Pentland Road - 2

During the First World War, three sons of Norman and Annie Morrison of 19, South Dell lost their lives whilst serving in the Royal Naval Reserve. A fourth son, John, served in the Ross Mountain Battery but survived the war. Norman is not listed in the Roll of Honour as having served during the Great War. We find the five sons in the 1901 census at 30 South Dell with their mother Ann (then aged 48); their father appears not to have been at home on the night of 31st March / 1st April 1901. Listed are Angus (18), Catherine (15), Norman (9), Alexander (12), John (6) and Finlay (3). Alexander was lost on 20 January 1917 (aged 29), when his ship, SS Bulgarian was torpedoed 50 miles west of Fastnet by U-boat U-84. He is remembered on the Naval Memorial at Chatham. Finlay died on 22 August 1917 (aged 19), when his ship, HMT Sophron, was mined. He lies buried in the Seafield Cemetery at Edinburgh.  Angus was lost exactly a year later, on 20 January 1918 (aged 35) when his ship...

View Larger Map Loch Coire Geurad, shown above, is one of many inland lochs in Lewis, located at the centre of the island. The nearest road is about 3 miles away to the north, as is the nearest permanent habitation. There was never any permanent dwelling houses here, but the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland has listed 9 so-called sheiling huts at the northwestern corner of the loch. These ruins are designated as Gearraidh Coire Geurad. A sheiling is a place where people from elsewhere in the island would take their livestock in summer to fatten them up for winter. In 1853, the site was described as consisting of 5 roofed huts. 120 years later, there were unroofed huts, one of which had three compartments. I visited the southern end of Loch Coire Geurad in 2005 (the sheilings are at its northern extremity, on the southern slopes of Coltreasal Mor); just off the righthand edge of this picture.