Scottish Islands Explorer 40: Nov / Dec 2016

SCOTTISH 

ISLANDS 

THE UK’S ONLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO EXPLORING THE ISLANDS OF SCOTLAND 

EXPLORER 

Isle of May 

Firth of Forth 

The 

Corryvreckan 

Phenomenon 

NOV/DEC 2016 £3.95 

Lerwick 

SHETLAND 

Oban 

GATEWAY 

Beehive 

CELLS 

Plus: South Uist - Tomb of Eagles - Little Terns - and much more ...

ISLAND AND WILDLIFE CRUISES OFF SCOTLAND’S 

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NORTHERN LIGHT 

CRUISING COMPANY 

Exploring St Kilda, Mingulay, The Shiants, North Rona 

and many other Hebridean Islands. 

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Great Food • Birds • Cetaceans • Walking • Photo Opportunities 

Call Michelle on 01599 555723 

info@northernlight-uk.com 

northernlight-uk.com

Morvern - page 35 

Lerwick - page 8 Isle of May - page 28 

SCOTTISH ISLANDS EXPLORER NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2016 Volume 17 / Issue 6 

Editor 

John Humphries 

editor@scottishislandsexplorer.com 

01379 890270 

Publisher 

Tom Humphries 

publisher@scottishislandsexplorer.com 

Production Design 

Deborah Bryce 

production@scottishislandsexplorer.com 

Proof Reader 

Melanie Palmer 

Circulation and Enquiries 

Steve Tiernan 

www.magazineworkshop.co.uk 

01422 410615 

Regular Contributors 

Tom Aston 

Roger Butler 

Marc Calhoun 

Richard Clubley 

James Hendrie 

Mavis Gulliver 

Jack Palfrey 

James Petre 

Stephen Roberts 

Andrew Wiseman 

Administration 

Ravenspoint Press Ltd 

Kershader Isle of Lewis HS2 9QA 

01851 830316 

info@scottishislandsexplorer.com 

www.scottishislandsexplorer.com 

Published bi-monthly 

Printed by Buxton Press Ltd 

Palace Road Buxton SK17 5AE 

01298 212000 

Next issue on sale: 18 December 2016 

©Ravenspoint Press Ltd 

All rights reserved. 

ISSN: 1476-6469 

Distribution 

Warners Group Publications Plc 

The Maltings West Street 

Bourne Lincolnshire PE10 9PH 

01778 391000 

Front Cover 

Image of the Corryvreckan Whirlpool 

from Seafari Adventures - Easdale 

CONTENTS 

4 Editor John Humphries and Guest Columnist Emily Richards 

5 Vision for 2020 with Christmas Offers as well as the Quiz challenge 

6 Insights One Books with Seasonal Interests - as Presents or for Pursuits 

7 Insights Two A Gift from a Writer’s Cabin 

8 Lerwick 

Stephen Roberts traces its development from Shetland backwater 

13 From the Static to the Dynamic 

Jack Palfrey took a Jerba campervan on a test-run 

15 Islands Beyond 

Hew Prendergast finds coincidences in Bronte, Sicily 

16 Oban 

Roger Butler focuses on ‘the Gateway to the Isles’ 

20 The Cladh Hallan Mummies 

Sharon Brookshaw uncovers some of their mysteries 

24 Readers’ Opportunities One 

Get Out More … With Less! 

25 Readers’ Opportunities Two 

HMS Hampshire: A Century of Myths and Mysteries Unravelled 

26 Centrepiece 

Little Terns - Michael Steciuk shares his images from an assignment 

28 Isle of May - Beloved of Vikings, Smugglers and Seabirds 

Marieke McBean on the island in the Firth of Forth 

32 Ages of Man and Tomb of Eagles 

James Hendrie visits the archaeological finds of two people 

35 Morvern 

James Petre sees it more as an island 

38 The Corryvreckan 

Gordon Eaglesham explains the whirlpool phenomenon 

42 The Beehive Cells 

Marc Calhoun takes a walk to Ardveg 

45 Inchcolm 

Susan Hulme investigates the ‘Iona’ beside the city 

48 Responses 

Chris Banks revives special memories of visiting St Kilda 

49 Crossword Sponsored by the Islands Book Trust 

Tom Johnson presents puzzlers with his 25th challenge 

50 Island Incidents 

Barbara Sellars experienced the ancient and modern in Inchcailloch 

NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2016 SCOTTISH ISLANDS EXPLORER 3

Editor’s Welcome / Guest Columnist 

Editor 


on associates 

There is again something that feels new about this edition 

of the magazine. We are with Buxton Press which, of course, 

applies different production techniques. Alas, the family-firm of 

Hastings Printing, was taken over and closed. Sadness was felt 

because the company knew how to handle our commercial 

needs in both a friendly and professional manner. 

We felt an association with them for they owned two 

magazines, which like our title, encouraged those with a passion 

- in their case for ships and aircraft. One of the features of the 

British, and its males in particular, is a liking for an activity that 

creates a bond of common interest. Obviously on a large-scale 

this can involve soccer or, with its full title, Association Football. 

Fans (and sometimes fanatics) can be drawn to mass 

movements which are sporting, political, religious or social. Yet 

the appeal is to find those enthusiasts who focus on the often 

unnoticed and the unexpected. They derive pleasure from 

exploring, sometimes collecting, but always looking at structures 

or topics that demand a certain meticulousness. 

I had the privilege during the summer of spending time with 

members of the Relative Hills Society in the Isles of Scilly. Before 

you start contacting me about a group of Marilyn-baggers 

(dedicated climbers of certain hills of over 1500’ in Britain and 

Ireland) being on low-lying islands, you should know that here 

was a group interested also in SIBS - Significant Islands of Britain. 

I now urge you to google your way out of ignorance and then 

to listen to my account of how I was impressed by 20 individuals, 

male and female, who visited small islands, climbed to their 

highest and photographed, if there, the relevant trig points and 

then proceeded to search for and identify one or more of the 

Ordnance Survey bench-marks, of which there are some halfmillion 

nationwide. 

So let us rejoice that our heritage is being preserved for future 

generations, efforts are being made to enthuse others, individual 

passions are aroused and a ‘good time had by all.’ Those of us 

who are associates on this magazine - editor, contributors, 

publisher, designer, proof-reader, circulation-manager and 

printer - have a common cause that demands meticulous 

attention to creating a publication. 


Guest Columnist 

Emily Richards on the 

Isle of Rum’s effect 

What do we mean by ‘the real world’, anyway? 

In 2013, I le London for an unknown wilderness, 

having abandoned job, income, friends and family 

to live with my wife in Kinloch Castle on the Isle of Rum, 

one of the wildest places in Britain. We shared an island 

with just 42 other people, plus eight eagles, 900 deer and 

100,000 Manx shearwater. 

During the two years that we lived there, my encounters 

with Rum's vast wilderness and its tiny community at 

first led to depression, even fear; but Rum was also 

beautiful, comical and, ultimately, life-changing. And 

when I wanted to run away, I was inspired to stay by the 

story of Lady Monica Bullough, the Edwardian beauty 

who once owned both castle and island. 

Here I was able to find my own voice and to write - at 

first a blog - then a whole book, Twelve Months with 

Lady Monica - A Beginner’s Life on the Isle of Rum. One 

reason for writing it was to tell the story of an island. But 

I also wanted to communicate that change is possible - 

but not easy. Living inescapably close to nature is not a 

romantic dream. It's more like a surgical intervention 

that changes you, body and soul. 

Even though we are now back in the ‘real world’ - which 

sometimes feels far less real than Rum - I am still stronger. 

My senses are sharper, I sleep more deeply and I know 

how to walk without footpaths; I used to feel cold all the 

time, now I feel warm. I am not passive in the way I used 

to be; I do not rely as much on other people; 

I have learnt what it means to feel free. is is what Rum 

gave me. 

So what happens now? Islands are not places where you 

can run away from life. Instead, if you take them 

seriously, they make you confront their realities. 

My challenge now is to put what I learned on Rum to 

use - to bring some of its freedom and wildness to my 

own life and, maybe, to other people’s too. 

Emily Richards 

4 SCOTTISH ISLANDS EXPLORER NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2016

VISION FOR 2020 

Here we are with the final issue of 2016 and 17 years of publishing complete. The magazine 

started on Fair Isle, moved to the south coast of England and has now settled down in … 

Suffolk, with a back office on Lewis. It’s that time of year when the need to keep-in-touch is 

paramount and what better for a present than a publication which keeps on coming (through 

the letter-box) for a whole year or beyond? 

Savings on Multiple 

Subscriptions 

This is the proposal for Christmas 

2016: one-year subscription gift 

offer to current readers wishing to 

purchase for family and friends 

with delivery in the UK. 

One gift may be bought for 

£22; two for £44; three for 

£55; four for £66. 

Cheques should be made payable 

to Ravenspoint Press Ltd and sent 

to 

Scottish Islands Explorer 

Elm Lodge 

Garden House Lane 

Rickinghall 

Diss IP22 1EA 

Christmas 2016 Gift 

Subscription Offer! 

Please indicate the names and 

full addresses of the recipients 

together with your contact details 

(including phone and email, if 

applicable). For credit and debit 

card payments, phone 01379 

890270 or 07510 127014. 

Quiz: Insular Golf 

Courses 

David Hoult writes: The islands of 

Scotland boast some beautiful 

and distinctive golf courses. The 

latest is currently under construction 

at Ardfin, on Jura, and it is 

likely to be among the more 

impressive. Many existing ones 

are also in wonderfully scenic 

locations. On which islands are 

the following golf courses 

located? 

1. Machrie 

2. Askernish 

3. Dale 

4. Sconser 

5. Cleat 

6. Shiskine 

7. Scarista 

8. Vaul 

9. Skaw 

10. Balvicar 

Answers on Page 50 

Clarification 

The St Kilda gannet colony figure (quoted in the 

September / October 2016 edition) was, indeed, 

60,000 pairs of breeding birds, but in 2014 the 

Bass Rock became the world’s largest Northern 

Gannet colony with 75,000 pairs of birds. 

scottishislandsexplorer.com 

visit us 

online 


Page 

INSIGHTS 

Index Header 

Books with Seasonal Interests - as Presents or for Personal Pursuits 

Tobermory 

by Nic Davies, Sam Jones 

and Brian Swinbanks 

£9.99 Birlinn 978-1-78027-315-0 

e vibrant main street of the main town 

on Mull is photogenic - with its brightlycoloured 

frontages and iconic waterfront. 

Here is a collection of the work of three 

acclaimed, local photographers who have 

captured images of places, people, 

communities, events and wildlife encounters. 

e aerial views and stunning sunsets 

set the scene for a town to be recommended 

for holidaying and a book for giing. 

Island on the Edge - 

A Life on Soay 

by Anne Cholawo 

£12.99 Birlinn 978-1-78027-349-5 

e author saw Soay for the first time in 

1989, having found an advertisement for a 

property there. She was smitten, purchased 

and moved to be one of 17 residents. Now, 

including Anne and her husband, Robin, 

there are three. is is a first-person 

account of transition from urban life to selfsufficiency, 

of landscape and characters, of 

present-day activities and past endeavours, 

such as those of Gavin Maxwell. 

The Crinan Canal 

by Marian Pallister 

£9.99 Birlinn 

978-1-78027-346-4 

is is the first history of the canal that is 

a significant monument to British civil 

engineering. It has been called ‘Britain’s 

most beautiful shortcut’ and from 1801 

saved commercial shipping from 

journeying around the Mull of Kintyre to 

reach the West Coast and the Hebridean 

islands. Victoria and Albert made a return 

voyage in 1847 and encouraged tourists to 

follow the ‘Royal Route’. 

The Book of Iona - 

An Anthology 

Edited by Robert Crawford 

£14.99 Polygon 978-1-84697-351-2 

While Iona has come a long way since the 

early writings by and of Columba, 

Professor Crawford has brought together 

a wide range of stories, poems, assessments, 

analyses and reflections. e island 

annually attracts hundreds of thousands 

of visitors, for it is a place of pilgrimage 

and a tourist trail destination. is book 

deserves to attract the same length queues 

as those generated by the ferry. 

