Sword bayonet from the 1800s
Short sword with brass handle and metal scabbard with belt loop, that could also be fitted to a rifle and used as a bayonet. Thought to be of French design from the late 1700s-mid 1800s – the slightly sigmoid blade is thought to be Asian influenced. Found hidden in the thatched roof of `Cnoc Bhiosta`, Kilmoluaig, by Ian & Sue Atkins during re-thatching around 2005. It is not known how the sword bayonet came to be hidden in the thatch, although the brother of Calum Iain `Bhan` MacKinnon (who once lived in the house) was in the Canadian army (hence French weapons) in the early 1900s, and may have brought the sword to Tiree during a holiday with Calum.
