From the edge of the world: part 2

I had many expectations about how I would feel when walking along the Street (where the row of cottages and remains of blackhouses can be seen today). I had, of course, read accounts of the evacuation, and I fully expected to experience a sense of sadness, emptiness and loneliness. The powerful black-and-white photographs and cine images added to my feeling that this may be a place of great unhappiness.

I was very surprised to experience quite the opposite feeling, when I started to explore.

A few of the houses have been sensitively restored by volunteer work parties into simple dwellings, a museum and a work store, where they provide shelter for the work parties, Soay sheep researchers (‘the Sheepies’) and organised groups. The church and school are also open to visitors, and have been preserved as they would have been at the time of the evacuation.