Religion in Secular Society 

by Bryan R Wilson 

Edited by Steve Bruce 

£27.50 Oxford University Press 

978-0-19-878837-9 

Visitors to the Outer Hebrides on a 

Sunday will be aware of the popularity of 

church-going among the Protestants in 

the north and the Catholics in the south. 

Secularisation has been relatively slow to 

develop, but in the religious culture of 

most of the UK and much of the USA it 

has been widespread. Bryan Wilson 

considers changes since the publication of 

his Religion in Secular Society 50 years ago. 

A Shetlander’s Fair Isle 

Graph Book 

with an Introduction by 

Dr Carol Christiansen 

£20.00 e Shetland Times Ltd 

978-1-910997-08-6 

is is for the adventurous knitter who 

wishes to be inspired by classic Shetland Fair 

Isle patterns and colourways as well as by 

Norwegian-created motifs. Income from 

this book will be used by the Shetland Guild 

of Spinners, Knitters, Weavers and Dyers to 

promote all aspects of their traditional 

textile skills that are also encouraged on the 

website www.ravelry.com 


INSIGHTS 

Page Index Header 

A Gift from a Writer’s Cabin 

Writer’s Cabin, Islay 

Mavis Gulliver, a lover of islands 

and contributor to this magazine, finds 

inspiration from her travels around the 

Hebrides. After a long teaching career, 

latterly on Colonsay, she has fulfilled 

her ambition to write for children. 

A Tiree fencepost in the rough shape 

of a horse’s head triggered her 

imagination and led her to write The 

Hagstone Chronicles. 

Swirled together with magic, 

mystery, island locations and folklore, 

the three books take the reader on 

an epic adventure as they join the 

Benevolent Wizards in their determination 

to defeat Malevolent Witchery. 

Accolades for the books have come, 

not only from 8 -12 year olds, but from 

teenagers, teachers, parents and a 

46-year-old man who said, “I love to 

immerse myself in a book meant for 

children. This is not just a story for the 

young, but for the young at heart.” 

Ideal for a holiday, for curling up on 

a winter’s evening, for reading alone 

or for sharing with the whole family, 

the three books make a perfect 

Christmas gift. 

On a limited offer - until Christmas 

Eve 2016 - signed copies of Cry at 

Midnight, Clickfinger and The Snake 

Wand are available from the author 

for the price of two, that’s £19.98 

post-free. Just email 

mavisgulliver@googlemail.com and 

she will reply, indicating the ways and 

means of securing her books. 

Mavis Gulliver converts her ideas 

into words from her writer’s cabin on 

Islay. Enjoy her gifts as a writer and do 

take advantage of her offer of a 

seasonal gift to you. 

An Acclaimed Triology 

for Under £20 

Signed - Post-free - A Gift! 


Lerwick 

Lerwick 

Stephen Roberts traces its development 

from Shetland backwater to commercial centre 

Ifancied I needed a haircut. I only had a few hours 

in Lerwick, the wind was ‘fresh’ and my mop was 

scattering indiscriminately. en I saw it; ‘Britain’s 

most northerly barber shop’. It seemed like an invitation 

I couldn’t pass up. 

Everything about Shetland’s capital is northerly, its 

being over 100 miles from the coast of mainland 

Scotland. For somewhere supposedly so remote, it is 

surprisingly busy, a bustling, cosmopolitan seaport. 

Here is Shetland’s industrial and commercial hub, 

with Lerwick Harbour its principal port. 

It is a key to the local economy and Britain’s 

northernmost commercial port, handling 5,000 

vessels annually, including cruise ships, with around 

50 behemoths berthing each year. We arrived in said 

fashion and paid homage at ‘Böd of Gremista’, the 

house one-mile north, where Arthur Anderson, cofounder 

of P&O was born. 

Today’s High School 

is building was once a fish-curing station and 

Anderson himself once worked on the beach, 

preparing fish. He endowed his eponymous 

educational institute in 1862, which became today’s 

High School, with some 900 pupils. As Shetland has 

15 inhabited islands, it would be impractical for some 

pupils to travel to school each day and so Anderson 

High has a student hostel. 

Down on the waterfront bob a myriad of cra; 

pleasure boats, yachts, historic cra and fishing boats, 

adding a touch of colour to what might, otherwise, 

be a grey scene. Lerwick’s building material is 

predominantly grey, so a sunny day should be ordered 

if possible. Bars and clubs abound. 

The fishing heritage is strong, of course. Hay’s 

Dock, once the centre of Shetland’s fishing 

industry and boatbuilding, is now home to the 

Shetland Museum and Archives, recalling 5,000 

years of human activity. The town’s population is 

7,500 and the islands have around 22,000 

residents, about half of whom live within ten miles 

of the burgh. 

Long, Chequered History 

e name literally means ‘muddy bay’ (‘Leir-vik’ in 

Norse). Founded originally as an unofficial market 

for 17th Century herring fleets, and developed on 

that trade, Lerwick had a long, chequered history. 

Every June, from 1602, saw the Dutch fishing fleet 

gather in Bressay Sound, the sheltered stretch 

between Shetland’s Mainland and the island of 

Bressay, for migrating herring. 

Native Shetlanders set up temporary huts along the 

shore to trade with the Netherlanders. e fact a 

harbour developed here is unsurprising, as Bressay 

Sound looks an eminently sensible place for a safehaven. 

e only surprise is it took so long to get 

established. Until 1625 there were just a few huts, 

but with the deep water harbour and fishing 

interests, its growth was inevitable. 

Lerwick was not always the ‘main-man’ though. In 

an interesting juxtaposition of old and new, the 

village of Scalloway, six miles west with 1,200 

residents today, was the ancient capital. is is why 

it has a fine castellated mansion, built in 1600 by 

Patrick Stewart, Earl of Orkney, who succeeded his 

father to the earldom and Lordship of Shetland 

eight years before. 


Lerwick 

‘Lerwick may have seen its fishing fleet 

dwindle, but its superb natural harbour 

has found ready compensation ...’ 


Lerwick 

Business Had Shifted 

ere was then no castle on Shetland, hence his building in 

Scalloway which continued as the focus for local administration 

and justice, with courts held there in 1612 and 1613. 

By 1708, it ceased to be the archipelago’s capital, although, 

as late as 1733, public letters were still draed there, but, by 

then, government business had shied to Lerwick. 

Its travails included demolition by the Scalloway court in 

1615 and 1625, punishment for its ‘illegality’ and alleged 

immorality, referring to the infamously drunken and rowdy 

annual herring festival. ere appears to have been some 

resentment by pious citizens of what went on there, where 

‘country people and Hollanders caroused’. 

For many years the authorities insisted Lerwick’s shanty 

town was ‘fired’ aer the Dutch had le. By 1650, however, 

its settlement was looking more permanent, although the 

relationship with the Dutch was changing. e first Anglo- 

Dutch War broke out in 1652, fought to control trade routes 

and colonies. 

Another Fortified Site 

e response was to build a fort overlooking the harbour. 

To add to its woes the Dutch burned the fort in 1673 and the 

French set fire to the town in 1702. at bastion is Fort 

Charlotte, founded in the 17th Century, then re-built in 

1781. Defence has a long history here; another fortified site, 

‘Clickimin Broch’ was occupied from the 7th Century BC 

to the 6th Century AD. 

‘Up-Helly-Aa’ is world-famous as Britain’s biggest and most 

spectacular fire-festival. e last Tuesday of January sees a 

torch-lit procession of some 1,000 people, burning of a 

replica Viking longship and all-night dancing and partying. 

Sounds like my kind of shindig - for Scandinavian roots 

permeate here. 

Commercial Street, parallel to the shore, offers access to the 

sea though gaps between buildings. At its south-east end can 

be found the lodberries, private piers for unloading goods 

into enclosed courtyards and warehouses. Here are 18th 

Century warehouses, with their own piers, and foundations 

in the sea. Little has changed since the 1700s. 

The Edinburgh Sailing 

From 1736 it was possible to sail from Lerwick to Leith, 

with the service improving in the 1750s as Shetland ponies 

were exported to English coalmines. Right up to 1901, 

Shetlanders relied on the Edinburgh sailing, as anyone 

requiring medical treatment had to get to the city’s Royal 

Infirmary. Today ships sail to Kirkwall, Aberdeen, 

Scandinavia, Faroe and Iceland. 

Most sandstone-buildings on the waterfront date from the 

18th Century; a few are older. e narrow main-street and 

charming constricted lanes just evolved. e area up beyond 

the Hillhead was planned though by Victorian architects, 

spacious villas and parks dominated by the Town Hall of the 

1880s, financed by the herring trade. 

Lerwick may have seen its fishing fleet dwindle, but its 

superb natural harbour has found ready compensation, 

becoming central to the recent oil boom, with ‘aquiline’ (like 

an eagle’s beak) oil-boats competing for space with the 

remaining fishing boats. It was from the mid-70s that 

Shetland profited from the North Sea, with a massive 

terminal constructed at Sullom Voe. 


Lerwick 

The Inconvenience 

e Shetland Charitable Trust dates to 

1976, a way of recompensing local people for 

the ‘inconvenience’ of having the terminal 

based in Shetland, by investing its public oil 

money for the benefit of its community. Its 

genesis came four years earlier when the ‘oil 

giants’ were doubtless viewing Shetland as 

little islands to be exploited in the greater 

scheme of things. 

Ian Clark, then Clerk of Zetland Council, 

thought otherwise, and devised a scheme to 

acquire special powers from Parliament ‘to 

protect Shetland’s interests and exploit the 

financial opportunities about to arise’. It was 

very ‘Local Hero’ and led to the local 

authority (now Shetland Islands Council) 

holding the initiative on oil matters over 

Parliament and the industrial giants. 

Disturbance Agreement (DA) money is 

paid to the Trust, charitable status giving 

exemption from certain taxes and Clark’s 

initiative resulting in ‘special funds’ which the 

CT can spend as it likes. To highlight just one 

success; Shetland now has eight top-class 

leisure centres and sporting facilities in its 

more populated areas. 

Secondary Banking Crisis 

e Charitable Trust is not as buoyant as it 

was, a reflection of the global financial 

downturn. ‘Cost cutting’ and ‘value for 

money’ are now watchwords. at new mood 

also reflects at council level, Shetland Islands 

Council lost heavily in the Secondary 

Banking crisis of 1973-75 when a slump in 

property prices caused smaller lenders, 

offering high interest rates, to face 

bankruptcy. 

en again there were difficulties in the more 

recent stock-market declines and banking 

crises, particularly those faced by the Icelandic 

financial authorities. All this goes to show that, 

while Shetland has done well from the North 

Sea’s oil industry, the words and concept of the 

poet John Donne need to be heeded in that ‘no 

man (nor business) is an island’. 

Page 9 Top: View towards Lerwick 

from the cruise ship berth. 

Below: Lerwick Harbour. 

Opposite: Fort Charlotte from the 

north. 

Left: Britain's most northerly 

barber shop. 

Below: Shetland Museum interior. 

Photographs taken by the author, 

James Hendrie. 

Further Information 

Shetland Pride of Place - 

shetland.org 

Lerwick Harbour - 

lerwick-harbour.co.uk 

Shetland Charitable Trust 

Shetland Times - 

shetlandtimes.co.uk 


The 

Pairc Trust 

Who are we? 

The Pairc Trust completed purchase of the Pairc Estate 

on behalf of the local community in December 2015. 

The Estate extends to an area of approximately 

10,840ha in South Lochs, on the Isle of Lewis. It is a 

remote and rurally isolated area of the Western Isles, 

with a population of 400, and is 30 miles from 

Stornoway, the only large town in the Outer Hebrides. 

The Trust aims to regenerate the Pairc Estate, by 

providing affordable good quality accommodation, 

employment, community facilities and services. 

The Trust employs two full-time members of staff: a 

Development Manager and an Administrative Assistant 

who are both based in the Pairc Trust Office in the 

Kershader Resource Centre, South Lochs. 

There are seven directors who have a wide range of 

experience and skills. The minutes of their regular board 

meetings are published on the Pairc Trust website. 

