Category » military « @ Comunn Eachdraidh Pairc

Aug

02

Hudson plane crash site photographs

A few months ago we published an article on the Hudson bomber which crashed at Mulhagery in Southern Pairc and received the note below from Dave Earl.

‘Nice article on the Hudson. I am an aviation historian/author living E of Manchester and have for a number of years been researching losses of aircraft around the Scottish Islands for a book project. With permission of the Estate manager Chris McCrae I visited the site of the Hudson in May 2000. I also visted the graves of Rigby & Hancock in Stornoway to pay my respects. Oddly the 1180 accident card on this aircraft was never updated and it is still listed as missing. During research I am always seeking family members to try and obtain a little on a crew members background and any photos of them if available, I note that Roger Hancock left a note here and I would most welcome any correspondance with him, if you could please pass on my e-mail address I would be most grateful. He is of course most welcome to anything I have gathered in my file over the years. Many thanks Donnie once again for writing this article, it is important that we remember the sacrifices these men made for us all. Kind Regards. David W.Earl.’
Dave has now kindly sent us some photographs taken on the site when he visted with his colleague D Ramsay in May 2000.

[Show slideshow]

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May

17

The Press Gang at Keose circa 1802

church / military / people / tales

‘Leac-na-Gillean‘ is remembered in the traditions of lochs as the geographical feature where the Press-gang put 32 young local men on board small boats against their will and ferried them out to a waiting warship that was hiding behind the Island of Tabhaid at the mouth of Loch Erisort. Subsequently 12 of them returned but 20 of them were never seen again. Leac-na-Gillean is at Swordale bay near Keose on the southern shores of Loch Leurbost. It was at Swordale Keose that the first Presbyterian Parish Church for the whole of the Parish of Lochs was built in 1724, and about the turn of the 18^th/19^th centuries, the church and manse buildings were moved up to the village of Keose. The new church stood where the Seaweed Factory was sited and the manse may still be seen at Glebe, Keose where it is used as a dwelling house. According to tradition the young men were lured into a trap under false pretences by causing them to enter the old parish church building at Swordale where the hated press gang were lying in wait for them, either within the church or nearby, ready to pounce on them and carry them away and enlist them in one of the armed services, probably the Navy seeing a warship was used.
Local tradition give two dates for this event 1802 and 1808 and furthermore it was said that it was during the ministry of Rev. Alexander Simpson the Parish Minister who was at Lochs from 1793 to 1830 which was during the time of the Napoleonic Wars, that the young men were taken. One source give the dates of the building of the new church and manse as 1796 for the church and 1800 for the manse, but we have seen slightly later dates given, 1808 seems rather late as the date of the Press Gang, as the new church was probably in use by then. On the other hand the old thatched church might have been used on occasion as well.
It is implied that Rev. Alexander Simpson was involved in the luring of the young men to the church and that whiskey played a part, but we would expect folk-lore to add colour to the event and no one knows what, if any part the well known minister played in the episode.
A late Crossbost Free Church Minister seemed to be well aware of the details of the event, but unfortunately we do not know if he could identify any young men that were involved in the event. Some Keose sources are inclined to think that possibly some or all of the men were in the North Lochs area rather than the Kinloch area.
We would be grateful for any more information about the 32 young men.

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May

10

Cuidich 'N Righ – The Seaforth Highlanders Crest

events / military

The small crofter settlement of “Brinigil” or “Bruinigeal” not far from Seaforth-Head, on the shores of inner Loch Seaforth, is noted in local tradition as the place at which the incident or legend which gained its crest for the Seaforth Highlanders Regiment.

In confirmation of this local tradition it is maintained that a painting could be seen hanging in one of the rooms of Brahan Castle, when it was occupied, depicting the king in the act of rising from the ground while close behind him a bare-armed kilted figure could be seen holding a stag by the antlers, and in the background a lady was seen to be calling “Cuidich ‘n Righ“, {Help the King}. At the foot of the picture was the locus of the incident given as “Brinigil” on the shores of Loch Seaforth.

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May

03

The Riot in Wick -1859

events / fishing / military

SABAID MOR WICK

The Wick riot which took place in August 1859 between Lewis fishermen and East coast fishermen was a ‘free for all’ that lasted a whole week. Although perhaps relations between East Coast fishermen and Hebridean fishermen may not have been too good, it was a dispute between two lads over an apple, a lad from Wick and one from Lewis that started the “Sabaid Mor”
Police apprehended the 14 year old Lewis lad, Malcolm Macleod “Calum Alastair“, 2 Habost, Lochs who was helping in his father’s boat. Skipper Alastair had moved from Balallan to Habost to take the place of a family that was evicted and moved away to Harris by the notorious factor Donald Munro.
Hundreds of people were engaged on each side in the fight and some Lewismen were arrested and taken to jail and this action by the police aggravated the situation. Domhnull Ruaridh Mackenzie, 10 Laxay, assisted by his crew and others removed the mast from his boat and used it as a battering ram against the jail door and released the prisoners. Almost every village in Lewis were represented in the riot and some of the men were stabbed and many hurt while some on both sides were given a ducking in the harbour.
An unusually strong man from Keose played a prominent part, Rob MacDhòmhnaill 12 Keose “Mac Domhnuill Bhan“, one of his roles was to provide ammunition for the rioters by breaking up barrels and supplying staves. In the end the local authorities called in the military and Rev George Mackay of Tongue and peace was restored just before the end of the fishing season. A warrant was issued for the arrest of the strong man from Keose, Robert Macdonald and in order to evade the police he fled immediately first on foot, but he had not gone far when he was overtaken by a carriage and pair. MacDonald’s signal for a lift was ignored and as a consequence he ran after the carriage and jumped in and ejected the driver and his passenger and left them by the roadside. By the time the horses became exhausted he was near Poolewe, where he got the ferry “Mary Jane” to Lewis but the Lewis police were informed and Macdonald had to go into hiding with friends in Cromore until he thought the furore had died down. Back home in Keose he soon joined the other youths who used to gather in the manse kitchen with the servants. One evening the Stornoway police turned up and arrested Rob and handcuffed him to one of the officers. Near a Loch outside the village Rob said he was not going any further and asked the police to release him, when they refused he threatened to drag the officer to whom he was handcuffed into the Loch. After a brief struggle the officers felt they were no match for Rob and decided to release him to the delight of his friends, a large number of whom had gathered to give moral support to Rob. Knowing that he was a marked man he decided to leave via Tarbert to resume his seafaring career, this time in the Merchant Navy. Alas a few years later he was lost in the Thames Estuary.

