Gairloch In North-West Ross-Shire Part 13

1. The Cladh nan Sasunnach, or English burial-ground, near the head of Loch Maree. It contains twenty-four graves. Some have supposed that it was the cemetery of the ironworkers, but I incline to the opinion that the graves are far older than the period of the historic ironworks (Part I., chap. xviii.). I recommend this burial-ground to the investigation of antiquaries.

2. The burial-place in Isle Maree so thoroughly described by Dr Arthur Mitch.e.l.l (Part II., chap. xi.). Its most interesting gravestones are those beneath which the unfortunate Norwegian prince and his bride are sleeping.

3. The mounds to be seen on Fraoch Eilean, in Gairloch, mark the graves of the M'Leods slain by the heroes of Leac nan Saighead (Part I., chap.

xii.).

4. The Gairloch churchyard is now overcrowded with graves. In it are the chapel or burial-place where lie some of the older lairds of Gairloch, and the tombstone of John Hay, described in Part I., chap. xviii. There are two unroofed chapels or burial-places. The northern one is that of the lairds of Gairloch; it contains two flat tombstones, one not inscribed, the other bearing an illegible inscription. Outside this chapel is a raised tomb covered with a flat bevelled stone, on which are the Cabar feidh, the initials K M K and I M K, and the date 1730. In the other burial-place are several graves, but no monuments or inscriptions; outside it, on the east wall, are monuments to the Chisholm family. Into the wall facing south is built a handsomely sculptured stone, with the text "Timor domini est initium sapientiae" carved upon it in relief; below is what looks like a representation of the Cabar feidh, with the letter A on one side and M K on the other side. The date 1633 is cut into the stone, in a different character and evidently by a different hand to that of the original sculptor. If the date were 1638 the stone would unquestionably be a monument to Alexander (Alastair Breac), fifth laird of Gairloch; perhaps it may have been in memory of one of his family. Many of the leading celebrities among the natives of Gairloch in the days that are gone repose in the churchyard. None of the older gravestones bear inscriptions. Of modern ones, the monument to William Ross, the Gairloch bard, is most noticeable.

5. The Inverewe churchyard, where stands the ruined old chapel already described. A few shapeless stones are the only antiquities beyond those connected with the little church.

6. The churchyard or burial-place at Culinellan, near Kenlochewe, to which the same remark applies.

7. The churchyard at Sand of Udrigil already referred to. It contains nothing except the ruins of the old chapel which can interest the archaeologist.

I am told an ancient burial-place was discovered some years ago at Bruachaig, near Kenlochewe, where the bodies had been buried in a doubled-up position, the well-known custom in remote times. I have visited another spot, in a glen among the mountains, traditionally described as a burial-place of giants; it may have been so, but the stones (which indeed are mostly flat) look more as if they had been deposited naturally than by human agency.

Of remains of old buildings, besides those already described, there are few of any antiquarian interest in Gairloch:--

1. Perhaps the oldest remains of these other buildings are the few stones and the mound on Isle Maree, supposed to represent the cell of St Maelrubha and the tower to which the Norwegian prince brought his bride (Part I., chap. ii.).

2. On Eilean Ruaridh Beag are the remains of the residence of John Roy Mackenzie, fourth laird of Gairloch, who lived here in the latter part of the sixteenth century and the beginning of the seventeenth. It is said that long before that time Ruaridh M'Leod, who gave his name to the island, resided here, possibly in the same house, or in one on the same site. This small island almost adjoins Eilean Ruaridh Mhor on its south side. The buildings present no architectural features, and only ruinous dry-stone walls remain; there are also some half-wild garden fruit-trees on the island. I remember about the year 1868 seeing a small cannon ball sticking in one of the walls, and I am told that bullets have often been found in the moss on this island. Perhaps the cannon ball and the bullets had been there since the fight when Ruaridh M'Leod was driven from the island. The remains of John Roy's house confirm Captain Burt's accounts of the "huts" in which the Highland lairds of his day (early in the eighteenth century) resided; the chiefs seem to have been generally little better lodged than their clansmen.

