Beachcombers on Balevullin beach in the 1960s
Photograph of Ernest Richardson and Mary MacLean beachcombing at Balevullin.
Courtesy of Mrs Flora MacKinnon
Ernest Richardson and his sister-in-law Mary MacLean are pictured here beachcombing at Balevullin in the 1960s. Mary is carrying a basket used for measuring herring. Four of these baskets made one cran.
The unwritten local rules allow everything below the high water mark on the beach to be taken. On an island with no trees, the most valuable find was wood. It was common for skippers to carry an extra deck load of timber to sell on the west coast and this was often lost in storms or gales.
During World War II, goods washed up on Tiree’s shores included boxes of lard from the USA, fruit such as bananas and grapefruit, export cigarettes in tins, bales of coarse crepe rubber and, after the ‘Empress of Britain’ sank off Ireland, five gallon drums of turpentine.
Black and white photograph of Ernest Richardson and Mary MacLean in the 1960s.
Beachcombers on Balevullin beach in the 1960s. L-R: Ernest Richardson and his sister-in-law Mary MacLean.