Photocopied newspaper article about Curtis-Stanford.
Article about Curtis-Stanford and the Middleton seaweed factory.
2003.87.1
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Tag Archives: kelp
1998.152.1
Photocopied newspaper cutting about the seaweed industry.
Article about Edward Curtis Stanford (1837-1899) who managed the seaweed factory at Middleton for the North British Seaweed Co.
2003.18.18
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.
1999.27.1
Photocopied extract of account of vessels passed through the Crinan Canal in 1892.
One page record of vessels passing through the Crinan Canal in 1892 showing D Lamont on the `Bloomer` with a cargo of kelp bound for Glasgow.
2000.28.15
Black and white photograph of people working at the tangles.
Working at the tangles at the Green, Kilmoluaig in 1927.
2000.28.16
Black and white photograph of Calum Lamont, Cornaigmore.
Calum Lamont of Cornaigmore burning tangles in 1932.
2000.28.17
Calum and Archibald Lamont
Photograph of Calum and Archibald Lamont burning tangles at Cornaigmore in the 1930s.
Courtesy of Mr Archie MacKinnon
Calum and Archibald Lamont are pictured here burning kelp, known as tangle, near Clachan at Cornaigmore in the 1930s. The cooled ash cakes were collected the next morning, bagged and stored in byres until collected by puffer.
There have been three phases in the island’s kelp industry: burning the seaweed for alkalis in the late 18th and early 19th centuries; for producing iodine in the second half of the 19th century; and for alginates in the 20th century.
In the 1980s and 1990s six part-time collectors worked the beaches of the island, lifting storm-cast kelp from the high tide mark. Around 10-25 tons of the dried seaweed was taken each year from Tiree to Girvan where it was processed into alginates used in the food, pharmaceutical, textile and cosmetic industries.
Black and white photograph of Calum and Archie Mor Lamont, Cornaigmore.
Calum and Archie Mor Lamont of Cornaigmore burning tangles in 1932.
1999.144.9
Account by George Holleyman of his time in the RAF on Tiree 1941-1943.
Account by George Holleymen, an amateur archaeologist, of his time in RAF Tiree as a Service Policeman. Two more copies added in 2011 (E01206).
2000.13.7
Photocopy from Mitchell Library, Glasgow – `The People`s Clearance` by J.M. Bumsted pp 42, 97
Duke of Argyll`s reaction to Tiree`s kelp and whisky production which encouraged emigration.
1999.7.4
Twenty-two photographs of Tiree from RCAHMS, 1900-1977
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