What do we do? 

The five areas of prospective development have the 

potential to contribute towards the economic growth 

of the area and provide an income for the Trust. 

• Tourism: looking into how we can make the Estate 

more attractive to visitors by working in partnership 

with local groups and businesses. 

• Housing: providing additional and affordable 

housing to members of the community. 

• Renewable Energy: investigating potential opportunities 

for renewable energy development. 

• Resource Centre in Kershader: purchasing the 

building in order to provide a base for charities and 

community groups. 

• Crofting Administration: bringing the crofting files 

in-house and taking over the administration from 

the factors of the Estate. 

We are setting up working groups for each of the areas 

and welcome members of the community to join. 

In order to make the area more attractive to visitors, 

we are going to improve the walkway between 

Orinsay and the deserted village of Steimreway 

(pictured above). This is a very popular facility with 

locals and visitors alike. 

In order to make these improvements we have 

successfully applied for funding from Tesco Bags of 

Help, and local customers can vote for our project in 

Stornoway’s Tesco between 31 October to 13 

November 2016 

More information about the funding can be found 

at www.tesco.com/bagsofhelp 

Ways to get involved 

Email: info@pairctrust.co.uk 

Telephone: 01851 880 728 

Facebook: www.facebook.com/PaircTrust 

Website: www.pairctrust.co.uk 

If you live locally you can complete a Pairc 

Residents’ Survey online through the link on 

our website or contact us for a paper copy. We 

are always happy to meet with 

individuals or groups. If you 

would like to discuss anything, 

please feel free to get in touch. 

12 SCOTTISH ISLANDS EXPLORER

From the Static to the Dynamic 

Jack Palfrey took a Jerba Campervan on a test-run 

If you are able to put your hands on the May / June 2015 

edition of Scottish Islands Explorer, you will find an article 

on Jerba Campervans that advocates the vehicle as a fine 

prospective method of … Scottish islands exploring. Earlier 

this year I was invited to drive the converted Volkswagen T6 

from the company’s production unit near North Berwick. 

Simon Poole and his partner, Cath Brookes, own the 

going-concern that produces some 60 vehicles a year within 

a few hundred yards of Tantallon Castle. So customers drive 

away their new acquisitions and soon see the mid-14th 

Century semi-ruin as they begin an adventurous phase of 

their lives. The bonding of driver and vehicle will involve 

the same connections as between the builders and 

campervan, ‘teamwork’. 

Perfect Compactness 

e word ‘conversion’ implies an add-on element, but the 

standard of workmanship here elevates the interiors of the 

campervans to a perfect compactness, planned by those who 

have many years of experience in ‘tents-on-wheels’. ere is 

not an aer-thought in design, for all is part of a complete 

concept about creating carefree touring. 

For the most part, owners will be making their ways to 

scenic areas where roads are narrower and inclined to wind 

around hills and mountains, dales and vales. is campervan 

holds the road effectively and the higher position of the cab 

means that a wider sense of vision is there to enjoy. 

Cornering, manoeuvring, positioning and parking were soon 

mastered by me. 

My wish was to see how the relatively static element of 

driving safely became the dynamic concept of multiple uses 

for holidaying. I need not have worried, for access to 

equipment was either of finger-tip control or within-reach. 

Drivers and passengers see a daily evolution from refreshment 

bar to kitchen / diner and then on to a room for beds before 

that vital routine of PUMO - ‘Pack Up Move Off ’. 

Space on Board 

All the main Scottish islands have roll-on, roll-off ferries. 

Skye has two of them and then its main access point, the 

Bridge. It is a fine island to start a campervan odyssey with 

roads that attract enthusiasts, long coastal stretches, 

unrestricted parking with many fine places for overnight 

stays, and space on board for the kit needed to climb hills 

or relax on beaches. 

‘Jerba’ can be used as a variation for Djerba, the island off 

south-east Tunisia. It has been traditionally liked with 

Homer’s land of the lotus-eaters where the natural 

elements of the diet provide narcotic properties. This is a 

place associated with ‘peaceful apathy’. However, the drive 

to see places in the Jerba Campervan means that the 

appropriate word is, indeed, ‘carefree’. It’s yours to experience 

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ISLANDS BEYOND 

Hew Prendergast finds coincidences in Bronte, Sicily 

In a small cypress-darkened Sicilian graveyard is a strange 

tomb. On its face are two names - one male, the other 

female. ey share a date of birth -12 September 1855 - as 

though they were twins. But they also share a very much later 

date of death - 12 December 1905 -by all appearances more 

then a remarkable coincidence. 

e two names are ‘William Sharp’ and ‘Fiona Macleod’ 

and below them are inscribed, respectively, fitting lines of 

verse they each wrote: 

Farewell then to the known and exhausted 

Welcome to the unknown and unfathomed 

Love is more great than we conceive 

And death is the keeper of unknown redemptions 

William and Fiona were in fact one and the same, but not 

from the very beginning. Born in Paisley, and educated briefly 

at Glasgow University, William settled in London where he 

associated with many of the leading artists and literati of the 

time. He published volumes of poetry, wrote biographies of 

Shelley, Heine and Browning, and was commissioned for 

articles and essays for periodicals. He was also a keen traveller. 

The Key to Everything 

For anyone of sensibility from Europe’s north, a journey to 

Italy could have an enormous impact. Perhaps the most 

famously recorded of all was the Italienische Reise of Johann 

Wolfgang von Goethe. For six weeks in 1787 he visited 

Sicily. ‘Without Sicily,’ he wrote, ‘Italy creates no image in 

the soul: here is the key to everything.’ 

Just over a century later, in 1893, came William Sharp’s own 

Sicily by Hew Prendergast. Pastel drawing by Charles Ross 1891. 

first visit to the island and it was later that year that (coincidentally?) 

he first mentioned to his publisher that ‘I wish to 

adhere rigidly to the Fiona Macleod authorship.’ What 

spurred him to adopt such a nom de plume must have been 

psychologically complicated, but this did appear to allow the 

expression of a feminine side to his character. Indeed he was 

supposed to have written to a friend that ‘in some things I am 

more a woman than a man.’ 

e poetry ‘she’ wrote conferred on him a degree of 

anonymity and eventually attracted greater praise than ‘his’. 

A life of two halves and identities took hold. How did Sharp 

(and Macleod) end up 25 miles inland from Sicily’s east 

coast? A clue lies on a sign for the graveyard, the Cimitiro 

Inglese dei Nelson, although this in turn begs other questions. 

Never Visited 

In 1799, Horatio Nelson assisted the King of Naples in his 

resistance to the French and, in gratitude, was conferred a 

title and a fine Sicilian mansion opposite the graveyard. He 

never visited it, but his descendants retained possession of 

the Castello Nelson until the 1970s and they still, 

apparently, own the graveyard where Sharp/Macleod is its 

most famous internee. 

Whatever literary heights he/she managed to achieve, they 

are far outshone by the daughters of a Yorkshire vicar who, 

in awe and honour of Nelson, changed his surname, and 

theirs, to that of the town where the graveyard in Sicily is 

located - Brontë. Perhaps Sharp too had gone there to pay 

his respects? 


Oban 

Oban 

Roger Butler focuses on ‘the Gateway to the Isles’ 

Ask a child to sketch out an imaginary coastal 

town, you might well receive something 

that looked like Oban. A sheltered harbour would 

be the centrepiece, with high mountains, 

shimmering sunsets and tiers of solid stone houses. 

A toy railway and a pier, tiny fishing boats bob in 

the bay and gigantic ferries squeeze their way out 

to sea. Seagulls fill the sky while tourists tuck into 

hearty portions of freshly-cooked crab. 

Everyone seems to like Oban. e name might 

be derived from the Gaelic equivalent of ‘little bay’ 

but there’s nothing small about the present-day 

harbour. ‘Gateway to the Isles’ is a well-used 

strapline, though marketing teams can offer 

alternatives. Currently the town is ‘Seafood 

Capital of Scotland’, but in the years aer the 

Second World War it was oen known as the 

‘Charing Cross of the Highlands’. 

Today, Oban remains as busy as ever and the 

summertime traffic oen grinds to a halt along the 

shop-lined esplanade. e view across the bay 

looks west to the islands of Kerrera and Mull and 

many visitors are unable to resist the temptation 

to enjoy at least one boat trip. is might be a 

short visit to a seal colony, an aernoon cruise over 

to Lismore or a full-blown outing to Iona. 

Prehistoric Times 

For many decades, CalMac ferries have plied back 

and forth and there’s always a tingle of excitement 

when the tannoy announces departures to Barra, 

Coll, Tiree or Colonsay. However, the area around 

Oban is known to have been occupied in prehistoric 

times and in 1888 a lake dwelling was 

discovered by a marshy tract of ground at the south 

end of town. 

Six years later, a cave was discovered near the site 

of what is now St Columba’s Cathedral. is 

contained human skeletons and the remains of 

various animals such as deer, oxen, pigs and otters. 

Among the piles of fish bones and discarded shells 

were ancient stone hammers and crude 

implements fashioned from bone. Many centuries 

passed before houses were finally established here. 

By the 1790s thatched properties were appearing 

around the ‘tolerable inn’ which Boswell 

described in his tour of the Highlands in 1773. A 

post office and customs house were established, 

but Oban was still not much more than a simple 

clachan and 20 years later the population had 

reached just the 500 mark. By 1850 the growing 

town - now a parliamentary burgh - was home to 

around 1,500 people. 

Respectable-looking 

A reporter described ‘a village with a roadstead 

containing a small complement of shipping boats 

and a respectable-looking range of whitewashedhouses 

fronting the harbour’. The Duke of 

Argyll helped fund development, including a 

school, and the population was almost 2,000 in 

1861. Today, that figure has been multiplied by 

ten times. 

Oban became a good example of 18th Century 

Scottish town planning, where buildings and 

streets tended to be focused around a central 

square. The heart of the town is still around 

Argyll Square, near the railway station and main 

ferry terminal, but steeply rising slopes limited 

the grid-iron layouts which were conspicuously 

laid out in many other towns during that period. 

Prosperity arrived as trade and industry 

flourished and the opening of the Crinan Canal 

across the top of the Kintyre peninsula linked the 

booming markets of the Firth of Clyde to the 

Firth of Lorne. One report rather ambiguously 

described Oban’s main imports as ‘miscellaneous 

goods from Glasgow and Liverpool’, but could be 

more specific when it came to exports: ‘pig-iron, 

whisky, wool, fish, kelp and Easdale slates’. 


‘is huge granite structure oen 

puzzles first-time visitors ...’

Page 17 Top: A classic view across 

Oban as the ferry from Mull 

arrives at the South Pier. The 

prominent red roof marks the 

North Pier and the tall 

chimney rises from the distillery. 

Below: The entrance to the 

impressive McCaig’s Tower is 

through a tall arch. The gothic-inspired 

circumference of this unusual 

folly extends to around 650’. 

Above: An interesting range of 

boats is moored by Oban’s North 

Pier, with the unmistakeable 

McCaig’s Tower on the wooded 

skyline. 

Opposite Top: An early morning 

ferry from Mull emerges from the 

mist as it begins its approach 

towards Oban by passing St 

Columba’s Cathedral. 

Below: Oban is famous for its 

sunsets - an evening view 

towards Kerrera and the Sound of 

Mull with St Columba’s Cathedral 

on the right. 


Roger Butler. 

Still Welcoming 

e iron would have come from nearby 

Taynuilt, where whole forests were felled to 

feed the furnaces, and the whisky may have 

come from the town’s distillery, founded in 

1794 and still welcoming visitors today. e 

1845 Statistical Account listed just 13 fishing 

boats, but referred to good quality shellfish 

and large quantities of herring. Produce from 

the land was not so plentiful - 'supplies in the 

butcher and vegetable markets are neither 

regular nor prime'. 

e railway station opened on 1 July 1880 

and additional platforms were built in 1904 

to accommodate a new branch line running 

south from Ballachulish. Oban was now 

connected to the Central Belt and it soon 

gained a reputation as a popular resort for 

pioneering holiday-makers. ey would have 

stepped off their trains beneath the 

atmospheric cream-coloured timber canopies 

which eventually became listed buildings. 

