THE LIBRARY
OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
LOS ANGELES
^/^-
GAIKLOCH
BY
ALEXANDER POLSON, J.R, F.E.I.S.,
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS FROM PAINTINGS
BY
FiNLAY MACKINNON.
4tA place of whirring wings and wildbird trills,
Of lonely bleatings wafted from the hills,
With sound of distant cascades rising calm,
And tender as a Sabbath evening psalm,
A haunt of ivhite mists; wandering winds that sigh
And roll along the steeps, and pause, and die"
DINGWALL:
GEORGE SOUTER.
1920.
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- ^i.
No one who wishes to have the fullest knowledge of
Gairloch should fail to consult Mr Dixon's "GAIRLOCH
AND LOCH MAREE," which is one of the fullest, most
accurate, and interesting books published regarding any
one parish. It has given the present writer many pleasant
hours and much information. Mr O. H. Mackenzie of
Inverewe has again revised the chapter on the Peat Bogs,,
and he and several of the older inhabitants have revised
the chapter on "Folklore." Eev. A. B. Scott, B.D., Helms-
dale, has kindly revised the chapter on St. Maelrubha.
Without the assistance of all the teachers in the parish,
the long Roll of Honour could not have been compiled.
The kind and ready help given by everyone to whom
the author appealed for information is gratefully ackno\r-
ledged.
872880
CONTENTS.
PAGE
THE PARISH - 6
How TO EEACH GAIRLOCH - 7
ROUND ABOUT GAIRLOCH 12
LEABIDH-NA-BA-BAINE ] 3
RAINFALL 14
THE GOLF COURSE 14
OAIRLOCH TO POOLEWE 16
VILLAGE OF POOLEWE 17
SOCIAL LIFE - 22
INDUSTRIES 26
HOME INDUSTRIES 27
LOCH MAREE 28
THE IRON WORKS 33
THE PEAT BOGS 36
PERSONAL NAMES 41
PLACE NAMES 43
FOLK LORE - 44
ST. MAELRUBHA 56
ROLL OF HONOUR - 59
ROLL OF SERVICE - 64
The Book of Gairloch
THE struggle for existence seems to grow keener with the
passing years. Everywhere men, women, and children
are living at high pressure. In the towns there is the
perpetual pursuit of wealth and pleasure. In the
country those who work have on their bodies the; marks of
honest toil, and on their faces the brand of care- Professional
men, and men in business, wage the same fierce war which so
often results in ruined health, shattered hopes, tearful lives,
and early deaths; so that what the whole creation seems to
want most is some breathing space in the struggle, some rest,
so that renovation of the vital energies may be had for the
weary one's pleasure and profit. For such a purpose there are
very few places to equal the beautiful and. quiet parish of
Gairloch, as there are few places that offer the same variety of
outdoor pursuits.
For such as love angling on lochs, salt or fresh, there is
fish in plenty. Those who delight in shells, or the natural
history of the seashore, will, as Hugh Miller did, wonder at the
immense variety found here. There is for geologists the old,
old land question of the succession of rocks in the North-West
Highlands, which has engaged the attention of such geologists
as Macculloch, Hugh Miller, Professor Nicol, Archibald
Geikie, and Peach and Home of the Geological Society.
There is a nine hole golf course for the many who enjoy
that game ; sandy beaches on which children can play in clean
sand by the hour or wade in clear water ; oosy corners where
bathers — swimmers and non-swimmers — are safe. Many
parts of the shore are rich in aquatic plants which, unsheltered,
survive the winter here. For the artist the place is a veritable
paradise, and many of those most famous in the world of art
THE BOOK OF GAIRLOCH.
have spent months here; as the many combinations of moun-
tains and moors, woods and waterfalls, winding lochs of salt
and fresh water, appear to have added beauty when seen from
different standpoints ; and as light, shade, and colour vary all
day long, as well as week by week, they must form for every
artist tempting "subjects."
There are "studies" here for the sociologist and the sports-
man, as well as the antiquary and legend-monger. Happily,
all may pursue their hobbies with that peculiar sense of calm
and rest which becomes second nature to everyone who has
lived for even a few weeks in the north-west of Scotland-
THE PARISH.
The Parish of Gairloch, in Wester Ross, with its area of
200,646 acres, is one of the four largest in Scotland. An idea
of its size may perhaps best be got by comparing it with some
of the Scottish counties. It is considerably larger than any one
of the important counties of Dumbarton, Renfrew, or Had-
dington. It is more than twice the size of Linlithgow, four
times as large as Kinross, and six times larger than Clackman-
nan. In this immense area there lived in 1911 only 3317
persons, as between Lochbroom and Applecross there is an
immense block of moorland, having an area of about 195,000
acres, on which there live only a few shepherds and game-
keepers. The vast majority of the people live on the 4000
acres which skirt the western seaboard.
The public road enters the parish near Luibmohr, four
miles from Achnasheen Station, and if it be followed by Gair-
loch, Poolewe, and Aultbea, forty-five miles will be traversed
ere a traveller passes out of it at the Little Gruinard River.
There are well nigh fifty miles of branch highways leading to
outlying townships, as well as miles of private roads. It has a
sixty-mile coast line, which is washed by the waters forming
Loch Torridon, Gairloch, Loch Ewe, and Gruinard Bay.
There are in the parish no fewer than twenty-three peaks
of two thousand feet, or over, in height, and no fewer than
five of these rise to a height of more than three thousand feet,
the highest being Ruadh Stac, on the south-west of Loch
Maree, which is 3309 feet.
There are thirty fairly large fresh water lakes, as well as
many mountain tarns.
There are woods on the Loch Maree islands ; an indigenous
wood with pine, birch, oak, rowan, etc., on the lower slopes of
Meall a. Ghuibhas ; a larch plantation at Kerrysdale, and a
•4*^*~e*^,
somewhat extensive wood at Talladale ; but a more particular^,
description of many of these is given in connection with the
villages and hotels.
HOW TO REACH GAIRLOCH.
One may reach Gairloch from Ullapool by means of the
long beautiful drive described in the latter part of this book,
or from Torridon or Achnashellach, via Kinlochewe; but by
far the easiest way is by rail to Achnasheen Station, on the
Skye branch of the Highland Railway. If one comes north
from Perth by the Highland line, and wishes to return by rail,
the return journey may with advantage be made via Aberdeen.
A steamer, which calls at Gairloch, Inverasdale, Poolewe, and
Aultbea, makes the round from Glasgow to Stornoway and
back each week. Visitors may get to know the particulars ef
any of these routes by consulting the railway and steamer time
bills, which are necessarily subject to alteration from time
to time.
When visitors arrive at Achnasheen Station, they would,
ere they start, be well advised to have luncheon at the hotel,
which seems a part of the station, and at which a motor awaits
to take them via Loch Maree, Gairloch, and Poolewe right on
to Aultbea. If they have motors of their own, they ought to
have their stores replenished here before starting. If, how-
ever, they wish to enjoy hill air of the keenest kind for a day
or two, they will here certainly find themselves well attended
to in very comfortable quarters ; but, if they determine to go
on, then for five miles the drive is over a level road alongside
Loch Rosque, with surroundings that are considered tame,
except it be for the large fir plantations surrounding the
palatial lodge, behind which rises the slope of Fion Bheinn,
which forms part of a magnificent deer forest. Opposite the
lodge gates may be seen an immense cage with two splendid
specimens of the golden eagle. The road th~en~rises pretty
steeply, until at the summit it is 805 feet above sea level, and
the steep descent of Glen Docherty is begun, and down, down,
the coach goes, skirting precipices, with mountains rising steep
from the edge of the road on the right, and descending in
many places quite as steeply on the left ; and it says much for
the drivers that no serious accident has ever happened on any
part of this route. At a curve on the road Loch Maree bursts
on the view, and if the day be fine it is a sight not to be for-
gotton. This road, though still narrow enough, has been
much improved during the past few years, and is likely to be
still further improved in the near future. After the ten mile
drive one is glad to rest at Kinlochewe Hotel — an old estab-
THE BOOK OF GAIRLOCH.
lished house — and all who have stayed there rightly give it a
high reputation for comfort. Very good angling locha are
available for guests here.
Four glens converge here, each of them hemmed in by
mountains of so unusual a character that those familiar with
southern hills only, stare at them in surprise. From Kinloch-
ewe, Ben Eay appears a mountain of marble. Opposite are
the Couiin Hills, which, in Gaelic, have a name meaning "The
Grey Heads," given them probably because the top of each hill
is formed of white quartzite, overlying the dark brown
Torridon rocks- From this place Slioch may be seen standing
out prominently, and, separated from it by a dark narrow
glen, showing plainly some of the most striking effects of
glacial action, is Craig Roy, and together these hills form a
picturesque group. Indeed, Kinlochewe is placed in the midst
of a cluster of mountains which form quite a fancy picture.
A favourite drive or ride from Kinlochewe is to Torridon,
eleven miles away. At first the road runs alongside the
Garbh river, with its clumps of birch and rocky salmon pools,
and in front are the beautiful Couiin Hills, the haunt of
hundreds of deer. Four miles from Kinlochewe a private road
branches off to the left and leads through this forest to Achna-
shellach Station, on the Skye line, six miles away. The road
is kept in good condition, and at certain seasons there is no
difficulty in obtaining permission to go by it. The view from
the top, looking towards Lochcarron, on a summer evening, is
one not easily forgotten. The railway, far below, may be seen
like a narrow ribbon lying on the side of the magnificent valley
which, if the tide be in and the sun near its setting, looks as if
floored with fire. During the steep descent to Achnashellach,
the cyclist must needs proceed with great caution. The visitor
to Torridon must, however, at the fork, keep the road to the
right, and pass Loch Clair, near which he may see the seat
used by St. Maelrubha when he journeyed between his two
cells at Applecross and Isle Maree. By the roadside are to be
seen heaps of stones made by passing funeral parties, for here
one is 'in the midst of
"A land of wayside cairns — the place
Of resting for the biers of death
And tokens of a fading race,
And relics of forgotten faith,
Legend and rhyme and mystic rite,
The worship of a god unknown,
Stealthily done at dead of night
By sacred well or standing stone."
Further on, and on the left of the road, is a hollow, called
in Gaelic "Corie Ceud Cnoc (The corrie of a hundred hillocks),
THE BOOK OF G AIRLOCK.
because of the many tumuli which, at first glance, seem cer-
tainly artificial, but on closer examination are plainly the
result of the eddying of water, the action of ice, and the debris
of rocks, in the dim past. This also is a place made famous by
the fights of cattle raiders in more recent times. The views
onwards are quite unique in their way, because of the extra-
ordinary precipices, comes, and peaks of bare quartz
mountains. Liathgath is especially good, as on it lies a mass
of rock peculiarly shelved and perforated, so as to make it
appear like well planned fortifications with terraces and pillars.
Then down the steep hill to the small village, and en route
note the fine outline of Ben Alligin, which forms so striking a
peak when seen from the Gairloch side.
It is well worth one's while to take a boat or follow the
seven-mile path to Shieldaig in order to see the Alpine
character of the scenery of this part of the West Coast. The
return journey gives different and, some say, better views.
After two miles of level road from Kinlochewe Hotel, the
little pier of Ru Nohar is reached, where passengers used to be
taken aboard for the sail down Loch Maree. Those who keep
to the road finds that it skirts the lake, and as the motor
gets along the occupants cannot fail to notice that the Glas
Leitre woods form one of the finest examples of nature-sown
and nature-grown woods in the Kingdom- The grouping is
perfect. The Scotch firs are of great age, with many crests
and far-spreading limbs ; the birches are graceful, and at least
equal to those of Glen Affaric, painted by Macwhirter. Soon
after passing the nineteenth milestone from Achnasheen, a
halt is made at Loch Maree Hotel.
It is from this hotel that hill climbers will find it easiest to
make the ascent of Slioch. A boat must be engaged to put one
across to Furnace, near Letterewe, from which the easiest
ascent is by Loch Garvaig. Another and shorter way is
straight up the face by a gully of red sandstone, but the last
part of this route is very bad. When the summit is reached,
the loch and islands lie spread out like a map. Many sur-
rounding peaks can be counted, and on a clear day, it is said,
the town of Stornoway, in Lewis, may be seen ; but often mist
comes on pretty suddenly, and then, without a guide, the
descent may prove dangerous. Some climbers, for variety,
make their way down to Kinlochewe, but this involves a tramp
of twenty-five miles.
After passing the Loch Maree Hotel the road runs close to
the lake for a couple of miles, but only glimpses of it can be got
through a screen of lovely trees- A little further on is seen
10 THE BOOK OF GAIRLOCH.
the double eataract on the Garavaig river, known, since 1877,
as the Victoria Falls. The road towards Gairloch then bends
away from the loch and ascends by a slope so steep in some
places that most passengers by a horse-drawn coach get out and
walk, though some prefer to sit still and pity the poor pulling
beasts. Those who walk behind are sometimes surprised to see
how the metalled roadway bends beneath the wheels of the
heavy coach as thin ice does under a skater. The explanation,
is that the road was constructed over mossy ground, and as the
makers never contemplated such heavy traffic as now passes
over it they did not think it necessary to have a more firm
foundation. One wonders that heavy motor wheels so seldom
break through the upper crust. A little beyond the summit
Loch Bad na Sgalaig is to be seen. The road then rapidly
descends, and nervous people would do well to sit on the right
"side, as on the left edge they sometimes think themselves sheer
over a precipice, only as compensation they may, if they keep
on this side, have an excellent view of the singularly beautiful
double series of Kerry Falls. The higher of the two consists
of five distinct steps, and if rain has fallen for a day or two
before, the sight is well worth going far to see. The road soon
afterwards passes through a larch plantation, and in a short
time the Post Office is reached. On the left is to be seen the
pier, and on the right Flowerdale House- The next house to
be passed on the right is the local branch of what was the
Caledonian Bank, now merged in the Bank of Scotland, the
only bank passed since leaving Dingwall, and there is not
another within many a long mile of it. Just on the left of the
road, and opposite the Established Church, is the famous
Leabaidh, and a little further on the Gairloch Churchyard,
where once stood the Church of St. Maelrubha, and in which
lie many who were known far beyond the bounds of the
parish. In another minute or two the sandy beach in front of
the hotel is to be seen, as well as the whole expanse of the
loch, with the hills of Skye in the distance. The Free Church,
just on the roadside here, is certainly a neat, well-conceived
piece of architecture. The hotel is reached in another
minute. The size and handsome appearance of the buildings ,
at once attract attention, and strangers wonder why such an
edifice should be erected in what they may have hitherto con-
sidered to be such an "outlandish place" : for to them it at first
sight appears a waste of stone, lime, and labour to build here
a place that can accommodate over a hundred sleepers, and has
gardens and conservatories, in which grow all manner of
flowers and fruit, and- where everything is done which modern
science can suggest to ensure that visitors have every possible
comfort. Two or three days in the locality are, however,
THE BOOK OF GAIRLOCH. 11
usually enough to make them understand why the place is such
a favourite one with those who are city pent during the greater
part of the year.
The site of the hotel is worthy of note, and those who
selected it certainly knew their business, as it stands on a
commanding situation about seventy feet above, and close to,
the edge of the large horse shoe-shaped bay. From all the
front windows a wide view is got- Far away, on a fairly clear
day, may be seen the north end of Skye, as well as the south
end of Lewis and Harris. During the summer months, and
from a seat in front of the hotel, may, on many an evenmg, be
seen one of the characteristic West Coast gorgeous sunsets,
with the quickly-changing colour and brilliancy which one can
wonder at, but can never properly describe by word or paint
any more than they can the afterglow which seems to linger
long among the hill-tops. Towards midnight in June the after-
glow on the placid water gives a strange, weird, magical effect ;
indeed, June in this whole district is altogether the best month
of the year, as the weather is then generally dry and the
temperature not too high.
For those in search of health, climate, of course, counts for
everything, and it is well known that here there is sea and
mountain air in plenty, and therefore abundance of that
unseen, but health-giving, ozone which sanitarians talk of.
All nature around here is pure and refreshing, and the water
in sea and loch is clear to a degree almost unknown elsewhere.
Of course, the weather is changeable, and if it rains, it rains ;
but somehow the warm westerly rain does not seem to have any
bad effect on strangers caught in a shower or on natives who
have to submit to the sixty inches which is the usual amount
of the annual rainfall; and then, when the rain is over, and
the white fleecy clouds roll up the mountain sides, one cannot
help admitting that such a sight is fairly good compensation
for tHe wetting.
Very, very few are the southrons who wish to pass the
winter or spring here, but there is no harm in their knowing
that, as the Gulf Stream washes this coast, the winters are
mild and there is very little snow, so that there are no skating
or curling clubs ; while in spring the mountains shelter the
place completely from the east winds. Indeed, golf and fish-
ing seem to be the engrossing outdoor pastimes all the year
round.
As at many Highland hotels, there are here several fresh
water lochs on which the fishing is reserved for the use of
visitors only, but the sea fishing, which is so convenient and
12 THE BOOK OF GAIRLOCH.
safe, seems the great attraction. A recent inquiry as to what
it was received the following answer : —
"Last season visitors caught on the lochs in June 260 trout,
weighing 60 Ibs.; in July, 575 trout, 185 Ibs. ; August, 13S
trout, 40 Ibs., and in September, 54 trout, weighing 23 'bs.
"On the sea they had in June 168 haddocks and whitings ;
in July, the haddock, whiting, bream, and lythe numbered
2848 ; in August, 800 ; in September, 491 cod, ling, mackerel,
etc., were caught, and in October 1360 of the same kind. The
cod weighed from 6 Ibs. to 17 Ibs-, and the lythe from 7 Ibs.
to 25 Ibs."
ROUND ABOUT GAIRLOCH.
There are many interesting drives and walks to be had in
the vicinity. One of the most beautiful is to Flowerdale,
which was built by the ninth laird, and second baronet, of
Gairloch in 1738. Because of the profusion of wild flowers at
the place he gave it its present name instead of continuing
either of the old ones of Tigh Dige or Stankhouse. This
gentleman, who refused to join the "rebels" in 1745, was
invited at that time by the captain of a man-of-war that came
into the bay to come aboard. The worthy baronet, however,
told the messenger to report that he regretted that he had
another engagement that evening, and because of this reply
he got as a parting salute, when the ship sailed away, a broad-
side, and for long the people of the place could see, as a
memento of the fact, one of the balls sticking in the wall of
the house. It was at the "Island of Justice," not far from the
house, that the lairds of Gairloch, in days long, long ago/
exercised their right of "pit and gallows." The laird, his jury
of four, the accuser, and the accused, all stood at separate
trees. Some little distance away stood the Gallows Hill,
where the condemned had to "go quietly to please the laird,"
and had a "drop" down a ravine. It is related that the face of
the sloping rock became smooth by the number of criminals
who fell on it. If one mounts the hill immediately behind —
Craig a Chait — he will understand what giants were in Gair-
loch in days of yore when he sees the distance to the pier, and
hears that a famous archer once from this hill top killed with
his arrow an enemy who mounted the mast of an enemy's boat
just out from the jetty.
To visit the hamlets on the south side of the loch one may
drive or cycle round by the Kerry Bridge, and after going
through some naturally planted birch woods pass Shieldaig
and get to Badach.ro, and there see how the catching and curing
THE BOOK OF GAIRLOCH. J3
of fish are done. Then on to Opinan, where there are sand
hills and a sandy beach, a cave worth exploring, and, if one
is interested in bog iron, plenty of it may be seen in a dyke a
little further along.
