Peece Neems

Peece Neems = Place Names

A group of young folk in Westray have gathered together all the house, field and coastline names in Westray and Papa Westray. They researched their meanings and recorded local voices speaking them.

All this information has been transferred to a computer in the Archive Room where you can freely search the interactive program using place names, grid references, maps or aerial photographs for your required location, to find out its meaning and to hear how it is pronounced locally.

We are very grateful to the Westray Development Trust for its help and support for the Peece Neems project.

The following pages explain a bit about how the Peece Neems project works. You need to come into the Heritage Centre to use the system.

This screen shows the map of Westray with the key below. The Aerial Photography icon is highlighted indicating that a pictorial aerial view is being shown. This view can be enlarged and rotated by the person using the computer, and the aerial view can be changed to a map view by clicking on the Ordnance Survey icon next to the Aerial Photography icon.

Detailed houses are shown in the list on the right of the screen, seen above, and when clicked, the map zooms in on the house and the name is spoken when the icon is seen and clicked. It's easy to use, really, it just takes a bit of getting used to and there will be someone around to help and advise.

The instructions how to use the computer and program are next to the computer (see the next picture below). 

There, it's all clear, so come to Westray and have a look for the names you are interested in. There's no extra charge for using the Peece Neems computer but we are always grateful for a donation!!!