The Legend of John O’ Groats

Many people are familiar with John O' Groats as the end of the length of Britain walk from Lands’ End in Cornwall. Not so many are aware of who John was or why he allegedly built an octagonal house.

At the end of the 15th Century, King James IV granted a Dutchman called Jan de Groot the right to run a ferry from this spot on the coast across to Orkney. With those northern islands having only recently become part of Scotland, Jan was making good money with the increase in travel.

Unfortunately, that meant each of his children wanted to take over control of the family business once their father retired. All 7 of them would fight and bicker non-stop until the whole de Groot family was close to being torn apart.

The biggest argument was about who would sit next to Jan’s chair at the head of the table and closest to the door, the traditional place of honour. Jan was disappointed that even before he had considered retiring, his children were already squabbling. Then he came up with an ingenious solution to their argument.

By the time the family had their next big gathering, Jan had built himself a new house. It had 8 sides, each with its own door and inside the main room was an octagonal table. Nobody, not even Jan, would be sitting at the head of the table. Everybody was equal in his eyes.

His children would still inevitably disagree about who should run the business, but at least now they could eat their meals in peace.