NOTICE
If any reader knows of gravestones elsewhere mentioning Colonsay, please send details to the Editor.
At 6am on Friday 24 August, members of Colonsay's Fire Brigade hurried to the Fire Station in response to an emergency call. As members remarked, it felt very strange and unsettling, rushing along the deserted road, not knowing what friend or neighbour may be in desperate need of assistance. However, the Coastguard had also been alerted and it was quickly discovered that the emergency was on board a trawler, MFV "Silver Line".
The vessel had been lying overnight at the pier in calm and peaceful conditions, and the first hint of anything amiss came as a crewman climbed out of his bunk and found that the cabin sole was under water. With such a depth of water in the boat, the engine was of course inoperable - it was more than fortunate that the vessel was lying alongside, rather than out at sea and lying to her anchor.
With the help of their emergency pumps, the Colonsay volunteers were able to provide swift and effecient assistance. It is understood that the source of the flooding was in a ruptured internal pipe. Volunteers noted that as soon as they started their pump, very effective smoke alarms were activated. Presumably the bilge alarm must have been damaged in some way and failed to give any warning of the leak.
Congratulations all round. This successful outcome is very encouraging for the Fire Brigade and Coastguard members - they spend many hours in exercises and in maintaining themselves and their equipment in readiness for any emergency. They were very happy to have been of service, and the trawlermen were pleased as well. MFV "Silver Line" left Colonsay under tow later that morning.
The casualty alongside at Scalasaig
A Tarbert fishing boat called to report a hazard at the pier that was only visible at low tide - a section of heavy steel belting had got caught in a mooring rope and ripped outwards from the greenheart piling. As a result, six feet of heavy metal was protruding out into the sea, horizontal and slightly angled out to the east, more or less midway along the pier, where it would have ripped the side out of a yacht or other light craft approaching the ladder.
Warning signs were erected and Graham McWhirter arranged to cut the offending spear away, just as soon as tides increased enough to provide access. Eventually, with the help of John Bridges and "Petrel" the hazard was cleared on Thursday.
Waulking song group "Bannal", whose leader is the renowned singer Kenna Campbell, was invited to visit the island for the weekend 24th to 26th August to perform at a ceilidh and conduct workshops.
The primary object of their visit - which was arranged by Colonsay and Oronsay Heritage Trust - was to raise the profile of Gaelic culture on the island and beyond, and to generate an interest amongst younger people in traditional heritage.
The group has thirteen members, all of Hebridean lineage, the majority of whom are Mod medallists in their own right as soloists. They were in excellent form, and ferry passengers were delighted by their impromptu performance on the way down. Turnout for the workshops was disappointing, but there was an appreciative audience at the dance, and the congegation on Sunday was enthralled by their beautiful rendition of much-loved hymns.
A Colonsay expeditionary party climbed the highest of the three Paps, Beinn an Oir, at the weekend. They saw plenty of frogs and grasshoppers, also two adders and a scattering of deer; the midges were a bit of a pest, even on the very summit, but the copious supply of blaeberries were a consolation. Although the total distance is less than eight miles it was a fairly stiff walk, taking just over five hours to complete.
Eaten alive on the summit and A view through the cloud
A recent occasion off the West coast of British Columbia, Canada, will have been of interest for many residents of our own island. The event was the
dedication of a series of large garden walls built by Colonsay descendant
Tom Parkin, now of Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, BC. Parkin's ancestors,
Reids and McNeills, left Colonsay for Canada in 1860, but genealogical
research connected him to the Hebrides and to his late cousin, 'A.S.'
MacNeill, prior to the latter's death in 1997.
To honour his heritage, and his 3X great grandfather Duncan McNeill
(1796-1883), a Colonsay stonemason, Parkin named his new home Colonsay
House and invited a group of friends and Scots to dedicate his walls on
August 12th. Very fine weather enhanced the view of inshore islands from
his hillside home; a view not unlike that from Glassard. Neighbours joked that
the effort was strong enough to hold back the English hordes, and one wag
claimed that NASA had called, saying they could see it from space. The
flag of Scotland was firmly planted in the garden, and wine and Scottish
beer cooled the throats of attendees.
After a ceremonial smashing of a (full!) bottle on the wall, Tom spoke to
the assembly about the connections of his property to Colonsay itself.
