1998.138.15

The Met. Station at Cornaig School

Postcard of the Met. Station at Cornaig School.

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Courtesy of Mr Donald MacKinnon

In 1924 the Meteorological Office proposed to establish an official telegraphic weather reporting station on Tiree at Cornaig School.

However, they first needed to bring a telegraph line to the post office at Cornaig which the GPO would only do if it was guaranteed an income of £60 per year. The Treasury offered to pay more than half of this and the line was installed in 1926 when five local people put up a guarantee of £5 a year each.

The headmaster Donald O. MacLean agreed to become the Met. Office Observer on Tiree for the sum of £52 a year and John MacPhail of Cornaigmore, was appointed Deputy Observer. The first report was filed in September 1926.

Black and white postcard of the Met Station at Cornaig School.

Postcard showing the Meteorological Station at Cornaigmore. Built by Hugh MacKinnon, Crossapol in 1926. The Headmaster of Cornaig School, D. O. MacLean first took charge of it, followed by Headmaster Mr. Morrison until he left in 1938. John MacPhail, crofter at Cornaigmore, took charge of the Met Station during the war years and, after his death, his wife Marion MacPhail took over responsibility. In around 1945 the Meteorological Office opened at the Reef, Crossapol, and the Cornaigmore station was closed.

Object Details

Other Number: N1

The Meteorological Station at Cornaig School

It was built in 1926 at the request of the UK Met Office and comprised a hut for an anemometer and hydrograph, a rain gauge, a sunshine recorder and screens to shelter a thermometer and thermograph. Initially, the school headmaster ran the Met Station. In 1945, the Air Ministry moved it to new premises at the aerodrome at Crossapol.

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