Photocopied newspaper article correcting an error in a letter to the editor from D. H. MacFarlane dated 6/8/1886.
Correction to letter from D. H. MacFarlane which should have read `six tenants paying over £2,600 and one over £1,200`.
Photocopied letter to the editor of the Times from the Duke of Argyll dated 27/7/1886.
Letter to the editor of the Times from the Duke of Argyll dated 27/7/1886 correcting an error in article which stated that notices of ejection were issued for non-payment of rent rather than because of violent seizure of land occupied by other tenants.
John Ramsay’s letter about Tiree schools
Transcription of John Ramsay’s letter to the 8th Duke of Argyll about Tiree schools in 1863.
Courtesy of His Grace the Duke of Argyll
In 1863, John Ramsay, MP for Falkirk Burghs, reported on the state of Tiree schools to the Royal Commission on Education in Scotland chaired by the 8th Duke of Argyll. At the time of the report, there were eight schools on Tiree, of which only three made a good impression.
In this private letter to the Duke, Ramsay made several suggestions on how to improve the quality of the teaching on the island by removing unsatisfactory teachers, offering inducements for better pupil attendance and school inspections by the factor, Lachlan MacQuarie.
Rather than appealing to the Duke’s altruism, Ramsay stressed ‘the pecuniary value of education to the proprietor of a Highland estate’.
Photocopied letter dated 13/1/1862 from Rev John Gregorson Campbell to the Duke of Argyll.
Letter dated 13/1/1862 from Rev John Gregorson Campbell to the Duke of Argyll about the lack of accomodation for the teacher at Kirkapol school and the large class size (80-90 pupils). (Bundle 1540)
Photocopied letter to the Duke of Argyll from Samuel MacDonald dated 21/5/1870.
Letter to the Duke of Argyll from Samuel MacDonald dated 21/5/1870 about the possible cultivation of madder (a dye plant) on Tiree. (Bundle 1808)
Photocopied feu contract between the Duke of Argyll and the Trustees of the Baptist Congregation at Baugh dated 1880.
Feu contract between the Duke of Argyll and the Trustees of the Baptist Congregation at Baugh dated 15 & 19/10/1880. (Bundle 2501)
Photocopied feu contract between the Duke of Argyll and the Trustees of the Kirkapol Free Church dated 1882.
Feu contract between the Duke of Argyll and the Trustees of the Kirkapol Free Church dated 1882. (Bundle 2501)
Photocopied assignation dated 1880 by the Trustees of Baptist Church of Tiree in favour of the Baptist Home Missionary Society of Scotland.
Assignation dated 1880 by the Trustees of Baptist Church of Tiree of the tack at Baugh in favour of the Baptist Home Missionary Society of Scotland.
Photocopied feu charter by the Duke of Argyll in favour of the Tiree School Board dated 1886.
Feu charter dated 1886 by the Duke of Argyll in favour of the Tiree School Board for a piece of ground in Balemartine. (Bundle 2501)
Heylipol Church in 1900
Transcription of a letter from the Rev. Dugald MacLean to the Duke of Argyll about the condition of Heylipol Church in 1900.
Courtesy of His Grace the Duke of Argyll
In medieval times Tiree was divided in two parishes, Kirkapol in the east under the Bishop of the Isles and Soroby in the west under the Abbot of Iona. In 1618 the two parishes were united with Coll. In 1865 Coll was severed from Tiree and ten years later Soroby was severed from Kirkapol.
A church at Heylipol had been built in 1839 to serve the west of the island where the greater part of the population lived. In this letter of 1900, the Rev. Dugald MacLean describes the dangerous and dilapidated state of the church despite many repairs carried out over the previous twenty years.
A new church designed by William Mackenzie was erected on the site in 1902. Of cruciform Gothic design with a bell tower over the entrance porch and large enough to accommodate 365 worshippers, the church is still in current use.