Then, Jim Barrie, a recorded piper and judge, played a piobaireachd
composed by his father titled "Andrew MacNeill of Colonsay". 'A.S.' was a
life-long friend of William Barrie, although the two respected pipers never
met. A Celtic harpist and fiddler also entertained the crowd on
personally-made instruments.
Tom is particularly interested in Colonsay genealogy, and is creating a
huge computerized file connecting families to one another, both in the past
and in the present. Currently there are in excess of 5,700 people ordered
into families through the old parish records, census data, and vital
statistics available both in Canada and Scotland. Living generations are
also aiding the effort, thus bringing the project right to the present day.
When it's complete, Parkin intends to donate this data to a heritage centre
on Colonsay so both locals and visitors can type in a name to find both the
ancestry and descendancy of persons known to be on that tree. He welcomes
questions or contributions at:twparkin@nanaimo.ark.com.
Jim Barrie, piper
The Public Meeting on 20th August was called by the Community Council in order to establish the basic and essential features of our ferry service, the vital core that must be incorporated in the specifications when the service is put out to open tender. For legal reasons the network currently operated by Caledonian MacBrayne must be offered for competitive tender and there is no guarantee as to who the future operator will be, nor what rationalisation may take place in order to justify the lowest bid.
Twelve people attended, including good representation from the Community Council and from the Development Company as well as four visitors. The discussion was structured and followed the outline of a framework produced by Andrew MacGregor; it helped participants to appreciate the extraordinary complexity of the problem, and will be useful preparation for the official "consultation" phase.
It was surprising and disappointing that there was no representation of any of the groups or special interest categories which might be thought to be most at risk. No farmer or crofter attended, and only one of our thirty-five pensioners was present. No parent of any primary school or pre-school child was there, nobody represented the medical or disability lobby, only one person attended who is involved in the tourist trade. Yet, if we lose our link with Oban, or if our ferries travel at unsocial hours, or if unaccompanied lifestock are prohibited, some or all of these groups may be severely disadvantaged.
In early August the Scottish Executive appointed consultants whose remit is to produce the service specification for the routes currently served by Caledonian MacBrayne. Once this document has been finalised, it will form the basis of any future contract and it will be too late for us to whinge about it.
Burness Corlett & Partners, in conjunction with Maritime Corporate Ltd., have been commissioned for this work, and their FINAL DRAFT REPORT is to be submitted by April 2002. It is said that these people are expected to consult with the communities concerned - but we all know that the same thing was said last year, in respect of the fares review, and that those consultants did not communicate with Colonsay in any way. One of the above companies is well known for its work for the Paddle Steamer "Waverley", but the other one is rather more obscure.
This week saw a strong criticism of Caledonian MacBrayne in two major articles and a leader, all published in "The Scotsman". It is beyond a shadow of a doubt that big changes are on the way and that this is the biggest single threat that Colonsay has faced in many years. Every other island will be fighting to get the best deal that it can, they will be like rats in a sack. If Colonsay ends up as a satellite of Islay or Mull, or with ferries coming in the middle of the night, we will have nobody to blame but ourselves.
SPECIAL REQUEST (from Colonsay natives):
We are going to Australia in September, and are trying to trace one of our ancestors who left Colonsay for Australia and never returned.
Through the Corncrake, may we ask if any Australian readers know of the family?
We are hoping to trace Malcolm (Callum) Brown, son of Jasper and Jeante Brown (nee Campbell).
He was one of eleven children born around 1890/1891, and that's about all we know.
If anyone can help, please contact me at uragaig@bun.com
Thanks for all your help - Angus McFadyen
This is the last chance to help: In the 1891 census, Jasper (30 yrs, a ploughman) and his wife Janet (26yrs) lived in the house of 71 yr old Jane Blue in Kilchattan; she was unmarried. Their son Malcolm was 1 year old. They were all born in Colonsay except for Jasper, who had been born in Glasgow
REVIEW: "A VERY FINE CLASS OF IMMIGRANT"
It is very clear that many of our readers are interested in Scottish history, and not least in the story of emigration. A lot of Colonsay matters have been mentioned in "The Corncrake", but it sometimes helps to put these in a wider context. Lucille H. Campey has done this in her new book "A Very Fine Class of Immigrant", Prince Edward Island's Scottish Pioneers 1770 - 1850, published by Natural Heritage Books of Canada (ISBN 1 896219 10 1).
