Johnny MacKay of Balephuil
Photograph of Johnny MacKay of Balephuil transporting tangles with a donkey and cart in 1957.
Courtesy of Mr Alan Boyd
Morton Boyd photographed Johnny MacKay of Am Bail’ Ur in Balephuil in 1957 transporting dried kelp, known as tangles, with a donkey and cart. The tangles would be sent each year to the mainland for processing into alginates which are widely used to thicken food and size cloth.
Seaweed has also been used from the earliest times as animal fodder, for medicinal use, for human consumption – a milk pudding made from carrageen is still widely eaten on Tiree – and as a fertiliser for hay meadows and particularly for potatoes.
Crofters collecting seaweed divided the shoreline between them but occasionally disputes arose. As late as 1914 the Land Court had to adjudicate between crofters in Caoles, one of whom was ‘only allowed to take seaweed from the boundary of Ruaig to Ardeas until Old St. Patrick’s Day’ while his neighbour had free access to the beaches.
Black and white photograph of Johnny MacKay in 1957.
Johnny MacKay of Bail` Ur, Balephuill, collecting dry tangles in 1957.
Black and white photograph of Peggy MacNeill in Balephuill.
Peggy MacNeill (Peigi Neill an Tuathanaich) on the right outside Taigh Neill Eachainn in Balephuill sliabh.
Black and white photograph of Taigh Ceit Chalein, Am Bail` Ur, Balephuil.
Taigh Ceit Chalein in Am Bail` Ur, Balephuil, photographed by Morton Boyd in the 1940s or 1950s.
Black and white photograph of Taigh Neill Oig, Bail` Ur, Balephuil.
Taigh Neill Oig in Bail` Ur, Balephuil, photographed by Morton Boyd in the 1940s or 1950s.
Black and white photograph of Taigh MacKay in Bail` Ur, Balephuill.
Taigh MacKay in Bail` Ur, Balephuill, photographed by Morton Boyd in c 1950s.
Colour photograph of Eilidh Sheumais Bhain in Bail` Ur.
Eilidh MacDonald (Eilidh Sheumais Bhain) outside her house in Bail` Ur, Balephuil, photographed by Morton Boyd in the 1940s or 1950s.
Black and white photograph of twins Donald and Duncan MacKinnon of Balephuill.
Twins Neil and Duncan MacKinnon of Balephuill photographed by Morton Boyd in the 1940s or 1950s.
Black and white photograph of Taigh Dhonnchaidh Bhain in Bail` Ur, Balephuill.
Taigh Dhonnchaidh Bhain in Bail` Ur, Balephuill, photographed by Morton Boyd in the 1940s or 50s.
Colour photograph of Kate MacDonald and Johnny MacKay in Bail` Ur.
Kate MacDonald (Ceit Chalein) and Johnny MacKay in Bail` Ur, Balephuil, photographed by Jean Irwin.
Black and white postcard of Balephuill.
View of Balephuill, Traigh Bhi and Ceann a` Bhara.
