Tag Archives: local and migratory legends

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2021.53.88

Digitised copy of Tiree mermaid – sworn statement of the discovery of a sea creature on the shore on Tiree, by Collin McNiven before James Maxwell, Justice of the Peace, 1813.

The statement (given by Colin MacNiven, tacksman of Grianal [Greenhill]) contains a detailed description of the discovery and appearance of the mermaid. MacNiven states that the mermaid was discovered eighteen years prior.

Click to read a transcript of this item.

Click to view a record for this item on Inveraray’s online catalogue.

From the archives of the Dukes of Argyll at Inveraray Castle, made available through the Written in the Landscape project.

2009.112.1

Magazine article “The current of history” about travels through the Highlands and islands in the 1950s and 1960s.

Magazine article about the author`s memories of travelling by train and steam ship from St Andrews to Glasgow and Oban, and then the isles and Fort William in the 1950s and 1960s, including reference to Gaelic fables. With map and colour photos.

2009.72.1

DVD film “Seachd – the Inaccessible Pinnacle”

DVD film “Seachd – the Inaccessible Pinnacle” about a boy searching for the truth about his parents death and the truth behind his grandfather`s ancient, incredible, fearful stories, which are based on Gaelic history. The first contemporary Scots Gaelic feature film, set entirely on the island of Skye.

2007.9.1

The Green Island

Transcription of extracts from ‘The Green Island’ by Rev. John Gregorson Campbell.

The eminent folklorist Rev. John Gregorson Campbell (1836-1891) collected many traditional stories, both from Tiree itself and other parts of the west coast, during the time he served as Tiree’s minister.

In the 1880s he wrote an essay about the ‘Green Island’, an enchanted isle in the Atlantic, sometimes above the waves, often submerged, which was believed by some to be west of Tiree. Indeed, a mythical island in the west has been part of European tradition since earliest times.

In his essay Campbell suggested that in the wanderings of the tribes of north-west Europe and the communication between Iceland, Ireland and the Western Isles of Scotland is ‘a clue to the reason of the name Greenland being given to that forbidding region.’

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