Th^re is no village of Gairloch, but the scattered village of
Strath is about a mile from the Hotel, on the north side of the
bay, and here are several up-to-date shops. Near it is the
Established Church Manse, to build a part of which Hugh
Miller, the geologist, then a mason's lad, went from Cromarty,
and in chapters xii. and xiii. of "My Schools and School-
masters" tells of how he got there and the treatment meted
out to him after he reached; only Gairloch to-day is a very
different place — "other times, other manners." His impres-
sions, however, continue to possess ac deep interest. There is
not much of historic interest along the drive to Melvaig. and
but for the exquisite distant views got at several points, the
road would be dreary enough- It is worth while perhaps to
explore a deep cave on the way thither? as it is one of several
in the Highlands into which a piper is |aid to have led a band
of men in search of gold and never returned. The sound of
his pipes was heard in the neighbouring hamlets for many a
year after his disappearance. The story shows how common
over the world are legends similar to that which Browning so
well tells in his "Pied Piper of Hamelin-"
Another walk, albeit a steep one, is to the top of the hill
just behind the hotel. This is a favourite one with those who
profess some knowledge of geology. Other walks there are,
quite as full of interest; and information regarding them is
gladly given by any at the hotel or in the neighbourhood, and
it will be surprising if visitors in any part of this wide parish
do not find all the inhabitants courteous and possessed of that
kindliness and good manners which seem innate in
Highlanders.
LEABIDH-NA-BA-BAINE
(The Bed of the White Cow).
One of the most interesting spots in the neighbourhood is
the Leabidh-na-Ba-Baine. This celebrated hollow is near the
Parish Church and on the opposite side of the public road. In
form the Leabidh is nearly oval and is not unlike the crater
of an extinct volcano. It is generally believed to be of
natural formation, but because of its symmetry some think
it to be artificial, and tradition says it was made by Fingal of
Ossianic fame as a bed for his white cow to calve- It is
covered with short grass, and because of the sandy nature of
the soil is always dry. It is now used by the Free Church for
J
H THE BOOK OF GAIRLOCH.
Communion services in June, which no one should miss attend-
ing if he be anywhere in the neighbourhood. When the
Leabidh was first used for this purpose no one can tell, but to
it the congregation went when the Parish Church was
incapable of holding the thousands who flocked from far and
near to hear such famous Gaelic preachers as the Rev. Lachlan
Mackenzie of Lochcarron ; Dr Macdonald, Ferintosh ; and
Rev. John Kennedy, Killearnan. On these occasions the
Leabidh, capable of accommodating about two thousand per-
sons, overflowed. The Free Church was broken up by the
Declaratory Act of 1892, and other churches have been built,
so that now it holds the Free Church congregation comfortably.
RAINFALL.
The rainfall of the district has long been over-estimated,
but the table of observations taken at Inverewe Gardens —
twenty feet above sea level — for the past seven years may help
to correct this, as the average fall for this period is 58 inches
per annum. It has to be noted that the average for the
months of May, June, and July — the months always most
strongly recommended for visitors — are the lowest for the
year, and next comes the month of September. The other
months are pretty much alike in regard to rainfall. The
average number of days on which rain fell works out at 184.
THE GOLF COURSE.
The following description of the Golf Course has been
kindly supplied by Mr W. N. Gunn, Poolewe: —
The Gairloch Golf Course is prettily situated in a sheltered
dip, and offers many attractions to the visitor.
As a ' 'sporting" course it would be hard to beat Stretches
of beautiful turf, intersected by sand dunes and benty hillocks,
provide the golfer, whether he be an expert or a novice, with
such entertaining positions and difficult "lies" as call for the
highest skill.
The course was planned and laid out by the energetic
Captain Burgess, and is a monument to his ingenuity. The
greens are all placed in strategical positions ; and one marvels
that so much could have been made out of so little, as, with
the ground available it would appear at first sight to be a
hopeless task to make it what it is. But Captain Burgess,
being an enthusiastic golfer, set to work, overcame all diffi-
culties, and to-day Gairloch has one of the finest natural
nine-hole courses in the country.
THE BOOK OF GAIRLOCH. 15
No professional player, with the exception of Willie Fernie
of Troon — who had something very commendatory to say about
the course — has ever played here. No crowds are met with to
elbow and jostle one. If the southern golfer wants peace and
quietness, combined with a low tariff, he — or she — should
avoid the much-boomed courses and give Gairloch a trial.
From this place "where the reek of the tavern comes not, nor
the crowded cries of the street," he would be a sordid soul
indeed who did not return better in body and mind after a
sojourn here, where "every prospect pleases" and not even
man is vile.
The first tee is situated in front of the Club House, and
the distance to the first hole is 270 yards. Right in front of
the tee is the dreaded "Leabaidh-na-ba-baine," in which a
topped ball is pretty sure to find a resting place. "Bed of
the white ball" would be more appropriate to-day, as many
a golfer knows. A pulled shot here meets with very severe
punishment, as it is likely to land the ball in the wood to the
left of the road. A slice, if not too bad, has a chance of a
good lie. With the exception of a tree, which stands in the
fairway, there are no other difficulties to be encountered on the
way to this hole- With good play it should be taken in 4.
The second hole is 180 yards, but rather difficult, as the green
is situated on a sharp incline. With careful play a 4 should
be registered. With cleek and mashie the green is easily
reached"; but the bias is so great that extreme care is necessary
when putting. Holing out on this green is a feat to be
remembered. The fourth hole lies 230 yards from the tee;
but as it is out of sight behind rising ground it is very difficult
to play. A good drive or even a cleek shot ought to clear the
ridge, and a careful mashie shot should find the green. Short
pitching here means trouble in a sand bunker, which provides
some scope for practice with the niblick. This is a good hole
in 4. The fifth is 190 yards. The green is small and placed
on a plateau- Guarded by a sand bunker and rough bent-
covered hazards in front and trees and broken ground on the
right, great care is necessary in order to avoid disaster. The
sixth hole — the "short" — is 135 yards, clear ground all the
way and the best green on tho course. It is a somewhat
featureless hole, and often taken in two. The seventh — the
"Target" — is 220 yards, a blind hole, and guarded in every
direction by broken ground, trees, whins, and bunkers, rocks,
and rabbit scrapes. Happy is the player who gets through
this entanglement without mishap. A good hole in 4. The
eighth — the "long" — is about 375 yards. Here one may find
trouble from lee to green. As it is guarded on the right by
THE BOOK OF GAIRLOCH.
bent-covered knolls and sand pits, and on the left by the
Atlantic (the most comprehensive hazard of all) straight
driving is necessary. The green is placed on top of a minia-
ture mountain, known as "Spion Kop" — being difficult to
take — and right in front yawns a mighty chasm, at the bottom
of which the hopes of many daring drivers lie buried- The
careful player goes slightly off the line to the right, thus
avoiding the "big bunker." Once down in that pit double
figures are almost a certainty. The last hole is about 150
yards distant, and as it is guarded in front by a hill and
behind by a burn it presents some difficulties, and the unwary
player often gets trapped. A well-played round would return
a card of 36 to 38. The record for the course — twice round —
is 67, and is at present held by J. M. Bain, one time secretary
of the Club. The Club can turn out a fairly good team ; and,
so far, in their visits to other courses, have retained an
unbeaten record.
The ground on which the course is laid out was kindly
granted for that purpose by Sir Kenneth Mackenzie, Bart, of
Gairloch ; and it is worthy of note that besides taking an
active part in the game, Sir Kenneth has all along shown a
deep interest in all that pertains to the prosperity of the Club .
Much has also been done by the Lady Marjorie Mackenzie,
who has stimulated the players and infused new life into the
game by the presentation of beautiful trophies.
/^; GAIRLOCH TO POOLEWE.
•iF»»/-/y From Gairloch to Poolewe the road is a stiff one for
/S- >»,/•'! jj^jpedestrians, cyclists, and horses. For about two and a half
j_ miles the ascent is steep and the surface rough. On both
^ '**'*'.— I~t2r right and left of the road there are hummocky hills and
tussocky grass, with outcrops of hard, cold gneiss rock in every
direction. If the visitor has a garrulous guide he may have
legends of every tarn and rock. Thus a tarn will be shown
into which the vanquished warriors of the place were once
compelled to throw their arms; a rock where two lads were
killed and buried by ruffiianly uncles, who brought away with
them the blo»d-stained shirts of their victims to prove that
they had done the deed ; but how a friend of the lads' mother
stole the shirts and had them used as evidence against the
ruffians before the King, who gave the "commission of fire and
sword" usual in such cases ; a cairn where coffins are still laid
down when the bearers are tired and need refreshments ; "The
Field of Blood," so called because there cattle were once driven
to be bled, as blood and oatmeal were the necessary ingredients
of the "black puddings" of the olden time.
THE BOOK OF GAIRLOCH. 17
Loch Tollje, on the right, is a delightful sheet of water,
fashed only by Gairloch Hotel visitors. It has an artificial
island, or crannog, with an eventful history. The road then
descends, and at the point where the branch road leads down
to Tollie pier one of the best views of the whole length of Loch
Maree is to be got. Then down, down the steep Croft Brae,
until one is close to the River Ewe, after which a good level
mile brings one to the I
VILLAGE OF POOtEWE
which is placed in the centre of the most picturesque scenery
on the West Coast ; at least so many artists think, and among
many others who came to paint here are numbered Horatio
Macculloch, W- B. Davies, and Weedon. djiil
Peihaps it is because they are contented with the real
beauties around that so few persons on the West Coast try to
paint their surroundings, or perhaps the privilege of getting
to know how, was not given them in the docile season of their
youth, but it is more likely that the struggle for existence has
always been too keen to allow time for the cultivation of the
arts of architecture, sculpture, and painting. One notable
exception to this has occurred at Poolewe, where Mr Finlay
Mackinnon has raised himself to be one of the best modern
'painters of mountain scenery. At his studio here one can-
not, when they see his pictures, which he courteously shows,
but wonder how he has managed to transfer to canvas the
indescribable bright, blue, hazy, mysterious something,
peculiar to the West Coast mountains in summer.
The village is a single row of good houses and shops. Here
arrangements can be made for sailing and sea-fishing on Loch
Ewe, or fresh water fishing on several lochs, and past years
show that even amateur sportsmen are able to have good sport
on these lochs.
Sometimes the Glasgow steamer, which coasts along the
West of Scotland, calls early at Gairloch, and many passengers
walk or drive thence and again go on board here. On a good
day the walk is certainly a good "leg stretcher." There are
two churches here, the Established and the Free Church, and
none other.
Long ago Poolewe, once called Clive, was a place of much
importance, and Pennant, the tourist, who was here 140
years ago, found it a place of much concourse, and he tells that
here terminated the military road, which, beginning at Inver-
ness, crosses from the east to the west sea. Even then, and
for many a long year after, it was from this place that the
18 THE BOOK OF GAIRI,OCH.
packet regularly, or rather irregularly, sailed to Stornoway
with the mails and passengers for Lewis, and now the
telegraph wire for Stornoway becomes submarine near
Poolewe.
From the front of the hotel, across the head of the loch,
may be seen Inverewe House, which, with its wonderful
gardens, is one of the sights of Wester Ross. The house was.
built as late as 1865, in a sheltered corner of Loch Ewe, with,
at that time, surroundings which were in all conscience bleak
enough, but seen from the village of Poolewe now it forms
quite a picture, surrounded with woods in which trees of many
names have since thriven exceedingly well, and by gardens
reclaimed from a rocky hillside, and laid out with exquisite
taste by the proprietor, Mr O. H. Mackenzie, who has proved
that with a little care and forethought almost any plant
between the tropics and the Arctic circle can be got to grow
here ; and a walk through the place, with Mr Mackenzie as
guide, is a liberal education, as he can point out shrubs from
North and South America, from Germany, France, Corsica,
Northern Africa, China, Japan, New Zealand, and Australia
flourishing side by side, some of them growing to a size which
is simply marvellous in our climate. All the year round there
is a wonderful profusion of flowers, whose peculiar vividness
of colour is accounted for by the warm moist climate. Another
gc.rden worth seeing is that of Tournaig. It was once a mere
pit in the heather, but has been turned by much labour into
a little fairyland of leafy and flowering luxuriance. It has
been well said that it is rather a piquant experience to stroll
of a morning among flower beds that recall the beauties of a
favoured Italian spot, and afterwards to go out ptarmigan
shooting or deer-stalking on some of the most storm-beaten
hills <n the whole breadth of the Highlands.
A favourite drive or cycle run from Poolewe is to Cove,
eight miles along the west side of Loch Ewe. For a consider-
able part of the way it is dreary enough, but as the bay widens
out the surrounding scenery becomes imposing in the distance,
and this is perhaps best seen from the hilltop just beyond
Inverasdale School, and before one descends to the pleasant
Firemore Sands, a favourite haunt of happy summer picnic
parties. Besides, it is possible that some visitors to the sea-
side here may again como upon the cave full of weapons which
is hidden from human sight by the Highland magical "sian,"
and is on view only for a short time once in seven years. Or
if they ascend the low hill on the left they may discover a keg
of gold, brought there after Culloden and hidden in the same
BOOK OF GAIRLOCH. 19
magical way by a follower of Prince Charlie. Both cave of
arms and keg of gold have been, in quite recent times, seen by
women of the district, but, unfortunately, instead of helping
themselves at once, they ran eagerly for help, and on their
return could see nothing of what they were so sure they could
locate at any time. Further up the hill are many holly trees,
and not far away the abode of a beneficent fairy. Beyond the
end of the road is Cove, so named from its numerous puffing
holes and caves. One of these, it is quite plain, was the haunt
of smugglers, who devised for themselves an ingenious method
of escape when tracked to their den. Close by is another large
cave which has been transformed into a church, with seats and
proper pulpit, round which, in the rocky crevices, grow some
beautiful delicate ferns, while about the entrance honeysuckle,
wild roses, and violets grow in profusion, though unfortunately
nettles are allowed to show themselves as well. It is one of
the two "temples not made with hands" in which the Free
Church minister or his catechist used to preach. The other
is at Sand, beyond Aultbea, in which the seats are of material
similar to that which Jacob once used as a pillow.
It will be noticed here that Loch Ewe narrows again very
considerably, and thus it is that the loch is nearly always calm
and placid, and only at long intervals are there waves big
enough to make fishing dangerous or unpleasant.
Another walk or drive, and one which many consider the
best in the district from a scenic point of view, is up the private
road past Inveran, and near which is a small loch where white
water lilies grow in myriads, and then along an Alpine-like
road until Fionn Loch (the White Loch), to distinguish it from
its darker and smaller upper part, the Dubh Loch (the Dark
Loch). This is how a visitor, who travelled over the whole
Highlands, describes it : —
"From an eminence on a spur of Rowan Tree Hill you at
last look down on Loch Fionn. It is a large sheet of fresh
water, seven miles in length, enclosed within winding shores,
diversified by islands and surrounded by a magnificent range
of mountains, which stand about it on every side but the one
next the sea. In fine weather it forms a splendid mirror, set
in a fitted frame of Alpine carving seldom surpassed for wild
and picturesque beauty. In storm it becomes a furious sea of
crested waves, under driving rain, rolling mist, and howling
winds. These descend with uncommon strength from frown-
ing mountains, which guard a scene then almost as wild, dark,
20 THE BOOK OF GAIRLOCH.
and grand as Coruisk itself. From its character and surround-
ings the lake assumes either aspect with equal ease."
A nice short walk of only about a mile along the Inverau
road from the hotel is to Craig Bhan, a low hill from which,
on the one side, a splendid view of Loch Maree is to be got,
and on the other an equally good sight of Loch Ewe is to be
had. As there are few works of any great antiquity in the
parish, all the more interesting are the remains, at this spot,
of one of the so-called Pictish brochs, of which there are so
many, some of them wonderfully complete, in the county of
Ross, and so few south of the line of the Caledonian Canal.
The road from Poolewe to Aultbea measures seven miles,
aad is tortuous and rough, with little of interest by the way-
side- In passing the plantation at Inverewe the great variety
of trees to be seen should prove partic^ rly interesting, and
it may perhaps be a hard mental exe~ k'< - the passer-by to
recall a place anywhere in Britain \\ .ae Eucalyptus grows
to such a size, and unprotected duiing the whole year, as it
does here- After passing Tournaig the garrulous guide is
again of use, and if a passenger happens .<> remark to him,
as the coach goes over narrow bridges, unp. utected by bul-
warks, "Surely this must be a dangerous road to drive on,
especially at night," the reply will probably come, "You see
it is not on dangerous roads that accidents happen, as we are
then particularly careful." When near the summit Isle Ewe
is seen, and, on its east side, the snug farm recovered from the
rocks and the heather shows what an expenditure of labour
can do when well applied. This island is believed to be a
favourite haunt of fairies, and the people of Aultbea often
averred that they saw strange lights moving about on it, and
even heard fairy music coming from it. The wide expanse
of the loch will also bring out the tale of how a whale, that
smelt the tar of a new boat once lying off the isle, came straight
in from the Minch, struck and broke it so that three men
were drowned, and how from that date the belief is enter-
tained that whales cannot endure a newly-tarred boat.
Above the road may be seen the commodious shooting lodge
belonging to the Marquess of Zetland, who, however, when on
deer-stalking thoughts intent, prefers to stay at Letterewe,
on Loch Maree side.
The Hotel here, on the water's edge, is new and com-
modious, and fresh water lochs may be fished from it, but
most visitors find much keener delight in sailing and fishing
round Isle Ewe, where large takes of white fish of many kinds
THE BOOK OF GAIRLOCH. 21
are made almost daily. The Glasgow steamer sails from this
place direct to Stornoway, where a week may profitably be
spent. If one goes along the same road to the township of
Mellon Charles a sandy beach is passed, and later on a rocky
coast with several caves, and as might be expected in such an
old-world place there are some strange Celtic folk-lore tales
to be heard. Further along the coast is Slaggan, made famous
in the second part of the eighteenth century by Sandy Grant,
"The Big Bard of Slaggan," so called not only because he was
a giant in size and strength, but also because he was "great"
on account of the popularity of his songs and his reputation
as a "seer," or as one having "second sight"; though some of
the stories told of him would seem to show that his "gift" may
have been just cultivated 'cuteness rather than anything
supernatural.
From Aultbea a run should be made to Mellon Udrigil,
as from the point where the road turns to the left at Laide
there are unrivalled views of Gruinard Bay, and from a point
near may be seen the mountain tops from Applecross in the
South to the Island of Handa at Scourie in Sutherland on the
north, and in the dim distance the Island of Lewis and Harris
on the west. Then there are the walls of the Chapel of Sand,
one of the oldest, if not the very oldest, churches on the North-
west coast. It is said to have been founded by St ColumBa
himself. Half-way down to Mellon, and on the left side of
the road, is the famous "Beast Loch," so named because of
the water kelpie that long frequented it, and of which the
story is told in the folk-lore chapter.
