It was the home, in the twelfth century, of an influential and wealthy family, connected to the Orkney Earls through marriage who built a castle here and the head of that family became known as Cubbie Roo. Much later, at the end of the nineteenth century, it would be the home, for some six or seven years, of the poet, Edwin Muir.

Cubbie Roo

Cubbie Roo’s real name was Kolbein Hruga and he lived in the twelfth century. He must have been a very big man as Hruga is the Norse word for heap and we still use the word ‘roo’ to mean a heap of anything. He also, through the centuries, became known as a Giant and many strange deeds are attributed to him, such as building the Wyre skerries when his basket of stones burst open and shed its load.

Cubbie Roo is an historical figure, however, and he is mentioned in the Orkneyinga Saga. He was a notable landowner in Norway before he settled in Wyre and built his castle. His name remains famous although his son, Bjarni, has a much greater claim to fame. He was a poet of note, third bishop of St. Magnus Cathedral and the founder of Kirkwall Grammar School. He endowed a school in Kirkwall with the revenues from Wyre and this continued until a late date.

There is some reason to believe that Kolbein Hruga was a tax collector for the Norwegian king. This would explain why he felt it necessary to build such a strong castle. His castle is credited with being the oldest stone castle in Scotland. Being built in Orkney, however, it would have to be built of stone as there is no wood here to build with. Only the foundations now remain but the central tower must have been of a considerable height. It has a well in the centre and would have been able to withstand a siege.

And indeed it did withstand a siege. Kolbein’s grandson fled there after committing a murder in Caithness. He was pursued, needless to say, but held out to the extent that the pursuers got fed up and agreed to a truce. They all settled the matter in Norway the following year; the besiegers being a bit cheesed off as only some of the murder squad were executed and Kolbein’s grandson merely got a ticking-off. The castle was described then as ‘being a very unhandy place to attack’.

Edwin Muir

When Edwin Muir was a boy here, Kolbein’s Castle was just a green mound, but it was known that it was Cubbie Roo’s castle. It was excavated later, in the 1930s. Edwin Muir enjoyed his childhood here and wrote about it with affection in his autobiography. Some of those who went to school with him here clearly remembered the day they were told to draw a picture of a man. The rest of the school conventionally drew men with clothes on. Not so Edwin. His man was as nature made him and rather shocked the lady schoolteacher.

His family left Wyre, defeated by the rents demanded by the landlord, and moved to the Mainland of Orkney. A year or so later they moved to Glasgow and the change in lifestyle came as a shock to Edwin. He always fondly remembered his childhood in Wyre.

The Heritage Centre

There is a section devoted to Edwin Muir and his connection with Wyre, and there is a considerable amount of information on the excavation of Cubbie Roo’s castle and on the family of Kolbein himself. His family tree, as far as can be known, is shown and the antecedents of the Gunn clan explained.

The Heritage Centre is still in the process of being upgraded and the exhibition within it is added to regularly.