The book is well-researched and quite refreshing - the author has come to her own conclusions on the basis of original evidence and has scotched a lot of muddled thinking. There is no denying that the crossing of the Atlantic was often forced upon reluctant emigres, and that in many cases the venture was ill-judged or under-funded. In the earliest years some people ended up indentured, but by the turn of the century things had taken a turn for the better. Dr. Campey shows that many emigrants had made careful preparation, that it was no longer a desperate measure in many cases, and that the ships were usually of good quality and properly regulated. It is helpful to be made aware of this, as it helps to put the next, truly desperate, waves of transatlantic emigration into context.
It is hard to know where the confusion began. As long ago as 1963 John Prebble wrote in reference to the late 18th century that "These early emigrations were not the wretched, helpless exodus that was to come in the next century" ("The Highland Clearances"). The population explosion and coffin-ships of the post-famine period have their own place in history, but the "disease-ridden leaky tubs" of the popular imagination were not typical of the opening years of the 19th century traffic from Scotland to the Island. The explanation for this widely unrecognised situation is simple and is given in a clear and convincing way - there is no benefit in repeating it here.
The author has included valuable additional material, including all relevant known passenger lists and an excellent chronological listing of sailings. Many students of the period will have been creating such lists for themselves, or will have obtained them from other published sources, but it is extremely convenient to have the opportunity to cross reference the details. Readers will already have consulted "Cargoes of Despair and Hope" by Ian Adams and Meredyth Somerville (John Donald 1993), and will value Lucille Campey's work as supplementary reading.
Is this book of specific Colonsay interest? Yes, very definitely. There are many references to Colonsay and the work is of particular relevance as we approach the bicentennial of the sailing of the "Spencer" in 1806. You do not have to buy it - just order a copy from the library if you prefer; but it is essential reading for anyone with any interest in our island history. If you should wish to buy, it is available from the Colonsay bookshop. As it happens, Colonsay's House of Lochar was originally offered the manuscript to read, as was Natural Heritage; in the event, both publishers liked it immensely but Natural Heritage won the rights. Colonsay cannot win them all, and House of Lochar is delighted to import and distribute this excellent title on behalf of our Canadian friends.
During September the nights begin to draw in, we pass the Equinox, and the stars appear earlier and earlier in the evening. The Summer Triangle is still visible in the sky after sunset, and the autumn constellations are now dominating the southern aspect, although most of them are fairly faint.
Following the Milky Way from Capella to the overhead position which is taken by Deneb in Cygnus, we pass through three constellations, Perseus, Cassiopeia and Cepheus. South of Cassiopeia is Andromeda and its wonderful large galaxy M31, a "naked eye" object over two million light years away.
Joining these stars of autumn is the great square of Pegasus, which is high in the south.
Autumn is a transition season, and the stars of autumn are generally fainter than in the preceding and following seasons; but there are many treasures to find for the patient searcher of the skies. The Moon will be Full on the 2nd September.
Irene Campbell
It is always interesting to learn of a gravestone that mentions Colonsay. In last Saturday's "Scotsman" Jon Hibbs mentioned seeing the grave of "Archibald Macphee Macneill (1949) from the Isle of Colonsay" in the Holy Trinity graveyard at Nuwara Eliya, "city of light", in Sri Lanka. It was "the favourite hill station of the British and its parish church is among a number of features that look as if they were transplanted straight from home. These include a pink-brick Victorian post office, the manse-like St. Andrew's hotel, the old-fashioned hill Club with its wall-mounted hunting trophies inside and 18-hole golf course outside, not to mention the public gardens and horse-racing track".
From the article, it is clear that he was a tea-planter and that a number of Scots established the industry in Ceylon between 1870 and 1890. Readers familiar with the work of Symington Grieve will be aware that he visited Ceylon at about that period, and it will surely be a curious omission if he did not visit Archibald's estate. As always, any further information will be most welcome.
COMPETITION
Nobody sent in a review of "Think Me Back", the new children's book by Catherine Forde published by House of Lochar, so the prize has been held over. Meantime, readers may like to know of "Jura - Island of Deer" by Peter Youngson which is available at £35.00 (discounted to island residents). Hopefully it will be reviewed here eventually, but it is a serious work which will be essential for anyone with an interest in the subject.
