Digitised copy of Letter from Malcolm McLaurine, Chamberlain of Tiree, to the 5th Duke of Argyll, 29 Mar 1802. In this letter, McLaurine discusses the removal of people from the island. Those selected for ‘Removings’ include: those found guilty of illegal distilling, two young millers at Cornaigmore who ‘paid no attention to the machinery, nor to their work’, and Malcolm McDonald (Caoles) for taking trees from Loch Sunart to sell in Coll. Those in fishing stations were under warning. McLaurine also discusses: the division of land into four mail lands; Major Maxwell and George Langland; the use of the Reef by cottars and the lack of ‘grass mail’ paid by them. McLaurine mentions the 5th Duke of Argyll’s instructions to remove ‘every 10th man, and those the most criminal’.
Digitised copy of Letter from Malcolm McLaurine, chamberlain of Tiree, to the Duke of Argyll, 14 Jan 1802. In this letter McLaurine discusses: sending specimens of barley, pottery, clay and fossil sand; an analysis of sand by Dr Gardner; corresponding with Captain Campbell; writing to Greenock; difficulty in finding boys willing to go to Inveraray to learn to be Quarriers, and the reasons for their reluctance; illegal distilling of whisky; removals from the island, including the schoolmaster and the miller at Crossapol; the Bailie; the farm at Crossapol; replacing the ground officer, Angus Munn, with Neil McLean (previously a sergeant in Lord Lorne’s fencibles), and remarks on their characters; using wood cast ashore to repair the byre and stable at the Factor’s house; a model of the windmill; problems with sending post in the winter.
Emailed extract from the Inverness Journal and Northern Advertiser, Friday 16th July, 1819: “Drowned between Coll and Ardnamurachan on the 15th ult. Mr Donald Macdonald Distiller on the Island of Tyree”.
Softback book by Malcolm Archibald about the darker side of Scottish history in the 19th century, when crime was commonplace and the forces of law and order battled to bring peace to a troubled land.
Circular wooden pail with two wooden handles (damaged), made from an old whisky barrel around 1900. Used for washing clothing. Found in a barn at Hynish in 2012 (opposite Hynish House).
Hector MacLean (Eachann Ban) talks about funeral customs; the story of `Blar nan Sguab`; a premonition of cars; the building of the wall at Crossapol; stories of a hand and a money box and about stealing the goodness from milk; stories about fairies, water-horses and mermaids; how emigrants had to leave their cattle at Island House; spinning sìoman; harvest customs; Iain Kennedy and his stories; droving; coal boats; whisky making; a story about a wolf and a fox; shebeens and his work as a steward.
Hector MacLean (Eachann Ban) talks about funeral customs; the story of `Blar nan Sguab`; a premonition of cars; the building of the wall at Crossapol; stories of a hand and a money box and about stealing the goodness from milk; stories about fairies, water-horses and mermaids; how emigrants had to leave their cattle at Island House; spinning sìoman; harvest customs; Iain Kennedy and his stories; droving; coal boats; whisky making; a story about a wolf and a fox; shebeens and his work as a steward.
Donald Sinclair (Dòmhnall Chaluim Bhàin) of Balephuil talks about ceilidhing, sings a hymn ‘An t-seann, t-seann sgeula’, tells a story about a brewer, sings six Gaelic songs, one about the Balephuil fishing disaster of 1856, talks about bothies, sings another eight Gaelic songs, gives a prayer for a safe sea voyage, sings three Gaelic love songs and one about distilling whiskey, talks about Donald the Cooper’s daughter in America, tells a story about two old men in Caoles, sings two more love songs and talks about witches.
Donald Sinclair (Dòmhnall Chaluim Bhàin) of Balephuil talks about ceilidhing, sings a hymn ‘An t-seann, t-seann sgeula’, tells a story about a brewer, sings six Gaelic songs, one about the Balephuil fishing disaster of 1856, talks about bothies, sings another eight Gaelic songs, gives a prayer for a safe sea voyage, sings three Gaelic love songs and one about distilling whiskey, talks about Donald the Cooper’s daughter in America, tells a story about two old men in Caoles, sings two more love songs and talks about witches.
