Uists / Barra

From Gigha in the south to Lewis in the north and St Kilda in the west, Alistair Deayton covers the piers of the Hebrides and other outlying islands in the companion volume to his West Highland Piers. Since the 1810s, steamers have provided a valuable service to the communities of the Western Isles. Sometimes operated by independent operators, and by the ships of McCallum, Orme, as well as David MacBrayne’s vessels, each island was served by a regular service of steamers and motorships, as well as by the ubiquitous puffers, carrying cargo. Alistair Deayton has managed to accumulate a fascination collection of images of many of the piers, some in islands inaccessible and remote, showing how travel to and from the Hebrides was undertaken, even up to recent times. For some islands, small ferries served the steamers, which anchored off the calling places, until very recent years. Most of the piers of the Hebrides are shown here, with informative captions.

The hilarious story of wartime bootlegging in the Scottish islands. Wartime food rationing is bad enough, but when the whisky supplies run out on the Hebridean islands of Great and Little Todday, nothing seems to go right. Then the fifty-thousand-bottle cargo of the shipwrecked S. S. Cabinet Minister brings salvation – in its most giddily intoxicating form.

From Croft Loaf to Cranachan Chocolate Bombs, Oaty Apricot Cookies to Heilan’ Coo Cupcakes, and Granny Annag’s Christmas Cake to Aunt Bellag’s Duff, there’s something here to put a smile on everyone’s face. And with his faithful West Highland Terrier Seòras by his side every step of the way, the Hebridean Baker will even help you teach your dog Gaelic, while you enjoy some truly delicious Scottish bakes.

Focusing on small bakes that use a simple set of ingredients, these recipes will unleash your inner Scottish baker – it’s all about rustic, home baking and old family favourites because, as the Hebridean Baker says, ‘Homemade is Always Best’.

Tells the story of the raiders; their struggle to escape from the poverty which, they claimed, the policies of the absentee landowner forced them to endure, the raiding and settlement of the island and the fraught process of dividing it up into crofts. This book also outlines subsequent developments in Vatersay, including the causeway.

This is an extraordinary collection of tales from one of the very greatest Gaelic Storytellers, Angus MacLellan, and translated by one of Scotland’s finest Celtic scholars, John Lorne Campbell. The stories in the book include every type of tale found on the island of South Uist, from Fingalian heroes and ghost stories to international folktales and humorous and historical local anecdotes.

This omnibus edition of Christina Hall’s memoirs brings together her two books, To the Edge of the Sea and Twice around the Bay.

To the Edge of the Sea is an enchanting and moving memoir; Christina Hall writes with sharp observation about her childhood on the Hebridean island of South Uist in the 1940s and 50s. Humour and anguish reflect the spirit of a girl living through a time of dramatic change in her life, her family and the land that she loves. Beginning with her earliest memories, the book recounts her life up to the end of secondary school and is set in Uist, Benbecula, Barra and Fort William.

As a sequel to To the Edge of the Sea, Twice Around the Bay follows Christina Hall’s story during her time at teacher training college in Glasgow and her return to the Hebrides, where she became the primary school teacher at South Glendale on her native island of South Uist. It is a story full of vibrancy, life and colourful Hebridean characters which recaptures with crystal clarity the joys and hardships of island life in the late 1950s and 1960s. It was during this period that the army arrived on Benbecula, and it was through them that Christina met a young English soldier. The book ends with their wedding, with faith in the future and the realisation that wherever that future might lead, the island of Christina’s birth would always be part of her.

This book gives a realistic description of life as it is and as it has been on an Outer Hebridean Island during the last four hundred years. It contains the accounts of travellers who visited the island at various times from 1549 to 1821; descriptions of Barra written by the local Church of Scotland ministers in 1794 and 1838; unpublished letters from the last two MacNeill lairds to the parish priest from 1805 to 1825; evidence given by Barra crofters and cottars to the Crofters’ Commission in 1883; and other material.

This colourful guide presents the story of life in the Uists from the appearance of the first stone age hunter-gatherers up to 10,000 years ago, to the crofters of the last century. It offers a vivid account of the development of the islands, suggesting some of the most rewarding places to visit and providing clear descriptions of each site.

Sound of Harris/Caolas Na Heradh

North Uist, Taransay & St Kilda

OS Landranger 18          1:50 000 scale     2cm to 1km – 1/4 inches to 1 mile

A a comprehensive collection of stories, from the The Outer Hebrides. Some are wellknown tales, and some have been collected by the author, but all are retold in the natural voice of a local man. You will find selkies and waterhorses, and encounter the bluemen of the stream, who test the eloquence of mariners who venture into the tidal streams around the Shiant Islands. There are tales from islands now uninhabited, like the archipelago of St Kilda, and their yarns from bustling harbors. So grab a copy and dive in.