The Old Waiting Room:
28th August onwards: Paintings and Photographs by Colonsay Artists Lucy McNeill and Barbara Clark
Barbara Clark and Lucy McNeill
Saturday 1st: Clay Pigeon Shoot, 7.30 pm Monday 3rd: Community Council 8pm
Tuesday 4th: Development Company - members meeting 8.30pm. Note: Proposals and suggestions are sought as to completion of harbour improvement delayed by World War II
Weekend 8/9th: Watercolour Worksghop CAEG, tutor Iain MacIntosh
Quiz in the Hotel every Wednesday at 9.30 pm.
Barbecues, music and other events - see notices locally.
Church services every Sunday: 11 am at the Church of Scotland, Scalasaig, and 12 noon at the Baptist Church, Kilchattan.
Colonsay House Gardens: Open every Wednesday. Al Fresco meals, organic produce etc. (Also Friday lunchtime).
Colonsay & Oronsay Artists - Entirely new Exhibition this year, open before every ferry, in the CalMac VIP Lounge at Pier.
Sunday 9 September: Clan Macfie membership to visit their ancestral home - (three day formal programme)
Please note a warm invitation to one and all to attend the following:
Monday 10th September: Clan Macfie ceilidh in the Village Hall
Tuesday 11th September: Unveiling of Dun Eibhinn's cairn
Tuesday 11th September:Closing ceilidh in Hall
Calum Satchel was home for the weekend; Finlay MacFadyen Sr. was flown off last week and is fortunately fully recovered and due back shortly; Rae Chisholm was here; John Bridges and Jim McLachlan were over in Jura to service the TV repeating station; the Fire Brigade has been practicing sawing the roof off a car; Hugh McNeill has resigned from the Community Council; our last issue had over 800 "hits" and it is said that "The Corncrake" was mentioned in "The Scotsman" on 28th; rather intriguingly, a successful proposal of marriage was inadvertently overheard in the romantic surroundings of the Bookshop; the Primary School held a Ceilidh - "Ceol is Craic 'san Talla an cuideachd na cloinne!" - and the school bus is currently filled with Gaelic song
"Waiting for the boat" - departing visitors
Nooks and Crannies - Cille Chatain
A reader has asked for some information about the chapel of Kilchattan. St. Cathan founded a number of churches, not least Suidhe Chatain at Kingarth, Bute but also in Islay, Luing, Gigha etc. St. Cathan is said to have been a son of King Aidan and to have flourished in the late 6th century; he is said to have been the first christian person to be buried in Kilchattan, although a pre-christian burial ground of great antiquity pre-existed. Most famously in Colonsay, he is reputed to have been present when St. Oran was disinterred, having apparently been not dead but in a catatonic trance; if tradition be believed, St. Oran started to speak, and "to say things about the next world which were not orthodox, so to stop him, Cathan quickly ordered "Earth in Oran's eyes, before he says the next word."
[Note: this story was always told with at least the punchline given in Gaelic - unfortunately I do not seem to have a note of that Gaelic phrase and would be glad if any reader can remember it before it is lost to posterity - Editor].
Symington Grieve states that the chapel was used "about the time of the Reformation by the Scottish Episcopal Church, but apparently only for a short time". As a matter of fact, we have every reason to believe that neither the Reformation nor the Episcopal Church reached Colonsay without considerable delay, and that in the 1620's visiting Franciscan missionaries based themselves at the Balerominmor chapel in Leana na h'eaglais. It was because of its importance at the time that the site was selected for the public execution of Malcolm MacPhee and his adherents, allegedly against the cross carved upon the standing stone. Colonsay remained firmly catholic until 1647, after which Presbyterian activity seems to have been based upon the Scalasaig - Machrins area. Presumably any short-term Episcopalian worship will have been during the 1660's, following the Restoration; the Presbyterian MacNeill family claim that they gained Colonsay "at the point of the sword" in 1672, which may well indicate the conclusion of the "short time" in question.
Grieve was familiar with the site over many years and in 1923 he mentions that the graveyard "at one time in a neglected condition" had been recently put in order. He describes the building:
"Kilchattan Church, now in ruins, is oriented. Its inside measurements are: length, 27ft 6inches; breadth, 15ft. Its walls are 2ft 10 inches in thickness. The highest part of the remaining wall is 8ft 6inches from the level of the floor inside the building. The outside level of the ground was originally about the same, but from accumulations of fallen masonry is now higher in some parts.
