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Betty Corrigall (fl.c. 1770) was a Scot whose body was found 150 years after her suicide and burial in an unmarked grave. Her grave is now a popular tourist site on Orkney, and she was the inspiration behind the 2012 album Orkney: Symphony of the Magnetic North by The Magnetic North. [1]
Corrigall lived in Greengairs Cottage near Rysa on Hoy on Orkney in the 1770s. [2] At the age of 27, she had a short romance and became pregnant. [3] Her boyfriend, a whaler by trade, abandoned her and returned to the sea. Betty had little in the way of support. She attempted suicide, but was rescued by local residents. A few days later, a second suicide attempt by hanging was successful.
Due to the laws at the time, the Lairds of Hoy and Melsetter would not allow her to be buried on their property. [4] She was laid to rest outside their boundary in an unmarked grave.
Her body was discovered in either 1933 or 1936 by peat diggers who came across her wooden coffin. [4] [5] Her remains were well preserved in the peat. The procurator fiscal requested that she be buried in the same spot. In 1941, a group of soldiers dug up her body and referred to her as the Lady of Hoy. After this, she was regularly dug up and quickly began to decompose. A concrete slab was therefore placed over the grave. [6]
In 1949, the American minister Reverend Kenwood Bryant visited Hoy and was so moved that he asked Mr. Harry Berry, a customs officer, to create a proper headstone. This eventually happened 27 years later, after Mr. Berry's retirement. However, due to the boggy ground, a stone headstone was unsuitable, and a fibreglass one was erected instead. It reads, "Here lies Betty Corrigall." [7] [8]
Betty's grave is now a popular tourist site.
In 2013, The Magnetic North released their debut album, Orkney: Symphony of the Magnetic North. Founder member Erland Cooper stated that the inspiration for the making of the album was a dream he had, wherein Corrigall insisted he wrote an album about his home. [9]
The Scottish band The Knowe O'Deil (of which Ivan Drever was a member) released an album called Orkney Anthem, which includes the track "Betty Corrigall". [10]
English folk singer-songwriter Reg Meuross wrote a song about Betty Corrigall called "The Dreamed and the Drowned", which is the title track of his 2011 album.
Scottish singer-songwriter Malcolm MacWatt has a song about Betty Corrigall entitled "The Lady Of Hoy" on his 2024 EP 'Stubble And Straw: The Dark Harvest Gleanings'
Orkney, also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north of the coast of Caithness and has about 70 islands, of which 20 are inhabited. The largest island, the Mainland, has an area of 523 square kilometres (202 sq mi), making it the sixth-largest Scottish island and the tenth-largest island in the British Isles. Orkney's largest settlement, and also its administrative centre, is Kirkwall.
Hoy is an island in Orkney, Scotland, measuring 143 square kilometres (55 sq mi) – the second largest in the archipelago, after Mainland. A natural causeway, the Ayre, links the island to the smaller South Walls; the two islands are treated as one entity by the UK census.
Rousay is a small, hilly island about 3 km (1.9 mi) north of Mainland, the largest island in the Orkney Islands of Scotland. It has been nicknamed "Egypt of the north", due to its archaeological diversity and importance.
Stromness is the second-most populous town in Orkney, Scotland. It is in the southwestern part of Mainland Orkney. It is a burgh with a parish around the outside with the town of Stromness as its capital.
A trow is a malignant or mischievous fairy or spirit in the folkloric traditions of the Orkney and Shetland islands. Trows may be regarded as monstrous giants at times, or quite the opposite, short-statured fairies dressed in grey.
Sanday is one of the inhabited islands of Orkney that lies off the north coast of mainland Scotland. With an area of 50.43 km2 (19.5 sq mi), it is the third largest of the Orkney Islands. The main centres of population are Lady Village and Kettletoft. Sanday can be reached by Orkney Ferries or by plane from Kirkwall on the Orkney Mainland. On Sanday, an on-demand public minibus service allows connecting to the ferry.
