Recipes from Pairc from the 70's
A new addition to our publications, this recipe book was originally compiled by Pairc Community Association in the late 70’s and is now reprinted by Pairc Historical Society.
Dec
13
Nov
19
NEW BOOKLET ON EISHKEN ESTATE LAUNCHED IN ORINSAY
An impressive illustrated new publication about the history of the Eishken estate in Pairc, Lewis, written by well-known historian David Jones, was launched by Comunn Eachdraidh na Pairc at Orinsay Village Hall recently.
The huge extent of the peninsula of Pairc, which but for a narrow neck of land between the heads of Loch Erisort and Loch Seaforth would be an island, together with its remoteness from main population centres, and dramatic mountain and coastal scenery, have always marked it out as special. There is now growing evidence that Pairc was the private deer park of the owners of Lewis from an early date, a fact which almost certainly explains its name. The population of this vast area was probably relatively sparse up to the late 18th century when kelp and fishing began to take on greater economic importance and led to landlords encouraging local populations around the coastal fringes, perhaps for the first time. But the collapse of the kelp industry in the 19th century, together with the high rents available for a time from sheep farming, followed by the fashionable interest in deer forests during the Victorian period, transformed the position as people once again became expendable. Read More» Posted by cepaircadmin | 2 comments
Oct
03
Photographs from the Estate of Mary MacIver
The enclosed photographs are from the Estate of Mary MacIver, Verdun, Montreal ( Mairi Anndra) of 15 Gravir. Most of the photographs seem to be taken in Gravir and include family and neighbours.
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.
May
24
Calum Nicolson (Calum Beag)
AIG AN OBAIR – From an article in Tional April 1994
When I left school in Lemreway in 1934, I got a job as a postman, delivering letters to thirty-two crofts in Lemreway, thirteen crofts in Orinsay and four crofts in Stiomreway. This was a departure from the accepted custom as boys usually took a job in a fishing boat on leaving school. There were plenty of opportunities, as there were nine boats fishing our of Lemreway at the time, all requiring a crew of five adults and a boy. The boats left Lemreway on a Monday and were based in Stornoway until they returned the following Saturday morning.
Delivering the mail to Stiomreway was quite an arduous task. It was over two miles from Orinsay over rough moorland and around lochs. In those days, most of the mail comprised of catalogues and parcels from J. D. Williams and similar mail order firms. The catalogues were often ordered for the girls in the Village by boys under pet names and I became quite expert at spotting the fakes and most of them found a resting place at the bottom of the loch about a mile out of Orinsay. Stiomreway was eventually abandoned in 1941.
This occupation was only available when the regular postman was on holiday or ill. Between times, I found work at one of the road building projects going on at the time and soon felt I was well on the way to becoming a millionaire. With our newly earned wealth, five of us ordered brand new bicycles from – wait for it – J. D. Williams, of course. They cost £5 each and we paid them up at ten shillings per week or 50p in to-day’s currency. They were called ‘Flights’ and we were very proud of them. We collected a few cuts and bruises before we mastered them, but we soon got the hang of them and felt very proud of ourselves riding to Church at Gravir on Sunday, scattering the rest of the congregation as we sped by on the four-mile journey. I suppose we were as popular as the Red Arrows are to-day.
May
17
The Press Gang at Keose circa 1802
‘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 18th/19th 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.
Apr
04
Cailleach an Deacoin, an Entertainer From Gravir
Murdo Matheson from Gravir, South Lochs was well-known throughout Lewis as the entertainer Cailleach an Deacoin.
Listen to the Cailleach entertaining the crowds at Stornoway Town Hall :
–cailleach-an-deacoin
The name Murdo Matheson doesn’t instantly conjure up any particular images in the mind, but mention the name ‘Cailleach An Deacoin‘ and you can be assured that a smile and a chuckle of remembrance will emerge from your audience.
Born on the 4th January 1904 Murdo Matheson was the seventh child of a family of 13, in the village of Gravir, Pairc. He went to school like most of his contemporaries at that time where he faired averagely. He left at the age of 14 to seek employment. Between the ages of 15 and 18 he held a variety of jobs including kipper making and road building.
