Yumpu_ May_June 2017_02

Colonsay’s Ruined Village
Colonsay’s Ruined Village
declined throughout that century and mirrored the change
in numbers on Colonsay as a whole. In 1841, 68 people
were recorded living in 14 households. The residents even
included incomers from Mull and Jura, but 30 years later
there were only 49 inhabitants in nine houses.
Ten years on, it appears only five houses were still
occupied and numbers had fallen to just 19. They rose in
the next census but, by then, the island population had
dramatically fallen from its peak of 979 in 1841 to less than
400 and only 25 residents remained on the eve of the First
World War.
face peers out from the top of the monument and the two
arms of the cross contain carefully shaped spirals.
The base terminates in the shape of a fish-tail and the age
of the cross implies that the vicinity may have had special
significance before settlement. King Edward VII and
Queen Alexandra visited Colonsay House in 1902 and
planted commemorative rhododendrons in the subtropical
woodland around St Oran’s Well. The King
apparently caused some amusement by noting that the face
on the cross “Was a very good likeness of the chief engineer
on the royal yacht.”
Page 17 l-r: The ruins of Riasg
Buidhe seen from the hill to the
south of the village. Colonsay’s
new fish farm can be seen offshore,
with Scarba beyond.
This house stood at the western
end of the village row and, in its
later days, was fitted a roof of
tarred felt.
An old rusty bedstead is slowly
engulfed by grass.
This man-made basin, used to
grind barley, can be seen on the
top of a rock in the graveyard.
Above: Stone walls once formed
small enclosures in the area
between the houses and the
church.
Right: Half a mile of moorland
lies between Riasg Buidhe and
the scattering of houses at
Scalasaig. Glassard, where the
villagers relocated in the early
1920s, lies at the foot of the hill.
Photographs taken by the
author, Roger Butler.
Tragic Visitation
Today, the row of empty houses is
reminiscent of the village street on St Kilda
and the writer, Alasdair Alpin MacGregor,
thought the ruins looked like the result of
some tragic visitation. Eight single-storey
dwellings survive and one or two still
retain traces of high-level slots which
supported wooden crucks.
Early photographs show thatched roofs
on the row of the houses which formed the
main ‘street’. This sloped gently eastwards
in the direction of the sea and other
pictures, taken in front of some of the
properties, reveal whitewashed walls, small
windows and well-used panniers. Barefoot
children stand outside a doorway and
washing hangs near two detached buildings
at the west end of the village.
The pictures show that the thatch had
deteriorated and a later photo (taken after
the move to Glassard) reveals that the two
cottages furthest from the sea had been
refurbished with roofs of tarred felt, while
the rest of the terrace now stood empty and
roofless. The houses are known to have had
earthen floors and one of the two basic
rooms would have contained simple beds,
while loft spaces were often spread with
bracken or twigs to make sleeping quarters
for children.
Pioneered Improvements
The two cottages with felt roofs now
stand proud from the rest of the row and
retain chimney-breasts that appear to
have been added after they were built.
However, not everyone seems to have
taken to the new-fangled chimneys. In
1829, Baron Teignmouth reported that
the laird of Colonsay had pioneered
improvements to the island’s housing
stock, but found it was easier to build
chimneys than to get tenants to use them
- even with the incentive of rent
allowances.
The ruins seem to date from around the
start of the 19th Century, though it is
known a small farm was already established
in the vicinity. The population of the village
Uninscribed Gravestones
Riasg Buidhe includes the remains of a chapel, which may
indicate that an earlier settlement pre-dates the row of
houses. A number of uninscribed gravestones lie within or
near the boundary of a crumbling enclosure. A distinct
round basin, cut into a rock in the graveyard, would have
been used to grind barley and the remains of a well can also
be seen to the south of the old chapel. The windswept larch
tree next to the chapel is now showing its age.
The most remarkable remnant from Riasg Buidhe is the
distinctive 7th or 8th century carved cross which was
relocated from the old burial ground to St Oran’s Well,
within the policies of Colonsay House, sometime in the
1870s. This stood almost four feet high, though ten inches
were broken off when it was moved. A mystical sloth-like
Safe-keeping
In 1974, a small cross was discovered in the wall of an
old out-house. This appeared to be part of an old
flagstone and its slightly irregular shape, which was
pecked rather than carved, led some historians to
consider it may have been of relatively recent origin.
Nevertheless, it was taken to the National Museum in
Edinburgh for safe-keeping.
Today, the ruined village would be the perfect setting
for a children’s adventure story. But what happened to the
islanders who moved over the moor towards Scalasaig?
The first of their four semi-detached houses was ready by
1922 and, nearly a century later, descendants from those
families at Riasg Buidhe still live at Glassard.
18 SCOTTISH ISLANDS EXPLORER MAY / JUNE 2017
MAY / JUNE 2017 SCOTTISH ISLANDS EXPLORER 19