3. On Eilean Suainne were the houses or huts where the sons of John Gla.s.sich Mackenzie, the second laird of Gairloch, dwelt in the sixteenth century, and where Alastair Breac, the fifth laird of Gairloch, resided from about 1628 to 1638. There are very slight, if any, remains of these dwellings.

4. The old Tigh Dige and its gardens and outbuildings stood in the field below Flowerdale House. The Tigh Dige itself was, as its name implies, a house in a ditch or moat. Its remains still existed up to the time of the late Sir Francis Mackenzie, Bart. of Gairloch, in the centre of this field, but agricultural operations have now entirely obliterated them.

Simon Chisholm, at Flowerdale, remembers them well. The lines of the garden walls can still be traced in the part of the field lying to the east. This was the Gairloch home of Hector Roy Mackenzie, the founder of the family in the latter part of the fifteenth century. The Tigh Dige is said to have been originally a turf hut, with a roof made of sticks and divots. Kenneth Mackenzie, the sixth laird of Gairloch, erected on the same site, within the same moat, about the middle of the seventeenth century, a more substantial building, which was called the Stank House or Moat House, and continued to be the west coast home of the Gairloch family until 1738, when Sir Alexander Mackenzie, Bart., the ninth laird of Gairloch, erected the present west coast residence of the family, which he named Flowerdale House. Sir Alexander also built there the old barn called Sabhal Geal (still in use) in 1730. On the south side of the barn the arms of the Gairloch Mackenzies are carved in stone, with the date 1730 below. The figure of Donald Odhar, in tartan trews, appears as one of the supporters of the shield. There are two Latin mottoes, viz., "Fidelitatis praemium" and "Non sine periculo;" the former (above the coat-of-arms) refers to the faithfulness of Donald Odhar; the latter is the usual motto of the Mackenzies. The old Temple House at Flowerdale, where Alastair Breac seems to have sometimes lived, is now occupied by Simon Chisholm above named, who is Sir Kenneth's present forester and head-gardener. It is a modernised dwelling. No doubt a great part of the wall is ancient. Simon Chisholm says the style of the windows and entrance when he first remembers the house, gave probability to the tradition that it was originally, as its name implies, a church or temple of worship. It may have been the residence of the priest or priests of Gairloch church before the Reformation.

5. The old house of Kirkton, close to the Inverewe or Londubh churchyard, is probably the house erected as his residence by the Rev.

Kenneth Mackenzie, in the seventeenth century. It is a good example of a laird's dwelling of that period. It is said that Mr. Mackenzie, who came from Bute, had a smack load of Bute earth brought to Kirkton. Part of it was put into the Inverewe church, so that when he was buried there he might lie beneath Bute soil; the overplus was deposited in the garden of Kirkton house, where the heap is still preserved.

6. The houses of Udrigil and Aird were old residences of the Mackenzies of Gruinard, but possess no architectural features, and are not of great antiquity. The same remark applies to Letterewe House, which was the residence of the Letterewe Mackenzies. Cliff House, Poolewe, was formerly the manse of Gairloch, and was erected about 1760. In the old house of Udrigil are curious large cupboards or closets in the very thick walls; they are said to have been used for the purpose of detaining recruits captured by the pressgangs.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ANTIQUITY NO. 1.--BRONZE RING FOUND AT LONDUBH.

SCALE--HALF TRUE SIZE.]

Most of the bronze weapons and other remains found near Poolewe have been described by Mr William Jolly, F.G.S., F.R.S.E., in a paper he wrote on the subject. Representations of the most perfect of the bronze and stone weapons or implements so far discovered are included in our ill.u.s.trations. The following is a list of them:--

No. 1. Bronze ring, T-shaped section.

