Black and white photograph of Christina MacKinnon of Barrapol in the 1920s.
Christina MacKinnon (Jessie MacKinnon`s mother) of Ard na Fuarain, Barrapol at her spinning wheel in the 1920s. Christina was a spinner of bog cotton.
Black and white photogrpah of Mrs MacDonald, Kilkenneth.
Mrs Marion MacDonald (nee MacKinnon), Kilkenneth with her spinning wheel. She was the last professional weaver in Tiree and died around 1935 aged 93 years old.
She was married 3rd February 1857
Black and white photograph of Mrs Colina Buchanan nee Campbell.
Colina Campbell, wife of Dr Buchanan, photographed with a spinning wheel in Coll probably in the 1920s.
Black and white photograph of a spinning wheel made by Archie MacLean, Cornaigmore.
Spinning wheel made by Archie MacLean (1849-1942) of Cornaigmore (see photograph C67). The wheel is now in Sussex.
Black and white photograph of a spinning wheel made by Archie MacLean, Cornaigmore.
Spinning wheel made by Archie MacLean (1849-1942) of Cornaigmore (see photograph C67). It was bought in January 1969 in Rye, Sussex and is now in Germany.
Letter dated 15/7/2003 from Marion Boniface of Hailsham, Sussex with two photocopied photographs of spinning wheels made in Tiree.
Letter dated 15/7/2003 from Marion Boniface of Hailsham, Sussex with two photocopied photographs of spinning wheels made by Archibald MacLean of Cornaigmore (see photograph C67).
Christina MacNeill with her son Malcolm MacLean
Photograph of Christina MacNeill with her son Malcolm MacLean.
Courtesy of Mr Iain MacKinnon
Christina MacNeill is pictured here sitting at her spinning wheel. Standing behind her is her son Malcolm MacLean. Known as ‘Calum Salum’, he was a keen piper all his life and would play for dances in Salum and from the rocks at the shore to the seals.
Among his many activities, Calum ran a shop and a boarding house in Salum, the latter with help of his step-father Lachie MacNeill. He also ran two cars in what became a very busy taxi service for the east end of the island.
For many years he served as the District Councillor for Tiree. He was well-known for his beautiful handwriting and his stories which entertained visitors and locals alike.
Black and white photograph of Calum Salum and his mother, Christina MacNeill.
Malcolm MacLean (Calum Salum) with his bagpipes and his mother Christina MacNeill (Ciorstaidh Mhunn) with carding combs and a spinning wheel.
Mary MacLean of Balevullin
Photograph of Mary MacLean of Balevullin at her spinning wheel.
Courtesy of Ms Linda Gowans
George Holleyman, an archaeologist in the RAF police posted to Tiree during World War II, photographed Mary MacLean at her spinning wheel in the garden of her croft at Balevullin. Mary kept five cows and around twenty-five sheep and grew no crops other than potatoes.
To the right of the photograph is the top stone of a rotary quern. It is thought that rotary querns were introduced to Britain by the Romans around 2,000 years ago. Two women would sit on the ground with the quern between them, feeding grain into the central hole in the upper stone which was rotated by hand using a handle.
This was enormously time-consuming work. In ‘The Statistical Account of Scotland’ of the 1790s, Rev. Archibald MacColl estimated ‘by the lowest calculation, the work of 50 women is yearly lost at grinding’.
Black and white photograph of Mary MacLean, Balevullin.
Mary MacLean spinning wool in her garden at Balevullin, photgraphed by George Holleyman in the early 1940s. Note the drystone walling and quern stone.