If one takes the road to the right at Laide the townships
of First and Second Coast are passed, and then there is a
long ascent till the top of Catha Beg is reached. All along
the road here may be seen, as in many other parts of this
parish, immense stone blocks, mostly of foreign formation, all
testifying to the existence of the great Ice Age. Then comes
the steep descent and the beginning of that drive which
Professor Blackie said was unequalled for grand beauty and
solitariness. At the foot of the hill the Little Gruinard river,
which flows from the Fionn Loch, is crossed, and the
traveller is in the parish of Lochbroom and on his way to
Dundonnell and Ullapool. When the Gruinard River, which
issues from Loch na Sheallag, is passed, Gruinard House, an
ideal sporting residence with a picturesque bit of wood around,
is reached. The tenant of this place has a fine salmon river
at his door, a compact deer forest not far away, and a grouse
moor close at hand, with good sea fishing and safe anchorage
B
22 THE BOOK OF GAIRLOCH.
for a yacht in front. A little further on, at Mungasdale, the
road takes one over a big hill and then follows the shores of
Little Lochbroom, past Drumnamuck, Badcall, Badbea, Ard-
jessie, until Dundonnell Hotel is reached — an ideal place for
a quiet summer holiday.
During this drive, or walk, if one will have it so, the best
views of the Challich Hills are to be had. The principal peak
ia An Teallach, the extraordinary formation of which attracts
attention. It somewhat resembles a white cone placed in a
red cup, and when the sun shines on either or both the con-
trasting colours are strikingly peculiar. The town of Ullapool
by the shortest road is only eight miles away, but as the ascent
and descent of the intervening hills are very, very steep, and
the surface generally rough, it means a walking pace, and slow
at that, for gigs and cyclists. The distance round by the
head of Loch Broom is nearly three times as great.
SOCIAL LIFE.
When the environment and descent of the people are con-
sidered, their joys and sorrows are just what a student of
sociology might expect. The climate is warmer, wetter, and
windier than the average for Scotland- The rainfall is, as we
have seen, for a great part of the year much above the average,
and though this may help to keep the lower grounds and
sheltered corries all the greener during the year it has denuded
the hills, until on every one of them the bare rocks protrude
everywhere, and it is the experience of everyone, of the lower
animals even, that rain has a depressing influence on the
spirits of all who live under dripping skies. This rain some-
times has the effect of falsifying the summer's fair promise of
a plentiful harvest, and the prospects of winter's food supply
becomes dark. No less uncertain is the harvest of the sea.
Though these circumstances do give rise to sadness as a pre-
vailing note, yet the people are not without their seasons of
gladne-sa and the joy of hope. When in Spring, greenness
comes here with wonderful quickness, and bright sunshine is
on land and sea, their spirits quickly respond, and men and
women have joyous meetings on the fields, hills, and seashore.
To these conditions of climate as factors in the social life there
falls to be added the effect of their surrounding scenery.
Besides this it has long been recognised that those who inhabit
mountainous countries are passionately fond of liberty, and
the people here are no exception. Not with the love of
liberty only, but with imagination also do the mountains and
THE BOOK OF GAIRLOCH. 23
the sea seem to imbue them. The mountains, with their
many forms, unconsciously perhaps, appeal to the imagination
of the valley dwellers, as, with the lights on them changing
hour by hour, and tints varying with the seasons and atmos-
pheric changes, or, as bright with sunshine or dark under
storm clouds they appear to those looking at them from below.
More changeful still is the ocean, sometimes calm and placid
as a sheet of polished steel, and again a veritable hell of
waters, each in its way making a powerful appeal.
Tho mountains and streams and sea lochs operate in
another way, as it is by them that the inhabitants of the
scattered hamlets are often debarred from much inter-
communication, and this has made them to a large extent
dependent on their own resources.
Then the people are to all intents and purposes wholly
Celtic, and one side of Celtic sensibility is a great openness
to joy, a sprightly vivacious nature, loving dance and song.
The other side is an equal openness to melancholy and
despondency. Such a people are, as might be expected,
naturally pcetic, and poetic they are. They have their songs
for rowing, marching, milking, spinning, etc., only beneath,
above, and through all of them is there that touch of
melancholy which is peculiarly Celtic. There is humour,
pathos and passion, but scarcely one of them is there altogether
free from this "cry of the weary," for to them truly "the
sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought," and
rich this parish has been in bards of the highest order.
One of the first of these was William Mackenzie, the lame
catechist, who composed a satirical song on a wedding party,
was summoned before the Kirk Session, and there asked leave
to sing it- Leave was given, and old Mackenzie sang his song,
with such glee that the sober ministerial judges were forced
to laugh uproariously, but afterwards shook their heads and
becomingly deposed him from his office of catechist. The most
famous bard of all was William Ross, known all over the
North as "The Gairloch Bard." He was born at Broadford,
in Skye, in 1762, but his mother was a daughter of the famous
blind piper. He was educated at Forres, and then joined his
father as a pedlar, and travelled over the whole Highlands,
and so got to know much of men and manners. At the age
of 24 he was appointed master of the Parish School here, and
endeared himself to pupils and parents by his tact and good
humour. He could play almost any instrument, and composed
Gaelic love songs unequalled for noble sentiments and sublime
24 THE BOOK OF GAIRLOCH.
and tender passion to the fair maid who jilted him. Twenty-
one of these are included in "The Beauties of Gaelic Poetry."
Over his grave in the churchyard there is a monument with a
suitable inscription, and the couplet: —
"His name to future ages shall extend,
While Gaelic poetry can claim a friend."
Here also lived Alexander Grant, the great Bard of Slaggan,
but he to whom all Highlanders will always feel most thankful
is John Mackenzie, piper, poet, and author, just because
he collected and edited the work entitled "Beauties of Gaelic
Poetry." Early in life he was apprenticed to a travelling
carpenter, and during his travels he was always careful to
note down the Gaelic songs and tales he heard, with all that
was known of their origin. At Gairloch he spent twenty-one
nights taking down William Ross's poems from Alastair
Buidhe, and then gave himself up to the completion of "The
Beauties," which occupied him twelve years, but which will
always be a standard monumental work on Gaelic poetry. He
wrote in Gaelic "The History of Prince Charlie." He was
also the author of the English-Gaelic part of the Dictionary
known as Macalpine's. He translated into Gaelic many
religious works, and at the time of his death, which took place
at Poolewe in 1848, he was preparing a new edition of the
Gaelic Bible. There now stands on a projecting rock outside
the Gairloch Churchyard a handsome monument, on which is
the inscription: —
In memory of John Mackenzie, who composed and
edited "The Beauties of Gaelic Poetry," and also com-
piled, wrote, translated, or edited, under surpassing-
difficulties, about thirty other works. In grateful recogni-
tion of his valuable services to Celtic literature this
monument is erected by a number of his fellow-
countrymen. 1878.
To this day these bards have worthy successors, so that now
this parish is a veritable Mecca for rich Highlanders interested
in the poetry and music of their forefathers.
Where there is poetry there is music, and though there
exist here as elsewhere some of the "unco guid" who would
put down music and the rhythmic motion which it instinc-
tively provokes, they might as well try to get the lambs to
stop skipping or the larks singing as attempt to get the Gair-
loch youths to forego the delights of pipe and song, as it seems
"THE BOOK OF GAIRLOCH. 25
to be born in them, for Gairloch has long been "par excellence"
the parish of Highland bards and pipers. The first of these
pipers was Rory Mackay, who came with John Roy Mackenzie
from the Reay Country in 1609, and was piper to four of
these Mackenzie Chiefs of Gairloch, and was father of the
"Blind Piper" who, to complete his musical education, spent
seven jears at the MacCrimmon College in Skye, where, when
he excelled his teachers, they tried to put him to death. He
composed twenty-four pibrochs and numberless Strathspeys,
reels, and jigs, among the best of the being "Cailleach a
Mhuillear" and "Cailleach Liath Rasaidh." It is only fitting
that some of his songs and poems should have found the place
they did in "The Beauties of Gaelic Poetry." His son and
grandson succeeded him, and it is rather singular that four
of these Mackays in direct succession were for almost two
hundred years pipers to the eight Lairds of Gairloch, who also
followed one another in direct succession during the same
period. The pipes are therefore, as might be expected, the
chief musical instrument in the parish, and a few years ago
there were at least twenty proficient, if not professional, pipers
in this district.
Where there is poetry and music there is, according to the
late Professor Blackie, piety, and it would appear that they
have been a religious people since St. Maelrubha came here and
built his first cell on an island in Loch Maree, and planted the
sacred holly, which still grows so well in the parish. From
that time to this, Gairloch people have been noted for their
piety. To the Sacramental gatherings people come from far
and near with quite a settled gloom on their faces, and behave
themselves ao gravely and decorously that it is usual for those
who do not understand it to sneer at this type of religion ; but
if it is to be judged by its fruits, then the laugh may well be
the other way about, as any who have stayed in the locality
for some time have found the people hospitable, courteous,
and especially helpful to any neighbour enduring trouble.
During the winter there are a few concerts, followed in
some cases by a dance, the usual quota of marriage rejoicings
with or without dancing, sometimes even, so we have heard,
without sound of pipes, all according to the religious denom-
ination to which the young couple belong ; but apart from
these there are few functions indeed at which young and old
of both sexes may meet except at the prayer meetings held in
most townships on one or two evenings each week, and at the
Sacramental gatherings, which last from the Thursday fore-
noon till the following Monday afternoon.
THE BOOK OF GAIRLOCH.
INDUSTRIES.
Of course in a district of this kind there are the usual
number of shoemakers, tailors, smiths, carpenters, and masons.
There are farm managers and their servants and gillies galore.
There are teachers, doctors, and ministers, but by far the
greater proportion of the people are crofters and fishermen.
There are altogether about four hundred crofts in the parish,
with an average area of about four acres, for which the
occupants each pay nearly four pounds annually as rent. In
addition to the arable land each crofter has the right to
graze a considerable number of sheep and cattle on the hill
pasture in connection with the township.
It is usual for people who are in the north for only a
week or two in summer to consider crofters a lazy lot, but if
they knew what work they do in a year they would probably
think they do more for their livelihood than almost any other
class in the country. Towards the beginning of March they
begin to turn over the land with the footplough — the caschrom
— which has not yet here been ousted by the spade and plough,
and the amount of ground a family can turn over in a few
days with this primitive implement is simply marvellous. By
the middle of April, if the weather is anything like favourable,
Spring work is completed. The peats have then to be cut,
fences have to get an overhaul, and all must be ready by the
beginning of May, as then many of the able-bodied men set
out for the West Coast fishing. During this month between
two and three hundred men leave the parish, if not for the
fishing, then for "season" places in the south. From the West
Coast, the men proceed to the East Coast fishing, and it is
towards the end of September ere they return. Then the crops
have to be reaped, po'tatoes lifted, houses and outhouses pre-
pared for the winter. Sheep have to be looked after, drains-*
to be opened, nets mended, and, in fair weather, fresh fish
have to be got for the household. Peats are taken home, and
this, during the winter, is largely done by the men, as the
women are then busy at their household work, when not
carding, dyeing, spinning, or knitting, as during summer they
could do none of these things as, in addition to their many
household duties, they had to see the peats dried and the
croft kept clean. There is, indeed, very little rest for crofters
or their families from one year's end to the other, and any
who know how hard they work must consider the remuneration
the whole yields scanty in the extreme.
Though fish of many kinds abound in the two lochs of the
parish — Loch Ewe and Gairloch — it is only at Badachro, on
THE BOOK OF GAIRLOCH.
the shores of the latter loch, that a regular fishery seems to be
carried on, and there cod, ling, herring, haddock, flounder,
etc., are systematically fished for, and regularly despatched by
sea to the south via Kyle of Lochalsh. Children all along the
seaside gather large quantities of whelks, for which at certain
seasons they get good prices in England. Large numbers of
lobsters are got, salmon are caught in bag-nets all along the
coast, and oysters are found at Poolewe at low tides, but the
most interesting of all the work done are the
HOME INDUSTRIES.
The various branches of the Scottish Home Industries have
long been associated with different localities- Thus Shetland
for shawls, Lewis and Harris for tweeds, and Gairloch for
stockings ; and it is interesting to note how shows and com-
petitions bring this out. Year after year the Gairloch workers
took, at the Inverness Home Industries Show, nearly all the
prizes for stockings, ribbed and plain, fancy and plain
coloured, as~well asrmany for yarn and real homespun tweeds.
By this work the women of this one West Coast parish make
annually by their knitting a substantial addition to the family
exchequer. The story of the rise of the industry is another
proof that "sweet are the uses of adversity." When in the
years of the potato famine (1846-48) want confronted the
people, large sums were raised to relieve them, and those then
in charge of Gairloch parish undertook to support the entire
population from February, 1848, till the following harvest,
the able-bodied men by work on a road made by a grant of
public money, and the women by kniting. An expert in
knitting was brought into the parish, and she superintended
the women's work, with the result that very soon the superior
quality of the Gairloch stockings became known and a market
was readily found for them. The demand went on increasing,
the local shops found it so lucrative to trade in them that
other districts soon discovered it to be profitable to make
imitations, and then, as a natural consequence, the demand
fell off with the quality of the so-called Gairloch stockings.
This for years injured the genuine workers' trade until the
Scottish Home Industries Association was formed, shows and
competitions instituted, prizes and patterns given, and now
once more Gairloch stockings, so long famous for their shape,
elasticity, softness, and wearing qualities, no less than for the
designs worked into them, get their old high place when put
into competition with others.
Some of these stocking patterns are elaborate to a degree,
THE BOOK OF GAIRLOCH.
some are like a honeycomb, others have leaf, flower, and fruit
designs knitted into them, and even twelve-pointed stags'
heads have been worked into some. In some of the tartan
hose as many as eighteen different threads have to be worked
in, but patience no less than much skill is necessary in making
such. Stocking-making here is, in all its branches, a home
industry pure and simple. The crofters' own sheep yield the
wool, which is teased, carded, spun, and dyed at home, and the
colouring is in great part done with the natural dyes gathered
from dykes, ditches, etc., as the workers prefer this to the
aniline dyes they are sometimes compelled to use.
With the increasing use of knickers by cyclists and motorists
everywhere, as well as by tourists, who find them a most con-
venient nether garment, there is an increasing demand for the
best, and those who purchase them may also have the comfort-
ing assurance that they not only add to their own comfort but
also help to brighten the lives of these industrious Highland
women by so doing.
LOCH MAREE.
If Gairloch had nothing to show but Loch Maree it is
doubtful if any who have sailed it up and down ever can
forget its wonderful beauty. By many it is considered far and
away the most beautiful in Britain, and certainly few can
rival it in wild and gentle beauty. "Utterly savage and
terrific" is how Dr Arthur Mitchell describes its scenery, while
Macculloch, who travelled in the Highlands between 1811 and
1821 and wrote long letters to Sir Walter Scott, was constrained
to write on the day he saw Loch Maree: "The first day of
Creation was not more beautiful. July was in its full glory,
a few thin silvery clouds rested on the clear blue sky, and the
sun shed a flood of light on the bright surface of Loch Maree
which reflected every rock and every tree that hung over ita
glassy surface. No one can know the full value of summer who
has not known it in a land of mountains. No one can feel who
has not felt it among such hills, the joy with which the sun
can fill the mind." From whatever point the loch is Seen the
view seems to strike the stranger as wondrously picturesque.
The loch trends in a north-west and south-east direction,
lying along a line of fault, whose throw is considerable and
is accompanied by a certain amount of horizontal wrenchings.
On its north-eastern shore rise a grand series of mountains,
Beinn Airidh Charr, Beinn Lair, Slioch, and Benin a Mhuir-
ridh. The slope for the first thousand feet all along this
shore is very steep, in many places exceeding 45 degrees- To
THE BOOK OF GAIRLOCft.
the south-west rises Beinn Eighe, Beinn a Chearcaill, and
Beinn an Eoin. But the two most striking features of Loch
Maree are Slioch and Isle Maree. The huge sugar loaf form
of Slioch, composed of Torridon sandstone, rising above a
platform of the old gneiss, is seen from almost every part of the
loch, and though one of the smallest islands, Isle Maree, owing
to the colour of its trees, stands out against the dark back-
ground of th*» heather-covered islands and the cliff of the north-
eastern shore.
The level of Loch Maree is only 28£ feet above the sea, and
hence musi have formed a sea loch in very recent times. In
the following dimensions of the loch, taken from the Bathy-
metrical Survey, there has been included a large portion of
the piece of water styled "River Ewe." Soundings were taken
in the so-called river down to the Pool Crofts, and these seem
to indicate that down to here the water was only an arm of the
loch, with a current flowing along it to the outfall. Just
above the partly artificial dam, depths of 37 and 35 feet were
obtained. Here it was that the old ironworkers built their
dam to obtain water for working the "Red Smiddy-" The
length of the loch is 13J miles, and its maximum breadth is a
little over two miles. Its waters cover an area of over eleven
square miles, and it drains an area fifteen times greater. Its
islands are very numerous and cover an area of nearly one
square mile ; in fact, Loch Maree has a greater area of islands
for its size than any other large lake in Great Britain, just
surpassing Loch Lomond in this respect. In the survey the
greatest depth obtained was 367 feet, to the south-west of
Ruth' a' Ghuibhais. The bottom of the loch at this point is
337 feet below the level of the sea. The volume of water con-
tained in the loch is estimated at 38,500 millions of cubic feet,
and the mean depth at 125 feet.
It is divided into three basins — the Ghruididh, the
Slatterdale, and the Ardlair. The Ghruididh basin is the
largest and deepest of the three, and the deepest part lies
between tho two transverse faults, one of which cuts the loch
to the south-east of the River Ghruididh on the south-west
shore, and the other where the stream from Lochan Fada enters
the loch on the north-c-ast shore. The deepest part of the
whole basin occurs where the great mass of Slioch on the one
side and th? heights of Kinlochewe Forest on the other, rise
steeply up from the shore, and, as it were, compressed the
valley into its narrowest limits.
At first sight shallow water would be expected in the
Slatterdale basin, but it must be remembered that the Torridon
30 THE BOOK OF GAIRLOCH.
sandstone here was the Upper Torridonian, composed of soft
shales and sandstones quite different from the hard and coarse
arhoses which formed the islands to the north, and hence they
would be much more easily eroded. Deep water is also to be
met with round the western coast of Eilean Ruairidh Mor and
round Ruth' Aird an Anail. The ridge which runs across
from Eilean Ruairidh Mor to the mouth of Alt na Doire,
separating the Ardlair and Slatterdale basins, is very marked,
as its lowest part is only 83 feet below the level of the water.
The shallow water to the north of the islands is more remark-
able still. A large part of this area is under 50 feet in depth,
and the deepest part that occurred anywhere between Creag
Tarbh and Rudha Chailleach was 79 feet, though it is along
this northern channel that the great fault must run.
On Eilean Subhainn, the largest of the islands, is a small
loch, whose depth 'of 64 feet is remarkable. The level of its
water was 57 feet above the sea and 30 feet above Loch Maree ;
hence its bottom was 36 feet below Loch Maree and 6 feet
below sea level.
As to temperature, in July, 1902, when observations were
made, these showed thai that of the surface varied from 53.9
degrees F. to 57 degrees F., and that at the bottom was 45.6
degrees F.
Loch Facia lies to the north-east of Loch Maree, and runs
parallel to it for a distance of nearly four miles. Its maximum
depth is 2S4 feet, and a large part is over 200 feet in depth.
Other large lochs in the district are Fionn (114 feet), Kernsary
(93 feet), A' Bhaid Luachraich (143 feet), and Na Sheallag
(217 feet).
