David SD Jones, author of a number of books and articles on gamekeeping and sporting estates, has produced a new history of Morsgail, the 14,000 acre estate extending from Kinlochroag to Hamnway and Loch Langabhat. It was laid out in 1850 by Sir James Matheson and used as a summer residence and to entertain guests with grouse shooting, salmon fishing and deer stalking. The book looks in detail at the development of the estate, the tenants under the Mathesons and Leverhulme, the subsequent owners (including [ » read more ]

In 1923, Lord Leverhulme began to dispose of his Lewis estates, first offering to give the island to its inhabitants.  Stornoway Town Council and Stornoway Trust accepted Lews Castle and the crofts around the town, but Lewis District Council feared that on the sporting and crofting estates the expenditure exceeded the income, and declined the offer.  Angus ‘Ease’ Macleod remarked that “some people might be inclined to say that the Lewis District Council failed to appreciate the historical significance, both to themselves, and to posterity, of [ » read more ]

The renowned naturalist William MacGillivray was born in Aberdeen in 1796 and studied and worked most of his life there or in Edinburgh, but he had a Harris connection through his father and spent much of his childhood at Northton in South Harris (where the MacGillivray Centre now bears his name). As a young man, he returned to spend 1817-1818 there, and his diaries of that period have been published as A Hebridean Naturalist’s Journal (Acair 1996). In October of 1817 he and a party [ » read more ]

Many thanks to Donald J Macleod of Enaclete and Bridge of Don for his research into the fishing boats of Uig. He adds that these boats used lines and not trawls to catch white fish. It was the end of March and beginning of April that was known as the ‘Hungry month’ in Gaelic as fish did not take the bait. See the chart. I’m not sure where this leaves our Rose (above), apparently SY 47 – more research required. The following Uig fishing boats [ » read more ]

Comann Eachdraidh Uig played host last week to a visit from two experts on the Lewis Chessman, who hit the headlines in November with their theories relocating the find-site to Mealista, rather than Ardroil. Dr David Caldwell, Keeper of Scotland and Europe at the National Museum of Scotland, and Dr Mark Hall, curator at Perth Museum, were on the island to make arrangements for the touring Chessmen’s visit in 2011. Their proposal that the findspot was a souterrain on the site of a supposed nunnery [ » read more ]

The following was written by Maggie Smith for Hebridean Connections.  The genealogies of all the known inhabitants of the island of Vuia – uninhabited since 1841 – can be found here. Life on the island of Vuia Mhòr was hard, with little fertile land and no safe anchorage. The peats were cut and harvested in Drovinish and taken home by rowing boat or sail. Boats had to be beached after each fishing trip. Amongst the inhabitants were the family of Neil Macleod, who had found [ » read more ]

By long and solid tradition in Uig, the spot where the Uig Chessmen were found in 1831 is held to be the Bealach Ban, a hollow in the dunes in Ardroil. In November of last year, a paper by Dr David Caldwell et al in Mediæval Archaeology proposed that, on the evidence of the Ordnance Survey Place Names book compiled by contractors from local information in the 1850s, the findspot may have been a few miles away at Mealista. Anna Mackinnon, Ardroil, wrote an initial [ » read more ]

John Mackay (Iain Uisdean, b1870) 1 Carishader in his bus, with (left to right) his son Angus and Farquhar (Fearchar ‘a Chomhnard) and Caluman Macdonald, 12 Carishader.

Uig Community Centre Association’s Winter Bistro Night Saturday 13 February, 8.00pm prompt! Uig Community Centre Complimentary glass of sparkling wine on arrival. Non-alcoholic drink also available ♥ Yellow Pepper and Pear Soup (v) Baked Smoked Fish Creams Served with warm homemade bread rolls and butter ♥ Hand baked individual Steak and Ale pie Chicken stuffed with porcini mushrooms and bacon, with a marsala wine sauce Mediterranean Vegetable Tart Served with Dauphinois Potatoes, Roasted Winter Vegetables and French Beans ♥ Homemade Winter Berry Crumble with Vanilla [ » read more ]

Rev Alexander Macleod arrived in Uig 1824 and evidently had a powerful influence on his congregation.  In the first years of his ministry a number of stories arose demonstrating the (new) piety and upright behaviour of the people of Uig – perhaps exaggerating somewhat the change that had been brought about. In any case Uig was one of several places in the Highlands and Islands that became celebrated for the revival around that time.  The following account comes from the History of Revivals of Religion [ » read more ]

Cha robh cam, nach robh crosda. The following is an account of a familiar tale of the island – perhaps the most famous told of Donald Cam, the chief of the Macaulays in Uig, as given by Capt FWL Thomas in his Traditions of the Macaulays of Lewis (1880). In 1597 some degree of peace was enjoyed in Lewis under the government of Torquil Dubh Macleod, son of Old Rory. Torquil Dubh had been fostered in Uig under the guard of Donald Cam and twenty-eight [ » read more ]

Crofters taking fleeces off Vuia, c1990 (photographer unknown – perhaps Iain Macdonald?) The island of Vuia Mhor lies between Uig and Great Bernera, east of Reef, and covers an area of 84 hectares. The highest point is Mullach na Beinne (67m) which falls away to the sea at Creag na h-Iolaire (Eagle Cliff). Much of the island is rough hilly ground but there is a slope suitable for cultivation on the south side (with lazybeds still evident), and houses were built at an isthmus between [ » read more ]

We’ve had a lot of snow in Uig lately, but nothing as bad as this report from the Stornoway Gazette, 2 February 1945: Snowstorm in Lewis Traffic still disorganised Throughout last week traffic by road in Lewis was still disorganised by the snow. The fall has been one of the heaviest within living memory, and the snow has remained for an unusually long time. At the beginning of the week there were one or two half-hearted suggestions of a thaw, but by the end of [ » read more ]

Winter was always a difficult time for the inhabitants of St Kilda, but the winter of 1876-77 was unusual.  From the Transactions of the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, 1878: When the factor, Mr M’Kenzie, with MacLeod’s vessel, did not put in an appearance in autumn last year [1876], as usual, the inhabitants at once began to make preparations for the winter’s store. Last harvest was very bad with them, and they knew they would be short of meal; and from the first they [ » read more ]