Barra, Outer Hebrides

All too soon we were sailing on to the Outer Hebrides, where we stopped at the southernmost inhabited island in that group, the Isle of Barra.  The island has been occupied since at least Neolithic times, with Stone, Bronze and Iron Age relics uncovered during excavations.  Today the main industry is tourism, so we fit right in!

As always our ship had to anchor offshore and we were ferried in by dinghy.

This sign is in Gaelic as well as English; the Outer Hebrides have preserved the Gaelic language more than anywhere else in Scotland.

The small village of Castlebay welcomed us, with Kisimul Castle in the middle of the harbour in the foreground and Our Lady, Star of the Sea Church in the background, high on the hill.  Kisimul Castle was home to Clan MacNeil, legendary pirates during the reign of Elizabeth I.

The castle sits on a tiny island in the bay, while the 'unsinkable' lifeboat is tied here at the dock, reminding us that seas do get rough and many have lost their lives here.

We got a chance to walk around the village and I remember reading about the knitting of fishermen's sweaters, each pattern slightly different so that their wives could recognize their body in the case of tragedy.

I did walk up the hill to see the church, Our Lady, Star of the Sea, dedicated as the name suggests, to generations of fishermen, though fishing has declined in recent years as tourism has risen.

On the way back to our own ship we got to stop at the castle to explore the ruin.  Mrs. F.G. was interested in the architecture, while I distracted myself from the sad history by looking at things like yellow lichen on the rocks.

For centuries Barra was part of the Lordship of the Isles, subject to Norwegian rule and loyal to the king of Norway.  Following the Battle of Largs, the Treaty of Perth was finally signed in 1266, giving Orkney and Shetland to Norway, but giving the Hebrides to Scotland.  King James I, later in the 1400s imposed his rule on the isles, fed up with their years of clan squabbling.  He awarded Barra to the Chief of Clan MacNeil.

After years of enjoying life as pirates on the high seas, MacNeil sold the island to Colonel Gordon in 1838, and evictions began immediately.  Islanders were rounded up and forcibly loaded onto ships like cattle, because the landlord could make more money grazing sheep (the sheep are still there).  Evictions reached a peak during the potato famine of the late 1840s, with a large number of remaining Barra islanders forced onto a ship bound for Canada.  These were the horrible years of the 'Clearances', 'clearing' the island for sheep!

The MacNeils themselves ended up first in Canada and later in the United States, until a wealthy MacNeil bought the estate back in 1937.  In 2000 his heir leased the island to Historic Scotland for 1000 years, in return for a nominal payment of 1£ and a bottle of whisky a year.