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  Jo Ben's 1529 "Descriptions of Orkney"

ELOERHOLM*

Eloerholm island is now uncultivated, but the foundation of houses and traces of cultivation are still to be seen, also a chapel.

The causes of the devastation and desolation are these.

Two brothers lived here, one a worshipper of truth, the other with little religion. There was strife between the brothers; the latter wickedly informed the Bishop that his brother secretly had meetings with a woman, a near relative of his wife.

Having heard the complaint, the Bishop was enraged and expelled both; departing with their wives, they cursed the island on bended knees, so on that account it remains uninhabited to the present day.

* - Helliar Holm, an islet between Shapinsay and Carness, on the Orkney Mainland.

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