Pentland Road - 2

The above image is of Kildonan Cottage, as I was advised by a local man today. The picture was taken in the 1950s, and cannot be reproduced today. The position of the photographer would be suspended in air, several dozen feet above the ground, as the hill he stood on has been bulldozed to make way for the Arnish Fabrication Yard. The cottage was burned down by way of demolition. Related to today's topography, Kildonan Cottage stands between the Lighthouse and the Fabrication Yard, close to Downie's Pier. This is the view, two years ago, from Charlie's Monument, just south of the Fabrication Yard.

5878. What was the arrangement you spoke about with regard to the sheep pasturing on your crofts in winter. Was that by a special arrangement and included in the rent you paid for the croft? —No it was no part of the agreement. But when Dr M'Lean would find our sheep in the fank, the owner of any sheep who was not prepared to pay half a crown on the spot for it would have the ears of his sheep cut close to its skull at once. 5923. You spoke about cutting the ears of sheep. I understood you to say that if the crofters kept the sheep and did not pay 2s. 6d., then the ears of the sheep were cut off. Did you ever see the ears of a sheep cut off ? —Yes, I did see that in Dr M'Lean's fank at Talisker. I never saw it before or since. 5924. Was that a punishment of Dr M'Lean's invention, or is it the custom in this country ? —I never saw it with anybody but himself. 5925. Had you any name for that mode of marking sheep ? —No, we had no particular name. 5926. Did...

6343. There is a story about a number of people having been kidnapped, or induced to remove from Soay and other places in Minginish long ago ? —I know it well. 6344. How long ago was it ? —It is seventy years ago since my grandfather went, and it was before that. 6345. There were a lot induced to emigrate to Canada ? —They took them away in spite of themselves. 6346. And they were not taken to Canada ? —No, it was to Charlestown, where they were sold for slaves. He left them poor enough and robbed the clothes off their backs, before they came back to the same farm again. 6347. Who did that ? —Old Kenneth M'Askill. 6348. Of the farm of Rhu Dunan ? —Yes. we heard news from people who went to America. Many of them say they would rather be home in their native place yet, if they were the way they were before.

4191. How many altogether were removed by Mr Gibbons? —Seventeen. He placed these families as close together as the sea would allow him; and we have but very little land, and it will not support us ; and some of those he took from Minginish were placed upon peat soil, which had never previously been cultivated. When he packed the people in that way Ebost tack was then free, and he thought that was a better bargain, and gave up Feorlick. Then Major M'Kinnon succeeded him. He was not very severe on the people. They were paying rent in work, but he removed some of the people,—Malcolm Stewart and Murdo Macdonald ; these had not a place on earth on which they could put a foot. I myself saw them living under a sail spread on three poles under high-water mark. He warned off Donald Campbell for giving shelter to a poor man who had not a place to live in. I saw the officer coming to his house and breaking into it; and he went in with a pad of water and extinguished the fire, and a great st...

3596[...]— Statements prepared by the Tenants of Edinbane. Our lots are from 6 to 8 acres of arable land. There are about 20 half lots from subdivision. A large piece of the hill has been taken from us called Ben Dhu, and no compensation, given. Several of our lots have been taken down by 1 acre, and no reduction of rents. The proprietor has never done anything for the land. The houses are built and maintained by ourselves. On removal we get compensation for the roof only. We think our rents too high, when so much land has been taken from us, and the rent in many cases raised. They were last raised to give the factor Mr Robertson votes. We are not in arrears. Seven days' work is claimed by Mr Robertson from each lot, and 2s. is taken from us for every day we miss. He likes us to give him the first offer of stock, but he does not fix the prices. A lot is allowed four cows and twenty-four sheep. Four cows are too many for the pasture. The profits from sheep go direct to Mr Robertson ...

Join the army in the Crimean war, mid 19th century. What did you get? Well, paragraph 1123 from the Napier Commission inquiry into the conditions of the poor of the Highlands and Islands gives a flavour: But when you were in [the army]? —Well, for one time I had two years and four months without ever stripping or going to bed. From the time I left Portsmouth till I returned, I never stripped. I was in clothes all the time, and it was hard enough work for all I got.

On 8 May 1883, Lord Napier visited the Isle of Skye and other areas in the Highlands and Islands. He had been charged by Queen Victoria to investigate the grievances of crofters and cottars against the prevailing system of land ownership, security of tenure (or lack thereof) and living conditions. I have a transcript of the report, and it makes for deeply depressing reading. However, if anyone wants to understand the recent history of the north of Scotland, this is compulsory reading. I copy the first 21 paragraphs, which gives a flavour of society in those days. For reference: the man interviewed, Angus Stewart, lives in an area called the Braes, 8 miles southeast of Skye's main town, Portree. When the landowner found that the local cottars were not paying the rent, he sent in the constabulary. The police were met with a fully fledged riot, and retreated bloodied to Portree. A Royal Navy ship was sent to the area, by which time the uprising had come to the attention of the auth...

On 12 March 1941, the SS Politician was making her way from the United Kingdom to America, but was hopelessly lost in fog around the Hebrides. Although the captain thought he was near Skerryvore, he was in fact a good few miles further west, and heading into the narrow channel between the isles of South Uist and Eriskay. With a grinding crunch, the boat ran aground on a reef, just off Eriskay. The Politician's crew decided she was not going to come off in a hurry, either refloated or sinking, so they rowed ashore at Eriskay and alerted the authorities. The islanders were alerted in the process and they went over to have a look around the wreck. Its cargo consisted of cases of Jamaican banknotes, several grand pianos, bathroom suites and... many thousands of cases of all kinds of whisky. The story has become legendary, with the islanders helping themselves to unimaginable quantities of uisge bheatha [water of life] and having a high old time. Compton Mackenzie immortalised the ...