house at [[Trumland]], designed by [[David Bryce]] of Edinburgh.<ref name="familyauld.org.uk">{{Cite web |url=http://www.familyauld.org.uk/trumland.htm |title=General Frederick William Traill-Burroughs Page |access-date=2011-06-21 |archive-date=2012-03-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120325230543/http://www.familyauld.org.uk/trumland.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> From 1870 to 1883, improvements transformed the island: Trumland pier, island schools, a public market, the first steamship service, a post office, and the first resident doctor. He was known locally as "the little general" as he was a man of short stature. Poet [[Edwin Muir]] recalled in a memoir of his childhood seeing the little general walking around his estates.<ref name="familyauld.org.uk"/>

Rousay's population in the mid-19th century was over 900, but emigration following land clearances reduced that to 627 by 1900, and half a century later it had fallen to 342. Depopulation accelerated, and in the next twenty years the number fell to 181, its lowest ever. From the 1970s onward new families settled on Rousay: most came from the south, especially from [[England]]. The population is now over 200.

The Yetnasteen stone is said to have once been a [[giant (mythology)|giant]] who revives every New Year at midnight and visits the Loch of Scockness to drink.<ref>{{cite web |title=History and Archaeology |url=http://www.discoverrousay.co.uk/historyandarchaeology.shtml |publisher=Discover Rousay |access-date=29 July 2014 |archive-date=17 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130917004347/http://www.discoverrousay.co.uk/historyandarchaeology.shtml |url-status=dead }}</ref>