At every point the clearness of the water is very noticeable,
and even when flooded by heavy rains there is little of that
peaty brown tinge so characteristic of Highland lochs. The
water is almost absolutely pure, and because of this is still
believed to possess valuable healing properties. It has, how-
ever, none of the palatable qualities possessed by waters rich
in mineral "impurities."
THE ROMANCE OF ITS SHORES.
Apart from its scientific and scenic interest there cling to
its shores and islands legends and tales of "old, unhappy, far-
off things, and battles long ago," possessing human interest of
the deepest kind. One of the most interesting of these legends
is that of the Danish Prince and Princess who were buried in
one of the islands with their feet towards one another, and
BOOK OF GAIRLOCH. 31
under stones marked by ancient crosses still to be seen. It
appears that this young Prince lived with his fighting men in
his great war galley, but, during the winter encamped on one
of the islands. Here, by the side of St. Maelrubha's cell, he
built a tower, to which he conducted his happy bride, and
there stayed during the winter. With the returning summer
he had to tear himself away from her, but ere he left he
proposed that on his return she should, to shorten the final
moments of suspense, if all were well, hoist a white flag, and,
if anything were amiss, a black one. While waiting in her
loneliness she devised a scheme to test the reality of his affection
for her. When at last the Prince's barge was seen the black
flag was raised in the stern of a galley which came to meet his.
The Princess lay pallid on a bier as dead, her maidens
simulated intense grief. After a moment's gaze at the still
white face, the Prince with a wild scream plunged his dirk into
his heart. When the Princess saw the terribly sad result of
her plot she rose, and with remorseful cries plucked out the
dagger and drove it deep into her own breast, and here the
unhappy lovers now sleep with the sacred hollies planted by
St. Maelrubha still growing around.
On Isle Maree may still be seen the wishing tree, to which
visitors made an offering of some metal by attaching it in some
manner, and hundreds of nails have been driven into its trunk.
The most common of modern ways, however, is to drive in a
coin, usually copper, edgeways, and then silently to wish some-
thing, which it is said will certainly be realised thereafter.
The initials of many who have done this are carved on the trees
around. If there exists any would-be robber of these offerings
he is to remember that with them he may expect to bring ill-
fortune to himself, and there is the highest probability that
his dwelling will sometime thereafter be consumed by fire. If
the offering happens to be that of an invalid, he may expect to
take the sick one's disease just as Gehazi took that of Naaman
the Syrian.
Close by is the sacred well, long famous for the cure of
insanity. Whittier, the American poet, was so struck by the
story of the strange power attributed to the well that he wrote :
"And whoso bathes therein his brow,
With care or madness burning,
Feels once again his healthful thought
And sense of peace returning.
O restless heart and fevered brain,
Unquiet and unstable,
That holy well of Loch Maree
Is more than idle fable."
32 THE BOOk OF
v/
There are also tales current here of Prince Charlie. It is
told that one day, after Culloden, a stranger, with yellow
hair and clad in tartan, came to a bothy and asked for shelter
and some refreshment. He drank of the milk given him, and
returned the bowl with a gold piece in it. The news that a
stranger with gold was in the neighbourhood soon spread, a
shot was heard in the night, and when search was made the
dead body of the young man was found, robbed of all valuables.
It afterwards transpired that the yellow-haired laddie was
Prince Charlie's valet, who in the corner of his plaid was
carrying gold which had been sent from France. Two vessels
had appeared at Poolewe a day or two before then, presumably
to take off this lad and the money.
••*
Queen Victoria visited the shores of the loch in 1877, and
stayed from 12th to 18th September. In "More Leaves from
the Journal of a Life in the Highlands" she tells of the drive
along the shore to Loch Maree Hotel. "The windings of the
road are beautiful, and afford charming glimpses of the lake,
which are quite locked in by the overlapping mountains.
There are trees above and below it, of all kinds, but chiefly
birch, pine, larch, and alder, with quantities of high and most
beautiful heather and bracken growing luxuriantly, high
rocks surmounting the whole. Here and there a fine Scotch
fir, twisted and with a stem and head like a stone pine, stands
out on a rocky projection into the loch, relieved against the
blue hills as in some Italian view." She visited Isle Maree,
and fixed her offering to the wishing tree. The only draw-
back was the midges, which, on warm calm evenings, are
sometimes a veritable plague, and she might well echo the
sentiment of the visitor who wrote of Loch Maree:
"I love her silver birken trees,
But I detest the midges."
In memory of this visit there has been carved on a
boulder opposite the hotel a Gaelic inscription, which, on
being literally translated, reads : —
"On the twelfth day of the middle month of Autumn,
1877, Queen Victoria came to visit Loch Maree and the
country round it. She remained six nights in the hotel
opposite, and, in her kindness, agreed that this stone should
be a memorial of the pleasure she experienced in coming to
this quarter of Ross."
'**/ y*/e«, AxA^***^" -x**"
x «-*^Wexi«^t. , A: «"«•*-» A
C»«»^» «•• y
THE BOOK OF GAIRLOCH.
THE IRON WORKS.
Perhaps it is because that much of the water power in the
Highlands could nowadays easily be utilised for the <pro-
duction of the electricity necessary for light and all kinds of
work that there appears at present to be a hunting after
localities where, perchance, gold, copper, marble, granite, &c.,
could be worked profitably. It does not seem to be generally
known that hundreds of years ago the Highlands were "The
Black Country" of Scotland, and that several of what are now
the loneliest districts were once hives of industry, as is quite
apparent from the many large slag heaps found all over the
North.
Thus, in Sutherlandshire, remains of old ironworks have
been found in eleven different places. In Ross-shire sites
have been identified" in at least thirteen different places, the
chief of them being on the shores of Loch Maree In Inver-
ness-shire sites can be seen in at least fourteen widely separated
places. Twelve sites are known in Morayshire, and jive, in
Nairn. In Aberdeenshire there are at least two. In Argyll-
shire there are seventeen, three in Banff, eight in Bute, one
in Dumbarton, twelve in Elgin, twelve in Perthshire, and one
in Stirling, and from them all it is pretty plain that the
earlier inhabitants of Scotland knew how to get iron to make
weapons for defence, if not for the chase and agricultural
purposes- The older of the works were built high up on
hillsides, or in valleys with little water, so that the workers
might have the advantage of the prevailing winds for blast
purposes. After the return of the Crusaders water power was
taken advantage of, and the later works are placed near
streams, by means of which a greater heat was obtained, as is
shown by the denser slag found at such places.
It is rather difficult to say with certainty whence the
supply of ore for these works came. From the nature of the
slag it would appear that what is known as bog iron was that
most commonly used, which was formed by the action of water
on iron-bearing rocks and strata, and accumulated at the
bases of peat bogs. In process of time it formed granulated
masses of something like iron rust, which in some places
covered considerable areas. This deposit is continuous, and
grows in a few years. In Sweden the bog iron deposits are
removed within certain areas in rotation, several years being
allowed for each new deposit, but, strange to say, no bog iron
has been found in proximity to any of the remains of the old
Scottish ironworks. In any case there are very few instances
34 THE BOOK OF GAIRLOCH.
of iron mines being worked in Scotland for these old works,
and it seems likely that the ore was imported, as it could be
easier to bring the ore to the north where there were dense
woods than to bring the timber to the south, though so far
there seems to be no record of ore being brought from England
01 the south of Scotland earlier than the seventeenth century.
The fuel used appears to have been either wood or peat
charcoal, and the process for its manufacture was well enough
known for ages- Up to the middle of last century people made
it in their kitchens, as it was often necessary for them to bring
such fuel with them to smithies when they wanted horses shod.
The late Mr W. Ivison Macadam, in a paper read to the
Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, tells that the district round
Loch Maree was the seat of very early ironworks; probably
originated to supply local wants, but gradually, through the
force of circumstances, the district became a veritable iron
forge for the whole of Britain. The reason for so great a
development of this trade, at a point so remote, may be
presumed to have been due to some special resource of the
locality. The earlier works required bog iron ore, which,
being open and porous, was the more readily reduced to the
metallic form. The fuel was either wood charcoal or peat
charcoal, and all those substances abounded in the district.
The three principal sites of the more recent ironworks were
at Fasagh, Letterewe, and Red Smiddy. The Fasagh works
were of great extent and covered acres of ground on the south
bank of Abhuinn an Fasaigh, or Fasagh Burn, which flows
from Loch Fada to Loch Maree. They were situated close
to the shore of the loch- At Loch Fada there are evidences
of a sluice and dam, as if to retain the water at certain
seasons The whole site is surrounded by immense heaps of
iron slag of the oldest black type. The only ore found in these
works consisted of fragments of bog ore iron, which was con-
tained in the slags. Whilst there is no direct evidence as to
a connection with the other large works on Loch Maree,
tradition points to the workers having been English, or at
least English-speaking, for a spot of ground a little further
down the loch is known as "Cladh nan Sasunnach," or the
burying-ground of the English, and a pool in the centre of the
marsh is pointed out as a place where the workers deposited
their tools on leaving the district. This Fasagh furnace was
evidently one of the last works in existence at which bog iron
ore was smelted with charcoal direct.
Furnace, Letterewe, is of great interest, as the earliest
THE BOOK OF GAIRI.OCH. 35
historic ironwork in the country. It is situated on the north
bank of Furnace Burn, which flows into Loch Maree about a
mile to the south of Letterewe House. The foundations of the
furnce are still to be seen, although by no means perfect-
They stand on the top of the bank of the burn, which must
have materially altered its course since the works were in
existence. The first mention of these works was in 1610, when
Sir George Hay obtained the woods of Letterewe for use in his
ironworks. This Sir George probably obtained his knowledge
of the manufacture of iron in Perthshire, for in 1598 he
obtained from James VI. the Carthusian Priory of Perth and
the ecclesiastical lands of Errol, and this county was an early
seat of iron manufacture. The reason why Sir George found
his way to the extreme north-west of Scotland may be found
in a grant (1598) to the "Fife Adventurers," who obtained
from the Crown the right to colonise the Lews. The road to
.the Lews lay in those days to Poolewe via Loch Maree, and
thence per boat. Probably Fasagh was then at work, and Sir
George could at once see that with the great abundance of ore
and wood on the spot a lucrative business could readily be
established. At any rate the works appear to have been a
going concern in 1608, and so rapidly was the countryside
denuded of wood that in January, 1609, an Act was passed
"commanding, charging, and inhibiting all and sundry of His
Majesty's lieges and subjects that none of them presume nor
take upon hand to work or make any iron with wood or timber
under pain of confiscation of the whole iron." But Sir George
had sufficient influence to have this Act repealed , and besides,
he got in 1610 the privilege of making iron and glass within
the whole kingdom of Scotland, and in 1621 he got the right
of selling his iron in any royal burgh- Sir George grew rich
on the proceeds, and died Earl of Kinnoul in 1634.
The very extensive works at the Red Smiddy were situated
on the River Ewe at the spot where the navigable part of the
river from Loch Maree ceases. It is close to the place where
the ore brought to Poolewe was re-shipped for transit via
Loch Maree to the Letterewe Furnace. Why this position
was chosen can only be conjectured, but we may suppose that
it had to do with the rafting of wood down Loch Maree from
the extensive forests. It occupies a splendid natural situation
for the then ironworks.
It is difficult to form any opinion as to who started or
worked these furnaces. Sir George Hay is never referred to
as having any other furnace than that at Letterewe, and the
only link of connection between him and the Red Smithy lies
36 THK BOOK OF GAIRLOCH.
in a statement made by Pennant, that he was told by the
Rev. Mr Dounie that he had seen the back of a grate marked
"S. G. Hay," for Sir George Hay. There is no certainty as
to when the works were closed, but Mr Alexander Mackenzie
of Lochend told Knox, a tourist, that cannons were still made
at Poolewe in 1668. This date may be considered approxim-
ately correct, though local tradition says that the work was in
existence for a much longer period. Mr George Turner of
Glasgow, who wrote an article on "The Scottish Iron Industry"
in "Scotia" for Whitsunday, 1907, says: "The works at
Loch Maree were closed in 1668 because of their having been
employed in casting cannon used in the rebellion."
THE PEAT BOGS.
A very large part of Wester Ross is covered by peat bogs,
and to the mere passer-by the bog lands, with their character-
istic vegetable life — most noticeable of which, in summer and
autumn, is the white cotton plant (Cannach) — seem uninter-
esting, if not depressing ; but only let any who feel thus, look
in imagination a little ahead and see the time when every
cubic yard of them will be worth much more than at present,
to the time when the moss will be made into vegetable
charcoal or briquettes, and in this form take the place «f
steam coal, or to the time when they will be used for the
manufacture of an illuminating gas, with valuable sulphate of
ammonia as a by-product. Others prophesy another future
for them. At present peat moss litter seems to be their most
valuable product, and it is well enough known that for
packing breakable articles it is better than straw, and
that meat and fish can safely be sent per rail or steamer
packed in peat dross. Then if only a fabric could be woven
from the fibres, which are the remains of the reeds and grasses
in these bogs, it would be one possessing unique qualities. To
the toughness of linen it would add the warmth of wool, an
absorbent power greater than cotton, and the indestructibility
of asbestos. An Austrian savant told some time ago that he
had managed to make the peat fibres weavable, and that from
it he could make coats, hats, carpets, rugs, ropes, matting,
pillows, &c. One of the latest reported uses of peat is the
making of paper from its fibres, paper of almost every variety
of weight and quality, with toughness and durability equal
to that of paper from any kind of vegetable pulp. When
these things become plainly practicable, then for the popula-
tion of the future — perhaps the near future — there may be
work and wealth in these BO desolate-looking bogs.
THE BOOK OF GAIRI«OCH. 37
If any look far away backwards they may find much of
intense interest, and much on which to exercise their
imaginations. Much has been done to elucidate the geology
of West Ross ; little effort has been made to unravel the
mystery of the bogs, though they ought to prove a mine of
information for scientific investigators. From these mosses
may yet be obtained the remains of animals that lived in
the Highlands long ere human foot trod cautiously over them,
bones perchance of mammoth, reindeer, bear, and elk; remains
of the first woods and vegetation, as well perhaps as some
solution of the conditions under which they grew, flourished,
fell, and were then covered with peat.
Mr O. K. Mackenzie, of Inverewe, who has all his life
a zealous naturalist, has set the ball a-rolling in the
matter of investigating the Gairloch bogs, and has, with his
customary courtesy, placed at the writer's disposal a paper he
wrote on the subject for the Inverness Field Club, and as it
must be new and suggestive to most of those who read this
book it is a pleasure to be able to give most of it here. He
says: — "I have often rather wondered why so much energy
has been expended in writing and theorising on the funda-
mental gneiss and the Torridon red, whereas no cne seems to
take any notice of the thick, black layer which usually covers
both these ancient rocks in this part of the county. The
American tourists profess to be always interested in what they
amusingly term 'The elegant ruins of the old country.' Now,
though my peat is undoubtedly a ruin, and a very old one, I
fear I cannot exactly lay claim to its being elegant (being
certainly more useful than ornamental), but I do think it
deserves to be classed among the most interesting natural
phenomena of our land, and not only is the actual peat itself
interesting, but still more interesting are the many objects
preserved in it. What excitement there is when, in Egypt,
or at Pompeii, there are found grains of wheat in a mummy,
or well preserved figs or walnuts taken from under twenty feet
of volcanic ash ; and why should I, in my humble way, not be
quite as much elated when, from the bottom of one of my bogs,
I take out handfulg of hazel nuts as perfect as the day they
dropped off the trees ; or still more wonderful, when I find the
peat full of countless beetle wings, still glittering in their
pristine metallic lustre, and which may have been buried in
these black, airtight silos before Pompeii was thought of. To
mark the manner in which the climate of our earth has
changed at different periods since the Creation must always
be an interesting subject to the student of nature, ancient or
38 THE BOOK. OF GAIRLOCH.
modern, and I cannot help thinking that, if the lower strata of
some of our very deepest peat bogs were carefully examined,
with the help of the microscope, etc., the botanist and entomo-
logist would, at anyrate, derive information which would give
us some approximate idea of their age, and would prove that a
somewhat different vegetation covered the earth when the peat
began to form, and that our country was then the abode of
plants and insects (if not of still higher forms of animal life)
which are either very rare or quite extinct with us now, and
what were indigenous plants are becoming extinct from various
causes, chiefly, I fancy, climate. I know that in my grand-
father's time the woods of this country were full of 'epipactis
ensifolia,' a most lovely white orchidaceous plant, and which
is so rare now that I have only once in my lifetime seen one
here, though I have found them in abundance in the woods of
the Pyrenees- The beetle wings found, appear to be those of
the rose beetle, which is now rather a rare insect with us, but,
to judge by their debris in the peat, they must have swarmed
at one time, like the locusts in Egypt in the days of the
plagues. Nowadays one comes across only a few of them, in
sunny places, facing the south, but these remains are in a
dark hollow, looking due north. Perhaps in the good old
beetle days the climate was so hot that they chose the shade
for preference.
"Now, as to when the peat began to form. It is evidently
a post-glacial deposit, because, when out deer -stalking, I
notice beds of it lying on the top of ice-polished slabs of
gneiss. Geologists can give us no idea of the age of the rocks,
though they can tell us that some rocks are young in com-
parison to others. I wonder whether they can make any guess
at the date when the snow and glaciers began to recede uphill
from high water mark. To look at some of the ground in the
Torridon and Gairloch deer forests, one would say that the
final disappearance of the glaciers from some of their high
corries would not be such a very old story, as in some places
neither peat, nor even plants, have as yet managed to cover
the slabs of glaciated rock, which have still nothing on them
but carried stones and boulders of every shape and size, just
as they were dropped on to the slabs when the ice departed.
One cannot help wondering what the climate was like when
the ice began to disappear — if it was like the climate of
Switzerland in the presont day (hot and dry in summer, and
cold and dry in winter), it would not encourage a growth of
peat- If, on the contrary, it .was cool and wet, it would
encourage a growth of the 'sphagnum' mosses, which I look on
THE BOOK OF GAIRLOCH. 39
as the main formers of peat. If the peat commenced to grow
immediately on the departure of the ice, it would be most
likely that the low grounds were then covered with Arctic
plants, such as 'Azalia procumbens,' 'Betula mana,' 'Saxifraga
oppositifolia,' which our climate has banished to the highest
tops. Now how interesting it would be if, when microscopi-
cally examined, traces of the 'Azalia,' with its hard twisted
roots and stems, were found at the bottom of the peat bogs
at the sea level. Last year I found quantities of yellow seed
at the base of a nine feel cutting in the solid peat. So I sent
some of them, all washed and clean, to the late Professor
Dickson, of Edinburgh. He showed them to my friend, Mr
Lindsay, the Curator of the Edinburgh Royal Botanic
Gardens, and said he had come to the conclusion that some
hoax had been played upon me, and that the seeds were
modern and not ancient. But I determined not to give up
my interest in them. So I began looking for the seeds again,
and found in the lowest part of the peat, where it rested on
the subsoil, the seeds in quantities. I had other bogs
examined, and there they were also found among the com-
pressed brown sphagnum below a great depth of solid black
peat. So I sent them this time to Mr Lindsay, and have his
reply saying that at first he was in doubt as to whether they
were whin or broom seeds, but on comparing them with modern
seeds of both these shrubs, he had come to the conclusion that
they were whin seeds. Notwithstanding my having faith in
Mr Lindsay as a botanist, I cannot take in the idea that these
seeds are 'whin.' East Coast gentlemen will perhaps be
astonished to hear that neither the whin nor the
broom are native plants here. One hundred years ago, the
only broom plants in the district were a few sown round the
garden of my far back predecessors in this place, and the first
whins that ever grew anywhere near here were produced from
seed sown by a minister on the Poolewe glebe, and some sown
also by a member of the Letterewe family at Udrigal. It is
certain it was not an indigenous plant here in modern times,
whatever it might have been in the beetle days, and there can
be no doubt that the shrubs or plants which produced these
seeds and the beetles lived contemporaneously. We now find
hazel, birch, alder, and willow in the most perfect state at the
bottom of the bogs, with the silvery bark on the former kinds
as perfect as the day they were growing ; but no one has ever
found the gnarled, twisted stems of the whin or broom in any
bog in this country. A very intelligent man, who has taken a
lively interest in these seeds, has been struck with the idea that
they may have been the seeds of the buck or bog bean, as the
40 THE BOOK OF GAIRLOCH.
places we found them in had evidently been at one time the
bottoms of lochs which have been filled up, but Mr Lindsay
says that they are not.
