Surrigarth, Jimmy Fergus’ lovely little croft at Skelwick on the eastern side of Westray, commands a glorious view out over the sparkling blue waters of the North Sound where the grey-green of Orkney’s outer isles: Papa Westray, Eday, Sanday and North Ronaldsay, lie shimmering in the mid-summer sunshine. It’s the kind of sublime setting that remains forever vivid in the mind’s eye and yet 76-year-old Mr. Fergus, who was born and brought up here, scarcely gives it a second glance. Instead, his attention is focused entirely upon the lovely high-backed Orkney chair which is nearing completion amid the wonderful clutter of his workshop. This will be chair number 1039, each one meticulously hand-made from Canadian oak and the best black Murkle straw. Mr. Fergus takes a particular pride in his craftsmanship and each of his chairs is signed and numbered. He makes them to order and he is kept busy with commissions from all over the world; so much so that he currently has 50 clients on a waiting list.

Although his chairs involve from two to four weeks labour and sell for between Stg 400 and Stg600, Mr. Fergus explained that they were originally known as a ‘poor man’s chair’. “About 200 years ago,” he said, “when people were very poor they had to make do with whatever materials they could find. Orkney had no trees for timber, none at all. That’s still the case. So the frames of the chairs were cobbled together with bits of driftwood found on the beach. Then they built high straw backs on them, curved to keep out the draught. The shape hasn’t changed much at all, really. They’re very cosy, very comfortable, and very good for posture. In an Orkney Chair you must sit upright. There’s no room for slouching. Some people prefer a curved hood on top; some do not. Some prefer a drawer underneath and some do not. (It) depends what you like”.

Mr. Fergus chuckled when I asked him what purpose the drawer served. “Aah, well,” he said in his sing-song Orcadian accent, “there’s some that says it’s for the Bible. And others that say it’s for the whisky bottle. I’m sure there’s room enough for both”.

Although the distinctive straw-backed chairs were at one time common throughout those parts of the British Isles including Wales, the English West Country and East Anglia, where straw-making was commonly practiced, it is today confined only to Orkney and Fair Isle, the most southerly of the Shetland Islands.

The earliest surviving Orkney Chairs are made almost entirely of straw with only thin strips of wood to provide a framework. They were essentially inverted baskets with a curved straw back and for every chair of this kind there were probably a dozen straw stools.

Orcadians were adept at using straw, primarily for baskets called kaesies, cubbies and luppies, but also for mats called flackies, as bedding and even for shoes. Simmens, or straw ropes, were used to roof houses, the thickly laced ropes forming the base for a layer of turf and thatch held down against the strong winter winds by more ropes.

The making of the straw chair back is a time-consuming task and every maker follows a slightly different pattern. The best straw comes from Murkle oats, an inferior black-coloured grain which nevertheless thrives on poor soils and can withstand strong winds and heavy rain and produced an excellent thin, supple and robust straw. Mr. Fergus grows his own straw on his 40 acre croft. It is harvested in September or October and he stacks it to dry over the winter. It takes three sheaves to make the back of one chair. When it is ready for use he simply cuts the grain cut off and dresses the straw by stripping the loose leave by hand. Lengths of straw are bundled together and the first row nailed to the seat. New lengths of straw are constantly added as the work progresses and are held in place by a metal or wooden ring which also regulates the thickness of the bundle. The back is essentially a continuous series of rows turned back upon itself at the wooden uprights and either nailed or laced with string to the uprights. As the straw is wound back and forth, the rows are sewn together using a flat-headed needle or a single length of sisal string. The sisal is imported although in the past, locally-gathered bent or sea-grass would have been used.

Most makers today choose to create a fairly angular-shaped back which draws away from the base about a quarter of the distance up. Older chairs were often more rounded in appearance. Hoods are either built-up as a continuation of the back or begun from the centre of the back in an arching pattern; with both methods the result is very similar.

Although in the past the drop-in seats were made of wood, Mr. Fergus says that today most people prefer the softer woven sea-grass seats. When I observed that this departure was not perhaps in keeping with strict Orcadian tradition Mr. Fergus agreed but added sagely, “tis a lot kinder on the bum”. “Oh, aye, “ I said. I’m quite sure that when those Orcadian westerlies start to blow in the winter, a body needs all the kindness it can get around the nether regions. Perhaps that also explains the whisky bottle in the bottom drawer.      

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