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Mar

22

Hudson III plane crash at Mulhagery

military

Hudson Bomber crashes in Southern Pairc during the war.
In 1942 a Lockheed Hudson bomber crashed in Southern Pairc close to Mulhagery. The bomber flew into the rocky hillside at Fiar Chreag while flying in over the water in foggy weather. Had the plane managed to climb another 10 feet they would have cleared the top of the hill. Fiar Chreag rises very steeply from close to the sea and would have come up very quickly if they were flying blind in fog.

A Hudson bomber on Atlantic patrol
The RAF knew that the plane must have come down over land but despite spending over three weeks searching from the air they failed to find the crashed bomber. At that time there were Walrus Seaplanes based at the airfield in Stornoway and these flew over the area but without any success.
Nearly four weeks after the crash the crew of the regular passenger flight from Glasgow to Stornoway spotted something glinting in the sun and reported this when they reached Stornoway. The passenger service plane at that time was a Dominee bi-plane which carried only 10 passengers.

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Mar

08

A Brief History of Donald Smith, Cromore

at home / fishing / military / people / transport

An extract from our ‘Aig an Obair’ series published in our newsletter, Tional and based on an original recording in Donald’s own words.
Here is a brief history of the life of Donald Smith, 15 Cromore. His father was Finlay, son of ‘Big John Muldonaich’, and his mother was Ishbel, daughter of Roderick.
“I was born in Cromore in 1907 where I went to school at five years of age. The headmaster was Mr Duncan. Many people made out that he was no use, but looking back I am not of that opinion. It is said that his predecessor, Mr Bruce, was good at teaching Gaelic. When Mr Duncan came he was of the opinion that the children were fluent enough as they naturally spoke in Gaelic, but they were in need of being taught English. When the Gravir minister came to give us a test he didn’t agree. There were only two or three able to read and write Gaelic, and he was wild. The two fell out, and the headmaster ordered the minister to leave. When the argument was over, Mr Duncan said, “Well, if that man is in Heaven, I’ll walk out.” Mr Duncan was good at teaching us psalms. I learned more English psalms in the day school than I did in Sunday school. I still remember five or six of them. There was one that our Finlay always requested when the headmaster gave us a choice of which one to sing, and this is it: –
‘When he cometh, when he cometh
To make up his jewels
All his jewels precious jewels
His loved and his own.’
I was about seven years of age the first time I went to Stornoway by boat. There was no road round the loch then. We slept in the home of Donald, Kenneth’s son of 19 Cromore. At that time they were living on Mackenzie Street. We came home in a small boat belonging to Alastair the Tailor. We left from the Battery in Stornoway with my father and another two or three men, rowing to Cromore.
When I left school I worked at home on the fishing, the croft and odd jobs round about.
When they started building the Nurse’s cottage in Gravir they took a lorry from Stornoway to take supplies from the quay to the house. My father thought it would be handy to have one based in the community. And that was what happened. He brought over a one tonne truck from Callanish. She arrived in Cromore on the boat ‘Good Hope’. She was put ashore at the point where the quay is now. My father steered her home up the hill. He would let me drive her. It wasn’t long before I wrecked her. I would go round the district with her, but since the road was not complete, I couldn’t go past Habost with her. I remember going to Kershader to take people to Lemreway for the wedding of Iain, son of ‘Domhnull Chalum’ and Mary, daughter of ‘Domhnull Bhig’.

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Feb

07

The Fireman in Southern Park, 1887

military / tales

by Angus ‘Ease’ Macleod, Calbost and Marybank.
Even now, more than a century after the event, the people of Lochs still talk about the body that was discovered in Southern Park on 2nd August 1887. The body, and his grave, are normally referred to as that of “the stowaway” or “the fireman” to this day, and there are only a few people still left in Lochs who know the story of the stowaway.
However, his death is registered and there is no doubt that such a person existed, even though the details of who he was or where he came from is not known. His death is noted in the register on January 1888 as an unnamed man about 30 years old whose body was found at “Colbal Hill” in Southern Park on 2nd August 1887. He is referred to as “the fireman”.
At that time people were under the impression, rightly or wrongly, that the law of the land required that human remains be buried near where they were found. Probably that is why there are single graves to be found here and there. There is a grave on the writer’s croft called “Donald’s grave” and no one knows who Donald was.
It is said that Joseph Platt who took over the tenancy of the sporting estate of Pairc in 1886 when the Park Sheep farm was converted into a Deer Park, made enquires with a view to identify the remains. He approached the Federation of Shipping to see if they knew of any ship that might have been in the vicinity of Pairc at that time.
They were not aware of any ships being there and in the circumstances Mr Platt provided a coffin for the remains and gave it a decent burial where he was found, not far from Buthinish/Gearraidh-Riaghsaigh near the southern shore of Loch Shell, not far from the Black Burn. The grave is marked with two cairns of loose stones, one at each end of the grave. The place is well known to gamekeepers and others who move about that district.

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Jan