"There is, I think, an impression abroad that peat is a
very modern growth and is quickly formed. That it is very
modern compared with our rocks is certain, but still I hold to
the belief that our peat is a very old formation, though still
growing slowly. Can anyone tell when was the Bronze Age
up here ? We found a perfect bronze spear head in one of the
peat bogs, pretty near the surface, with a deer's antler lying
close to it; and to show what a preservative peat is, part of
the wooden shaft of the spear was still to the fore when the
spear head was found. Now, in the days of the savage who
owned this spear, this peat bog must have been very much
what it is now, otherwise the spear would not have been so
very high up. There was also a very valuable find of bronze
antiquities in this neighbourhood a few years ago, and on
going to examine the place I found that the peat was not three
feet deep, showing that it had not grown much since the day
when the wild owner had buried his treasures, as it would not
be likely ho would have hidden them in a place having less
than a couple of feet of peat at least. Close to my house there
is a bog in a hollow, enclosed all round with a rim of rock,
and on trying to drain it we found it impossible to do so
without cutting the rock. We probed the peat, and found
fourteen feet.
"Usually the trees found under the peat have their roots
fixed in the subsoil and their stumps are close to the bottom,
but it is not always the case, for near the surface of this bog
we found several immense stumps, and on attempting to count
the rings in some of the roots we sawed off, we arrived at the
conclusion that the tree was four hundred years old when
it ceased to live. Now, it is about four hundred years since
my ancestors came to Kintail and took possession of Gairloch
by a 'coup de main,' and we know that at that time, and
probably long before then, these shores had a resident popula-
tion ; it is, therefore, unlikely that these trees would have been
allowed to remain standing so close to the sea shore at the head
of Loch Ewe for very long after the place became inhabited.
Supposing these trees, then, to have been dead some five
hundred years, and that they were four hundred years old
when destroyed, that takes us nearly one thousand years back.
Query then, how old is the lowest layer of peat in the bog
which lies fourteen feet below the stumps? I have beard of
THE BOOK OF GAIRLOCH. 41
a bog at Kinlochewe which was drained and improved, and in
it were no less than two distinct sets of fir roots, one above the
other, with a considerable layer of peat between each.
"Nearly all the bog stumps in this country have marks of
fire on them and charcoal about them. Now it would seem
that in this case two successive forests have sprung up, grown
to maturity, and been destroyed, and that between each crop
of firs there had been a sufficient interregnum for the peat
to form and to cover up and preserve each set of roots. It
would be what the lawyers would call 'a nice question' as to
how many centuries the remains of the two forests and the
layers of peat represent? One must not, however, judge
altogether of the age of peat by its death. The best peat I
have ever seen for burning purposes was only one foot in
depth below the top sod, and had grown on blue clay, so that,
as we cut the fuel, the lower end of each peat had the clay
attached to it, and turned into red brick in the fire. These
peats were nearly equal to coal, and were evidently, like the
Irishman's pig, very little and very old, which is much more
a merit in peat than in pigs.
f'Peat may also be seen at the bottom of lochs, and sub-
marine peat bogs may bo seen at low spring tides. These must
be very old, but they have never been perfectly examined."
PERSONAL NAMES.
Notwithstanding all that has been done in the way of
opening up intercommunication in the Highlands it is sur-
prising to find how the descendants of the clan originally
holding any district seems to stick to its own locality ; and the
circumstances which brought those bearing any other name
into that district are comparatively so recent that it is quite
well known to the natives. In the more remote districts this is,
of course, more marked. Gairloch may be taken as typical in
this respect. The parish has for centuries been the land of
the Mackenzies, and its population in 1911 was 3317, and of
these the names of 1725 are on a recent Parliamentary roll.
Between them they have 77 different surnames, of which no
fewer than 36 are those of clans or clan septs, and these
account for 1021 voters, so that the bearers of the other 41
patronymics account for only 704. Of the 499 clansmen here
no fewer than 232 Mackenzies are on the roll. Next in order
come 78 Macleans, 46 Maclennan, 96 Macraes, 100 Urquhart,
42 THE BOOK OF GAIRLOCH.
71 Macivers, 68 Macdonalds, 54 Macphersons, and 43 Frasers,
with 56 Macleods, while there are 19 Chisholms, 26 Camerons,
and only 34 of the famous Campbells. There are 19 Gunns,
13 Grants, 4 Munros, 7 Rosses, 5 Forbeses, and 20 Macaulays.
There are 18 Macaskills, 9 Mackintoshes, and 5 Mathesons,
while there are 4 Mackays and 6 Mackinnons. The following
are also represented : — Logan, Maccallum, Macbeath, Mac*
gillivray, Macintyre, Macmillan, Robertson, Macalister,
Macnab, Poison, Rose, and Stewart- There is not a single
Sutherland, Sinclair, or Murray, quite evidence enough that
the chiefs took their brides from the south or west, never from,
the north — as many of the other clan names occurring can be
traced back to those who came as retainers of the daughter of
a clan chief when any such came as a Lady Mackenzie. It is
well known that the Kemps, Crosses, and Beatons came with-
i he iron workers ; the Lawries, Boas, and Stewarts in connec-.
tion with the sheep walks, while the Taylors are descendants of
an English lad shipwrecked on the coast. Commerce or sport
account for nearly all the others.
As to Christian names by far the most common here, as
elsewhere, is John, which no fewer than 196 bear. Next comes
Alexander, 156 being called by that name. Then follow the
Highland names of Kenneth, 76 ; Duncan, 66 ; Murdo, 75 ;
Roderick, 60. There are 46 Williams, 78 "Donalds, 28
Hectors, 21 Georges, 12 Jameses, 4 Roberts, and only 3
Anguses. One wonders that there should be only three
each bearing such common names as Thomas, David, and
Andrew- Archibald, Lewis, Hugh, Neil, Myles, Anthony,.
Osgood, and Norman have two representatives apiece. That
few English people have ever settled here is proved by the fact
that there is only one each of the names of Henry, Francis,
Peter, and Charles, and not a single Richard. One would
have expected more than one Dugald, Ronald, Torquil, and
Simon, but these names are for some reason not popular.
Altogether there are no more than 38 different Christian names
on the roll. Presiding officers at a poll must, however, need
to have their wits about them, as there are no fewer than 61
John Mackenzies on the roll of this one parish.
THE BOOIL OF GA1RLOCH. 43
PLACE NAMES.
Place names are for many an interesting study, and those
of Wester Ross have all the interest attached to such. Most
of the place names of Wester Ross are, to those who know
Gaelic, plain, while a few are a puzzle even to experts in this
subject.
This becomes very evident if the names of places passed on
the way through Gairlcch be considered. Thus: —
Achnasheen is from the Gaelic Ach-na-sin, "The field of
storms," and
Loch Rosque is the Anglicised form of the Gaelic Loch
'Chroisg. meaning ''the loch of the crossing"; the crossing
being that from Kinlochewe through Glen Docherty, and
so on to the Lowlands-
Glen Docherty itself means "the glen of excessive scouring,"
a name which truly indicates how well its sides and base
is scoured by spates.
Kinlochewe means "at the head of Loch Ewe," though now
it is at the head of Loch Maree. The name of this place
suggests the time when Loch Ewe rolled its salt waters to
the head of what is now Loch Maree. Another name
which indicates the same thing is
Letterewe, "The slope to the Ewe," though it now slopes to
Loch Maree. The little steamer starts from
Rhu Nohar, a Gaelic word for "The Giant's Point." The
name of
Loch Maree is not from the Gaelic for Mary, as one might at
first suppose, but from Mouri, another name for Saint
Maelrubha, as on Isle Maree this saint had a cell.
Then the names of the mountains are all of Gaelic origin.
Thus : —
Ben Eay is the Gaelic Beinn Eighe, "The file peak," a name
derived from its serrated outline as seen from Kinlochewe-
The upstanding rocks which form the teeth of the file have
a Gaelic name, meaning "The black carls of Ben Eay."
Slioch, not Ben Slioch, is "The Spear,' through the likeness is
scarcely clear
Ben Airigh a Charr is "The mountain of the rough shieling,"
and rough the sides of it were for those who, long ago,
went to the shielings here. At the
44 THE BOOK OF GAIRLOCH
Ardlair promontory are two rocks, one known as "The mare,"
and the other as "The foal." Ardlair means ''The mare's
promontory."
Tollie is "a place of holes," and a place of knolls and hollows
it continues to be.
Kerry River is said to be the Norse for "The copse river,"
which is still quite descriptive. Gaelic people call Kerry
by a name which means "The little fairy knoll." The
word
Gairloch itself means "The short loch," probably to distinguish
it from the other longer winding sea lochs on the West
Coast-
Flowerdale is a new name given to the proprietor's house,
because of the profusion of wild flowers that flourish here.
Achtercairn is "The field of the cairn."
Poolewe is merely "The pool of the Ewe." The natives call
the village "Abhainn lu," or Ewe River.
Aultbea means "The Birch Burn," which is some little
distance from the village.
Note. — Those who wish to make a study of this subject are
recommended to consult the exhaustive and scholarly "Place
Names of Ross and Cromarty," by Professor W. J. Watson,
B.A., of Edinburgh University.
FOLK LORE.
Folk lore, or all that pertains to the popular traditions,
superstitions, and old world customs of a people, was not so
very many years ago treated with contempt, and relegated to
the nursery. Now it is regarded as worthy of the antiquary's
study because of the light it throws on the beginnings of
human history and primitive thought, as for early man his
folklore was to him his theology, philosophy, and science.
With the growth of civilization old beliefs and tales lost much
of their intense reality, yet they were handed down from sire
to son and conceptions, which were once an earnest attempt to
understand what to them was the mysterious, were perpeuated,
and many of them survive to this day. To those who study
this subject the essential unity of the mental constitution of
even different races is very obvious. The same stories appear
in widely different parts of the world clothed in garments
varying with the environment, so that similar beliefs seem to
spring up everywhere under similar conditions.
THE BOOK OF GAIRLOCH. 45
The conditions, social and physical, obtaining in Gairloch
are, for example, very different from those of Easter Ross and
Caithness, where there is a much larger variety of beliefs and
customs relating to good luck and an altogether richer abun-
dance of medicinal folklore than in Gairloch : but these
districts are much poorer in tales of second sight, hobgoblins,
water horses and fairies, such as people for long, if not even
yet, delight to tell round their winter peat fires. The news-
papers, with the intense interest naturally taken in the war,
has ousted these social talks and legendary tales in which the
lively fertile imagination of the Celt living in sight of the
grand mountains alw.ays revelled.
In Gairloch there is still to be gleaned much of interest to
the folklorist as conditions have been favourable. No railways
yet touch the parish, steamboats do not call daily. The
people are social and live their quiet lives in an environment
which must be favourable to the formation of strange beliefs.
There are always the lofty mountains which, if not covered
with mist, have that hazy blue covering which suggests the
mysterious, and in the mysterious, as has been said, High-
landers always revelled. In the valleys are treacherous floes
which quietly take a toll of their animals, if not of men, who
go out to seek the lost. Many a time there has been sorrow
on the sea as squalls seemingly sent by some evil spirit wreck
boatmen who went out dreading no evil. The roar of angry
sea waves on the rocks is carried to lonely hamlets and,
mingling with the wind, makes moan as it passes through
clumps of trees. There are many dark sullen tarns and dreary
moorlands, across which flits Will o' the Wisp. It is not to
be wondered at that such places should in imagination be
peopled by creatures having peculiar powers, whose favour
they would do well to court if they could devise no sure means
of overcoming them.
It is not to be supposed that what follows is common
knowledge with all the people, or that any native, however
superstitious, numbers a tithe of them among his beliefs-
Some have evidently been recently imported, while others
bear the impress of a hoary antiquity. In any case, there are
few spots in this interesting parish to which there does not
cling some legend of happy, or; more usually, unhappy doings
of long ago.
There are beliefs which cling round every period and
important change in life, most of them, of course, connected
with a desire to see behind the veil which separates us from
46 THE BOOK OF GAIRLOCH.
the unknowable future, so that, if possible, means may be
devised to avert the ills and ensure the good that may be got.
It is this which justifies the thought that superstition is the
remains of a religion anterior to Christianity, and which
Christianity has not yet rooted out in any part of the kingdom.
A clearer view of these notions may be got if those enter-
tained be given in the order of life's progress.
BIRTH.
The hour of birth is significant, as it is thought that a
child born at midnight will grow up "to see things" hidden
from others — to have in short the gift of second sight. It
would be interesting to know of cases in which those who do
have this gift were born at this hour when churchyards yawn.
There is no rhyme similar to the Lowland —
Sunday's child is full of grace,
Monday's child is full of face, etc.
Here, as elsewhere, it is common belief that if the little one
has a caul or thin membrane over its head when born it will
be especially fortunate, and cannot in any circumstances be
drowned so long as this caul is preserved, and there is little
chance of the fairies effecting a change in such an unusual
case- Much more firmly believed is that the "evil eye" has
power to do harm, a danger which is averted by baptism. It
seems strange that any superstitions should be associated with
the sacred rite of baptism, but such do exist here. It is con-
sidered wise that the infant should be baptised in the parish
and year in which it was born, so that there are usually more
baptisms during December than in any other month of the
year. Then, whatever arrangements parents may make as to
the little one's name, no one else gets to know it until first
pronounced by the officiating clergyman. The child should be
carried to the ceremony — part of the way at least — by a young
unmarried lucky girl. When children of different sexes are to
be baptised at the same time, care must be taken that the
girls are baptised first, for it is thought that if this order
be reversed, and they be baptised out of the same water, the
girl will have more hair on her face than she likes and the boy
correspondingly less. To be lucky, the child ought to cry
when the water falls on it — a belief supposed to have
originated in the fact that unclean spirits cried aloud when
driven out by our Saviour. It is not considered lucky to have
the child measured or weighed, but it is the proper thing for
THE BOOK OF GAIRI,OCH. 47
a visitor who sees a child for the first time to place a piece of
silver in its hand. If the child grasps the coin it will surely
grow up "close fisted,'' but if not, it may safely be believed
that it will be ' 'open-handed-"
From this time, till marriage is to be thought of, the youth
is liable to no special danger from evil eye, witches, or fairies,
and attention is paid only to those precautions which it is
necessary all should take.
LOVE, COURTSHIP, AND MARRIAGE.
There is a considerable lore connected with courtship and
marriage, but not so many as seem to obtain elsewhere. A
Gairloch maid may have few means of charming the young
man on whom she has set her heart — her motto seems to be
the old Latin one, "Si vis amari, ama" (if you wish to be
loved, love) — but naturally she is anxious to know all she can
of her future partner, and takes any chance afforded her to
know his form, features, character, and means. By counting
the cuckoo notes when first she hears them in Spring she gets
to know the number of years she must continue single, but
here there is no divining by means of the dandelion, cabbage
plot or hempseed, but prognostication by plates on Hallowe'en
is practised. Dreams, however, are regarded as of some
importance, and if after eating a salt herring the girl dreams
that she sees a lover approach to offer a drink, marriage will
ensue. The courtship period comes to an end by the formal
betrothal or reiteach — a function still possessing some of its
pristine glory. Between the reiteach and the wedding day a
period of about two weeks is allowed to pass. Not here, any
more than elsewhere, is May regarded as a lucky month. All
others are regarded as good enough, but December is the
favourite, and Thursday is thought the luckiest day, if not
the most convenient- On the wedding day there are several
small things which the bride must attend to, such as the
putting on of the right shoe first, and it is well that she wear
Something old and something new,
Something borrowed, something blue,"
and she should have a silver coin, if not in her stocking, then
in her pocket. When the happy couple leave the church or
house in which they are married, they should be preceded by a
luck insuring married couple. While going homeward it is
bad to be caught in a shower of rain, but infinitely worse to be
met by a funeral. There is, of course, the usual happy
48 THE BOOK OF GAIRLOCH.
rejoicing, and when the bride leaves her father's house there
is the usual throwing of old shoes, etc. After this the young
couple settle down to their new life, and while health and a
competent portion of good things continue, they pay little heed
to auguries and charms.
DEATH.
The years glide on, and by and by the dark messenger
comes, and his advent the people have, in common with nearly
all Highlanders, invested with peculiarly painful premonitions.
Certainly they always seem to be mindful of their latter end,
and many are the omens which foretell its advent. Animals
generally are in this matter assigned a sharper vision than
human beings. The howling of a dog is a sure omen, and the
direction in which the head is pointed, just as the head of a
cock which persists in crowing more than usual and late at
night indicates that the angel of death goes that way. Horses
when driven along a road sometimes shy without apparent
reason at some place, and this is supposed to be because it sees
the phantom of a funeral. Birds tapping at a window, or the
demoniac laughter of the owl — the bird of ill omen — surely
denotes a coming death. Village carpenters aver that days
before a coffin is required there is a rattling of boards in their
workshops, and a conveyance sometimes used to carry coffins
is believed to indicate in some strange way that it is soon to
be again used for this purpose. "Corp candles" are often said
to have been seen, and are meant to warn the beholder to
prepare for "the change," as death is here euphemistically
spoken of by the kindly neighbours. Older folk affirm that
an infallible proof of approaching death is the appearance of
a moving flame — "Will o' the Wisp." When the dead are
laid out, friends who visit the house see and touch the face'
of the dead — a touch which prevents their having unpleasant
dreams of the deceased. When a phantom funeral is seen the
beholder should quietly stand aside and offer no help. By '
some it is believed that when anyone dies with some burden
of work undone, or some mystery unsolved, the spirit returns
until it can get someone to do the work, or declare the secret,
and then only will the spirit rest in peace. There can be in
Gairloch no doubt of neighbourly help and sympathy at such'
times, though tales told at latewakes are often gruesome
enough.
THE BOOK OF GAIRLOCH. 49
MEDICINAL.
