The Battle Of The Sheaves

Whist working in the fields one day, Fionn (‘the fair’) spotted Norsemen coming to attack Tiree. He sent his colleague, Thinman (‘Duorglas’ or ‘Gleghlas’ meaning ‘intensely grey’) and Back-of-the-Wind MacRae to fetch weapons to fight off the Norsemen. The Norsemen landed, battle began and Fionn and his men fought against them with the only weapons they had: the sheaves. They thrust them into the bodies of their enemies and managed to hold them off until Thinman and MacRae returned with real weapons. The Norsemen were driven off the island and never returned.

St Columba

When St Columba came from Iona to Tiree to spread the Gospel here, he is said to have tied his coracle to a little rock in Gott Bay. Unfortunately, his coracle broke loose and St Columba is said to have cursed the rock – resulting in its being called ‘Mallachdaig’ meaning ‘little cursed rock’. Having rescued his coracle, St Columba sailed across to Ruaig at the other end of Gott Bay where he found another small rock where his boat was held fast, so he blessed that rock, calling it ‘Naomhag’ or ‘little blessed rock’.

To read more about the Longships and Coracles stories, click here

The Lost Villages

The Tiree community has always suffered from the sand, blown up by the wind and covering crops, grass and even settlements. Hough village was completely buried in the sand in around 1815 – communities are drawn on Turnbull’s plan which have vanished by the 19th century Ordnance Survey maps - and most of the residents moved to Kilmoluaig. The sand blowing in from the sea was/is a continual threat to the settlements on the island.

Innundation by Water

The perpetual threat of innundation by water with the stream between Baugh and Reef an estuary that has become closed by sand. Once the sea broke through Balephetrish wall and cut the island in two, requiring a bridge. Then the sand blew and silted up the river.

The Ringing Stone

A tale is told that if you hit the ringing stone too hard it may crack and TIree will then sink below the waves.

Croish a’ Chaolish

‘There is a stone in Caolas called Clach na Stoirm (‘the Storm Stone’), almost entirely buried in the ground. If taken out of the ground, cleaned and set upright, it will cause a storm to arise’

Fuadach Bhail’ a’ Phuill/Balephuil Fishing Disaster, 1856

The Balephuil fishing fleet put out to sea on 7th July 1856 – seven boats with more than 30 men on board, sailing out to a bank near Skerryvore. Around noon the wind changed direction and scattered the fleet. One boat lost all its crew and the boat was washed ashore on Coll where the skipper, Donald Maclean was found (he had died of exposure). Two boats made it to Islay although two of the crew were washed overboard, the survivors were looked after by a woman whose uncle had been a factor of Tiree. Alasdair Mor MacDonald, a survivor, composed a lament about the disaster.

Archibald Campbell from Barrapol did not like the look of the rainbow in the sky that morning and advised against going fishing as he knew that a storm was coming.

Mary Campbell, nee McMillan/Bell, wife of John Cameron of Balephuil, and Isabella Black, wife of Archibald MacLean, were accused of raising the storm by witchcraft, their apparent motives being to kill their husbands (who both died). Another witch, Niceal Domhnaich, lived in Earnal in the township of Gott but was from Balephuil originally – she was not accused of raising the storm, but arrived in Balephuil on the day and told the villagers who had died and who had survived.

To read more about The Elements stories, click here

Big Jura John and the Irish Earl

There was a miller at Soreby [Soroby, Tiree], and he made a dam for his mill. There was a ditch at the head of the dam, and Big Jura John’s peat road went across the ditch. One day Big John sent his serving man with horses and creels to take home peats. The servant had five horses tied to each other’s tails in a line. When the servant had filled the creels with peats he returned home with the horses. According to the custom of the times, the servant went in advance of the horses and held the reins of the first in his hand. When he had reached the ditch at the mill dam, the bridge over it was too narrow for horses, and the last horse fell into the ditch. As he was tied to the tail of the horse in advance of him, he was choked. The servant went home, having only four horses.

Jura John asked the servant, “ Where is the fifth horse?”

“He fell over the bridge which is over the ditch at the miller’s dam in consequence of its being too narrow,” answered the serving man.

“The scoundrel” exclaimed Big John. “I’ll make him that he shall not be before me to interrupt my horses!”

MacLean had come from Dowart, [Duart] and was staying for a while in the castle of Ballimartin. The big Juraman went and erected a mast opposite the castle. He went through the night, seized the miller, and hanged him on the mast. When MacLean had risen in the morning and seen the miller hanged on the mast, he inquired, “Who did that?”