Over six years, Madeleine Bunting travelled north-west, returning again and again to the Hebrides, exploring their landscapes, histories and magnetic pull. With great sensitivity and perceptiveness, she delves into the meanings of home and belonging, which in these islands have been fraught with tragedy as well as tenacious resistance. The Hebrides hold a remarkable place in the imaginations of Scotland and England. Bunting considers the extent of the islands’ influence beyond their shores, finding that their history of dispossession and migration has been central to the British imperial past.

By Francis Thompson. The essential guide for the discerning tourist and island devotee, the “Pevensey Island Guide: Lewis & Harris” describes everything the visitor needs to know about the islands’ heritage, landscape, climate, flora and fauna. It contains fascinating information on all the key places of interest, from areas of outstanding beauty such as the mountains, freshwater lochs and moorland to historical landmarks such as the Callanish stone circle. It is illustrated with over 100 superb colour photographs showing every aspect of the island and its people.

This book, dealing with the historical background to various items of interest connected with the Churches at Howmore, South Uist.
44 pages.

The group of ruins around the graveyard of Howmore are a testimony to the power and wealth of the Church in that area in their day. Little remains of the original two churches, but that little is still enough to impress visitors with the sheer scale and ornate nature of the buildings. Nothing is known of the early history of the site. Was it one of the early, pre-Norse, centres of the Celtic Church, or did it rise with the victory of the Gaelic culture over the Norse in the thirteenth century? John MacDonald, VIII of Clanranald, was buried there in 1584, and it is clear that the churches had been long established by that date.

This register comprises an index to the marriages recorded in the Old Parish Registers for the Parish of North Uist, where the OPR does not commence until 1821. This index contains over 300 marriages from the North Uist OPR and a further 500 marriages in that parish obtained from other sources.

This new, thoroughly updated second edition of Bradt’s Outer Hebrides: The Western Isles of Scotland, from Lewis to Barra by experienced writer and journalist Mark Rowe is the only full-size guide to focus solely on the islands of Lewis, Harris, St Kilda, Berneray, North Uist, Benbecula, South Uist, Eriskay, Barra and Vatersay. Masses of background information is included, from geography and geology to art and architecture, with significant coverage of wildlife, too, as well as all the practical details you could need: when to visit, suggested itineraries, public holidays and festivals, local culture, plus accommodation and where to eat and drink. Walkers, birdwatchers, wildlife photographers, beach lovers and genealogists are all catered for, and this is an ideal guide for those who travel simply with curious minds to discover far-flung places of great cultural, historical and wildlife interest.

This colourful guide presents the story of human habitation of Barra from the appearance of the first stone age setters over 6,000 years ago to the crofter’s of the last century. 

Erskine Beveridge first visited the island of North Uist in October 1897 in order to compare its ancient forts with those of Coll and Tiree. Subsequent trips enabled him to amass a detailed knowledge of the island, and he published this classic account in a limited print run in 1911

This inspirational guidebook describes 50 varied walking and backpacking routes on the Scottish Hebrides islands, set out in a larger format, and illustrated with a range of stunning photographs. The 50 walks are spread across both well-known and remote islands; from Skye, Mull, Rum, the Uists and Barra, Ulva, Iona, Eigg and Muck and more besides. Most of the walks provide a full day for experienced walkers, with a few multi-day backpacking adventures as well as some shorter routes.

The walks also include Hebrides classics, like the Trotternish Ridge, Ben More, Skye and Rum Cuillins, the Paps of Jura and full circuits of smaller islands. Each walk combines clear route description with mapping and spectacular photography, while also advising on the route’s facilities, public transport access, length and terrain. The result is a collection of the very best walks with which to uncover the wild and rugged beauty of the Hebrides.

In 1973 David Christie moved house from Essex to Scotland, but it wasn’t till 1974 that he discovered the joys of sailing on Calmac’s ships. An initial sail on King George V at Oban in her last season was a great introduction but mostly, over the next three years, I focussed on Queen Mary on the Clyde, now safely back in Glasgow at the Science Centre. Most of the Clyde piers are covered, with emphasis on Rothesay. Ferries also feature with old and new on the Rothesay and Dunoon runs and the smaller boats at Largs. The west coast features with Oban as the main terminal, then Mallaig, before a session on the pre-bridge Skye ferries. A single visit to Ullapool finishes this journey back to the seventies.