Westray is one of the Orkney Islands in Scotland, with a usual resident population of just under 600 people. Its main village is Pierowall, with a heritage centre, the 15th-century Lady Kirk church and pedestrian ferry service to nearby Papa Westray island. Westray has a number of archeological sites dating from 3500 BC, and remains of several Norse-Viking settlements. The spectacular sea cliffs around Noup Head are home to thousands of seabirds.
IsobelGunn, also known as John Fubbister or Mary Fubbister, was a Scottish labourer employed by the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), noted for having passed herself off as a man, thereby becoming the first European woman to travel to Rupert's Land, now part of Western Canada. Gunn's ruse was not caught until 1807 when she gave birth to a baby boy while working for the HBC.
An unmarked grave is one that lacks a marker, headstone, or nameplate indicating that a body is buried there. However, in cultures that mark burial sites, the phrase unmarked grave has taken on a metaphorical meaning.
Heart of Neolithic Orkney is a group of Neolithic monuments on the Mainland of the Orkney Islands, Scotland. The name was adopted by UNESCO when it proclaimed these sites as a World Heritage Site in December 1999.
South Walls is a tidal island or peninsula at the southern end of Hoy in Orkney, Scotland. It is connected to the main body of Hoy, and to the district of North Walls, by a thin neck of land known as the Ayre. Its largest settlement is Longhope, which lies on a long natural harbour of the same name. Both North and South Walls belong to the civil parish of Walls and Flotta.
Kris Drever is a Scottish contemporary folk musician and songwriter who came to prominence in 2006 with the release of his debut solo album, Black Water. Drever is the vocalist and guitarist of the folk trio Lau with Martin Green and Aidan O'Rourke. He has worked with other British folk contemporaries, including Kate Rusby, John McCusker, Ian Carr, Eddi Reader and Julie Fowlis.
Prehistoric Orkney refers only to the prehistory of the Orkney archipelago of Scotland that begins with human occupation. Although some records referring to Orkney survive that were written during the Roman invasions of Scotland, “prehistory” in northern Scotland is defined as lasting until the start of Scotland's Early Historic Period.
The Ness of Brodgar is an archaeological site covering 2.5 hectares between the Ring of Brodgar and the Stones of Stenness in the Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site on the main Island of Orkney, Scotland. Excavations at the site began in 2003. The site has provided evidence of decorated stone slabs, a stone wall 6 metres (20 ft) thick with foundations, and a large building described as a Neolithic temple. The earliest structures were built between 3,300 and 3,200 BC, and the site had been closed down and partly dismantled by 2,200 BC. It was the main subject of a 2016 BBC Scotland documentary, Britain’s Ancient Capital: Secrets of Orkney, presented by Neil Oliver, Chris Packham, Shini Somara, Andy Torbet, and Doug Allan. For preservation, the site is closed during the winter months and covered in polyethylene plastic and tyres to protect it from the environment.
Gawain Erland Cooper is a Scottish composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist. Cited as "one of the most unique, consistently engaging composers of his generation" He was born and raised in Stromness, Orkney. As an interdisciplinary artist, he has released four acclaimed studio albums, with four additional companion albums and multiple EPs, including a trilogy of work inspired by his childhood home, as well as themes of nature, people, place and time. His work combines field recordings with classical orchestration and contemporary electronic elements. Cooper also works across mixed media projects including installation art, theatre and film. He is a recipient of a Royal Television Society award and his music is played frequently on BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio 6 Music as well as featured on various TV network productions.
The Magnetic North are a British band, formed between multi-instrumentalist Simon Tong, Orcadian artist and producer Gawain Erland Cooper and singer, composer and orchestral arranger Hannah Peel. Their songs are part autobiography and part psychogeography.
Hoy and West Mainland is a national scenic area (NSA) covering parts of the islands of Hoy and Mainland in the Orkney Islands of Scotland, as well as parts of the surrounding sea. It is one of 40 such areas in Scotland, which are defined so as to identify areas of exceptional scenery and to ensure its protection by restricting certain forms of development. The Hoy and West Mainland NSA covers 24,407 ha in total, consisting of 16,479 ha of land with a further 7928 ha being marine.