Sadly, this was not enough to prevent their 

demolition in the 1980s and the revamped 

station is now something of a soulless place 

surrounded by functional retail units. 

However, McCaig’s Tower forms an unmistakeable 

feature on the hill behind the harbour. 

A Lasting Monument 

is huge granite structure oen puzzles 

first-time visitors and was commissioned in 

1897 by John Stuart McCaig, a philanthropic 

banker who wanted to create a lasting 

monument to his family while also providing 

welcome employment to local stonemasons. 

He planned an amphitheatre based on the 

Colosseum at Rome and intended to include 

a museum and viewing tower within the 650’ 

circumference of the outer wall, which is 

pierced by almost 100 high gothic arches. His 

death in 1902 meant the structure remained 

unfinished, but a steep walk from the seafront 

to the folly is rewarded by exceptional 

panoramas over Mull and nearby islands. 

ere might have been another landmark on 

the skyline too. A huge Victorian hotel 

complex known as the Oban Hydro (its full 

name was the Hydropathic Establishment 

and Sanatorium) was planned on another hill. 

is would have hosted healthy seawater 

baths and a large concert hall, together with 


Oban 

a golf course, extensive gardens and even a hydraulic li to 

carry guests up from the town. 

Tourism Flourishes 

No doubt there were plans to get the seawater up there as 

well! Work commenced in the 1880s, but financial problems 

brought things to a halt and the crumbling ruins can now be 

found amid rambling woodland on the high ground to the 

east of the South Pier. e Hydro may have failed, where 

tourism flourishes and it is estimated that, at the height of the 

season, around 25,000 people stay in the local area each night. 

e distillery offers tours, the seafood stalls provide tasty 

snacks and the evening ceilidhs are as popular as ever. e 

boats remain a popular attraction with fishing vessels, seagoing 

yachts and, of course, the island ferries. e North and 

South Piers form ‘bookends’ to the harbour. Ferries ran from 

each, where CalMac operations are now based at the south 

end, leaving the North Pier free for moorings and restaurants. 

e prominent, ivy-clad ruin of Dunollie Castle guards the 

northern approach into Oban bay. Excavations in the 1970s 

suggest that this early fortification was abandoned during the 

10th Century, but it appears to have been rebuilt 300 years 

later. e area around Dunollie subsequently became part of 

the semi-independent Kingdom of the Isles. e existing 

castle ruins date largely from the 15th Century, but the 

owners, the MacDougalls, abandoned the site and built a 

large house in the nearby sheltered valley. 

Transatlantic 

Descendants and clan-members are encouraged to visit and 

the remains of an historic herb garden have recently been 

discovered in the castle grounds. By way of contrast, at 

Gallanach, just south of the ferry to Kerrera, the first transatlantic 

telephone cable, to Newfoundland, was installed in 

September 1956. More than 600 calls were made on its first 

day and, eventually, it carried the presidential hot-line during 

the Cold War. 

e associated flat-roofed buildings, complete with hidden 

subterranean caverns, are redundant, but still look west across 

the islands towards distant Tir-nan-Og, the fabled Land of 

the Ever-Young. I wonder how a child would draw that?

The Cladh Hallan Mummies 

‘So-called ‘bog bodies’ are known from 

the Iron Age across northern Europe ...’ 

The Cladh 

Hallan Mummies 

Sharon Brookshaw uncovers some of their mysteries 

South Uist was always going to be an unlikely place for mummies to be found. However, 

excavations between 1995 - 2002 at the island’s Late Bronze Age site of Cladh Hallan 

revealed finds that the site director, Dr Mike Parker-Pearson, described as, ‘Likely to redefine 

key aspects of life and death in prehistoric society … we never expected to find evidence for 

mummification in Western Europe. e find is a complete revelation.’ 

Positioned towards the south west of the island, the site was home to a group of six or 

seven roundhouses built in the Late Bronze Age (dated to the 11th Century BC). ere 

was also evidence of Middle and Early Bronze Age occupation at Cladh Hallan, indicating 

that the site had already been used for a considerable period of time by the point that these 

roundhouses were constructed. 

ey were built partially dug into the sandy ground, the sunken buildings presumably as 

an adaptation to the frequent windy weather. e excavations revealed that the houses were 

built on top of a dramatic series of human and animal burials. e skeletons of a man, a 

woman and a sheep were under one house; a 10-14 year-old (probably female) under a 

second and a three-year old beneath a third. 

The Full Significance 

e archaeologists thought that the two adult skeletons looked unusual as they were buried 

in a highly-flexed position, with the legs bent and brought in close to the chest. Later 

examination revealed the full significance of what they had found. Detailed testing on the 

two sets of adult remains showed that the skeletons had died up to 500 years before finally 

being buried in the ground in around 1000 BC. 

In the case of the male skeleton, there was evidence that the normal process of decay had 

begun aer death, but had then been abruptly halted, while in the female’s case it had never 

started at all. Bones in both bodies also displayed surface de-mineralisation, which suggested 

that they had been exposed to an acidic environment for a period of time. 

is is not what you would expect to find if the bodies had simply been interred in the 

local sandy ground, as was the case with the young child and the teenager. e archaeologists 

concluded that the two bodies had been placed in a peat bog for somewhere between six 

and 18 months, before being removed, dried and kept above ground. 





The First Evidence 

In other words, they had been deliberately mummified 

before burial. e mummification had not been immediately 

evident because the so tissue that would have been 

preserved in the process had decayed aer burial, leaving just 

the bones remaining. is was the first evidence for such a 

practice to be found anywhere in Britain. 

So-called ‘bog bodies’ are known from the Iron Age across 

northern Europe (such as Gunnister Man in Shetland and 

Lindow Man in Cheshire), but these were people le 

permanently in bogs and later found with surviving so 

tissue. e Cladh Hallan mummies represent something 

altogether different because they were later removed from the 

bog for an extended period before burial, suggesting that 

some people were aware of the preservative powers of peat 

bogs much earlier than the Iron Age. 

Stranger still, it was discovered that the male skeleton was a 

composite - that is, it was made up of the bones of at least 

three men who had died between 1500 - 1350 BC. Work 

published in 2012 examined the remains of the female 

skeleton and concluded that this one was also a composite, 

made up of at least three contributors who died at later dates 

than the males, somewhere between 1300 - 1130 BC. 

The Remains of Different People 

All of these dates are significantly earlier than the time the 

roundhouses were constructed and the burials took place. 

e first question that we might therefore ask is why these 

ancient islanders compiled skeletons from the remains of 

different people? Could it have been a case of simple carelessness 

on behalf of those tasked with caring for these remains? 

is perhaps seems unlikely given the elaborate care by 

which these people were placed in a bog, then removed and 

kept above ground for considerable periods of time before 

burial; if the bodies meant enough to the community to want 

to preserve them in this way, then surely they would have kept 

individual bodies intact if this was also important to them. 

We might then conclude that this mixing of bones was 

intentional. Some archaeologists have suggested this act 

might be a way of deliberately merging the identities of the 

individuals that made up the composite skeletons, perhaps as 

a way of joining together different ancestral lines into one 

powerful whole. 

Yet to be Discovered 

It also suggests that there was enough space and resources in 

this community to keep multiple sets of remains in a sufficiently 

warm, dry environment to inhibit so tissue decay for extensive 

periods of time, perhaps in yet to be discovered “mummy houses”. 

e second question raised by these strange finds is why 

these people were making mummies at all. Motives for the 

deliberate mummification of the deceased vary across the 



different places where it is practised. In 

Ancient Egypt, for example, mummification 

was thought to aid the deceased to live well 

in the aerlife, while the South American 

Chinchorro culture seemed to have an 

ancestor cult that involved taking mummies 

with the living community to display at 

major rituals. 

ere is plenty of evidence for respect being 

paid to the ancestors in prehistoric Britain, so 

it is possible that such a practice formed part 

of this tradition for the South Uist islanders. 

It has been suggested that the male and female 

mummies could perhaps have represented key 

ancestors in the history of Cladh Hallan. 

ese could have been powerful religious 

figures or political leaders or that they may 

have acted as evidence of the ownership of the 

land by right of having lived there for so many 

generations. Perhaps they could protect the 

people still living, or intercede on their behalf 

with the gods? 

Apparently Venerated 

is of course just leaves the third and final 

big question: if these mummies had been 

preserved above ground and apparently 

venerated by the community for so long, why 

were they then buried with roundhouses built 

on top of the graves? ere is evidence of 

ritual activity conducted in and around the 

roundhouses for a considerable time aer 

they were built. 

Large amounts of smashed pottery and 

more deliberately interred animal remains 

suggest that some sort of spiritual practice 

continued on site long aer the mummies 

were buried. Does this, then, represent a 

change in the local religion? e Callanish 

stone circle on the nearby island of Lewis was 

brought back into use around this time aer 

centuries of apparent abandonment, which 

some archaeologists point to as evidence of 

such a change. 

Another possibility is that there was some 

sort of conquest or arrival of settlers - new 

people who removed the old symbols of 

power and erected buildings as a way of 

stamping their authority on the local 

landscape. Only time and more research will 

tell if there is more to the story of the Cladh 

Hallan mummies. 

Page 21 Top: View from the 

south-west of South Uist. 

Below: A sheep on a solitary 

South Uist rock. 

Opposite: A graveyard on the 

island. 

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Page 

READERS’ 

Index Header 

OPPORTUNITIES 

Get Out More … With Less! 

What a difference, say, seven decades have meant to 

clothes, shoes and kit becoming lighter and more flexible. 

Just weigh (or weigh up) a pair of walking boots from the 

1950s and compare them with today’s products. 

Teva® has pioneered freedom in footwear since 1984 and 

its recently-launched Arrowood range of lightweight walking 

boots has created a modern look with the technology of 

Float-Lite TM in the sole. This gives water-resistance, 

durability and comfort - enabling the flexibility of extreme 

solo pursuits and casual trips in company. The boots are 

available in 40 countries and may be viewed at 

www.teva.com 

Getting up high, getting fit or getting on 

in years presents problems, and trekking 

poles could be the answer. Leading 

tech-leisure company, Black Diamond 

(blackdiamondequipment.com) 

produces a range that is versatile 

and durable, compact and ultralight. 

Distance, Alpine and Trail 

categories have 17 varying styles 

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Packing for holidays demands 

attention to detail and the Schelle 

Collection (www.schelle.co.uk) has 

applied this attribute to 

the design of its travel 

case - price £9.99 - for 

an electric toothbrush. 

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most popular brands, available in a 

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Liberate yourself from soap, towels and 

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READERS’ OPPORTUNITIES 

Page Index Header 

HMS Hampshire: 

A Century of Myths and Mysteries Unravelled 

In June 1916 HMS Hampshire, 

carrying Lord Kitchener to Russia 

for talks with the Tsar, struck a mine 

west of Orkney and sank within a few 

minutes with the loss of all but twelve 

of the 749 on board. Two weeks later, 

a further nine men died when Laurel 

Crown hit a nearby mine. From that 

day to this, stories have been told in 

Orkney of the weather that night, 

sabotage, conspiracy, suffering and 

compassion. 

Some of the facts are known, some 

are firmly believed and some, no 

doubt, are apocryphal. The most often 

quoted is that soldiers prevented 

locals descending the cliff to attempt 

the rescue of those who did manage 

to make it ashore on rafts. Anger at 

this persists in Orkney, handed down 

as oral tradition through families. 

Horrors of War 

Twelve men were rescued or saved 

themselves, and the eyes of some 

old people still fill with tears as they 

recall the night their parents and 

grandparents took them in, close to 

death. It comes as no satisfaction to 

learn, as we did recently, that the 

commander of U75 that laid the mine 

was lost, off Orkney, in 1918 when his 

new command, U102, also hit a mine 

- just more horrors of war. 

James Irvine has assembled an 

excellent team of local writers with 

local knowledge to cover, between 

them, every conceivable aspect of 

this story of intrigue, mystery and 

adversity. The 2016 centenary 

commemorations are included. The 

writers, who are careful to distinguish 

between fact and supposition, offer 

possible explanations for why 

seemingly abhorrent actions were or 

were not taken. 