Includes information on emigrants to Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba including the Killarney, Saltcoats, Wapella and Clandonald settlements from Lewis, Harris the Uists, Benbecula and Barra. Read the rest of this entry »

This book will be invaluable to people collecting information on their families in Middlesex, Oxford, Brandt counties of Ontario. The main centre of emigration for emigrants from North and South Uist and Barra.

The landscape of the Outer Hebrides, with its stark cliffs, ghostly mists and lonely beaches, has become a definitive character of Peter May’s Lewis trilogy. In Hebrides, readers will accompany him on an odyssey in prose and images, through a history of the Vikings’ ‘Long Island’ and his own deep personal connection with the islands that influenced his bestselling work.

Travelling as if alongside his protagonist Fin Macleod, he describes the island life – as bewitching as it is treacherous – his encounter with the bird-hunters of Sula Sgeir, the savage seas of Ness and the churches of Eriskay. With extracts from the trilogy and specially commissioned photographs, this book places his writing and characters within the land that gave them form.

This volume gives the Register of Emigrants from the Isles of South Uist and Benbecula from 1840 to 1900. Details of over 350 emigrant families whose destination has been discovered is given, in addition to another 350 families who are known to have left, but whose destination is as yet unknown. Listed by destination. 137 pages.

In this book, the fifth of a series on different parishes in the Western Isles, Bill Lawson is making much of this information available for the first time to the general public, both those with a specific interest in genealogy, and also those with a more general interest in the history of these interesting and beautiful islands off the Atlantic coast of Scotland.

This register comprises an index to the marriages recorded in the Old Parish Registers of Marriages in the Parish of South Uist, including Benbecula, where the earliest Registers of Marriages do not commence until 1829. It contains approximately 750 entries from the Marriage Registers, and over 500 unrecorded marriages.

This volume gives details of 250 emigrant families who left North Uist for Carolina, Cape Breton, Ontario, Quebec and Australia. There are also 60 other families who are know to have left, but whose destination is as yet unknown.

The Croft History for the villages of Cnoc a’ Lin, Caolas Phaibeil, Cladach a’ Chaolais, Cireabost, Cladach Circeaboist, and Heisgeir.

The Croft History for the villages of Baile Raghaill (Balranald), Paiblisgearraidh (Paiblesgarry), Cnoc an Torran (Knockintorran) and Baile Mor (Balemore) on the Isle of North Uist. 175 pages.

This volume contains the Croft History for Orasaigh (Orinsay), Ath Mhor (Ahmore), Trumaisgearraidh (Trumisgarry), Bhalacuidh (Vallaquie), Reumaisgearraidh (Reumisgarry), Clachan Shannda (Clachan Sands), Goulabaidh (Goulaby), Baile Mhic Coinein (Newton (part)), Baile Mhic Phail (Newton (part)), Port nan Long (Newton Ferry), Caolas Bhearnaraigh (Kyles Berneray) and Boirearaigh (Boreray) on the Isle of North Uist. 157 pages.

This volume contains the Croft History for Griomasaigh (Grimsay) and Ronaigh (Ronay) in North Uist. 145 pages.

Contains the Croft History for Malacleit (Malaclete), Ceathramh Meadhanach (Middlequarter), Dunsgealair (Dunskellor), Solas (Sollas) and Greinetobht (Grenitote) on the Isle of North Uist. 230 pages.

Vallay to Hougharry croft histories and lots of photos. Includes the villages of Bhalaigh (Vallay), Griminis (Griminish), Scolpaig, Baile Loin (Balelone), Baile Mhartainn (Balmartin), Baile Locha (Baleloch), Hosta, Taigh Ghearraidh (Tigharry), Hoghaigearraidh (Hougharry) and Gobhlair (Goular). 144 pages.

Cille Pheadair (Kilpheder) is one of the oldest townships in South Uist. This volume contains the Croft History for this township. 116 pages.

Boisdale area, north & south and South Lochboisdale. Includes Baghasdal (Boisdale), Leth Mheadanach (South Boisdale), Taobh a Deas Loch Baghasdail (South Lochboisdale), Gleann Dail a Tuath (North Glendale) and Bagh Thartabhagh (Bahartivagh). 168 pages, with maps and local history.

General history, croft histories, photos and maps of Iochdar (Eochar) on the Isle of South Uist. 136 pages.

The Croft History for the villages of Cille Bhrighde (West Kilbride), Taobh a’ Chaolais (East Kilbride), Gleann Dail a Deas (South Glendale), Smercleit (Smerclete), Gearraidh na Monadh (Garrynamonie) and Trosairidh (Trossary) on the Isle of South Uist. 111 pages.