The Congested Districts Board took an interest in poultry farming in the crofting parishes and in 1908 a Commission proceeded around Scotland taking evidence from many involved in the trade. On 22 July of that year they were in Uig, interviewing Mr & Mrs Duncan Maclean of Gisla Farm.
Read more →Donald John Macleod was brought up in Enaclete during the war. He recalls the shops, grocery vans and buses that were the source of ample provisions, news and craic at the time.
Read more →[singlepic id=1174 w=600] From the People’s Journal, 27 September 1958. It’s a while now since Dr Donald Macdonald [Dolly Doctor] of Gisla in Lewis practised at his profession. But the jovial, big-hearted doctor is still a cure and a tonic for many folk not only in his native island, but in many other circles. Take [...]
Read more →Gisla, on the shores of Loch Roag, was a small township of 5 tenants until about 1850. It was then given to Angus Maclean, a stonemason from Melbost who had lived at Scaliscro, in payment for his work on the construction of Morsgail Lodge. Angus was the father of Big Bear Maclean, who also lived [...]
Read more →[singlepic=1048,389] Miavaig; taken 29 December 2009, 9am. The bay at Miavaig is frozen, as are all the smaller sealochs, including Little Loch Roag, which doesn’t happen often. There is a story of crossing Little Loch Roag on foot, however. James Macnaughton, born 1804 and the son of a shepherd at Cleit a Thog (near Scaliscro), [...]
Read more →Further to the previous item about WJ Maclean of Gisla, who was a Chief Trader with the Hudson’s Bay Company: an account of the one Christmas he and his family spent at Fort Pitt before it was burned to the ground in April 1885. This is from an article by W Bleasdell Cameron in The [...]
Read more →We’ve mentioned before the story of William “Big Bear” Maclean, who was born in Scaliscro in 1837 and, after his family moved to Gisla, went on to an eventful career with the Hudson’s Bay Company in Canada. His HBC record has recently come to light (thanks to Donald Macaulay, Stornoway) and it gives much more [...]
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Place names in Enaclete and the surrounding area, mapped by Finlay and Kenny Maciver. They did Geshader too and you may like to compare the Ordnance Survey map. 1. Airigh Dhubh 23. Caol Loch 2. Loch Croistean 24. Druim Mor 3. Loch a’ Phealair Beag 25. Loch nan Learg a Tuath 4. Old Sheilings 26. [...]
Read more →[singlepic=592,385] Duncan Macdonald’s croft at Gisla. Thanks to Hugh Henderson.
Read more →[singlepic=389,400] Duncan Macdonald, Gisla, was the postman on the Kinlochresort route and his daily walk took him four miles over the moors to the remote village. One day in 1959, he noticed that a loch was missing: the water was simply gone. Much debate ensued over the reason for this but the obvious explanation was [...]
Read more →This account of the gathering of the sheep into the Gisla fank for the clipping was written by David Henderson and first published in the Scots Magazine in August 1995. These large-scale community gatherings are now, sadly, a thing of the past. There are more pictures in the gallery, and of the fank at Loch [...]
Read more →A great collection of photographs from Hugh and Sheila Henderson.
Read more →Donald Macdonald, Dolly Doctor, was born in 1891 in Stornoway, eldest son of John Macdonald Carishader and Annie Gillies, Shawbost and Stornoway. He studied at the Nicolson and at Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh, and practiced as a specialist in the west end of London. He married Emily Paul, niece of Lord Leverhulme (then proprietor of the [...]
Read more →From left, Emily Macdonald Gisla, Effie Maclennan 36 Cliff, and two visitors, visiting a shieling. From Emily’s Twenty Years of Hebridean Memories (1939) – observing from Gisla Lodge the girls going to the shielings at Airigh an Fhorsa and Bo Nighean Mhuirich. The ones Emily mentioned visiting near Loch Coirgeabhat may be at Airigh an [...]
Read more →The wedding of Annie Macdonald 11 Geshader and Donald Macdonald, Kirkibost and Gisla, at Ceann Langabhat. Kate and John (Lion) Macdonald, 11 Geshader Effie And John Macdonald, Gisla Donald and Annie Nora and Catherine, the bride’s sisters Cairistiona, their niece
Read more →A chapter (abridged) by Annis Heawood from Uig: A Hebridean Parish (1960). Photo by Chris Murray. The district here described includes Gisla, near the head of Little Loch Roag, Enaclete, Ungeshader and Geshader, on the western shores of Loch Roag proper. All these are strung out on or close to the main road. Miavaig, like Gisla, [...]
Read more →From Emily Macdonald’s Twenty Years of Hebridean Memories (1939). Emily and her husband Dolly Doctor owned Uig Lodge but it was permanently let to tenants. On our next two holidays in Lewis, we managed to get rooms in Uig for a few days’ visit to the part of the Island we loved so much. But there were [...]
Read more →Valtos men at Gisla, returning from the shielings (both Airigh an Fhorsa NB117226 and Airigh Bo Nighean Mhuirich NB 105224 – thanks Calum) with creels of butter, crowdie and cheese. Murdo Smith 30 Valtos (Murchadh Gobha), Calum Buchanan 7 Valtos (Calum a’Bhodaich), Donald Mackay 15 Valtos (Dòmhnall a’Chreagain) and Norman Buchanan 8 Valtos (Tarmod Sham) in [...]
Read more →by Emily Macdonald, niece of Lord Leverhulme and wife of Dolly Doctor. Written in 1939 and privately published in 1965. An account of holidays in Lewis, marriage to Dolly Doctor, owning Uig Lodge and building Gisla Lodge, and general reminiscences 1918-1938.
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