The Admiralty published a report in 

1926 to refute all the accusations 

made against it. Then, as now, if you 

believe all the excuses, you could 

find the authorities almost blameless. 

Using vivid, eye-witness accounts 

from survivors, would-be rescuers 

and cliff-top watchers, as well as later 

research, each contributor pieces 

together the best version of the story 

we have. 

Fanciful Theories 

Admiralty and German records as 

well as contemporary letters are 

quoted. Appropriate maps, 

photographs and facsimiles are 

presented. The most fanciful theories 

are analysed - that Kitchener was 

killed by a saboteur’s bomb placed on 

board, that German spies had discovered 

Hampshire’s route for the mines 

to be laid, that the ship was carrying 

gold to Russia or, maybe, being sent 

to bring gold back? 

It could also be that Lord Kitchener 

survived, made it to Russia, took 

over the Bolshevik Party, changed 

his name to Joseph Stalin and lived 

to the ripe old age of 102! 

Two things are certain: 746 lives 

were lost in the most awful circumstances 

and James Irvine and team 

have created a magnificent, written 

memorial to them. Proceeds will go to 

the final costs of the new memorial 

wall that bears all the names of the 

dead, on the clifftop overlooking 

Hampshire’s final resting place. 


Edited by James Irvine 

Available only from The Orcadian 

Bookshop 50 Albert Street Kirkwall 

KW15 1HQ 01856 878888 

www.orcadian.co.uk/shop/index.php 

£25.00 


little terns 

Michael Steciuk shares his images from a photographic assignment 

Little terns are one of the UK’s rarer 

seabirds and are listed on the ‘amber 

conservation’ category as well as being 

legally protected by the 1981 Wildlife and 

Countryside Act. Owing to these restrictions, 

a Schedule 1 licence was required in 

order to photograph the birds in the nest. 

They are summer visitors to the Scottish 

islands, arriving in early May from their 

wintering sites off the west coast of Africa 

and leaving to return in late August / early 

September. They form the smallest species 

of tern breeding in the UK and nest 

exclusively on shingle beaches of the Outer 

and Inner Hebrides and Orkney. 

Their ground nests lead to vulnerability from 

predators and disturbances, although the 

close colonies on open beaches do offer 

good visibility and collective warning opportunities. 

However, foxes and badgers are a 

threat at low level and attacks from kestrels, 

crows, gulls and peregrine falcons feature 

from above. 

The Little tern tends to nest close to the 

high-tide line and is susceptible to onshore 

winds and Spring tides. I positioned myself 

unobtrusively in a small hide where I could 

enjoy their pleasant chattering calls that 

represent the heartbeat of many islands in 

evocative, atmospheric locations. 



Isle of May - Beloved of Vikings, Smugglers and Seabirds 

Isle of May - 

Beloved of Vikings, 

Smugglers and Seabirds 

Marieke McBean on the island in the Firth of Forth 

Nothing is more magical than seeing your first 

puffin flapping about and landing in the sea 

next to you. e Osprey of Anstruther, an inflatable 

but very solid boat, takes visitors to the Isle of May on 

most days during the summer season. Leaving 

Anstruther in Fife, it takes just over 20 minutes to 

make the crossing. 

ankfully the skipper takes it easy for even on the 

way out to this magnificent place there is plenty to see. 

Seabirds are all around and the occasional gannet dives 

into the water looking for fish. Gannets do not live on 

May itself, but puffins are abundant with about 46,000 

pairs. is is interesting as there were only a handful 

of these comical-looking birds recorded there in 1959. 

May is relatively small, measuring only about one 

mile long and 600 yards wide. It is uninhabited, apart 

from a handful of SNH staff and volunteers who look 

aer the wildlife. From a distance it looks fairly flat, 

with a building in the middle; the remains of 

Scotland’s very first lighthouse. 

Truly Spectacular 

Before landing, the Osprey takes a trip around to 

encounter thousands of seabirds nesting on the rugged 

cliffs. A constant noise of birds calling to one another 

other, and maybe shouting a warning about the 

approaching boat, is present. Of course we cannot get 

too close, but seeing them nest here is truly spectacular. 

At the height of the breeding season from May to 

July, this is home to around 200,000 seabirds 

including guillemots, razorbills, puffins, kittiwakes, 

shags and fulmars. ousands of these birds create 

nests on the cliffs; a breath-taking sight especially 

when observed from below. 

During the breeding season, walking around can be 

quite a challenge. Hundreds of terns have their nests 

adjacent to the paths. is is not a problem in itself, 

but these feisty birds do not like people getting close 

and they make this very clear by literally hitting 

passers-by on the head. is dive-bombing cannot be 

avoided, but a raised stick, hat and hood are useful. 


‘Wherever you go 

on the island, birds 

are never far away.’

Isle of May - Beloved of Vikings, Smugglers and Seabirds 

Can Collapse 

ings calm down once you reach the visitors’ centre, only 

a short stroll away from the jetty. ere are a number of paths 

to places of interest. A map supplied by the ferry company 

helps. Visitors are urged to stick to the paths, for their own 

safety. Many birds are ground-nesting and puffin burrows can 

collapse if someone unwittingly stands on them. 

Wherever you go on the island, birds are never far away. 

Puffins fly over with sand eels in their beaks and gulls can be 

seen near the rock edges, protecting their very wellcamouflaged 

chicks. ere is a resident population of rabbits 

on the island and sometimes visitors can spot a gull indulging 

in the treat of a dead rabbit. 

Although May is renowned for its birdlife, grey seals come 

to its shores in the autumn, to the second largest east coast 

breeding colony in Scotland. ey are the third rarest species 

of seal in the world. In addition, archaeological remains tell 

us something about the past with pottery, flint arrowheads 

and a piece of stone believed to date back to the Bronze Age 

of around 2,000 BC. 

Eventually Moved 

e remains of a priory first built here in the 12th Century 

are evident and medieval records indicate that a religious 

community was first established in the 7th Century. Vikings 

probably raided the island in the 9th Century and in the 12th 

Century King David I funded a monastery with 13 abbots 

in residence. ey eventually moved away to Pittenweem on 

the mainland. 

Gradually the priory fell into disuse, retaining a popular 

appeal for pilgrims during the early medieval times. To this 

day people can visit Pilgrim’s Haven on the south side of the 

island. Nearby is the Pilgrim’s Well with waters reputed to 

cure people miraculously. e ruined manor house, built on 

the remains of the original priory and church, is still visible. 

In the 17th and 18th Centuries people lived in a small 

village just south of the priory. e residents allegedly lived 

off smuggling, using caves to hide their spoils. ey discouraged 

excisemen to check out the caves by spreading rumours 

they were home to kelpies, Scottish water-spirits in the shape 

of horses. At this time the church was used as a defended 

manor house. 

Charging Ships 

Here is home to Scotland’s very first lighthouse. e initial 

design was simply a raised platform, 40’ high, with a beacon 

on it. Alexander Cunningham had it built in 1635 with 

permission to start charging ships for providing the light. As 

a result he was able to improve the radiance, raising the tower 

by another 20’. 


e fire was fuelled by coal and worked well, 

until the light went out for two whole days in 

1791. It turns out the resident lighthouse 

keeper, his wife and five children had died of 

suffocation. A baby and two assistant 

lighthouse keepers survived. From then, 

families looking aer the lighthouse were 

required to stay in accommodation away 

from the building itself. 

e Northern Lighthouse Board acquired 

the island in 1815 and replaced the old 

lighthouse with a more modern one, designed 

by Robert Stevenson. e coal fire was 

discontinued and oil-powered lighting began. 

e tower is still in use, now with an electric 

light in place and the Northern Lighthouse 

Board, no longer the island owner, continues 

to maintain the facilities. 

A signal station was built during the First 

World War, warning allies of enemy vessels. 

e bird observatory was founded in 1934 

and is now the oldest continuously run 

establishment of its type in Britain. An 

official National Nature Reserve was set up in 

1956 and the NLB sold it to the Nature 

Conservancy Council (now Scottish Natural 

Heritage) in 1989. It continues to attract. 

Page 29 Top: Landing-place. 

Below: Left - Puffin and Right - the 

Stevenson-designed High Lighthouse. 

Opposite: A gull surveying the 

island from a rock. 

Above: Isle of May Cliff. 

Left: The Low Lighthouse, now a 

bird observatory. 

The photographs were taken by the 

author, Marieke McBean. 


nnr-scotland.org.uk/isleof-may 


‘Archaeologists exposed the building with its stone 

trough, water system and hearth.’

Ages of Man and Tomb of Eagles 

Ages of Man 

and Tomb of Eagles 

James Hendrie visits the archaeological finds of two people 

The leaflet, which showed the head of an eagle 

alongside a skull against a dark-sea 

background, grabbed my attention in the Kirkwall 

tourist office, as did the name on it - Tomb of the 

Eagles. e leaflet told me that this Orkney tourist 

attraction would offer a chance to see two ancient 

sites, as well as the ability to handle Neolithic 

artefacts. It quickly convinced me that I needed to 

visit it. 

A sea mist covered South Ronaldsay and added to 

the experience in a strange way. e Tomb of the 

Eagles is at Isbister where its Visitor Centre offers the 

opportunity to see a 5000-year-old Stone Age tomb 

and a 3000-year-old Bronze Age building discovered 

by Orcadian farmer, Ronnie Simison. anks to him 

and his wife, Morgan, this centre opened. 

Aer an introductory talk and handling of relics, we 

opted to go via the Liddle Burnt Mound and 

Chambered Cairn before returning to the centre. e 

leaflet had indicated allowing around two hours to 

enjoy the site fully, in fact for us it was probably nearly 

three hours. Ronnie’s search for stones to use on a 

farm track in the 1970s had led him and Morgan to 

develop a long-held passion for archaeology. 

Impressive … Majestic 

Archaeologists exposed the building with its stone 

trough, water system and hearth. e domestic setup 

was impressive as the Tomb of the Eagles was 

majestic, being perched on sea cliffs. e chambered 

cairn, within a retaining wall, looks no more than a 

mound of grassy earth with some surrounding stones 

and rocks. Closer inspection reveals much more. 

e entrance to it is in fact 10’ long, but only 34” 

high and 28” wide. Stone Age dwellers would have 

gained access by scrambling in; today a trolley linked 

to a pulley is the method. It’s definitely fun for the 

kids and, if truth be told, for adults alike! Once 

inside the chamber is actually 6.5’ high with central 

and side chambers as well as two end cells. 

Like many such sites, subsequent research of it has 

revealed much, particularly of the clear alignment to 

the rising sun. e purpose of this site was to be a 

tomb, but one constructed over many years. Experts 

suggest it was used for perhaps a period of 800 years 

before its roof was removed and central chamber 

filled in. e reason is not clear as the area alongside 

it continued to be used as a burial site. 


Ages of Man and Tomb of Eagles 

Page 32 Top: The 3000-year-old 

Liddle Mound Bronze Age site. 

Below: The original stones of the 

tomb creating the chambers within 

it (note the concrete roof). 

Above: The Visitor Centre. The Tomb 

of the Eagles is well-signposted 

and easy to locate. 


James Hendrie. 


tomboftheeagles.co.uk 

16,000 Human Bones 

Today a concrete cover helps to protect the 

cairn from the elements and skylights allow 

some natural light in. Ronnie Simison found 

much in the cairn, including human skulls and 

eagle remains. Perhaps to remind visitors, 

there are a number of skulls on the wall of one 

of the side chambers. Staggeringly 16,000 

human bones were found, yet there was not a 

single complete skeleton, adding to the 

mystery of its use. 

Animal bones were also found both inside 

and outside which experts believe suggests 

that while the cairn was used for burials, it 

would also have been used for ceremonies 

during the year. Over four stones of assorted 

pottery was also found coming from many 

different pots. Bones and talons of 14 Sea 

Eagles were found leading to both speculation 

and naming. 

