Transcription of an extract from ‘Tirey’ in ‘The Rev. Dr. John Walker’s Report on the Hebrides of 1764 and 1771’ edited by Margaret M. MacKay.
Courtesy of John Donald Publishers
The Rev Dr John Walker, minister of Moffat and a pioneer of scientific botany and geology, was sent to the Hebrides in 1764 and 1771 by the Commission for Annexed Estates to report on the social conditions, population and the state of manufacture, agriculture and fisheries.
He found the waters round Tiree teeming with fish but no fishing equipment on the island. In 1792, Rev Archibald McColl lamented that the local fishermen seemed unable to compete with those from other islands or the east coast who were taking full advantage of the nearby fishing banks.
The reasons for this he attributed to the daily involvement of crofters with their land and animals and to their poverty which disinclined them to risk what little savings they had purchasing equipment easily lost in bad weather.
Hardback book `Inveraray and the Dukes of Argyll` by Ian G. Lindsay and Mary Cosh.
The history of the building of Inveraray Castle. Tiree references in the index, including recovery of timber from the wreck of the Maria-Elizabeth, and Tiree marble.
Typewritten extract about expenses incurred by Argyll Estates on Tiree 1864-1899.
Information about expenses incurred by Argyll Estates on Tiree 1864-1899, e.g. maintenance of schools, teachers` salaries, maintenance of other infrastructure, assistance to emigrants, fishermen and crofters, nurses` wages, etc.
Extract from John Knox’s Tour through the Highlands and the Hebrides in 1786
Transcription of an extract from ‘A Tour through the Highlands of Scotland and the Hebride Isles, in 1786’ by John Knox.
In 1786 the British Society for Extending the Fisheries sent John Knox to the north and west coasts of Scotland to prospect for new harbours and fishing grounds. During his visit to Tiree, he surveyed the coastline and concluded that Gott Bay was the most practicable place for a pier.
This was in line with the thinking of the Society’s Governor, the 5th Duke of Argyll, who over the previous fifteen years had encouraged settlement in a new fishing village at Scarinish by offering ‘a few years’ free possession of a house-room, two acres of arable and a cow’s grass.’
In 1793 the Duke again instructed the island’s Chamberlain to encourage his tenants to attend to the fishing. However, in a list of exports from Tiree in the following year there is still no mention of any fish being sent from the island.
The full publication is available to borrow from An Iodhlann: 2017.50.3
Photocopy of book `Argyll Estates Instructions` 1771-1805 edited by Eric Cregeen.
The instructions given by John, the 5th Duke of Argyll to his Chamberlain in Mull and Morvern and his Chamberlain in Tiree with an introduction by Eric Cregeen.