He suspected that it was that bad man, Jura John, who had done it. He sent for John, who came to him. MacLean said to him, “Bad man! why have you hanged the man?”

Jura John replied exculpating himself.

“Were it not better for you than that,” said MacLean, “to kill the Irish earl who struck me and put out my teeth.”

“Had you said that sooner,” said the big Juraman “it is long since you might have had revenge.” And he promised to retaliate for MacLean’s teeth.

There was a day on which the wind blew from the north, and the Juraman put his boat to sea, and sailed to Ireland. He reached the house of the earl. The earl did not suspect him, but welcomed him cordially. The big Juraman was for a space of time in the earl’s house; but one night it blew from the south and the Juraman got his crew ready. He slew the earl, cut off his head, and took the head with him. He sailed off for Tiree, and on his arrival there, he went to MacLean’s house. He gave him the head and said to him, “There is the head of the man who put out your teeth; and had you spoken sooner, you should have got it sooner.”

“It is better to have the like of you as a friend than as an enemy,” MacLean observed, “and I will give you as a reward Ballimartin while you live, free of rent.” And he gave him that.

Donald the Pilot

'The following is what report I heard from my father over 70 years ago. A French frigate, anchored in Got Bay east of Scarinish sent a boat ashore on the sandy beach. [They] captured a man Niel Mac Faden and wished him piolate [pilot] them to Lochnarnuagh [Loch nan Uamh]. He told them he knew nothing of the coast, but pointed to my grandfather's house and told them that Donald MacLean, Ruaig, Tyree knew the coast better than any man about the place. My gran Father went with them on condition they would land him at home on there return. They were 2 days at Lochnarnuagh. On there return, instead of takeing the south side of Coll and Tiree, they made for the north side straight for Barra Head. When my glanfather observed there course he understood that France was there destination. As it was very dark at the east end of Coll, my father advised Mac Faden to slip in a boat that hung at the stern and lay at the bottom. When near a cluster of small island at the east of Coll my granfather entered the small boat, cut the ropes and made for the small rocks before they put the frigate about and got a boat launched they were away among the rocks. They pulled away to the south and landed on south west of Coll at Port na Liugeadh, near MacLean's castle. MacLean claimed the boat. My granfather never forgot the loss of the boat. He and MacFaden had to cross the ferry between Coll and Tyree. The report of their motion became known before they returned. MacFadyen [was] not interfered with as it was known he was carried against his will, but my granfather was led to a cave in Vaul on the north side of Tiree where he remained for 9 months. His health give way. His father brought him home and went with him to Tobermory. On the way the packet [ferry] from Tobermory past them with [a] pardon for all below a Captain in Charley's army. My glanfather was surrendered to the [indecipherable] but they never let him of[f] the pardon. He was send the army, it must have been the Black Watch, or what we now call the 42 [nd Highland Regiment]. A lot of young gentlemen [in] the country. He was observed by [Allan] MacLean of Drum [sic, possibly Drimnin]. When Drum heard his tale he told him he would soon release him for 2 years. When MacLean met him again he was much surprised but he got off in a few days.' Donald MacLean left the army, returned to Tiree and lived to be nearly 80, dying around 1800.

To read more about the Tales For The Fireside stories, click here

The Hanging Hill

On Tiree in the olden days it was the custom that the last man to pay his rent was hung. It was once a kinsman of MacLean of Duart but Duart was still obliged to hang him. On the day of the hanging, Dowart attended accompanied by a neighbouring proprietor. The old man on his way to the gallows shouted out to Duart that the neighbouring proprietor was the man who had murdered his grandfather and he should be killing him not some harmless old man. Duart then pursued his guest to Scarinish where he caught and murdered him (and a ferryman). The old man was set free.

Once the last man to pay his rent was the miller’s son from Ballevullin who was arrested and condemned to be hung on Bac a’ Chrochaidh. The miller’s daughter heard of his arrest and rushed to plead for his life but arrived too late to save him. Remembered by a Tiree bard:

‘A mhic an fhir a Baile Mhuilinn Aig an robh an ath, an gran ‘s am muileann
Aig a’ Bhac cha d’ fhuair thu urram’

‘Son of the man from Ballevullin Who possessed the kiln, the grain and the mill
At the Knoll you were dishonoured’

Cursing of Island House

When Island House was being built, with a causeway linking the house with the shore, the Duke’s chamberlain ordered the crofters to assist with the building. One crofter worked hard and long but when his day’s work had been done, the chamberlain ordered him to continue. Fearing that he would be evicted if he did not agree, the crofter continued working but cursed the chamberlain, saying that he would never spend a night in island house. And he didn’t – as the house was finished the chamberlain fell ill. In defiance of the curse, the chamberlain ordered his men to carry him in, but he died before they carried him across the thresh-hold.