Some suggest the eagle was a special animal 

to the original builders, but then others point 

to recent research suggesting that the feathers 

may have been added to the site a thousand 

years aer it ceased to be used. To complete 

our visit, the near pea-soup fog surrounded 

us. In a way it provided the opportunity for 

reflection on a unique site and gratitude to its 

discoverer. 

Shared the Secrets 

He clearly appreciated its significance and 

must have been frustrated by the apparent 

lack of interest by the authorities to excavate. 

Having endured 20 years of inaction by 

them, he set about the job and formed 

partnerships with experts. Ronnie and 

Morgan have shared the ‘secrets’ of the cairn 

with countless visitors initially from their 

farmhouse conservatory. 

Now family members continue their 

involvement from the Visitor Centre which 

opened in 2002. Ronnie received an MBE 

and poignantly as a memorial to both of 

them, there is a stone erected at the site of the 

Tomb of the Eagles. 


Morvern 

James Petre sees it more as an island 

W 

hat exactly constitutes an island? Must it be always sea-girt? Do we 

count ‘tidal islands’ that are and are sometimes not islands? Can we 

count tracts of land which are cut off and entirely, or almost entirely, 

surrounded by lochs and rivers? e question may be subjective and best 

answered by the views of those who live there. 

One such ‘marginal’ land is Morvern. Certainly some of its inhabitants sense 

that it is, to all intents and purposes, an island. Indeed it looks like one, for a 

study of the OS maps shows that, but for 250 yards or so, between the sources 

of the Carnoch river in Gen Tarbert in the west and the rivers Tarbert- 

Inversanda in the east, Morvern is an enormous, inverted triangle cut off from 

the Western Highlands. 

Inspection of the OS maps also readily shows that this land is even more 

sparsely-populated and bears even fewer marks of modern human settlement 

than other remote parts of the West Highlands and Islands. e huge stretch 

of coastline along Morvern’s eastern flank, from Loch a’ Choire down to Loch 

Aline, has no road or track. Few tourists make it here! 

‘Morvern is an 

enormous, inverted 

triangle cut off from the 

Western Highlands.’

Page 35: Kinlochline 

Above: The Wishing Stone. 

Opposite: The CalMac ferry at 

Lochaline. 


James Petre. 

Passed into Legend 

In the Middle Ages, it was a heartland of the 

Lordship of the Isles. From their castle at 

Ardtornish, on the east side of the mouth of 

Loch Aline, the MacDonalds mustered their 

clansmen in 1411 before the journey on to 

the famous battle of Harlaw in 

Aberdeenshire. In 1462, the Lord of the Isles, 

in his castle there, negotiated with the King 

of England and signed an indenture which 

passed into legend when given the title of the 

Treaty of Ardtornish-Westminster. 

It was elemental in inspiring Sir Walter 

Scott in 1815 to write his long poem e 

Lord of the Isles. e MacDonald township of 

Ardtornish is now long-gone and only the 

stump of his castle remains, like a broken 

tooth sticking out of the jaw of Morvern. e 

CalMac vessels that ply through the Sound 

of Mull pass quite close to this romantic ruin. 

Tourists who spot it focus their cameras. 

Few know of its dramatic history. ere are 

two other medieval coastal castle-towers, 

both of which were most likely built in the 

15th Century: Kinlochaline by the Duart 

Macleans at the head of Loch Aline and 

Glensanda by the Kingairloch Macleans 

perched atop a rocky eminence at the mouth 

of Glen Sanda. 

Enforced Removal 

Like other parts of the Highlands and 

Islands, Morvern once accommodated far 

more people. Census figures reveal that 

before the Clearances, there were as many as 

2,500 residents on this 250 square-mile, 

pseudo-island. e Clearances changed all 

this dramatically. Most enforced removal was 

completed as early as 1815; voluntary 

departure, especially from Western Morvern, 

continued for a good while aer. 

e Ardtornish estate, centred on Ardtornish 

House, was acquired in 1844 by that most 

notorious figure in Clearance history, Patrick 

Sellar, the one-time factor of the Duke and 

Duchess of Sutherland. He and his family 

returned to Ardtornish House for late Summer 

and Autumn enjoying a lifestyle that symbolised 

their vision of Victorian success, culture 

and respectability in a remote setting. 

A few miles to the north, on a hillside close 

to the A884 is a track beside which is ‘Sellar’s 

Stone’ where, no doubt, he sheltered behind 

with his shepherds when driving sheep down 

from Sutherland to stock his new estate. 

Aer his death, the house remained a popular 

resort for his family, including their friends 

such as Alfred Lord Tennyson, Sir Francis 

Palgrave and Herbert Spencer. 


Morvern 

Remoteness and Emptiness 

e depopulation brought about in the age of the 

Clearances all but emptied the land. By 1930, numbers 

occupying this vast tract had fallen to a little over 500. It was 

here that they settled on the state-owned Forestry 

Commission land where the evacuated St Kildans were 

offered employment. eir far-flung, lonely island out in the 

Atlantic was, ironically, tree-less. 

e St Kildans were given the choice and elected to come 

to Morvern and another way of life. Soon aer their arrival 

they wanted to go back, but the Labour Government saw to 

it that they were not permitted. eir occupancy has not 

quite passed into the history books for there are still many 

local residents who can recall them. 

eir transition to a new life in Morvern was not easy, as 

they were separated from one another and required to work 

regular hours for wages from which to buy the necessities of 

life. Virtually all was quite different to the manner in which 

they and the generations of their antecedents had lived. e 

last surviving inhabitant of St Kilda died earlier this year just 

short of her 94th birthday; with her demise the story of these 

evacuees passes from living memory to the history books. 

Today the population is even fewer, standing at some 320 

although, as with elsewhere, the increasing incidence of 

second, or holiday homes is a new, additional factor in the 

figures. ese are mainly dotted along the 12-mile-long little 

coastal road west from Lochaline up to Drimnin. 

Their Wish Granted 

is route has several interesting features including the 

shattered remnants of ancient forts at Dun Fhionnairidh and 

Caisteal nan Con where the latter remnants date to the 17th 

Century although they sit atop of Iron Age dun/fort. Just 

inland from Rubha Shalachain, is the Clach na Criche or 

Wishing Stone. e stone was on the old walking route for 

funerals and here, the bearers would put the coffin down for 

a rest. An implausible story goes that anyone who can dive 

through the hole in the middle of the stone without touching 

its sides, will have their wish granted. 

e public road ends just past Bonnavoulin, beyond which, 

in the holiday season, there is a passenger water-taxi service 

to Tobermory in Mull. It is also where you find the Drimnin 

Estate - a grand house and some 7,000 acres now providing 

the usual Highland and Island holiday complex of cottages. 

What goes on to the east of Lochaline is, however, a 

completely different matter for here, on the site of the 

mountain Meall na h-Easaiche, is the Glensanda superquarry. 

Admire or detest it, the scale and engineering of this 

operation is awe-inspiring, producing ten million tonnes of 

crushed granite a year. Once dislodged by blasting, the rock 

is transported by dump truck to the primary crusher, and 

thence to a vertical sha (the ‘glory hole’) which drops 1000' 

to a conveyor belt. 

A Variety of Uses 

is then takes the granite through a 1.1 mile-long, 

horizontal tunnel to the secondary crusher on the shore 

where it is loaded onto ships. e mountain is put to a variety 

of uses, such as roads, railway-gravel, tunnels, even power 

stations, both in Britain and all over Europe. It is said that 

quarrying and production will continue until 2100 by which 

time the cavity will be very considerable indeed. 

Aggregate Industries owns the quarry and its glossy 

Glensanda brochure is available on-line. Page 2 is haunting 

with the old Maclean castle-tower on its rocky prominence 

with the quarry bulking large behind, underneath a red sky. 

Tolkein fans would be excused if they thought that this vision 

inspired the great man in his depiction and designation of 

Mordor, but, of course, he had died before excavations started 

in 1982. 

ough the intention has been to minimise the visual 

impact from the coast, it is increasingly visible, particularly 

from the CalMac ferries that ply across the Firth of Lorne 

into and out of Oban. It is truly an industrial monster and, 

to some conservationists, a sad reflection of society’s ever 

increasing need to gobble up the very foundations of a wild 

and lonely place. 


The Corryvreckan 


Gordon Eaglesham explains the whirlpool phenomenon 

Between the islands of Jura and Scarba, lies a 

mysterious maelstrom of sea water known as the 

Corryvreckan. is natural phenomenon, the third 

largest whirlpool in the world, is the result of powerful 

Atlantic currents interacting with extraordinary 

underwater topography which was the product of a 

primeval catastrophe of enormous violence. 

With a prodigious ridge extending 48 yards out of the 

Camas nam Bairneach Bay by Scarba, it does not take 

much of a westerly wind to set its cyclonic action in 

motion - particularly during a spring tide. At this time, 

the intense overfalls can be heard up to ten miles away, 

with waves during storms approaching 30'. 

Local fishermen refer to the tempestuous waters as the 

Cailleach - a deity from Gaelic mythology that takes the 

form of a hag. According to legend, she controls the 

whirlpool, deciding which vessels will be claimed by its 

abnormally strong currents and which will survive. Its 

name derives from the Gaelic, Coire Bhreacian, meaning 

‘cauldron of the speckled seas’. 

Precise Timing 

Crossing the Corryvreckan is possible during brief 

periods of slack water, but requires precise timing. Boat 

trips to the area are available from local harbours, and if 

you are aer an aerial view, Oban Airport offers 

sightseeing flights. e small port of Ardfern on the 

banks of Loch Craignish as well as Easdale are the main 

departure points. 

During a spring tide, water is drawn up the Sound of 

Jura and is then forced through a narrowing of the gulf 

between Scarba and Jura, creating a bottleneck effect. 

When combined with underwater features, including a 

basalt pinnacle and an abyss descending 240 yards, along 

with myriad undulations in the rock and seabed, vortices 

of water develop. 

The catalyst for this is usually an inundation of water 

pouring into the cavernous hole and up to the base of 

the pinnacle, where it meets the east face. Its epicentre 

is directly above the pinnacle where the strongest 

vortices are formed. With 33 yards between the top of 

this geological oddity and the sea surface, it’s no wonder 

that many have been caught off guard. 

Most Challenging 

e overfall during an ebb tide creates waterfalls on the 

south side of the gulf as shallow waters meet greater 

depths and the sea attempts to flatten itself out. It is 

therefore unsurprising that the waters are regarded as 

some of the most challenging in the world for diving. An 

intricate tidal system exists between the islands and 

mainland of the Argyll coast. 

is creates anomalies which stretch the conventional 

laws of physics. For example, as the main flood flows 

north by the Mull of Kintyre, water is sucked out of the 

Clyde Estuary. is causes an incredible peculiarity to 

occur between Crinan and Lochgilphead, with a high 

tide at one and a low tide at the other - despite only being 

six miles apart. 

Meanwhile far below the surface, the water is 

vigorously stirred up by the unusual seabed. Countless 

holes and undulations create intense tidal flows, eddies 

and up-thrusts. The complex currents generated from 

all this aquatic commotion can be observed on the 

surface during calm conditions. It’s this unpredictability 

that makes the Corryvreckan so notorious. 



‘Local fishermen refer to the tempestuous 

waters as the Cailleach - a deity from Gaelic 

mythology that takes the form of a hag.’ 



Confusion of Flows 

With so many opposing forces converging upon one 

another, there is a confusion of flows. Essentially, the tidal 

flow is disturbed, allowing a rising tide to evolve before the 

flow has ebbed. The established consensus attributes the 

cause of the Corryvreckan’s movement to strong currents 

hitting the pinnacle of rock, but marine research conducted 

in 2012 poses a new theory. 

Oceanographers from the Scottish Association for Marine 

Science (SAMS) mapped the seabed beneath the whirlpool 

using high-resolution multi-beam echo-sounder technology. 