The journey from birth to death is seldom accomplished
without much intervening suffering, and the mass of folklore
which preceded the modern booklore and first aids is believable
only when it is remembered that for each of the many ills
which flesh is heir to there are many remedies. The Gaelic
proverb is "Chan eil euslainte gun ioc-shlainte, agus cha'n'eil
tilleadh air a bhas" (Ihere is no disease without a remedy,
and there 13 no turning back of death). Some translate
"ioc-shlainte," "compensation" or "sacrifice," as suffering is
the sacrifice made for violence done to Nature's health law,
which perhaps is justified by the other Gaelic proverb, "Tha
an duine slan gu nadurra" (man by nature is healtKy), and
how health is here regarded is shown by the proverb, "Is i an
oighreachd an t-slainte ' (Health is an inheritance or estate to
be bequeathed to one's children). Gairloch people now, for
any serious illness, are quite as anxious as people anywhere to
have professional medical advice, and there is perhaps less
medical folklore than in other parts of the north, but still one
having some "eolas" (charm, skill) may perhaps be found.
Here is one told some time ago of "Eolas beum sula" (charm
for a mote in the eye). A woman while working at corn got
something into her eye, and it could not be extracted by the
usual homely methods- She therefore went to a married
woman some distance away who had this charm, and told her
trouble. The woman went to a neighbouring well opening to
the north, muttered some words, lifted some water with her
hand into her mouth, put it out again and in that mouthful
was the bev.m ! There was curiosity as to the words used, but
when questioned the woman said she got them from her father
ere he died, and was told that she must divulge them only to
her son, and he in his turn to his daughter. There is also a
"Eolas casga fala" (a science of blood staunching), which gives
some the power to stop the flow of blood from any wound, but
concrete cases are awanting.
There still lingers a belief in the power of the seventh son
of the same father and mother, especially to cure scrofula, or
king's evil. To effect a cure the "doctor" must visit the
patient on seven successive mornings before partaking of food,
wash the afflicted part with water got from a well facing the
north ; during the process repeat some incantation which
neither doctor nor patient would divulge, and conclude by
spitting on the sore, In one case at least this did not effect
a cure.
50 THE BOOK OF GAIRLOCH.
For the more common ailments there are dozens of
remedies- Thus for toothache, some think that a piece of
juniper given to a child to chew when teething is a life
preventive. If this precaution has not been taken it is said
that the cheek bone of a sheep carried in the pocket charms
the pain away, which reminds one that in Yorkshire carrying
a potato in the pocket is supposed to cure rheumatism and
gout. Others once thought that carrying a worm in the
mouth "dtimb" from one estate to another afforded relief, but
here again definite modern concrete cases are awanting. For
the removal of warts the writer has received quite a score of
specifics. The following are the most interesting : —
(1) Wash them with pig's blood.
(2) At new moon go to a graveyard, wash the warts with
the water on a flat gravestone, and before next new moon
they will be gone.
There are elaborate cures for consumption and heart
disease, and minor ailments had their own simpler ones. Thus
sore eyes are almost everywhere believed to be cured by wear-
ing ear-rings. Other methods of effecting cures there are,
but few are now openly practised, and no patient wishes a
second person to know that he has tried any.
It is a pity that it has to be added that although only
specialists have the power of giving good health, it is believed
that any malevolent person can give ill health by means of
the "corp creadh" (clay body). For this purpose a clay
effigy of the doomed one is made, pins are stuck all over it, and
then it is placed under falling water which, as it washes the
clay away, will in some sympathetic manner sap away the
strength and means of the condemned one.
The power of the evil eye is still generally believed in, and
tales showing that it was thought that some people had the
power of doing harm by merely looking at those they wished
to harm; One such will suffice. A lad was taking in cattle
from the hill, and in doing so had to chase one wild heifer. As
he, pretty tired, was about to enter his home an old woman
exclaimed, "What a fint' heifer and what a pretty boy." Next
day it was found that both boy and heifer were ill. In haste
seven smooth stones were got from a place where the living and
the dead pass (underneath a bridge), water was carried
"dumb" from a well, and after copper, silver, and gold were
placed in it, some was sprinkled over him in the name of the
Trinity, and he was made to drink some of it. The same
THE BOOK OF GAIRI.OCH. 51
treatment was meted out to the heifer, and in two days both
boy and heifer were well again.
WITCHCRAFT.
Though the belief in the power of witches seems to be
dying fast, it is as yet by no means dead. Some people base
their belief in them on the injunction in Exodus xxii. 18.,
"Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." These witches are
capable of doing many things, but the doing of harm to milch
cows and milk seems to be their favourite sport. They had
the power of depriving milk of all its valuable food properties,
and many cases are recorded of men and women who could do
this as well as of those who could restore these very properties.
It was a case of "Set a thief to catch a thief." In any case,
when one has milk to spare and refuses to give or sell it to a
neighbour, he is more likely to have this punishment meted
out to him than one who is of a more kindly disposition.
These witches were supposed to assume the form of one of
several animals, but that of a hare seems to have been the
favourite, and the only way to kill one in this form was with a
crooked sixpence shot from a gun. Modern dairy teachers
explain scientifically how "the butter will not come," but a
silver coin at the bottom of the churn will make it come
quickly and will prevent the "substance" being taken from
the cream by sinister influence.
FAIRIES.
Fairies are still believed in, and though the means of
intercommunication between this parish and the rest of the
world must have been for ages limited enough, yet the fairy
tales current hero are those common to almost all mankind, so
that it would seem that the tales which originally were the
delight of men in the childhood of the world, have now become,
because of their simple charm, the delight of childhood.
Fairies are represented as little men and women dressed in
green, living a life of jollity in chambers under the green knolls
of which there are so many in this parish. They do little
harm beyond exchanging their own children for those of
some of the people around them ; though even their own do
not take kindly to the change, as they continually cry in their
new homes and depart only when fire or water is applied to
them- As they are represented as already possessing all
things most desired in this world, it is conjectured that like
the Peris of the East, they may be descendants of fallen
52 THE BOOK OF GAIRLOCH.
angels and wish to get united to mankind in the hope of
retrieving their position. One of them is said to have
answered when asked who he was, "I am not of the seed of
Adam or Abraham." This perhaps accounts for the belief
that they are unable to steal a baptised child, and "God bless
you" is said to save an unbaptised one. This expression is
indeed enough to terrify them at any time.
One tale may be given as typical of many. A father set
out to have his child's name entered in the session books and
to bring home whisky for the christening. As he and his
friends were returning, they, weary with their long walk, sat
down on a hillock, from which they heard the sound of music
and dancing. The father, anxious to see what was going on,
went a few steps into an opening not far away and disappeared.
The friends went home. A week passed and still there was
no sign of the lost father's return, and the friends were then
accused of murder. They begged for a year and a day to
confirm their tale. They often repaired to the spot, and on
the last day of the respite one of them entered the cavern,
stuck a knife in the door to prevent its being shut on him.
He saw the father, caught him by the sleeve, and pulled him
out. "Bless me, Alastair," said he, "why could you not let
me finish my reel?" "Bless me," rejoined Alastair, "Have
you not had enough of reeling this last twelvemonth ?" "Last
twelvemonth ?" said the other, and would not believe he had
been in but a few minutes until he reached home and found his
wife sitting at the door with a yearling child in her arms.
Isle Ewe, one of the Loch Maree islands, Ormiscraig, and
Loch Druing, have always been accounted special haunts of
the little peaceful people, and wondrous tales are told of their
doings at these places.
KELPIES.
There are many strange tales of water horses and bulls in
this parish. The best known is that of "Loch na Beiste (The
loch of the beast), near Melon Udrigil. Several people whose
evidence was believed to be conclusive solemnly asserted that
they had seen it, and the proprietor was, on strong representa-
tion being made to him, induced to take means to get rid of it.
First, pumping the loch was tried, but this was unavailing.
Then fourteen barrels of raw lime were emptied into the
deepest part, and it is said the beast has never again been
seen, though people are still afraid to be in the neighbourhood
of this ' 'beastie loch" on a dark night. That many ungathered
THE BOOK OF GAIRLOCH. 53
tales regarding kelpies exist may be proved by any teacher who
tells the pupils of his senior division some such tale, asks them
to repeat it at home to some aged relative,v and ask for
another which they may write next day. The following is a
specimen of the kind usually got : —
A man who lived by the side of a lake was one Spring short
of a horse for the ploughing. He happened one morning to
see a strange grey horse by the water's edge, but as he had his
suspicions that it might be a kelpie, he thought over the pre-
cautions it was necessary to take, filled a pail of water, and
went quietly along between it and the loch, and when he got
near enough he threw the contents over the animal's neck- It
scampered off for a hundred yards and then stood quietly. He
went up to it, brought it home, and in the stable poured
another bucketful of water over its neck. Before he took it
out in the morning, this was again done. The animal worked
beautifully all Spring, but he was particularly careful to have
it drenched with water morning and evening. When Spring
work was completed, he told his son to take it to the hill with
the others, and it was to be left out there grazing all summer.
Next morning the lad brought the horse out, but omitted the
water ceremony before he mounted, and set off. The horse
began to trot, then to gallop, and at last raised itself into the
air and dropped into the loch- Neither horse nor lad were
ever again seen.
MAGIC.
Equally strange are the stories of the camouflaging "Seun"
(spelH still told. The story of its Norse origin is as follows : —
The Norsemen on one of their harrying expeditions were
worsted by Gairloch men, who hotly pursued them as they
made for their ships. Ere they leaped from a rocky ledge
into their boats the men threw down their arms in a heap, the
leader touched the heap with his spear, pronounced the magic
formula, and the whole then became invisible. The Norsemen
pulled out to sea, intending after dark to return for their
arms, but a storm came on and they never again saw that
place, which is now called "Uamh an Oir" (cave of gold), as
someone, who once saw it open, declared that at the innermost
recess there appeared to be a beautiful stair. Now the hiding
place opens only once in seven years to give the people a
chance of discovering it It was further believed that if any
fugitive struck the rock at this place with a hazel stick, it
would open to receive him into one of its dark recesses and
shut up again ere his pursuers reached the spot. He was
turned out again when darkness fell. Another condition was
54 THE BOOK OF GAIRLOCH.
that the fugitive must not on any account look back, as a
certain Neil Macleod did when pursued by a Mackenzie. Poor
Neil stood on the rock, looked round for his pursuers, by whom
he was at once shot. The usual cairn was raised above Neil,
and every Mackenzie must needs, when passing, spit on it if
he is to be lucky. To this day the "spittle cairn" is a well-
known landmark.
The Seun was much in evidence in the time of Prince
Charlie, when French ships were trying to land arms and gold
for the Prince's use. On one occasion it was used to hide the
kegs of gold landed on Isle Ewe. At that time a man of the
name of Macrae who was in possession of the seun undertook
to carry those kegs to the Prince, who was in hiding in Skye.
While travelling with them he was surprised by the Royalists,
and with his companions ran down the deep gorge known as
Fedan More As the pursuers were near he pronounced the
magical words, and tht- gold became invisible, but not the
men, who were captured and put to death, and the kegs are
there to this day. Once a year, however, at sunrise, on the
22nd June, they become visible.
Some years ago a woman who was herding cows
here saw the earth open, and as she knew what it
meant she stuck her staff at the spot and ran for
help. When she returned with a few men, neither staff,
opening, nor kegs were to be seen. In later days the charm
was possessed by a famous Gairloch smuggler named Alasdair
the Hunter. At one time Alastair was among the Minch
fishermen measuring out whisky for sale, when the crew
tremblingly shouted to him that the Government boat was
coming straight on their track. Alastair knew that his crew
had descried the cutter ere any of the officials had seen them,
and therefore that he was safe, as the spell would work, and
went on with his work The cutter passed quite near but
none of the crew saw the smugglers. When Alastair
wanted venison he stalked a deer, became invisible, and then
somehow drove it in the direction of his home and there shot
it, and so saved himself the trouble of carrying it far.
LUCK.
Devices to insure luck are probably much more common
elsewhere than in Gairloch, and, though the belief that luck
can be coaxed is held, there are really not many years since
some of the more common southern beliefs were introduced
here. Thus spilling salt was not always considered unlucky,
nor is it yet by many; indeed, such a belief would be very
THE BOOK OF GAIRLOCH. 55
awkward for those who cure fish. Neither was it thought
unlucky to walk under a ladder ; nor have many years elapsed
since it was believed that the sitting down of thirteen at
table meant the death of one of the party ere a twelvemonth
passed. The breaking of a looking glass is not considered of
much importance, and it does not matter whether or not a
child notices its own reflection in such a glass before it is a
year old, but some now have the idea that it is unlucky to see
the new moon through glass, or empty handed, and that the
best thing to have in the hand at such a time is a piece of
woollen cloth or a silver coin. As regards the moon itself the
belief is openly expressed that a change of weather is to be
anticipated at each quarter and that it is best to embark on
any new venture when the moon is waxing, and that he who
does so when the moon is waning courts failure.
There are many interesting ways by which those, who, like
fishermen, have their prosperity depend upon the uncertain
result of their labours, may be lucky. One of the strangest is
that it is very unlucky for them to meet a minister or a hare
while on their way to sea- They also have a certain aversion
to take a minister aboard. This arises from the belief that the
prince of the power of the air thinks that while they are on
the water he may by exercising his powers get these men who
are the enemies of his kingdom out of the way, or perhaps it
arose from the fact that Jonah was supposed to have brought
a storm on the vessel in which he sailed. In common with
nearly all seafaring men, Gairloch fishermen believe that
whistling will be followed by wind, and that sticking a knife
in the mast answers the same purpose.
HOLY WELLS.
The literature of holy wells and lochs is everywhere the
same, but Gairloch has something in the well on Isle Maree
quite distinctive. Some wells cure blindness, others deafness,
&c., but this one cures insanity after a peculiar ritual- Dr
Arthur Mitchell tells the story thus —
"In our own day, belief in the healing virtues of the well
on Inch Maree is general over all Ross-shire, but more
especially over the western district. The lunatic is taken
there without consideration of consent. As he nears the
island, he is suddenly jerked out of the boat into the loch ; a
rope having been made fast to him ; by this he is drawn into
the boat again, to be a second, third, or fourth time unex-
pectedly thrown overboard during the boat's course round the
island. He is then landed, made to drink of the waters, and
56 THE BOOK OF GAIRLOCH.
an offering is affixed fco the tree. Sometimes a second and
third circumnavigation of the island is thought necessary, with
a repetition of the immersions, and of the visit to the well."
The well lost much of its power, so the story (roes, because
a shepherd who had a mad dog took it to the well and pushed
it in headlong. Next day the dog died and a week afterwards
the shepherd !
Strange things are still being done to secure luck and good
health, and for the purpose of avoiding ill luck and sickness.
Peculiar means are even yet used all the year round by some
old people for the purpose of getting a peep into that unknow-
able future which is mercifully shrouded from as all. But
these old wcrld fancies are being steadily laughed out of
existence, giving place to the newer and more fashionable
superstitions of crystal gazing, palmistry, and spiritualism.
Gairloch people have a more tender regard for their parish on
account of all these early and familiar imaginings because they
go back to the infancy of parish history. They have also
learned that
"The tree
Sucks kindlier nurture from a soil enriched
By its owu fallen leaves ; and man is made
In heart and spirit from deciduous hopes,
And things that seem to perish."
ST. MAELRUBHA.
If it were only for its connection with St Maelrubha, the
most famous of Celtic saints, Loch Maree would be famous.
Just as, according to the poet, seven cities contend for the
honour of holding the dead Homer, so four parishes —Apple-
cross, Ferintosh, Gairloch, and Farr — claim the honour of
being that in which lie the remains of St Maelrubha, the
greatest of Celtic saints, and by whom throughout Scotland no
fewer than 22 churches have been founded, viz- :— Applecross,
Lochcarron, Gairloch, Isle Maree, Contin, Urquhart, Strath.
Bracadale, Portree, Arisaig, Harris, Muckairn (near Loch
Etive) ; Craignish, in Argyle ; Kilarrow, in Islay ; Strath-
lachlan (east of Loch Fyne) ; Fordyce, Keith, Forres, Rafford
and Lairg. in Sutherlandshire.
But the interest Highland people have taken in their
patron saints has, during many a long year, been of the
smallest, and there are now few parishes in the North where
the worshippers can tell anything of the saints to whom their
church, when founded, was, according to custom, dedicated.
The interest in them is, however, reviving, and traditionary
tales connected with these Northern saints are being brought
to light.
THE BOOK OF GAIRLOCH. 57
He was AB. of Applecross (Aber-crossan or Apur-crossan),
in Wester Ross, for fifty-one years and, not excepting his
great predecessor, St Columba, no ecclesiastic has done so much
for the North- West Highlands as this same St Maelrubha, who
is known under such diverse names as St Rufus, Mulroy, Mul-
ruve, Murie, and the Red Priest.
Like Columba, he was an Irishman, and his pedigree is
given in the Irish MSS. called "The Book of Lecan" and
"The Book of Ballymote," and the old Irish historian Tigher-
nach has given us quite a number of particulars about him.
From these books it would appear that he was eighth in
descent, on his father's side, from Niall of the nine hostages,
Sovereign of Ireland, and on his mother's side he was akin to
St Comgall, the great Abbot of Bangor, in County Down. He
was, so says the chronicler, born on 3rd January, 642 A.D..
trained at Bangor, and in 671 A.D., he, like Columba, sailed
for Alba (Scotland), and after some time spent at lona went
northward, and in 673 A.D. founded at Applecross, where he
was driven ashore, the church cf which he was AB. till he
died. He, however, by no means confined his labours to his
own parish, but rather willingly travelled all over the Hebrides
and Highland mainland preaching Christianity, and there is
little doubt that he founded a church and stayed for some time
on Isle Maree or Mourie, from which the surrounding beautiful
loch gets its name. By the church there stood "Mourie's
Well," the water of which he blessed, and has therefore for
ages been accredited with miraculous healing powers.
So great a reputation for sanctity did Maelrubha acquire
by his absolute devotion and unwearied energy in the service
of His Master that the people held him in awe, believed he
could work miracles, and therefore in his lifetime almost
worshipped him, and, indeed, the impression he made was so
lasting that the Presbytery of Dingwall nearly a thousand
years after he was in his grave met at Applecross, and found
that, "amongst other abominable and heathenish practices,
that the people in that place were accustomed to sacrifice bulls
at a certain time upon the 25th August, which day is dedicate,
so they conceive, to Saint Mourie, as they call him ; and that
there were frequent approaches to some ruinous chapels and
circulating of them." Even as late as sixty years ago people
in Ross-shire have been known to pour an oblation of milk upon
the hills associated with Mourie in the hope of securing them-
selves good fortune, or at least averting evil.
The Saint's personal appearance heightened this awe, for,
according to tradition, he was » fearful-looking person- Old
58 THE BOOK OF GAIRLOCH.
folk there still tell that when walking about a pastoral staff
supported him, and a coarse close-fitting hooded wrap served
as a covering from the cold, and at the same time gave him an
air of savage wildness, while it concealed every article of
under dress. Long red hair flowed down his back, waving
heavily as he moved. From beneath his deep and shaggy
eyebrows a pair of eyes like two balls of living fire gleamed,
the glance of which no human being could bear. In short, his
dress and aspect gave him the appearance of one who held
converse with scenes and beings of another world, and whose
business with this was only to pronounce irrevocable and
unalterable decrees. Revelations of things to come passed
vividly before his mind, and he told them in words of fire.
