Dates: 1920s

1997.156.6

Two men building a corn stack

Photograph of two men building a corn stack.

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Courtesy of Mrs Mairi Campbell

The two men are building a corn stack or ‘mulan’ which will provide winter feeding for horses, cattle and hens and seed for spring sowing. In the background is a row of haystacks. Corn stacks were built with the heads of the sheaves to the centre so the finished stack contained a column of seed.

Four sheaves were placed upright in the centre with further sheaves added around the centre, working clockwise. The sheaves were always kept with the seed uppermost so any moisture would run away from it down the straw.

The diameter of the stack was carefully measured using a special rope, either six or seven fathoms long, marked with a knot at one end and a block at the other. The stack was re-measured every two rows to keep it straight. These traditional methods are still in use today by a few crofters on the island.

Black and white photograph of building a cornstack at Whitehouse.

The two men are building a corn stack which will provide winter feeding for horses, cattle and hens and seed for spring sowing. In the background is a row of haystacks. At harvest time, the cut corn would be bundled by hand into sheaves, six of which would be stood together to form stooks. When sufficiently dry, the stooks would be transported by horse and cart to the stackyard. Corn stacks were built with the heads of the sheaves to the centre so the finished stack contained a column of seed. These traditional methods are still in use today by a few crofters on the island.

2002.64.4

Hardware bill from Donald MacDonald, Cornaigbeg to W. MacKinnon dated 28/11/1922.

Bill for building materials – screws, hinges, stair posts, flooring, window wood, locks, bolts, handles, grates, handrail and balustrade – totalling £65 2/10d.

2000.7.2.1

Magazine articles `Tiree Portfolio` and `Gott Bay Pier, Isle of Tiree` from Caledonian MacBrayne staff magazine `Brayne Waves`, 1997

(1) `Tiree Portfolio` was written with contributions from Hector MacPhail and records which boats served Tiree, their captains, cargo handling methods, and improvements at the Pier, (2) `Gott Bay Pier, Isle of Tiree` was written by Alexander MacArthur, (Balemartine) who worked on the SS Hebrides. He gives an account of cargo handling including cattle and vehicles.

2000.4.1

Hardback book `The adventure of the Faeroe Islands` by M. Helen Graham.

An account of a voyage to the Faeroe Islands in a yacht.

1997.170.5

Black & white photograph of Neil MacLaine and his wife Catherine MacFadyen in their Highland finery. The ‘Bard’, as Neil MacLaine was familiarly known, was at the forefront of the Celtic movement in Glasgow from the late 1890s until his death in 1925.

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Courtesy of Mrs Mairi Campbell

The Bard had a gift for telling humerous Gaelic stories and reciting his own compositions. He regularly attended meetings of the Clan MacLean, Tiree Association and Ceilidh nan Gaidheal and was a vice-president in each of these societies.

Born in Caoles in 1851, he went to Glasgow at an early age to become apprenticed to the joinery trade. Apart from four years spent in the Kimberley Diamond Fields in South Africa, he remained in the city until his death in 1919.

2002.56.8

Black and white photograph of Amelia Cameron and Mrs Anderson, the gamekeeper`s wife.

L-R: Amelia Cameron nee Munn (grand-daughter of Allan MacFadyen (1800-1891) and Amelia Stewart (1812-1891) of Scarinish Hotel) and Effy Anderson née Low, the gamekeeper`s wife and sister of Hugh Alexander Low, taken c. 1915-25.

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