Perplexingly, they found no evidence of a pinnacle. Having 

mapped the steep-sided buttress of rock sticking out from the 

Scarba shoreline, they concluded this to be the main driver 

of the turbulence. 

e research found that strong currents surging between 

Jura and Scarba had scoured the ocean floor clean, removing 

all sand and mud. Regardless of the cause, its hazardous 

nature has never been in question. e primary and investigative 

explorer, Martin Martin (c.1660-1719), once wrote of 

the phenomenon: 

‘It yields an impetuous current, not to be matched 

anywhere. e sea begins to boil and ferment with the tide 

of the flood, and resembles the boiling of a pot; and then 

increases gradually until it appears in many whirlpools, which 

form themselves in sort of pyramids, and immediately aer 

spout up as high as the mast of a little vessel, and at the same 

time make a loud report.’ 

Topographical Studies 

is is from Martin’s seminal book of 1703, A Description 

of the Western Isles of Scotland, which was the first published 

account of life in the Hebrides as well as being an important 

contribution to topographical studies in Scotland at that 

time. 

e whirlpool phenomenon is rare, with only seven known 

in the world that rival or exceed the Corryvreckan in size or 

strength. Other noteworthy sites include the Moskstraumen 

on the Norwegian coast. It consists of multiple vortices which 

interact with one another between the Lofoten Islands and 

is globally second strongest - with currents reaching speeds 

of 17 knots. 

Unusually, it forms in the open sea owing to factors 

including strong semi-daily tides and the abnormal seabed 

40 SCOTTISH ISLANDS EXPLORER NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2016


topography. e word Maelstrom came from 

Edgar Allen Poe’s short story A Descent into 

the Maelstrom of 1841. e Nordic word 

originates from the Dutch malen, meaning to 

grind and stroom (stream). 

Tunnel-shaped Eddy 

Its inherent danger comes from the potent 

and unpredictable current-wave interactions, 

with the largest vortices spanning between 48 

- 55 yards. During windy conditions, waves 

are generated which oppose the direction of 

the current, creating exceptionally steep and 

choppy waves. However the vast funnelshaped 

eddy described with such menace in 

Poe’s tale does not exist. 

Enormous tidal level difference in the open 

sea is the main cause of the treacherous 

currents. As high water flows westwards 

between coastal fjords and a network of 

small islands, its momentum is split into 

numerous varying currents - some of which 

develop into vortices. 

Norway is also home to the strongest 

whirlpool in the world, in the Saltstraumen 

Strait. It is also known to have some of the 

most powerful tidal currents. Up to 525 

million cubic yards of sea water is thrust 

through a two-mile long and 165 yards 

wide sound every six hours at speeds of up 

to 26 knots. 

Rate Increases 

e extreme conditions form when the tide 

fills or empties the Skjerstad fiord as the 

difference in sea height between the inside 

and outside of the sound can be as much as 

three feet. As it tries to level out, the flow rate 

increases and a whirlpool is formed. Other 

notable maelstroms include the Canadian 

Old Sow whirlpool in New Brunswick and 

the Naruto whirlpools in Japan. 

All leave their unique impressions on the sea 

with each one manifesting differing 

behaviours. Yet they all share an intrinsic 

mysteriousness that science is only just 

beginning to unravel. erein lies the source 

of our enduring fascination with them which 

brings visitors to the Corryvreckan to observe 

and experience. 


The photographs of the 

Corryvreckan are 

provided by the leading 

operator to, around and 

through the Whirlpool: 

Seafari Adventures - 

Easdale Oban PA34 4RF 

01852 300003 

oban@seafari,co.uk 

seafari.co.uk/oban 


The Beehive Cells 

‘In the years since the captain visited, the cell domes 

have collapsed, but their entrances are intact.’ 


Marc Calhoun takes a walk to Ardveg 

Aquestion I’m asked oen is, ‘What are your favourite 

places in the islands?’ I don’t hesitate to answer. Two 

are in the southwest corner of Lewis: the Morsgail Deer 

Forest and the Ardveg. I think of this as the heart of the 

Hebrides; a vast, open mix of moorland and hills. It’s full of 

wildlife, historic sites and perfect for solitary wanderings. 

Over the years I have made several multi-day walks through 

this area. For me, hiking there means carrying a tent and 

sleeping bag, as the best parts are more than a day’s walk. 

Besides, sleeping under Hebridean stars on moorland, 

hilltops, or coastal cliffs, serenaded by barking deer and 

whirling snipe is a highlight of back-country exploration. 

Another highlight is seeing the old shielings where people 

migrated with their livestock in the summer to take 

advantage of common grazing land. ese sites are especially 

interesting if they have older beehive cells. Oen described 

as stone igloos, some of these cells predate their use as 

shielings by centuries. 



A Pastoral Site 

I set out for my most recent walk in this area last August. 

From the gate to Morsgail Lodge, a three-mile walk leads to 

the shieling known as Airighean Tighe Dhubhastail set in a 

pastoral site straddling a peaty stream. Here I find the ruins 

of four houses, their stone covered with yellow lichen, along 

with a double beehive cell. 

I wanted to see this beehive because of an evocative drawing 

of it in Proceedings of the Society of Scottish Antiquaries. e 

drawing was part of a report on a visit to the shieling made 

by Captain FWL omas in the 1850s. e following is a 

paraphrased version of the Captain’s report: 

‘Being Sunday, stayed at Kinlochresort, we thought to 

improve the occasion by visiting the shielings in the 

neighborhood. Along with the gamekeeper we were soon at 

Tighe Dhubhastail. Here was a bothan in which the family 

was at home. e bothan was double of the usual beehive 

shape, with the dwelling and dairy attached. A doorway, 

Entrances are Intact 

In the years since the captain visited, the cell domes have 

collapsed, but their entrances are intact. is allows me to crawl 

into the boudoir, the main dwelling chamber (unfortunately 

there are no young women in printed gowns to greet me). I also 

find the spot where the drawing of the beehives was made . 

I would like to camp in this beautiful spot, but there’s 

another place still to see; the beehive cells at Fidigidh. I head 

west across the moorland, zig-zagging to avoid evil-looking 

swamps, until I see several bumps on the terrain. I have 

reached Fidigidh, where two shielings sites lie along a stream 

- Fidigidh Uachdrach and Fidigidh Iochdrach (Upper and 

Lower Fidigidh). 

At the former are a half dozen cells, many still intact. To the 

south, at the latter, I find ten cells, most of them fairly 

ruinous. Standing between the two sites is something 

amazing; the most impressive beehive cell of them all, the 

massive Bothan Ruadh. 

easily closed with a mat, led to the boudoir within.’ 

‘Close to the door was the fire, the smoke escaping through 

a hole in the dome. In the circular wall were three niches 

containing drying cheeses. e occupants were three young 

women, dressed in printed cotton gowns, and, being Sunday, 

they had finished their toilette at the burn to good purpose. 

Some eight of us packed into the hut while frothed milk was 

handed about.’ 

Captain omas also visited these shielings when they were 

occupied. Accompanying him was Henry Sharbau, who 

made a drawing of Lower Fidigidh. (Sharbau would later 

become the chief draughtsman of the Royal Geographical 

Society.) What follows is a paraphrased version of omas’ 

report from the 1850s: 

‘We strolled up the burn of Fidigidh till we came to 20 

dwellings scattered along the banks of the burn; groups of cows, 



Page 42: A shieling at Fidigidh 

Uachdrach. 

Page 43: The ruins of the old 

Ardveg house. 

Below: The ‘new’ house at Ardveg, 

built in 1934, beyond the ruins of 

the old. 


Marc Calhoun. 

with their attendants, spread about. We selected 

a good position for sketching, and very soon a 

boy was sent to us with the offer of milk. His 

stock of English was not good, and he could 

only speak of the group of huts as the city. 

Shortly a damsel brought us a bowl of milk.’ 

When It Was Alive 

Most of the cells Sharbau sketched are in 

ruins, but I am able to find the spot where he 

made his drawing . Oh how I wish I could have 

seen this place when it was alive. anks to 

Sharbau, and Captain omas, we have some 

idea of how it used to look. 

My quest for shielings in the Morsgail Deer 

Forest is done for the day. I have covered 

eight miles, and it’s time to find a campsite. I 

have no doubt where that will be. e night 

will be spent in another favourite place, one 

full of shielings and only three miles away - 

the Ardveg. 

From Fidigidh, an hour of bog-hopping takes 

me to Hamanavay, where I cross the river to 

make the mile climb to the Ardveg. e Estate 

has just been sold and I have been told the new 

owners are in residence, so I decide to pay 

them a visit before setting up camp. 

Inspired Me 

With his tales of the MacDonalds and 

MacLennans, who once lived in the Ardveg, 

Alasdair Alpin MacGregor made this remote 

hamlet immortal in e Haunted Isles. at 

book inspired me to camp in the Ardveg back 

in 2001. I was fortunate to return in 2013 for 

the book launch of John MacDonald’s An 

Trusadh, Memories of Crofting in the Ardveg. 

Under the bright sun of a late summer 

afternoon, the wind keeping the midges 

away, I arrive to find three of the new owners 

in residence: Julie and two of her children. 

After pitching my tent near the old 

blackhouses, I am treated to supper in the 

‘new’ Ardveg house (built by John 

MacDonald’s father in 1934); a roaring coal 

fire warming cold toes. 

In the twilight, after enjoying true island 

hospitality, I return to the tent. The deer are 

barking as I settle in and there are no midges. 

I need to get some rest for tomorrow will be 

a long day. There are several shielings in the 

Ardveg with beehive cells I plan to visit 

before making the long walk up to Uig, 

where I hope to find another campsite 

under Hebridean stars. 


Inchcolm 

‘ ... a hermit who served St Columba 

lived here in the 12th Century ...’ 

Inchcolm 

Susan Hulme investigates the ‘Iona’ beside the city 

Step off the boat, and know that below your feet may lie the bones of Norsemen, 

vanquished by Macbeth. Shakespeare says Norway’s King Sweno paid 10,000 dollars 

to allow his fallen warriors to be buried on Inchcolm Island in the Firth of Forth. 

An island burial was worth the money for it allowed the honoured corpses to rest safe 

from being devoured by the wolves that prowled the mainland. More than a thousand years 

on, this strange little island is still full of the reminders of its history as a place of both refuge 

and defence. Just over half-a-mile long and hourglass-shaped, Inchcolm lies opposite the 

City of Edinburgh, just off the coast of Fife. 

It is dominated by the remarkably well-preserved remains of an Augustinian abbey, built 

on raised ground towards the east end. Presumably, the abbey’s island location helped to 

save it from complete destruction by Protestant zealots or plunderers looking for goodquality 

stone aer the Dissolution of the Monasteries. e boat from South Queensferry 

sails through the centuries. 


Inchcolm 

Puffins Flying Shotgun 

It passes the naval dockyard at Rosyth, under the 

roar of traffic on the 1960s Forth Road Bridge, 

under the swooping red arches of the 19th Century 

rail bridge and on, as the estuary widens, towards 

Inchcolm, with puffins flying shotgun alongside 

the boat. Seals’ heads bob out of the water and stare 

for a few moments, before deciding we’re neither 

edible nor dangerous, and dive down below the 

water again. 

e boat drops visitors off at the small natural 

harbour where the land lies just a few feet above sea 

level, before rising up to the two higher ends of the 

island to the east and the west. e irresistible first 

move is to head for the path that leads along the 

narrow isthmus of so, short grass flanked by 

curving sandy beaches, and climbs gently up the 

slope towards the abbey ruins. 

Legend has it that a hermit who served St 

Columba lived here in the 12th Century, living off 

shellfish and the milk of one cow. In 1123, his 

solitude was broken when Scotland’s King 

Alexander I was driven onto the island by a great 

storm as he crossed the Forth. e King, stranded 

there for three days, must have been provided by the 

hermit with either a profound spiritual revelation or 

a terrific seafood chowder. 

The Flowing Sea 

Either way - the King in gratitude decided to found 

an Augustinian abbey there in honour of St 

Columba. Nearly 900 years on, an inscription above 

the entrance still reads: ‘Stet domus haec donec 

fluctus formica marinos ebibat et totum testudo 

perambulet orbem’ or ‘May this home stand until an 

ant drains the flowing sea, and a tortoise walks 

around the whole world’. 

