Carishader was lotted in 1849 into 12 regular crofts laid out in a line straddling the main road through Uig, between the hill and the shore of Loch Roag, looking over to Reef and Vuia. Two further crofts were added later to the south end of the village. D Maciver, in his Place Names of Lewis and Harris, offers two possible origins for the name: Some say this is Kari’s setr or shieling, a proper name. Hard to decide. Yet at both ends of this village [ » 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.

Lochcroistean School, c1928. Teachers Annie Macaulay 35 Cliff and Donald Macarthur, Carloway. Back Row:1. Angus Hugh Smith, 2 Carishader 2. Angus John Macdonald, 6 Carishader 3. Donald Macritchie, 4 Enaclete 4. Donald John Mackay, 6 Geshader 5. Malcolm John Smith, 2 Ungeshader 6. Donald Smith, 2 Ungeshader 7. Donald Gillies, 9 Carishader 8. John M Macdonald, 6 Enaclete 9. Norman Macdonald, 12 Carishader 2nd Row: 10. Peter Macleod, 9 Enaclete 11. Murdina Maclean, 3 Geshader & Hushinish 12. Peggy Macleod, 10 Geshader 13. Johan Matheson, [ » read more ]

New pictures for our collection; thanks to Mary Macleod, Lochcroistean.

Marianne hosted a lovely evening for about forty past pupils of Lochcroistean school, and their spouses, on the 130th anniversary of the opening of the school. If the slideshow isn’t working for you, the pictures are also in the Gallery.

Angus Hugh Smith (2 then 7a Carishader) and Angus Macritchie, North End Carishader.  We assume the pram is unoccupied.  Not entirely sure where this is but perhaps Mackay’s shop in Carishader?

Key placenames and landmarks around the township of Geshader, the inlet to Little Loch Roag (the Sruth, next to #18), and the deserted settlement at Strome, as prepared by Finlay and Kenneth Maciver.  There are many more placenames, which we’ll publish once we’ve worked out how best to present them; meanwhile there’s Enaclete too.  Compare to the Ordnance Survey map. 1. Floday 2. Beinn a’Ghlinne Ruaidh 3. Creagan Gorm 4. Rainacleit 5. Druim Ban Gil an Aon Duine 6. Ollashal 7. Sheaval 8. Orcleit an [ » read more ]

Teachers Donald Macarthur (Soup) and Annie Macaulay 35 Cliff (Anna Bheag) Back Row 1. Peter Macleod 9 Enaclete 2. Farquhar Macdonald 12 Carishader 3. Angus Hugh Smith 2 Carishader 4. Donald Macritchie 4 Enaclete 5. Calum Iain Smith 2B Ungeshader 6. Donald Gilleis 9 Carishader 7. John Murdo Mackay 1 Carishader 8. John MAcdonald 6 Enaclete 2nd Row 9. Angus John Macdonald 6 Carishader 10. Christine Macdonald 5 Carishader 11. Dolina Macneill 11 Carishader 12. Dolina Smith 2B Ungeshader 13. Johann Matheson 8 Enaclete 14. [ » read more ]

Kate Macleod, 4 Carishader (Bean a’Lion) and an unknown sailor – can anyone identify him?

Kenneth Macdonald 5 Carishader and Iain Macdonald (Nassar) 13 Carishader, circa 1953.

Finlay, Thelma, Fiona and Kenneth Maciver, Carishader, at the mussels and the peats.

This may be one of the Bernera shielings, just off the main road near Scaliscro road end; the girls, so far unidentified, would therefore be from Bernera.  The fellow with the cream is John Macleod 5 Enaclete, and the other is Angus Mackay, Aonghas ‘an Uisdean, 1 Carishader, who used to drive his father’s bus past these shielings to and from Stornoway.

The picture is of the blackhouse at 3 Ardroil; the following is from Emily Macdonald’s Twenty Years of Hebridean Memories (1939): When I first came to Lewis [in 1919], there were still a few houses which did not possess a chimney, and in these the fire was in the middle of the living-room floor with a hole immediately above it in the roof, in which was sometimes fixed an old barrel or other cylindrical object to act as a vent.  As may be imagined, there was [ » read more ]

William Matheson, Mac Gille Chaluim, wrote extensively of his own family in Uig: Malcolm Matheson [a younger son of Donald Ruadh (or Ban) Matheson, of Kneep and Valtos] known as Calum Ruadh or Calum Mòr, was tenant in Carnish when John Nicolson was tacksman.  In his time the population of the townlands of Uig was increasing rapidly, with the result that what were previously summer pasturages came to be occupied permanently by some of the tenantry.   Thus it was that Calum Ruadh, although a tenant [ » read more ]