Transcription of the police report on the Ruaig drowning of 1860.
Courtesy of Argyll & Bute Archives
In February 1860, Charles MacLean and brothers Duncan and Archibald MacInnes left Skipnish, the harbour in Ruaig, to check their lobster traps. Their skiff measured just over sixteen feet. With Duncan at the helm and Charles and Archibald on the oars, they rowed four or five hundred yards to the south-east.
They then put three reefs in the sail, hoisted it and steered to the west of Soay. The wind was from the south, very strong but steady. As the sea was so heavy, they decided to shorten sail. While Archibald was doing this, water came aboard. They dropped the sail and in a moment the boat capsized.
Duncan managed to struggle ashore but the other two were drowned. When found by two Ruaig men, he was so weak he was unable to speak and had to be assisted home.
A folder of papers including witness statements, a petition for search warrant and a search warrant regarding a breaking in and theft of fishing equipment in 1858. Donald McPhail of Kilmoluag is the accused.
Transcription of the seven witness statements for the inquest into the loss of four Tiree fishermen in April 1858.
Courtesy of Argyll & Bute Archives
On 30th April 1858 four fishermen, cottars Donald MacLean and Alexander MacFarlane from Heylipol and John MacLean and Archibald MacArthur from Balinoe, were drowned in a great gale. They had left the port at Balemartine early that morning in calm, clear weather and headed for the fishing banks between Hynish and Skerryvore.
The wind began to blow in the afternoon. Other fishermen in the area saw them lifting their lines and reported that they were the last to leave the fishing grounds and head for home. The wind and tide were against them and they failed to reach the shore. Their boat was only 14 feet in length.
Charles Campbell, another Balemartine fisherman, set out a few days later when the storm had abated to search for the bodies. He found no trace of the boat or her crew in Colonsay, Islay or Iona.
Images of manuscript added to website August 2024:
Photocopied extract `The Travelling Kennedys` by Darrel E. Kennedy.
Family history of the Kennedys in Canada descended from Alexander Kennedy from Balephuil and his wife Isabell MacKinnon from Cornaigbeg, with pedigree chart for Alexander Kennedy.
Folder with typewritten account `The Buildings of Tiree` by Geoffrey Stell, ca 1970.
Typewritten account `The Buildings of Tiree` by Geoffrey Stell typed on paper from publishers Gee & Co of the Strand, London, plus an accompanying map of Tiree hand-drawn by Mary Robertson.
Foghorn (missing rubber bulb) used on board the schooner Mary Stewart, originally an early 20th century car horn. It was a family tradition of the owners (Donald Maclean of Scarinish and his sons) to blow the horn if there was a marriage in the township.
Red deer bone awl found by Dr Morton Boyd in Balephuil in 1995.
Red deer bone 125 mm long and 25-35 mm wide with one end shaped into a point, found by Dr Morton Boyd on 27/1/1995 on the bank of the stream at Balephuil embedded in a layer of limpet shells and sand/soil at a depth of around 3 m in the dunes.
Account of Meteorlogical Reconnaisance by RAF 518 Squadron during WWII
An account of Met sorties at RAF Tiree during WWII, with a map showing Met sortie flight patterns. Presented by Wing Cdr. Bryn Lewis at an RAF Historical Society seminar held in the RAF Museum, Hendon in April 2004. Includes a programme of events at the seminar.
Transcription of an extract from ‘Tirey’ in ‘The Rev. Dr. John Walker’s Report on the Hebrides of 1764 and 1771’ edited by Margaret M. MacKay.
Courtesy of John Donald Publishers
The Rev Dr John Walker, minister of Moffat and a pioneer of scientific botany and geology, was sent to the Hebrides in 1764 and 1771 by the Commission for Annexed Estates to report on the social conditions, population and the state of manufacture, agriculture and fisheries.
He found the waters round Tiree teeming with fish but no fishing equipment on the island. In 1792, Rev Archibald McColl lamented that the local fishermen seemed unable to compete with those from other islands or the east coast who were taking full advantage of the nearby fishing banks.
The reasons for this he attributed to the daily involvement of crofters with their land and animals and to their poverty which disinclined them to risk what little savings they had purchasing equipment easily lost in bad weather.
Extract from ‘The History of the Celtic Place-Names of Scotland’ by William J. Watson
Transcription of an extract from ‘The History of the Celtic Place-Names of Scotland’ by William J. Watson.
Courtesy of Birlinn Ltd
The origin of the name Tiree is still a mystery. It is commonly said to come from the Gaelic ‘Tir iodh’, the land of corn, because of the island’s fertility. Another derivation is ‘Tir-Idhe’, the granary of Iona; a monastery established by St Columba on Tiree supplied grain to his headquarters on Iona.
Both of these explanations are probably wrong. William Watson, Professor of Celtic at Edinburgh University for over twenty years, wrote the book ‘The Celtic Place Names of Scotland’, which is still regarded as the most reliable source on the subject.
He believed the name came from ‘Tir’, Gaelic for land, and ‘Heth’ from an earlier language. In 1878 the official spelling was changed by the Post Office from Tyree to Tiree to avoid confusion with Tyrie in Aberdeenshire.