So no surprise it’s still in good condition, though 

who knows what medieval Scottish monks thought 

about tortoises. e covered cloisters bordering the 

central green space are among the best-preserved in 

Scotland, with three remaining. Several rooms have 

survived intact, too, including the monks’ refectory 

and dormitory. Most impressive is the octagonal 

Chapter House, with its stone-ribbed domed 

ceiling, where the Abbot and his monks would meet 

for prayers and readings. 

Climb the narrow, spiral staircase of the tower and 

be startled by the view of how close Edinburgh 

seems, just across the water. Today - and maybe in 

the monks’ days too - the peace and isolation of 

Inchcolm contrast with the noise and rush of a 

major city, just a few miles away. Pick your way back 

down that staircase to ground level and go outside 

for another surprise. 


Inchcolm 

Page 44 Top: Inchcolm 

by Fotosearch. 

Page 44 Below and Opposite: 

Inchcolm Abbey, taken by the 

author, Susan Hulme. 

Another Rare Survival 

Squat down to see where a remarkable 13th 

Century fresco survives, in a tomb recess. e 

painting, of what’s believed to be the funeral 

procession of a long-dead Bishop of Dunkeld, 

is another rare survival in Scotland, where so 

much has been lost to harsh weather and rough 

politics. ere are reminders of those days 

everywhere too. 

However peaceful the monks might have 

been there - like the other islands in the Forth 

- it has long been buffeted by human aggression 

and passion. Fortifications - to resist pillaging 

Englishmen, Bonaparte’s invasion, the Kaiser’s 

and later, Hitler’s - such as Second World War 

pill boxes, are dotted about the hillsides. ese 

were built to defend the docks at Leith and the 

naval dockyard at Rosyth. 

Presumably, it’s too costly and too much 

trouble to dismantle the stumpy concrete boxes 

with their dank, malodorous interiors. More 

usefully, a tunnel built by the Royal Engineers 

still remains, housing the remains of the 

NAAFI now redeployed by Historic Scotland 

as a small gi shop. Alarmingly, the paths up to 

the fortifications are just as ferociously 

defended today. 

Sustained Attack 

Gulls are zealous parents, so dare to 

venture up there in the breeding season, 

and find yourself under sustained attack 

from beaks, talons, and stinking green 

guano. With no stoats or other ground 

predators on the island, the gulls nest 

carelessly beside or even on the path and 

then panic about their eggs and chicks as 

soon as the humans start tramping up 

towards them. 

It is much safer to stay down by the 

shore, with a good picnic in a warm and 

sunny spot, beneath the abbey walls, 

sheltered from any chill breeze off the 

water. Alternatively spend some time 

down on the beaches themselves, 

searching for tower shells and polished sea 

glass in greens and blues and opal. In 

summer, enjoy the peculiar sensation of a 

paddle in the sea with a view of 

Edinburgh Castle. 

Just make sure you catch that last boat 

home, and leave the gulls to rest 

peacefully on their nests, the seals to bask 

on the beaches again and, maybe, the 

ghosts of the monks to meet for Evensong. 

Further Reading 

Boats operate from April - 

October from South 

and North Queensferry 

Maid of the Forth 

0131 5000 

maidoftheforth.co.uk 

Forth Tours 

0870 118 1866 

forthtours.com 

Seafari Adventure Tours 

0131 331 4857 

seafari.co.uk 

Edinburgh Boat Charters 

0131 554 9401 

edinburghboatcharters.com 

Historic Scotland makes 

an additional charge for 

landing of £5.50 adult / 

£3.50 children. 


RESPONSES 

Responses 

Chris Banks revives special memories of visiting St Kilda 

St Kilda Wren by the author, Chris Banks 

It was interesting to read the article about Dorothy Bruce 

who fulfilled her ambition of reaching St Kilda in her 

85th year, achieving a total of 48 islands. As a Wildlife 

Photographer with a love of the Scottish islands, I have so far 

visited only 31 of them, each being special and challenging 

in its own way. 

It was inevitable that one day St Kilda would be the destination 

for my wife and me. Having read the books and articles about 

the history and the survival of its people this year was the right 

time for us. We arranged a two-week holiday on the Isle of Harris 

incorporating the proposed trip to the distant archipelago. 

However, conditions out in the Atlantic Ocean and for 

getting ashore in Village Bay would have to be good. And it 

was into our second week and aer the fourth attempt that 

we eventually made it. e three-hour journey involved 

pounding waves, but steadily the familiar outlines of the 

islands grew ever closer on the horizon. 

Atmosphere of the Place 

As we arrived in the bay, we had our first distant view of the 

main street and the hairs on the back of my neck began rising. 

e atmosphere of the place hits immediately when walking 

between the old cottages. You could sense being among black 

and white ghosts, as if part of an old-movie reel. 

I was hoping to get a picture of the St Kilda Wren, a sub - 

species in its own right, and aer no more than ten minutes 

a familiar bird call was heard on the breeze. My target was 

based on top of a cleit, one of those numerous small buildings 

once used to store food, such as the seabirds. 

With no trees or shrubs, the old stone walls are home to 

these diminutive birds and aer a few minutes of stalking it 

was a case of mission accomplished. From behind the village 

we climbed steeply to e Gap. Eventually reaching the top 

of the highest sea-cliffs in Britain, we were not disappointed 

with the views out towards the Stacs. 

Ready for It 

On the way back towards the village I was closer to the 

wildlife than intended as an Arctic skua made a stealthy 

attack, just missing my head by inches. On the second attack 

I was ready for, it whirling my hat above my head. On 

departure and sailing passed Stacs Armin and Lee with their 

numerous seabirds, we knew that a decision would be needed. 

Should this trip be kept as a never-to-repeated, special 

memory or do we return? Living in Derbyshire is a long way 

from the Scottish islands and its wildlife. However, the love 

of these special places will be kept alive by regular talks and 

exhibitions, sharing our experiences with like-minded people. 

Plans for next year include a visit to Mingulay - our island 

number 32. 


CROSSWORD 

Page Index 

25 

Header 

by Tom Johnson 

When you have solved the crossword, transfer the letters from some of the numbered 

squares into the small grid and so reveal the Strathaird village where the Young Pretender 

found sanctuary in early July 1746. 

ACROSS 

1&3.Down. Song extract which is no longer relevant for 

travellers to Portree? (4,3,3,2,4) 

6. Skilled Scottish farm worker in the fish industry (4) 

10. Poor slave in Moray village (5) 

11. Missive to lamb’s mother on a Wester Ross estate (9) 

12. Inverie’s and Airor’s peninsula (8) 

14. Shetland settlement at the head of Vaila Sound (5) 

16. England cricket vice-captain, Joe … (4) 

17. Celebrates wildly at village on Lewis (10) 

20. Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy ballet (10) 

21. Most northerly inhabited Shetland isle (4) 

23. Aberdeenshire river with scenery, thankfully! (5) 

25. Small migratory plover, Eudoromias morinellus (8) 

27. Annandale market town, noted for its August lamb fair (9) 

29. HQ of the former Sutherland Transport and Trading 

Company (5) 

30. Elephant’s long ivory tooth (4) 

31. Orkney location of Sheila Fleet’s jewellery workshop (10) 

DOWN 

1. Ferry port overlooked by MacCaig’s Folly (4) 

2. Clydesdale village where ton of veal is served (9) 

3. See 1 Across 

4. Lie back on loch west of Fort William (3) 

5. Neatest gate fixed by house-selling representative (6,5) 

7. My perfect way to distribute cards! (5) 

8. Edit theses about slimming plans (4,6) 

9. Islands’ capital and Norman Lamont’s baronetcy (7) 

13. Conjuror’s magic word (11) 

15. Nan’s annexe (6,4) 

18. Morecambe’s comedy partner (5,4) 

19. Duke of Norfolk’s castle (7) 

22. RA left in disarray for Shetland isle (6) 

24. Dull journalists making cuts (5) 

26. Urges at breakfast? (4) 

28. Rivers in Dalkeith, Angus and Dumfries and Galloway (3) 

Solution to Crossword 24 

Send your answer from the small grid to: 

editor@scottishislandsexplorer.com or text to 

07510 127014 or by mailing it to SIE Elm Lodge IP22 1EA 

to enter the competition for a free year’s 

membership of The Islands Book Trust. 

Small grid answer to Crossword 24 was Scalloway 

Winner of Crossword 24: David Purchase 


ISLAND INCIDENTS 

Barbara Sellars experienced the ancient and modern in Inchcailloch 

It was early March when my husband and I were the only 

passengers on the boat from Balmaha to the tiny island 

of Inchcailloch on Loch Lomond. Snow still covered the 

mountains to the north and despite the sunshine and blue 

skies, there was a chill in the air. As we slipped out across the 

glassy surface of the loch towards the densely wooded dome 

of the island, I felt excited. 

is was my first visit to Inchcailloch and the first of four 

planned seasonal sojourns. It is uninhabited, a National Nature 

Reserve, forms part of the Highland Boundary Fault - the 

geological junction between the Scottish Highlands and the 

Lowlands - and is a place of both natural and historical interest. 

Magical and Mysterious 

ese things I knew before arriving, but what I could not 

know, without previous experience, was the special 

atmosphere of this place. Ascending the worn stone steps 

from the north jetty, I was immediately struck by the palpable 

sense of peace - it was utterly quiet. I felt as if I was entering 

what I can only describe as a magical and mysterious place. 

e winter bare oak trees were clothed in lichen and from 

somewhere inside the woodland, the distinct tapping of a 

woodpecker was the only sound to break the silence. e 

name ‘Inchcailloch’ means ‘island of the old women’. It was 

in the early 8th Century that St. Kentigerna, daughter of an 

Irish prince and mother of St. Fillan came here to follow a 

hermit’s life of contemplation. 

It is not difficult to imagine why this place had been chosen 

for such a vocation. Not far from the jetty are the remains of 

a 13th Century chapel and burial ground, my first port of 

call. In the morning sunlight, it was a thing of gentle beauty. 

e old stone walls were covered in a thick carpet of bright 

green moss, snowdrops adorned one of the graves and the 

delicate shadow patterns of the surrounding trees were 

thrown across the turf. 

e peace of the island felt deeper still in here. is is the 

traditional burial ground of the Clan MacGregor. A fine table 

top gravestone dated 1623 belongs to Gregor Macgregor, clan 

chief and cousin of the famous Rob Roy. Little of the church 

remains aer disuse in the late 18th Century, although the 

burial ground continued to be used until 1947. 

The Privilege of an Island 

My remaining task for the day was to walk all the island’s 

pathways - not a difficult undertaking. e complete circuit 

takes less than an hour and a half. With a whole day to 

explore, we intended to take much longer. Besides, we had 

the privilege of an island to ourselves - or so we believed. 

Deep in the process of photographing a woodland scene 

shot through with silver light, a voice from another world 

appeared from behind with, “Do you know anything about 

mobile phones?” It’s a long story, but we discovered a lot from 

our meeting with Man Friday. ere are other ways to arrive 

on this island. Does anyone have a kayak for sale? 

In the Next Issue … 

Island - Nurses 

Flight - Shortest 

Lismore - Close 

Mingulay - Book 

Inchcailloch Burial Ground - Barbara Sellars 

Seabirds - Flocking 

Kayaking - Clockwise? 

On Sale 18 December 

1. Islay 2. South Uist 3. Shetland Mainland 4. Skye 5. Barra 6. Arran 7. Harris 8. Tiree 9. Whalsay 10. Seil 


Scottish Explorer 

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RHENIGIDALE E – Kenneth MacKay 

The village of Rhenigidale was cut off for many 

years from the rest of Harris, in the Western Isles 

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of Scotland. Facing a multitude of obstacles and 

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TWO VIEWS 

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HARRIS – 

Lesley & Alisdair Wiseman 

Two very different painting 

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the Isle of Harris. £22.99 

LEWIS: 

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A comprehensive ensive history of the Isle of Lewis, 

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£12.99 

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arlane 

The life and times of Pat MacFarlane as told in a 

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THE ISLANDERS AND 

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A wonderful photographic safari ari of the largest island 

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£25.00 

www.acairbooks.com

Scottish Islands Explorer 40: Nov / Dec 2016

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