Stories of his prophecies are still told, and many of them
seem to correspond with those of the Brahan Seer. One writer
definitely affirms that the saint died at Ferintosh while dis-
charging his sacred office on Tuesday, 21st April, 722 A.D-, at
the age of 80, and that those who arranged to carry his body
to Applecross were mysteriously aided in what they expected to
be a toilsome journey. It is told quite as definitely in the
Breviary of Aberdeen that he was slain by a band of the
Norsemen who wrought such havoc on West Coast churches,
and that they then exposed his body in the forest to be eaten
by wolves. Whether this be true or not, another traditional
grave of the saint is marked out in the Applecross Churchyard
by two little headstones, while not far away the place where
he landed is marked by four trees planted in a square, near
which is another "holy well," and the district for six miles
around had the privilege of sanctuary, and monkish chroniclers
relate the usual stories of Divine vengeance falling on those
who violated it, and claim that no one can commit suicide
within it, while those who pocket even a very small quantity
of the mould under which Maelrubha lies is certain to get
home in safety, whether he travels by land or sea, and that
those who cultivate the holly, a tree he consecrated to himself,
and which is found to nourish well in Wester Ross, will be
blessed.
The present name of the district, Applecross, suggests the
holy cross and apples, and the legend is that every apple on
a certain tree in the monks' orchard had a cross marked on it,
but, unfortunately for the legend, very little research has
shown that it was an 18th century proprietor who changed it,
as he thought this a better name than the old one of Apur-
crossan, which is otherwise Abercrossan — the mouth of the
Crossan.
Gairloch and the War.
The population of Gairloch in 1911 was 3317, and 507
natives of the parish joined the forces. Of these 92 return no
more-
Besides these, many Gairloch women joined as nurses,
munition workers, or served in Q.M.A.A.C. or W.R.E.N.
The whole constitutes a record of which any parish might well
be proud.
The following tabular statements show how the various
districts in the parish contributed to make this total : —
ROLL OF SERVICE- GAIRLOCH.
TOTAL--416 SERVICE MEN.
1. BADACHRO 24
2. OPINAM, PORT HENDERSON, SOUTH ERRADALE,
AND ROAD POINT 46
3. MELLON UDRIGLE 16
4. MELVAIG, AULTGRISHAN, AND PETERBURN ... 40
5. 1NVERASDALE 52
6. STEATH 58
7. AULTBEA, embracing the Villages of BADFERN, MELLON
CHARLES, BUALNALUIB, ORMISCAIG, and SLAGGAN 62
8. POOLEWE 35
9. LAIDE, SAND, COAST, and ACHGARVE 28
10- KINLOCHEWE 35
11. SAND and NORTH ERRADALE 20
ROLL OF HONOUR— GAIRLOCH.
TOTAL— NINETY-TWO KILLED.
1. BADACHRO 5
2. OPINAM, PORT HENDERSON, SOUTH ERRADALE,
and ROAD POINT 4
3. MELLON UDRIGLE 7
4. MELVAIG, AULTGRISHAN and PETERBURN, SAND
and ERRADALE 11
5. INVERASDALK 8
6. STRATH 10
7 AULTBEA. embracing the Villages of BADFERN, MELLON
CHARLES, BUALNALUIB, ORMISCAIG, and SLAGGAN 20
8- POOLEWE 6
9 LAIDE. SAND, COAST and ACHGARVE 10
10- KINLOCHEWE 9
11. GAIRLOCH 2
60 THE BOOK OF GAIRLOCH.
ROLL OF HONOUR.
POOLEWE AND LONDHU DISTRICT.
SIX KILLED.
1 Pte. FRANK CAMERON. 7th Battalion, East Kent Regiment; killed
at Ypres, France, 1917.
2 Pte. EDWARD LAWRIE, 4th Seaforth Highlanders; killed at Cam-
brai, France, 23rd March, 1917.
3 Pte. KENNETH MACDONALD, 8th Seaforths; killed at Ypres,
France, 22nd August. 1917-
4 Pte. JOHN MACLENNAN, 3rd Argyle & Sutherland Highlanders;
killed at Cambrai, France, 22nd Aug., 1917.
5 Sergt. FINLAY MACIVER, 4th Seaforth Highlanders; killed at
Neuve Chapelle, France, 17th March, 1915-
6 Pte. WILLIAM ROSS, 4th Seaforth Highlanders; killed at Neuve
Chapelle, France, llth March, 1915-
BADACHRO AND ISLE HORISTLE DISTRICT.
FIVE KILLED.
1 Pte. JOHN MACRAE, 4th Seaforth Highlanders ; died of wounds at
Peronnc, France, 30th December, 1917-
2 Pte. DUNCAN POLSON, 2nd Seaforth Highlanders; killed in
France. 28th March, 1918-
3 Pte. ALEXANDER POLSON, 75th Battalion Canadians; killed at
Passchendale, France, 14th Nov., 1917-
4 Able-Seaman DUNCAN BAIN, R.N.R. ; killed in action on board
H.M.S. Alcantara, 29th February, 1916.
5 Able-Seaman ALEXANDER LAING, R.N.R. ; killed in action on
H.M.S. Alcantara, 29th February, 1916-
STRATH DISTRICT.
TEN KILLED.
1 ALEXANDER BAIN, R.N.R.; died in Royal Naval Hospital,
Plymouth, 21st May, 1917-
2 Lance-Corpl JOHN FRASER, 4th Seaforth Highlanders; killed at
Paschendale, France, September, 1917-
3 KENNETH MACLEOD, R.N.R.; died in Royal Naval Hospital,
Plymouth, February, 1918.
4 Pte. ANGUS MACKENZIE, 4th Seaforth Highlanders; killed at
Paschendale, France, September, 1917-
5 Pte. ALEXANDER MACLEAN, 4th Seaforth Highlanders; killed at
Festubert, France, June, 19] 5-
6 Pte. JOHN MACKENZIE, 8th Seaforth Highlanders; killed at Pas-
chendale, France, September, 1917-
7 Pte NORMAN MACKENZIE, 5th Canadians; killed in France. 28th
April, 1917.
8 Surgeon Probationer JOHN E. MACINTYRE, R.N.V.R. ; killed at
the Battle of Jutland, 31st May, 1916-
9 Deck Hand JAMES ALLAN, R.N.R.T. ; died in Royal Naval Hos-
pital, Portsmouth, October, 1918.
10 Deck Hanrt WILLIAM ALLAN, R.N.R.T.; died in Royal Naval
Hospital, Plymouth, 4th May, 1917-
THE BOOK OF GAIRLOCH. 61
POINT TO OPINAN DISTRICTS.
FOUR KILLED.
1 Pte. MURDO MACDONALD, 4th Seaforth Highlanders; killed at
Neuve Chapelle, France, llth March, 1915-
2 Pte. ALEXANDER MACKENZIE. 4th Seaforth Highlanders; killed
at Neuve Chapelle, France, llth March, 1915.
3 Sergt. HECTOR BAIN, 4th Seaforth Highlanders; killed at Ypres,
France, 20th September, 1917-
4 Sergt. JOHN MACKENZIE, 4th Seaforth Highlanders; killed at
Cambtai, France, 22nd Nov., 1917-
GAIRLOCH DISTRICT.
TWO KILLED.
1 Lieut. RODERICK IAN MACKENZIE, 1st Black Watch; killed
near Bethune, llth April, 1915.
2 Pte. DONALD URQUHART, 2nd Lovat Scouts; died in Alexandria,
Egypt, 4th November, 1915
MELLON UDRIGLE.
SEVEN KILLED.
1 Lance-Corpl. HECTOR A. MACKENZIE, 4th Seaforth Highlanders;
killed in France, 29th April, 1916.
2 Troopei ANGUS CAMPBELL, South African Lovat Scouts; died of
fever at Malta, June, 1917-
3 Guardsman WILLIAM MACIVER, 1st Scots Guards; killed at
Mons, 1914
4 Gunnet ALEXANDER MACKENZIE, R.F.A.; killed December,
1917, in France.
5 Pte. DONALD MACLEOD, 13th Battalion Australian Contingent;
killed 24th May, 1915-
6 Sergt. JOHN MACLEOD, 4th Cameron Highlanders; killed April,
1917, in France.
7 Pte. JOHN MACKENZIE, 4th Seaforth Highlanders; killed in
France 10th April, 1917-
INVERASDALE DISTRICT.
EIGHT KILLED.
1 Pte. ALICK MACLENNAN, 4th Seaforth Highlanders; died in
France, 1915-
2 Pte. MURDO MACKENZIE, Seaforth Highlanders; kUkd ia
France, 12th October, 1916.
3 Sergt. WILLIAM CHISHOLM, 7th Seaforth Highlanders; killed in
France 27th July, 1917-
4 Pte. DONALD MACKENZIE, 5th Cameron Highlanders; killed at
Loos, France, 25th September, 1915-
5 Pt-. DONALD MACKENZIE, 3rd Batt. Australian Imperial Regi-
ment . died of wounds at Dardanelles, 6th Sept., 1915
6 Chief Petty Officer DONALD MACIVER, R.N.R.; killed at Inver-
gordon on board H.M.S. "Natal," 25th Dec., 1915-
7 Able-Seaman ALICK MUNRO, R.N.R.; accidentally killed on board
H.M.S "Kent," 25th Aug , 1915-
8 Gunner RODERICK MACDONALD, R.N.R.; killed in action on
board e.s. "Islandmore Transport," 2nd June, 1917-
62 THE BOOK OF GAIRLOCH
MELVAIG, AULTGRISHAN, PETERBURN, SAND,
ERRADALE DISTRICTS.
ELEVEN KILLED.
1 Pte. RORY MACKENZIE, 10th A. and S. Highlanders; killed.
2 Deckhand JOHN MACKENZIE, R.N.R.T. ; died in Royal Naval
Hospital, Plymouth, 29th April, 1917.
3 Trimmer MURDO MACKENZIE. R.N.R.T.; died in Haslar Hospital,
Gosport, 3rd Feb., 1919-
4 Pte. KENNETH CAMPBELL, 2nd Lovat Scouts ; killed at Gallipoli,
5th December, 1916-
5 Pte. JOHN MILLER, 3 /4th Seaforth Highlanders; killed at Arras,
Franco. 9th April, 1917.
6 Pte. THOMAS MILLER, I/ 6th Seaforth Highlanders; killed at
Arras, France, 14th May, 1917.
7 Pte. WILLIAM MACRAE, 6th Cameron Highlanders; killed at Loos,
France, 25th September, 1915.
8 Pte RODERICK MACKENZIE, Gordon Highlanders; died at
Doullens, France, 14th May, 1918.
9 Pte. FARQUHAR MACRAE, 2nd Scots Guards; killed in France,
1st January. 1915-
10. Lieut. JOHN MACDONALD, Royal Garrison Artillery; killed in
action 27th May, 1910.
11 Gurmer KENNETH MACKENZIE, Royal Field Artillery; died of
wounds in Base Hospital, 5th June, 1917.
AULTBEA, BADFERN, BUALNALUIB, ORMISCAIG,
MELLON CHARLES, & SLAGGAN DISTRICTS.
TWENTY KILLED.
1 Pte. DUNCAN MACLEOD, 4th Seaforth Highlanders; killed at
Arras, France, April 1917.
2 Pte DONALD MACLENNAN, 4th Seaforth Highlanders; killed in
France, 5th August, 1917-
3 Pte. JOHN MAC1VER, 7th Scottish Rifles; killed in Palestine,
13th November, 1,917.
4 Pte. JOHN MACLENNAN, 13th Scottish Horse ; killed at St. Emilie,
France, 1917.
5 Lieut. HECTOR MACKENZIE, 49th Canadians; killed at Lens,
France, 21st August, 1917-
6 SJgnaller ROBERT BEATON, 1st Batt. Auckland Infantry, N.Z.;
killed at Ypres, France, 4th October, 1917-
7 Able-Seaman ZECHAR1AH MACLENNAN, R.N.R., "Drake" Batt.;
died at Haslar Hospital, 7th Nov., 191/7-
8 Setnan WILLIAM MACIVER, R.N.R., H.M.S. "Triumph"; drowned
at Dardanelles, 26th May, 1915-
9 Deckhand MURDO MACLENNAN, R.N.R.T.; died at Royal Naval
Base Hospital, Malta, 4th December, 1918.
10 Stokei A MACLEOD, R.N.R. ; drowned.
11 Pte. J. MACLEAN, Seaforths; killed.
12 Pte C. R. MACRAE, Seaforths; killed.
13 Able-Seaman J. MACLEAN, R.NR. ; died on service.
14 Able-Seaman H. MAY, R.N.R. ; died on service.
15 Pte R. TULLOCH, Seaforths; killed.
16 Piper J. MACIVER. Scottish Rifies; killed.
17 Able-Seaman W. MACIVER, R.N.R.; drowned.
THE BOOK OF GAIRLOCH. 63
18 Pte. J. MACLENNAN, Scottish Rifles; died of wounds.
19 Able-Seaman A. URQUHART, R.N.R.; drowned.
20 Pte. R. BEATON. Auckland N.Z.D.; killed.
LAIDE DISTRICT.
TEN KILLED.
1 Captain KENNETH MACIVER (Laide), Cameron Highlanders;
killed in action, 1918.
2 Lieut DUNCAN MACIVER (Laide), Cameron Highlanders; killed
iu action, 1916-
3 Pte ROBERT MACKENZIE (Laide), 2nd Batt. Seaforth Highlanders ;
killed in action, 1918-
4 Pte RODERICK MACLENNAN (Laide), Gordon Highlanders; killed
in action, 1917
5 Cpl. KENNETH MACKENZIE (Coast), V.R., 4th Seaforths; killed
in action, 1918-
6 Pte. ALEXANDER MACKENZIE (Udrigle), Lovat Scouts, trans-
ferred to Gordon Highlanders; killed in action, 1918.
7 Pte MURDO MACKENZIE (Udrigle), 6th Seaforth Highlanders;
killed in action, 1918-
8 Pte. JOHN MACKENZIE (Achgarve', N.Z.F. ; killed in action, 1917.
9 Stoker ANGUS MACLEOD (Achgarve), H.M.S. Derwent; drowned.
10 Pte. KENNETH MACKENZIE (Sand), V.R. 24th Canadians; killed
in action, 1917-
KINLOCHEWE DISTRICT.
NINE KILLED.
1 Seigt. KENNETH MACRAE, 4th Seaforth Highlanders; killed at
Paschendael, France, 6th Sept., 1917-
2 Cpl. DONALD MACIVER, 4th Seaforth Highlanders; killed at
Laventie, France, 21st September, 1915-
3 Pte. ALEXANDER MACKENZIE, 4th Seaforth Highlanders; killed
at Arras, France, 9th April, 1917.
4 Pte. HECTOR MACLENNAN, 4th Seaforth Highlanders; killed at
Neuve Chapelle, France, Hth March, 1915.
5 Pte. SIMON URQUHART, 4th Seaforth Highlanders; killed in action
at Neuve Chapelle, France, llth March, 1915.
6 Pte. MURDO M. MACKENZIE (Military Medal), 52nd Canadians;
killed at Paschendael, France, 28th October, 1917.
7 Pte. JOHN E. WATSON, 2 /24th London Regiment (Queen's) ; killed
in Palestine, 9th December, 1917-
8 Pte. KENNETH MACDONALD. Wellington Infantry, N.Z.; killed
at Gallipoli 7th August, 1915-
9 Pte. DONALD MACKENZIE, 1st Devons; killed at the Somme,
France, 23rd August, 1918-
64 THE BOOK OF GAIRLOCH.
ROLL OF SERVICE.
STRATH DISTRICT.
Captain J. S. F. MACLENNAN, 9th Division (9th Seaforths,.
Captain ALEX MACINTYRE, R.A.M.C.
Lieut. J. F MACKINTOSH, 2/1 Glamorgan Yeomanry; Long Service
Medal.
Lieut, and Q.M. JOHN MACKENZIE, 9,th Seaforth Highlanders , Soudan
'98- Queen's and Khedive Medal, Long Service Medal.
Sergt. JOHN K. MACKENZIE, 4th Seaforth Highlanders; 1914 Star.
Sergt. MURDO MACLEAN, 4th Seaforth Highlanders.
Sergt. K. N. MACKENZIE, 4th Seaforth Highlanders; 1914 Staj.
Sergt. DONALD MACKINTOSH, 4th Seaforths and R.N7f 1914 ~Sta,r.
Sergt. WILLIAM MACIVER, 4th Seaforths; twice wounded; J9JL4 Star.
Sergt. MURDO FRASER, 4th Seaforth Highlanders; 1914 Staj_
Sergt. LAUCHLAN MACLEOD, 4th Seaforths; once wounded, July 1918.
Cpl. EVAN ROBERTSON, Ross Mountain Battery; Long Service Medal.
Cpl. DONALD MACKENZIE, 4th Seaforth Highlanders; 1914 Star.
Cpl. KENNETH FRASER, 4th Seaforth Highlanders.
Lance-Cpl. WILLIAM MACKENZIE, 50th Canadian Battalion; gassed.
Lance-Cpl. JOHN MACLEOD, 4th Seaforths; gassed; 1914 Star.
Lance-Cpl. COLIN ROBERTSON, R.A.S.C. (N.I.I.).
Lance-Cpl. COLIN MACLEAN, A.O.C.
Lance-Cpl. JAMES BAIN, 4th Seaforth Highlanders; ^914 Star.
Lance-Cpl. ALEX. MACIVER, 4th Seaforth Highlanders; 1914 Star.
A.B. KENNETH MACKENZIE, R.N.
A.C.I. GEORGE MACINTOSH, Royal Air Force.
Pte. DUNCAN MACKENZIE, 4th Seaforth Highlanders; 1914 Star.
Leading Deckhand MURDO MACRAE, R.N.R.T.
Pte. MURDO J. MACKENZIE, 4th Seaforth Highlanders.
Pte. D. MACLEAN, 5th Gordons.
Pte. KENNETH FORBES, 2nd Seaforths.
Pte. DUNCAN MACKENZIE, 6th Gordons ; once wounded, March, 1918-
D.R. Hand DAVID ALLAN, R.N.R.T. ; twice wounded.
D.R. Hand KENNETH ALLAN, R.N.R.T.
Pte. JOHN FRASER, R.G.A.
Pte. THOMAS MACLEOD, 4th Seaforths; wounded July, 1918.
Pte. DUNCAN ROSS, 4th Seaforth Highlanders; wounded.
Pte. RODERICK BAIN, M.T.R., A.S.C.
Pte. ALEX. MACKENZIE, 4th Seaforth Highlanders.
Bdr. ALEX. MACKENZIE, R.G.A.
Pte ANGUS FR~ASER, 9th Seaforth Highlanders.
A.B KENNETH URQUHART, R.N.R. ; Long Service Medal.
Pte. JOHN URQUHART, 4th Seaforths; R.N.R.T.
Deckhand THOMAS FRASER, R.N.R.T. \/t+ -
Pte. SIMON MACKINTOSH, 2/1 Glamuigau Ytu
•OTWal; Victory.
A.B. RODERICK FRASER, R.N.R.T.
2nd A.M. MURDO MACKENZIE, R.A.F.
Pte JOHN MACKENZIE, 4th Seaforth Highlanders.
Signalma-i JOHN MACKENZIE, 55th Battery Canadians.
— JOHN BAIN, Strath.
— ALEXANDER BAIN, Strath.
MACKENZIE, Gairloch, Flowerdale.
THE BOOK OF GAIRLOCH. 65
Sergt. CHARLES MACDONALD, 4th Seaforths; twice wounded.
vSergt. ALEX. B. BAIN, 4th Seaforths, att. K.A.R. : IQjq Star..
