Postcard of a thatched house in Moss that was the site of a famous shebeen.
In the Statistical Account of 1845, the Rev. Neil MacLean wrote: ‘There are two licensed inns in Tiree, but it is to be observed that several low illicit tippling houses…have been springing up of late in this island.’
A few years later, the Duke removed the licence from Tiree, after a woman died on her way home after drinking at the inn at Croish in Kilmoluaig. While alcohol could not then be sold legally, there were a number of houses, or shebeens, where whisky could be bought if you were known to be trustworthy.
The most famous of these was run by Màiri Ann an Righ in Moss. She was undisturbed by the Argyll Constabulary, partly because she was very careful to whom she gave a bottle.