Around 1925, Murdo decided to emigrate to Canada and was due to sail on the ‘Marloch’ but contracted measles which delayed his passage. Luckily for him he was able to travel a fortnight later. Several years were spent there where he laboured on farms. However, his luck was to change when he heard that there was good money to be made working on the production line of a motorcar company called ‘Briggs Bodies’ in the American city of Detroit. Read More» Posted by cepaircadmin | 0 comments
Apr
04
Kershader man shot
Attacked on Street
Murdo Macleod, a native of Kershader Lochs, who for some time was employed in the Labour Exchange at Stornoway, and is presently a supervisor in the Castleford Labour Exchange, was last week shot in the thigh at Leeds, and had to be removed to the General Hospital there. In connection with the affair, Frederick Darbyshire, miner, was arrested, and was afterwards charged with shooting Murdo Macleod, with intent to kill.
Superintendent Fairburn related that at the sub-office of the Exchange at Whitwood there was some altercation between Macleod and Darbyshire. The police were called in, and Darbyshire left the premises. Later Macleod and other members of the staff were standing outside the building waiting for a bus to Castleford, when Darbyshire came up, produced a German automatic pistol, and shot Macleod.
Darbyshire is an ex-serviceman and an unemployed miner. Short of stature, but sturdily built, he stood to attention before the magistrates at the Castleford Court while he was being charged with shooting with intent to kill Macleod.
Macleod, who was operated on for a fractured thigh, is progressing favourably, but will not be fit to resume duty for at least a couple of months.
Extract from Stornoway Gazette 2nd December 1927.
Apr
04
Cromore School Early Teachers
The school in Cromore was opened on June 16, 1879, when John Cumming (Rogart) was appointed headmaster. He transferred to Fidigarry the following year.
Successive appointments were:
Alex M. Morrison (Barvas) 26th April 1880
Robert Carry (Midlothian) 1st July 1881
Isabella Campbell (Dunvegan) 1st November 1882
John Smith (Balallan) 1st August 1884
Johanna Macdonald (Barra) 2nd February 1887
William Bruce 1st September 1891
John Macdougall (Tiree) 1st November 1892
Catherine Sinclair (Glasgow) 1st August 1895
Catherine Flora Macdonald (Leurbost) 1st April 1896
Angus MacSween (Leurbost) 1st August 1896 – Died on January 23, 1897
Katie M. Pope Aberdeen Free Church Training College appointed June 1897 and commenced her duties on July 16, but left immediately without giving notice
Alexander Poison (Barra) 1st October 1897
J. Campbell (Point) 1st March 1899
Alex Falconer (Leurbost) 1st October 1900
Hector Bruce (Golspie) 1st July 1902 Retired on pension August 1918
The school closed in 1972 when the pupils transferred to the new Pairc Primary School at Gravir.
Mar
29
The Royal Mail came by creel
From an article in Tional – May 1992
The history of the delivery of mail in Pairc is a story of considerable achievement by the handful of men and women whose determination, vigour and sense of purpose enabled their small, remote communities to receive the advances in communications offered by the Post Office in the second half of the last century.
The role of the redoubtable Ishbel Nicolson, Calbost, in pioneering the postal service in Lochs as it opened up new frontiers to reach more and more people stands out as a tribute to her resourcefulness, enterprise and ingenuity at a time when women were not generally expected or encouraged to play a prominent part in the day to day life of their communities.
Mail Deliveries in Pairc
Much more so than nowadays, women were left to tend to the family’s needs, rear children, manage livestock and perform some of the more burdensome and unpleasant tasks associated with the crofting way of life.
Ishbel, or Belle as she was known, was the daughter of Murdo Nicolson (Murchadh Dh’ol Thormoid), of Calbost, and she had gone over the Loch to Crossbost in the late eighteen sixties on her marriage to Kenneth MacKenzie (Coinneach Ledidh), 28 Crossbost, who had recently returned home from service with the Hudson Bay Company in Canada. Over the Loch (null air a loch, or thall air a loch) were commonly used phrases of the day which have now fallen into disuse, signifying the close bond of friendship that existed between the inhabitants of the villages that existed on both sides of Loch Erisort and the harmonious social interchange that prevailed when only a short sea crossing separated them, compared with the long, winding stretch of road that served to isolate the communities from each other from the late nineteen twenties onwards.