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The Tangle

Kelp, also known as tangle and seaweed, has been found on the beaches of Tiree for hundreds of years and the island inhabitants gathered it, burnt it and used the ash as a manure to improve their land, in cooking and in many other ways. Kelp ash is rich in iodine and alkali and, towards the end of the 18th century, opportunities arose for the ash to be sold commercially for use in soap and glass production. The inhabitants of Tiree collected, dried and burnt the kelp and it was sold commercially by the factor on behalf of the Duke of Argyll and the tenants, with the proceeds being divided between the Duke and the tenants. Collecting the kelp required many hands - children and unskilled labourers – encouraging larger families, and the additional receipts from the sale of the kelp enabled the crofters to afford increased rents. Commercial exploitation of the kelp market on the west coast of Scotland reached its highest point during the Napoleonic Wars when imports of iodine and alkali from the continent came to a standstill. When the wars stopped in 1815 however, the bottom fell out of the market for Scottish kelp, with cheaper imports flooding the market. Additionally, the Leblanc process developed in the early 19th century, led to the replacement of kelp ash by common salt. All of a sudden, there were fewer jobs for the extended family and a vital source of income for the island tenants vanished virtually overnight.

Edward Charles Cortis Stanford, who established the Middleton Kelp Works in 1863 had developed a particular interest into the economic applications of seaweed. Stanford met the 8th Duke of Argyll in 1862 and made his first visit to Tiree. Stanford’s British Seaweed Company Ltd built a factory at Middleton Farm which employed 16 men, supervised by James Sleven. It purchased seaweed from the crofters which was distilled in closed retorts to produce various products, including iodine and the gas which heated and lit the factory. After 1885, Stanford claimed that the factory was only profitable when there was a high price for iodine and he focussed his attention on creating new products at his Clydeside works. The Middleton Kelp Works closed in 1901, two years after Stanford’s death.

Tiree provided the groundwork for Stanford’s new discoveries which included alginate products. 50 years after the Middleton Kelp Works closed, the algins that Stanford had recognised were widely used in the creation of artificial silk or viscose, from 1924 they were used in the production of rayon and, from 1935, in the production of nylon.

A further unexpected consequence of the Tiree kelp industry emerged in the late 19th century when discussions over the building of a new pier in Gott Bay led to a confrontation with the Crown over the ownership of the foreshores. The islanders’ traditional right to collect kelp from the shores was deemed to be evidence of the Duke’s ownership of the foreshores, as he (and the MacLeans before him) had officially ‘allowed’ such collection to take place over many hundreds of years.

Kelp Gathering

Donald Sinclair vividly remembered kelp burning as it was practised around 1900:

‘I remember the kelp. The devil's of a work! It was hard going in my days when I was young, burning it and making kelp [ash luaithre na ceilpe] from it. This 'wrack' that grows on the tangles. At the beginning of May, the wrack is growing away from the tangle and another wrack grows. Well, you would see heaps of that [cast] wrack thrown on the beaches. They were hauling this wrack up, and spreading it on the grass or on the shingle. And the following day, if it was dry, you were turning it over with a graip [fork], and so on in succession until it was dry. When it was pretty dry, they were making small rucs [rucannan 'piles'] of it, similar to small rucs of hay. And later on, when it was dry, they were making big rucs of it. Then it was ready for burning.

You'll see the kilns [àthan na ceilpe] this very day. They were building the kilns according to the amount of wrack you had. You were paving the bottom of the kiln with flat stones, and building the side with soft seaweed and stones so as to make the kiln airtight ... [The kilns were] two and half foot high, two foot wide at the bottom, and two foot six at the top, and about ten to fourteen feet long ... The seaweed was packed together between the stones. [A handful of dried grass or smouldering peat was used to start the fire]. I've seen kilns going day and night.

And that kiln would output two or three tons of kelp at Kenavara over there. When all your wrack was on it you would see it [the molten slag] like porridge. You were poking [raking] it with an iron, back and forward, making it soft. And then you were leaving it to cool. Tomorrow when you come round, it was as hard as that, and very tough to break.

