Yumpu_ May_June 2017_02

Colonsay’s Ruined Village
Colonsay’s
Ruined Village
Roger Butler explores the ruins at Riasg Buidhe
The ferry is nosing along the east coast of Colonsay and excited travellers peer through
binoculars at the rugged coastline and a knobbly horizon of hills. The pier at Scalasaig
sneaks into view and the pontoons around the new fish farm wobble in the waves. A heron rises
lazily from the shore as a seasoned visitor grabs someone by the shoulder and points to a wedge of
rising moorland.
It takes a moment or two to spot the row of small roofless houses which effortlessly merge into
the heath and the heather. This is the ruined village of Riasg Buidhe and the view from the ferry
shows how its former inhabitants were quite isolated from other parts of the island. Their walls
and gables, now empty for almost a hundred years, are slowly merging back into the bracken.
Passengers have already started to make their way towards the car deck as the line of houses at
Glassard, on the north side of the harbour, comes into view. There have been some recent additions
here, but the original pebble-dashed properties were built to re-house the people of Riasg Buidhe
(pronounced ‘risk-booee’) after the First World War. The ferry groans as it manoeuvres towards
the pier, but the ruined village has now completely disappeared behind a long low headland.
‘Riasg Buidhe includes the remains of a chapel,
which may indicate that an earlier settlement
pre-dates the row of houses.’
270 Million Years
The walk from Scalasaig to Riasg Buidhe passes the houses at Glassard, wriggles across half a mile
of moor and drops towards patches of salty marshland with views to the Paps of Jura. A black dyke,
interspersed with sparkly crystals and dating back 270 million years to the Permian period, runs
along the north side of Port a’ Bhàta, which was the landing place for the old village.
The people of Riasg Buidhe were fisherfolk and, during the week, the men would hole-up in one
of the big caves on the west coast of Jura, possibly near Ruantallain by the northern entrance to
Loch Tarbert. They would return with their catch, under sail or using oars if necessary, though
these trips came to end with the outbreak of war and by the 1920s the inshore fishing had all but
ceased. Yet until the 1970s, the remains of old fishing equipment could be found in a crevice above
the tideline.
Several decades ago, an islander was able to recall: ‘On Sunday you would have thought these men
came out of a mansion. Every one of them had a blue suit, with the trousers beautifully creased, and
even though they had walked across the rough ground to get to the church there was never a mark
on their clothes. Then, when the service was over, they would walk home and away would go the
blue suit, back into the chest until next Sunday. They would then put on their navy blue jerseys
once again, which were almost a uniform amongst them’.
16 SCOTTISH ISLANDS EXPLORER MAY / JUNE 2017