Monday, March 8th, 2010
[singlepic=1081,320,240,,left]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 ...
Posted in history, news & events, vikings | 1 Comment »
Saturday, February 20th, 2010
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 ...
Posted in archaeology, church, history, land issues, placenames, vikings | No Comments »
Tuesday, November 10th, 2009
An article published in Mediaeval Archaeology this week raises some questions about the origins of the Uig Chessmen. From the BBC today:
New research has cast doubt on traditional theories about the historic Lewis Chessmen. The 93 pieces - currently split between museums in Edinburgh and London - were discovered on ...
Posted in news & events, vikings | No Comments »
Friday, September 11th, 2009
Pictures also viewable here if the slideshow doesn't work for you.
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Thanks to Iain Watson for these pictures and his memories of scout camps in Uig.
The pictures were all collected by Don Laing, who used to be a Scout Leader in Stornoway for many years from the early 60's until he ...
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Tuesday, August 18th, 2009
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From DDC Pochin Mould's West over Sea, another telling of the familiar story of the ship's boy who was murdered for the Lewis Chessmen by an Uig gillie. The story as told by Rev Col AJ Mackenzie, brother of Roderick Mackenzie, the keeper mentioned below, is also given by Dolly ...
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Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009
Fearchar (Farquhar) Macdonald, son of Angus, was about born about 1809 at Capadal, roughly on the site of 3 Ardroil. In 1832 he joined the Hudson's Bay Company, as a "slooper" - a crewman on HBC decked vessels. According to the Company's personal records, he boarded the Prince Rupert IV ...
Posted in emigration, history, people | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, April 15th, 2009
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Uig is a hive of activity this afternoon.
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Tuesday, February 17th, 2009
From Uig, A Hebridean Parish, by HA Moisley and the Geographical Field Group, 1960.
The crofting population of Uig started the second half of the nineteenth century with far less land than had been occupied by their forebears fifty years before, and, although famine, clearance and emigration had slightly reduced the ...
Posted in crofting, fishing, history, land issues | No Comments »
Sunday, February 8th, 2009
The definitive short guide to our Uig Chessmen, found in Ardroil in 1831, is The Lewis Chessmen, by James Robinson of the British Museum, which addresses aspects of their discovery, design and likely provenance, and also the history of chess. Of our little family of courtly Vikings, the berserkers are ...
Posted in archaeology, vikings | No Comments »
Thursday, January 22nd, 2009
Donald Òg, younger son of Dugald Macaulay of Brenish and himself tacksman of Brenish and Ardroil ca. 1740-1762, left, like many of the Macaulays, a lasting impression on the oral tradition of the area. Among his characteristics were a taste for swordfighting, and a certain delight in the vastness of ...
Posted in church, history, tales | No Comments »
Monday, January 19th, 2009
Donald Òg was the younger of two sons called Donald, born to Dugald Macaulay, tacksman of Brenish, in the late 17th century; he was the great-grandson of Domhnall Càm. Rev William Matheson's columns on the Macaulays, published in the Gazette in the 1950s, include several stories about Donald Òg drawn ...
Posted in gàidhlig, history, land issues, military & police, tales | No Comments »
Thursday, December 4th, 2008
On 4 June 1883 the Napier Commission, chaired by Lord Napier, was in Miavaig to take evidence from crofters and others on issues surround land management and tenancy. Among those interviewed was Norman Morrison, crofter and fisherman at Brenish, aged 61, who stated he had two milk cows, three young beasts, ...
Posted in crofting, emigration, history, land issues | No Comments »
Friday, November 21st, 2008
Many thanks once again to Robin Forrest for providing these wonderful, and previously unknown to us, pictures of Uig in 1964-65, taken by his father Sam Forrest on Land Court business. Some things have changed... some have not!
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Posted in archive photos, crofting, life in uig | 5 Comments »
Saturday, October 25th, 2008
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The first two are evidently the same excursion, to Tiumpan Head. Thanks to Murdina for the photos and to Finlay and Katie Mary and others for the identification (click through for the detail) ... still some gaps to fill. These and a few others have been added to the Excursions ...
Posted in archive photos, entertainments, history, life in uig | No Comments »
Wednesday, September 10th, 2008
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Teacher: Mrs Catherine Finlayson, Ardroil
Back: Donald Maciver 8 Crowlista
Catherine Ann Macfarlane Balnacille Manse
Rachael Mackay 4 Timsgarry
Peter M Matheson 24 Crowlista
Front: Agnes Macfarlane Bailenacille Manse
Jessie Matheson 24 Crowlista
Alex M Matheson 24 Crowlista
Anna Finlayson 1 Ardroil
Dinah Macfarlane Bailenacille Manse.
Posted in archive photos, education | No Comments »
Stornoway, UNITED KINGDOM