There's a place beside us on the right hand side [in West Hynish], and that place was divided into four. And there was another gully, and that was divided for one man. And further along there were three men, three shares ... It was like that right round the island of Tiree. Yes! The women were working too and the children, and very little you would get for it too! It was a healthy job, but it was not a nice job all the same ... When the kelp kiln was going in full swing you would see the smoke hundreds of miles away.’

Tatties

In February 1847, the minister of Tiree, Neil Maclean, reached the decision that emigration was the only way to preserve the lives of many of the poorest people living on Tiree. His views were shared by the eldest son of the 8th Duke of Argyll, who wrote a letter to Maclean, encouraging him to offer the people hope through emigration. Maclean read this letter to those attending both churches on Tiree (and in those days, most people went to church at least once on Sunday). The population of the island had increased hugely over the preceding years and the island could barely supply sufficient food in a good year – with the failure of the potato crop there was no chance to save people from complete destitution and potential death. Maclean suggested that emigrating to North America offered the opportunity to start a new life in another country where working hard would enable people to build a new life in which they could live in comfort, but he also wanted the Marquis to persuade the Duke to support the emigrants by offering them financial aid as well as encouraging them to leave. These were sad times.

To read more about the Potatoes and Kelp stories, click here

Piobaire Uaimh Chinn a’ Bhara
The Piper of Kenavara Cave

Many years ago a very great piper lived on Tiree – a piper as skilled as the ‘Little Folk’ themselves who dwelt in Kenavara Cave. One evening, while playing at a ceilidh near Kenavara and having taken a dram or two, the piper decided to go and challenge the Little Folk in the cave to a ‘play-off’. Silence fell on the company but they could not dissuade the piper from his plan.

Some of the party goers followed the piper who marched into the cave followed by his dog; they waited and listened as the sound of the pipers grew quieter and quieter. When nothing could be heard, they went home. In the morning some of them returned to the cave where they found the dog – hairless and howling like a banshee – but there was no trace of the piper.

It is said that the Little Folk were so enchanted by the piper’s playing that they decided to keep him there forever and it is said that, when the wind blows in a particular direction, the pipes can be heard as the piper tries to find his way out.

The Tiree Mermaid

Once upon a time and many years ago, two young girls were walking along Grianal beach when they discovered a body washed up on the sand. They ran to fetch Colin MacNiven, tacksman of Grianal, whose brother had drowned not long before. Upon examining the body however, Colin discovered that it was only the top half of the body that was human – from the middle down it was shaped like a fish. He described the top half of the body as being like that of a young boy between the ages of 12 and 14 with small flat ears and a short chin. The arms were about 14 inches long but shaped like human arms with human hands, fingers and nails - although webbed. The lower half of the figure was completely fish shaped, with fins and a tail which was forked like a mackerel but flat. To protect the body from dogs, Colin MacNiven took it away on a handbarrow and buried it in the sand, marking the grave with stones. Eighteen years later, Colin returned to the grave with James Maxwell, JP and his son, the doctor. They dug up the grave and saw the skeleton and swore in court that this was the body of a mermaid.

To read more about The Supernatural stories, click here

Leaving Tiree

‘But they left one fine summer’s day, and my father’s brothers and his brother Archie, told me how well they remembered the day of their going.

‘And many went with them, most of them walking, until they reached Hynish. And the women who went with them were riding in the carts and the men were walking. And they got the boat, in which they left in the port of Hynish. And so they left, and many people saw them off. And something that made us wonder, and it needn’t have when we’d thought about it, some of them carried bundles of straw so that they might have comfortable beds on the boat. Because at that time beds were not provided on board the ships which were taking them to North America.’

John Maclean, bard for laird of MacColl

John Maclean, or Am Bàrd MacGilleathain, meaning "The Bard MacLean," Scottish Gaelic poet (b at Caolas, Tiree, Scot 8 Jan 1787; d at Addington Forks, NS 26 Jan 1848). At an early age, he displayed a talent for composing poetry, a skill which earned him the patronage and friendship of Alexander 15th Maclean of Coll. Apprenticed to a shoemaker at age 16, he later went to Glasgow to work at his trade but returned to Tiree about a year later. Shortly after the publication of his first book of poems he decided to emigrate to Canada and he and his family left Tobermory, Mull, in 1819 on the ship Economy. They settled at Barney's River, Pictou County, and removed, in January 1831 to Glenbard, Antigonish County. The hardships which he endured as a pioneer are graphically depicted in the most famous of his poems "A' Choille Ghruamach" ("The Gloomy Forest"). His songs constitute an important source of information on the way of life in a 19th-century Scottish Gaelic community.

To read more about the Emigration stories, click here