On the south side of the church, 5ft 4in. from the back or east wall, measured to what was the middle of the light, are the remains of a narrow rectangular-shaped window splayed inwards. The height of the window from the ground to the top of its lower lintel is 2ft 1 in. The thickness of the wall at the window is 3 feet, and the splay inwards 3 feet 4 inches. The roof of the window recess is built horizontally.
Windows appear to have been in the east and west gables which have fallen.
The entrance to the church was in the south wall, towards its west end, but has now gone.
There are two small chambers near the ground in the east wall, one upon each side of the altar. If these are ambries this church is remarkable in having two, as the other churches on Colonsay and Oronsay appear to have had only one each.
The chamber upon the north side of the altar is 1 foot 1.5 inches in width, its height 15 inches, and depth 13 inches. The chamber upon the south side of the altar is 13 inches in breadth, 14 inches in height, and 13 inches in depth."
Interestingly, Grieve gives us some details about the holy water font, now at Scalasaig, which all sorts of "experts" pretend was a gate socket. The full story is that "Many years since, when a grave was being dug near the wall of the church near its eastern end, a small granite slab, about 7 inches in height and circular in form, with a small basin in what had been its upper side, was found." This stone was subsequently taken and used as a gatepost, and afterwards, despite protests from Symington Grieve, was re-used for a later gate. This was entirely in line with what is known of the McNeill lairds attitude in such matters, but there came a change of laird. "In 1909 I wrote the late Right Hon. Lord Strathcona and Mount Royal, respectfully drawing his attention to this stone", with the result that steps were finally taken for its preservation.
Loder (1935) repeats the story of the death of St. Oran and gives the external dimensions of the chapel, being 31 feet by 21 feet. He mentions that "the walls are cemented with lime" and it might be worthwhile to add that they would originally have been plastered internally and probably limewashed inside and out. Loder mentions that "until a few years before 1880, when the wall was built around the cemetery, the graves here, as elsewhere, were protected from the depredations of swine, which were allowed to run loose, by cairns of stones collected by persons attending the funeral." Cairns of that type can still be seen at Teampull na Ghlinne and Cill a' Trina. Obviously, such cairns were re-used, so that typically the stones would be taken from the oldest cairn and used for the latest one. There were probably less than a dozen actual cairns and the topography of the graveyard will thus have changed subtly through time; the actual graves were typically quite shallow.
Loder seems to have taken his measurements from William Stevenson (1880), who mentioned that "the stones are mostly large undressed boulders, the spaces between being filled with small flat pieces or shivers, such as may easily be got at the rocks nearby." Stevenson states that "the door is said to have been in the west end, and there appear to be the remains of a window in the east gable and a very small one in the south wall. Both gables are now nearly level with the ground."
The wall erected in 1880 survives in part, although the graveyard was doubled in size c. 1914, by moving the south wall closer to the road. Traces of its original line can be seen yet, and confirmed by reference to the gravestone dates. The graveyard was again surveyed in the 1940's and steps were taken to re-order the rows. A further extension, this time to the west, came into use in 1968 and is now almost half-full. In the original graveyard, all lairs are oriented (so that occupants will face the dawn at the Last Trump); in the new graveyard, lairs were prepared in the same way but there is a slope in the ground and it became the practice in the first row for persons to be buried facing the sea rather than towards the wall. For a period of about ten years from the mid 1980's lairs were prepared facing both north and south, but the traditional axis seems to have been readopted latterly.
The Royal Commission on Ancient and Historic monuments has little to add, save that they call it the "Old Parish Church", and mention the fact that there are burials within the building, including the graveyard's earliest inscription "EMV 1789" [possibly MacMhuirrich i.e. Currie? - Ed]. They date it to the late 14th century. It is mentioned by both Munro and Pennant. The structure is now (like Teampull na Ghlinne) in parlous condition - the north wall is likely to collapse at any time and a number of stones have fallen recently. This is in stark contrast to the care being given to the Colonsay Cemetery at Rusk (see Magazine section, below).
All known grave locations and gravestone inscriptions have been recorded and a transcription is available from Kevin Byrne; a copy has been deposited with relevant authorities, including the County Archivist. In the vicinity of the chapel are placenames (in translation) such as St. Cathan's well, St. Cathan's heel, St. Cathan's Fishing rock, the Mass Hollow, the Field of the Servant of the Saint, Stone-chapel Field, and the Retreat of the Acolytes
The east gable and aumbry & North wall, collapsing
The Magazine Section
