Series of photocopied letters dated 17th May 1982 to 6th October 1982 between Christina MacGregor Whyte and Mr Colin O`Brien, the headmaster of Tiree High School, regarding a large bequest from the estate of Duncan MacGregor Whyte for school equipment. Duncan MacGregor Whyte was a renowned artist who built ‘The Studio’ at Balephuil, and who painted many portrait’s of Tiree people. Christina (Ena) MacGregor Whyte was his son’s wife.
Click here to view 1999.211.4
Photocopied paper `The Gospel Fisherman` by Donald Meek.
Paper by Donald Meek subtitled `The Gaelic Hymns and Cultural Perspectives of Duncan MacDougall of Tiree`.
Photocopied page of information about the MacGregor-Whytes.
Brief histories of Duncan MacGregor-Whyte, his wife Mary Barnard and their two sons, Tearlach and John.
Click here to view 1999.211.8 (see pages 2 and 3)
Recollections of the daughter of Catherine MacDonald who emigrated to Canada in 1910.
Recollections of the daughter of Catherine MacDonald who emigrated to Canada with her sister Ellen on board `Empress of Britain` in 1910.
Photocopied family tree of the descendants of Donald MacDonald of Mannal
Family tree of the descendants of Donald MacDonald born in Mannal who went to Mull and returned to live at Am Bail` Ur in Balephuil. Some of his descendants emigrated to Manitoba, Canada.
Click here to view 1999.217.8
Black and white photograph of Colin MacDonald of Balephuil with twins Neil and Duncan MacKinnon.
Colin MacDonald (Cailean Fhearchair) of Balephuil with twins Neil and Duncan MacKinnon (b. 1938) in the early 1940s.
Black and white photograph of Katina, Colin and Kate MacDonald of Balephuil.
Katina MacDonald, her great-uncle Colin MacDonald (Cailean Fhearchair) and her mother Kate MacDonald, all of Balephuil, taken in the 1930s.
David MacClounnan, Katina and Kate MacDonald
Photograph of David MacClounnan, Katina and Kate MacDonald of Balephuil in 1946.
Courtesy of Ms Katina MacDonald
David MacClounnan, Katina and her mother Kate MacDonald are pictured outside Kate’s thatched house at Balephuil in 1946. The thatch is tied down with coir rope known as ‘sìoman-ruadh’ (red rope).
Old herring nets and more recently chicken wire have also been used to secure the thatch, the rolls being joined at the ridge. A rope is then threaded through the bottom of the net and weighted with beach stones which fray the rope least.
Although thatching is considered a skilled craft nowadays, most men would expect to thatch their own roofs with the help of other men from the township.
Black and white photograph of David MacClounnan, Katina and Kate MacDonald of Balephuil in 1946.
David MacClounnan, Katina and her mother Kate MacDonald, all of Balephuil, taken in 1946. Note the thatch tied with `sioman ruadh` (red rope).
Kate MacDonald of Balephuil
Photograph of Kate MacDonald standing on the ‘tobhta’ of her house in Balephuil in the 1940s.
Courtesy of Ms Katina MacDonald
Tiree’s thatched houses are built with double walls, between five feet thick and six or seven feet high, filled with sand and rubble known as the hearting. Since the roof rests on the inner wall, the top of the hearting and outer wall form a wide ledge known as ‘an tobhta’.
When the walls are un-mortared this can be left open and grass and sometimes flowers grow there. In summer the dogs would often lie there in the sun and sometimes sheep would climb up to graze.
Nowadays the spaces between the stones are usually filled with mortar so that the walls can no longer ‘breathe’ and the tobhta is sealed with concrete.
Black and white photograph of Kate MacDonald of Balephuil taken in the 1940s.
Kate MacDonald of Balephuil standing on the tobhta of her house, taken in the 1940s.
Black and white photograph of Kate, Colin and Katina MacDonald of Balephuil in 1929.
Kate MacDonald, her uncle Colin MacDonald (Cailean Fhearchair) and her daughter Katina MacDonald of Balephuil in 1929.