2. Hollow bronze ring.

3. Bronze spearhead, small.

4. Bronze spearhead.

5. Bronze celt.

6. Stone celt.

7. Bronze spear.

8. Bronze celt.

9. Stone implement.

10. Quern or trough.

11. Fragment of trough.

12. Penanular ring.

All these except Nos. 3 and 9 to 12 are in the possession of Sir Kenneth Mackenzie; Nos. 3, 9, 10, and 11 are in the possession of Mr O. H.

Mackenzie. Nos. 1, 2, 4, and 8 were found by Hector Maciver whilst cutting peats at Londubh. No. 3 was found near Inverewe House, about three feet below the surface in a peat cutting; a stag's horn was found at the same place in the following year. No. 5 was found at Slatadale; it is considerably worn. No. 6 was found at Cove; it is of some variety of trap well polished. No. 7 was found by two sons of Kenneth Urquhart (Kennie Rob) in a peat cutting near Croft, not far from the place where the Feill Iudha was formerly held. No. 9 was found in 1844 in a peat cutting between Inveran and Kernsary; it is of a sandstone uncommon in this country; it may have been used in flaying cattle and deer. Nos. 10 and 11 were found in brochs or Pictish round houses on the sh.o.r.es of Loch nan Dailthean, when land was newly trenched there in 1879. No. 12 is a penanular ring of bronze with expanded ends; being of a type rare in Scotland, Sir Kenneth Mackenzie deposited it in the museum of antiquities at Edinburgh. Hector Maciver found another bronze ring at Londubh, similar to Nos. 1 and 2, at the same spot where he discovered the above-named. There is a stone quern, resembling No. 10, lying near Drumchork House.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ANTIQUITY NO. 2. HOLLOW BRONZE RING FOUND AT LONDUBH.

SCALE--HALF TRUE SIZE.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: ANTIQUITY NO. 3.--BRONZE SPEAR HEAD FOUND, ALONG WITH A STAG'S HORN, NEAR INVEREWE HOUSE.

SCALE--HALF TRUE SIZE.]

On the flat peat moss behind Poolewe, and to the west, a large market was held for generations, known as the Feill Iudha, or "ewe market." It was frequented by the Lews men, as well as by the people of the district. The last of these markets was held about 1720, when many of the Lews men who had attended the market were lost in a violent storm in the Minch, while returning home in their open boats. Traces of this old market have frequently turned up while cutting peats, in the form of bundles of cabars or sticks tied up with withes, as brought from the woods ready for exportation; moulds of some fatty substance, either b.u.t.ter or tallow; and a rounded block of wood, fourteen inches in diameter, found ten or twelve years ago, probably prepared for being converted into the wooden bickers or plates formerly common in the Highlands.

The remains of the ironworks described in the last chapter are of considerable archaeological interest. Two of the iron articles found near the Fasagh furnaces are represented among our ill.u.s.trations; they are Nos. 13 and 14 in the list of antiquities ill.u.s.trated; they are to be deposited in the museum at Edinburgh.

Among our ill.u.s.trations are outlines of the crosses on the tombstones of the prince and princess who were buried on Isle Maree. The tragic story connected with them is told in Part I., chap. ii.

The caves at Cove and Sand of Udrigil are said to be meeting-places of great antiquity; they are still used for public worship. I have explored for some little distance the cave on the seash.o.r.e at North Erradale, but have discovered nothing of interest beyond some apparently recent evidences of distillation of whisky.

PART II.

INHABITANTS OF GAIRLOCH.

CHAPTER PAGE

I. Ancestry and Names 109

II. Warfare and Weapons 112

III. Polity and Customs 114

IV. Religion and Religious Observances 117

V. Character and Characteristics 121

VI. Language and Dress 125

VII. Ways and Means 132

VIII. Agriculture and Stock 136

IX. Fisheries 143

X. Posts and Roadmaking 147