Sergt. HECTOR MACINTYRE, 4th Seaforth Highlanders ; both legs
wounded at Neuve Chapelle.
A.C.I. GEORGE MACINTOSH, Ruyal Ail PuiL-e.
Piper A MACKENZIE', 4th Seaforth Highlanders.
C.P.O KENNETH MACRAE, R.N. ; 1915 Star.
Deckhand KENNETH MACKAY, R.N.R.T.
Drummer WALTER L. MACL"ENNAN, 4th Seaforths.
LAIDE, SAND, COAST & ACHGARVE DISTRICTS.
Pte. ALEX. MACLEAN, 4th Seaforths.
MELVAIG, AULTGRISHAN AND PETERBURN
DISTRICT.
Sergt. JOHN MACKENZIE, 9th Black Watch.
Lance-Cpl. ALICK MACRAE, Seaforth Highlanders; wounded
Pte. RODERICK PATERSON, 2nd Gordon Highlanders- wouiideJ
Ptc. HECTOR MACLEOD, 16th A. and S. Highlanders
Pte. KENNETH MACKENZIE, 5th Cameron Highlanders.
Pte. ALICK MACKENZIE, 4th Reserve Seafortho
Pte. FINLAY MACLEAN, Canadian R.E.
Pte. KENNETH URQUHART, Seaforth Highlanders; wounded
1st A.M. JOHN URQUHART, R.A.F.; gassed.
Deckhand ALICK MATHESON, R.N.R.T.
Gunner WILLIAM URQUHART, R.G.A.
Deckhand KENNETH URQUHART. R.N.R
— WILLIAM URQUHART.
— MURDO URQUHART.
Ft*. JOHN URQUHART, Seaforth Highlanders.
Gunner HECTOR CHISHOLM, R.G.A.
Deckhand JOHN CHISHOLM, R.N.R.
Deckhand HECTOR MACDONALD, R.N.R.T.
Deckhand FINLAY MACRAE, R.N.R.T.
Deckhand FINLAY MACRAE, R.N.R.T.
Lance-Cpl. WILLIAM MACRAE, 4th Seaforths; v/oundfd Mons Stir
A.B. FINLAY MACRAE, R.N.R.; 1914 Medal.
A.B. MURDO MACKENZIE, R.N.
— MURDO MACKENZIE, R.N.
Deckhand DONALD URQUHART, R N.R.T.
Deckhand JOHN MACBETH, R.N R.T.
— LOUIE MACRAE, R.N. Bomb Defence.
— CHARLES GRANT.
— MURDO URQUHART, 2 /2nd Lovat Scouts.
Pte. ALICK CHISHOLM, 10th Seaforth Highlanders.
Pte. MURDO URQUHART, 2 /2nd Lovat Scouts.
Deckhand JOHN MACKENZIE (2 Melvaig), R.N.R.T.
Deckhand DONALD MACKENZIE, R.N.R.T.
Deckhand JOHN MACKENZIE (9 Melvaig). R.N.R.T
Deckhand KENNETH MACKENZIE, R.N.
Deck hand KENNETH MACGREGOR, R.N.R.T.
Deckhand KENNETH CHISHOLM, R.N.
Deckhand JOHN GRANT, R.N.R.T.
Deckhand KENNETH GRANT, R.N.R.T.
Deckhand ALICK GRANT, R.N.R.T.
66 THE BOOK OF GAIRLOCH.
OPINAN, PORT HENDERSON, SOUTH ERRADALE,
AND ROAD POINT.
Q-M.-S. HECTOR MACKENZIE, 4th Seaforths ; Jf^
Q.-M.-S JOHN MACPHERSON, 4th Seaforths; wounded; Mons Star
Col.-Sergt. JOHN CHISHOLM, 4th Seaforths.
Sergt. MURDO MACKENZIE, 4th Seaforths; wounded, Mans Star
Sergt. DONALD MACKENZIE, 4th Seaforths; wounded; Mons Star.
Corpl. MURDO MACRAE, R.N.R.T.
Pte. KENNETH MACKENZIE, Machine Gun Corps.
Pte. JOHN MACKENZIE, Lothian and Border Horse.
Pte. JOHN MACPHERSON, 4th Seaforths; gassed.
Pte. DUNCAN MACPHERSON, 4th Seaforths ; wounded and prisoner of
war.
Pte. GEORGE STUART, 2nd Seaforths.
Pte. ALEX. MACAULAY, 4th Seaforths; prisoner of war.
Driver MURDO MACKENZIE, R.F.A.
Pte. DUNCAN MACKENZIE, Royal Dragoons.
Pte. ALtJX. BAIN, 4th Seaforths.
Pte. KENNETH MACKENZIE, 4th Seaforths ; wounded : Mons Star.
Pte. DONALD MACKENZIE, 4th Seaforths ; wounded ; MonTStar.
RODERICK MACLEAN, wounded.
Engineer DUNCAN MACPHERSON, R.N.R.T. ; "Star of the North "
Pte. KENNETH MACRAE, 1st Seaforths.
WILLIAM MACMILLAN, R.N.R.T. "Basle."
Pte. FARQUHAR MACKENZIE, 4th Seaforths jjtfons Star and M.M.
KENNETH MACKENZIE, R.N.R.T.; "James Chapman."
Pte MURDO MACPHERSON, 4th Seaforths ; J^gns Star.
Pte. ALEX. MACKENZIE, 4th Seaforths.
Pte. ALEX. MACKENZIE, 4th Seaforths; Mons Star.
ALEX. MACKENZIE, R.N. "Ernan."
Gunner KENNETH MACPHERSON, H.M.S. "Canada."
GEOR"GE MACPHERSON, R.N.R.T. "Peur Dobbin."
Gunner JOHN WATSON, H.M.S. "Canada."
DUNCAN MACLEAN, R.N. "Erin."
Pte. MURDO MACKENZIE, 4th Seaforths; Mons Star,-
Pte. KENNETH MACKENZIE, 4th Seaforths; wounded and gassed;
^ffrmg Star*--
MURDO MACKENZIE, H.M.T. "Craik."
Gunner WILLIAM MACRAE, R.N R.T. ; H.M.T. "Thomas Robins."
Pte. KENNETH MACRAE, 4th Seaforths.
Pte. JOHN MACRAE, 4th Seaforths.
Pte. MURDO MACKENZIE, 4th Seaforths ; wounded and gassed ; Mons
Star.
Pte. wfttTAM MACKENZIE, 2nd Seaforths.
Pte. RODERICK MACKENZIE, 4th Seaforths; wounded; Mons Star.
DUNCAN MACKENZIE. R.N.R.T.
DONALD MACDONALD, R.N.R.T.
MURDO MACDONALD, R.N.R.T.
I.ance-Corpl. ALEX. MACKENZIE, 4th Seaforths.
Sergt. MALCOLM MACAULAY, 4th Seaforths.
INVERASDALE DISTRICT.
Q.-M.-S. RODERICK MACDONALD, Northumberland Fusiliers.
S.-M. JOHN MACDONALD, Norfolk Regiment; wounded in action.
Sergt. THOMAS MACLEOD, 1st Battalion Royal Scots.
THE BOOK OF GAIRLOCH. 67
Corpl. GEORGE MACPHERSON, Motor Machine Gun Corps; wounded
in action.
Lance-Corpl. KENNETH MACKENZIE, Seaforth Highlanders ; wounded
in action.
Pte. HECTOR ERASER, 7th Seaforth Highlanders; wounded in action.
Gunner COLIN ERASER, Royal Garrison Artillery.
Pte. RODERICK MACIVER, Australian Imperial Forces; wounded in
action
Pte. RODERICK MACLEOD, Northumberland Fusiliers.
Pte. NEIL MACLEOD, ?th Seaforth Highlanders.
Pte. DONALD MACKENZIE, Piper, New Zealand Brigade; gassed.
SIMON MACIVER, R.N.R.T !
Pte. SIMON MACKENZIE, Labour Corps.
Pte. JAMES MACLENNAN, 7th Seaforth Highlanders.
ALICK URQUHART, R.N.R.T.
Pte. ALICK MACASKILL, Seaforth Highlanders; wounded
KENNETH URQUHART, R.N.R.T
DONALD MACKENZIE, 1st Seaforth Highlanders; twice wounded.
RODERICK MACKENZIE, Royal Engineers.
KENNETH A. MACKENZIE. Navy.
FINLAY MACLENNAN, A & S. Highlanders; wounded in action.
JOHN MACLEAN, R.A.S.C.
WILLIAM GUNN, Light Horse, New Zealanders; wounded in action.
MURDO MACDONALD, A.S.C., M.T.
HECTOR MACDONALD, R.A.M.C. ; South Africans.
JOHN MACKENZIE, Scots Guards; wounded in action.
ALLAN MACKENZIE, Scots Guards.
ALEX. MACKENZIE, Canadian Highlanders; wounded in action.
ANGUS MACKENZIE, R.G.A.
DONALD MACRAE R.N.R.T (Navy).
HECTOR URQUHART, R.N.R.T. (Navy.)
ALEX. URQUHART, R.N.R.T. (Navy).
JOHN URQUHART, Seaforth Highlanders.
JOHN MACLENNAN, Argyle & Sutherland Highlanders.
Pte. DONALI' MACGREGOR, Seaforth Highlanders; wounded.
Pte. HECTOR URQUHART, Royal Engineers.
Pte. WILLIAM URQUHART, Australian Imperial Force.
Pte. MURDO MACDONALD, Canadians; wounded.
DUNCAN MACLEAN, R.N.R.
JOHN MACLEAN R.N.R.
KENNETH MACLEAN, R.N.R.T.
MURDO MACLEAN R.N.R.T.
JOHN KEMP. R.N.R.T.
KENNETH R MACRAE, R.N.R.T.
JOHN MACKENZIE, R.N.R.T.
DONALD MACKENZIE, R.N.R.T.
RODERICK MACDONALD, R.N.R.T.,
MURDO MACDONALD, R.N.R. \
JOHN MACLENNAN, R.N.R.T. ,
DONALD MACLEAN, R.N.R.T. ; R A.F.
ETTA M. MACRAE, W.R.A.F. .
ALEXANDER KEMP, R.N.R.T.
POOLEWE DISTRICT.
RODERICK CAMERON, Achadhmore.
ALICK CAMERON, Do.
68 THE BOOK OF GAIRLOCH.
JOHN CAMERON, Londuah
ANGUS CAMERON, Do
JOHN MITCHELL, Do. ' .
COLIN MITCHELL, Do.
DONALD MACDOUGALL, Do.
KENNETH MACKENZIE, Poolewe
ALICK MACKENZIE, Do
JOHN MACKENZIE, Do.
ALICK CAMPBELL, Inverewe.
KENNETH MACLEAN, Poolewe.
NORMAN MACLENNAN, Riverside.
ALICK ROSS
DUNCAN UfcQUHART, Kemsary.
WILLIAM GRANT, Mossbank.
FINLAY MACKINNON, Do.
DONALD MACKINNON, Do.
DONALD URQUHART, Do.
DONALD URQUHART, Croft.
JOHN MACKENZIE. Do.
ALICK MACKENZIE, Do.
ALICK URQUHART, Do.
KENNETH URQUHART, Do.
GEORGK MACLENNAN, Riverside
DUNCAN URQUHART, Croft.
WILLIAM MACLENNAN, Poolewe.
ALEXANDER MACLENNAN, Do.
ALICK MACLENNAN, Do.
JOHN MACLENNAN, Do.
ALICK URQUHART, Riverside.
JOHN URQUHART, Do.
KENNETH MITCHELL, Londubh.
COLIN MACKENZIE, Poolewe.
DUNCAN URQUHART, Kernsary.
AULTBEA
(Embracing the Villages of Aultbea, Badfern, Bualnaluib,
Ormiscaig, Mellon Charles, and Slaggan).
Lieut. W. MACKENZIE, Lovat Scouts.
Sergt. J. CAMERON, Loral Scouts.
Sergt. D. MACKENZIE, Seaforths.
Sergt. R. CHISHOLM, Auckland Infantry, N.Z.E.F.
Seigt. K. MACLENNAN, Lovat Scouts.
Corpl. T. MACDONALD, Seaforth Highlanders, Military Medal.
Pte. H. 'MACLENNAN, Seaforth Highlanders.
Lance-Corpl. S. MACRAE, R S.F.
Pte. J. MACRAE, Lovat Scouts.
Pte. D. MACKENZIE, R.M. Battery.
Pte. A. MACKENZIE, Lovat Scouts.
Pte. C. MACKENZIE, Seaforth Highlanders.
Pte. F. MACKENZIE, Lovat Scouts.
Pte. A. CAMPBELL, Seaforth Highlanders.
Driver A. URQUHART, A.S.C., N.Z.E.F.
Pte. G. URQUHART, Seaforths.
A.B. A. MACASKILL, M.B.R.
Pte. A. MACASKILL, A.A.F.
Pte. D. MACKENZIE. Lovat Scouts.
THE BOOK OF GAIRLOCH. 69
A.B. D. MACIVER, M.B.R.
A.B. J. BEATON, R.N.R.
Pte. M. MACLEAN, M.G.C.
Tte. D. GRANT, R.E.
Pte. W. MACLENNAN, Seaforth Highlanders.
Driver M. MACIVEK, Naval B. Train, N.Z.E.F.
P.O. J. BEATON, R.N.R. ; D.S.M. ;
A.B. D. MACKENZIE. R.N.R.
A.B. M. URQUHART, M.B R.
A.B. J. URQUHART, R.N.R.
A.B. K. MACLEAY, R.N.R.
Pte. J. MACLEAY, Canadians.
A.B. j. MACLEOD, R.N.R.
A.B. A. MACKENZIE, R.N.R.
Pte. G. CHISHOLM, Black Watch.
A.B. R. MACKENZIE, R.N.R.
Pte. A. MACKENZIE, R.A.F.
A.B. C. MACLENNAN, R.N.R.
A.B. H. MACGREGOR, R.N.R.
Pte J. MACLEAY, Seaforths
Rifleman J. MACLEAY, N.Z.R.B.
a?te. A. MACLEAY, Lovat Scouts
Pte. J. GRANT, R.A.M.C.
A.B. H. GRANT, R.N.R.
A.B. M. GRANT, R.N.V.R.
Pte. H. MACDONALD, Seaforths.
Mate W. BEATON, R.N.V.R
A.B. D. MACKENZIE, R.N.VJR.
Pte. M. MACLENNAN, Camerons.
Pte. D URQUHART, H.L.I
Pte. D. URQUHART, Scottish Rifles.
A.B. MACLEAN, R.N.R.
Pte W. MACLENNAN, Lovat Scouts.
A.B. M. MACKENZIE, R.N R.
A.B. C. MACKENZIE, R.N.R.
A.B. A. GORDON, M.M.R.
Pte. W. MACRAE, Lovat Scouts.
Pte W. MACRAE, Gordons.
A.B. M. MACKENZIE, R.N.R.
Pte. A. MACRAE, Lovat Scouts.
Gunner R. MACLENNAN, R.F.A.
A.B K. MACLENNAN, R.N.R.
Cpl. J. MACLEAN, Camerons.
LAIDE, SAND, COAST AND ACHGAEVE DISTRICTS.
LAIDE—
Captain JOHN MACLENNAN, s.s. "Tillycorthie" ; prisoner of war.
Q.M.S. RODERICK MACKENZIE, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders.
Sergt. JOHN MACKENZIE, 4th Seaforth Highlanders ; twice wounded ;
Military Medal.
Cpl. WILLIAM GUNN, Lovat Scouts, transferred G.A.
Pte. DONALD GUNN, 2nd Canterbury Regt., N.Z.F. ; wounded.
Pte. RODERICK FRASER, Lovat Scouts; wounded.
Pte. DUNCAN MACKENZIE, 2nd Batt. Canterbury Regt, N.Z.F. ;
wounded and g'assed.
Pte. MURDO MACIVER, Lovat Scouts.
Deckhand JAMES MACKENZIE, R.N.V.R,
B
70 THE BOOK OF GAIRLOCH.
Pte. GEORGE MACKENZIE, Seaforth Highlanders.
Gunner ALEX J. MACKENZIE, Royal Garrison Artillery.
— JOHN MACAULAY, R.N.C.V.R.
Deckhand DUNCAN MATHESON, H.M.D. "Ebenezer."
SAND—
Sergt.-Major MURDO MACKENZIE, 3rd Cameron Highlanders; three-
times wounded.
Pte. JOHN D. MACAULAY, Royal Engineers.
Pte. ALEX. MACLEAN, 1st Seaforth Highlanders.
Seaman GEORGE MAC'LEAN, R.N.; H.M.S. "St. George."
A.B. COLIN MACKENZIE, R.N.R. ; "Queen Elizabeth."
A.B ALEX. MACKENZIE, R.N.R. ; H.M.S. "Eileen."
Pte. DUNCAN MACAULAY, K.O.S.B., transferred H.L.I.
COAST—
Sergt. JOHN MACAULAY, Australian E.F.
Pte. ALEX. MACKENZIE, Royal Field Artillery.
Pte. JOHN MACKENZIE, Royal Field Artillery.
Cpl. JOHN MACLEAN, L.S., transferred 7th Camerons; wounded.
Piper CHARLES MACKENZIE, 17th Reserve Batt. Canadians.
Sap. JOHN MACKENZIE, Royal Engineers; wounded; Military Medal.
ASHGARVE—
Pte. JOHN MACLEOD, 1st Canadian Reserve; wounded.
Deckhand MURDO MACLEOD, H.M.S. "Liberty."
BADACHRO DISTRICT.
Colonel RODERICK M. GUNN, R.A.M.C., N.Z.F.
Lieut. COLIN F. GUNN, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders.
Cpl. MURDO M, GUNN, Special Brigade; wounded; Military Medal.
Lance-Cpl. KENNETH MACPHERSON, Seaforth Highlanders; once
wounded ; M.M., Moos Star.
Pte. WILLIAM BAIN, 6th~ Gordons"
Pte. FAROUHAR MACDONALD, Seaforths; wounded Mons.
Pte. JAMES WATSON, R.N.R.
Pte. SIMON MACPHER'ON, Seaforth Highlanders; twice wounded,.
once gassed ; Mons Star.
Pte. WILLIAM MACRAE, 4th Seaforths; loss of eye, and body wounds.
Pte. JOSEPH POLSON, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders.
Pte JAMES POLSON, Australians
Pte. RODERICK MACLEAN. 4th Seafod^s.
Pte. ALICK MACKENZIE, Seaforth Highlanders; twice wounded and
once gassed ; Mons Star.
A.B. ALEXANDER MACKENZIE, R.N.R.
Seaman JOHN BAIN, R.N.R
trimmer DUNCAN MACKENZIE, R.N.R.
Deckhand RODERICK MACKENZIE, R.N.R.T.
Deckhand ADAM BAIN, R.N.R.T.
Seaman ALEXANDER MACKENZIE, R.N.R.T.
Seaman JOHN WATSON, R.N.R.
Deckhand JOHN MACPHERSON, R.N.R.T.
Deckhand ROBERT POLSON, served on H.M.S. "Elizabeth."
Seaman MURDO CAMPBELL, R.N R.T.
Seaman RODERICK MACKENZIE, R.N.R.
THE BOOK OF GAIRLOCH. 71
MELLON UDRIGLE DISTRICT.
Sergt.-Major JOHN MACLENNAN, 1st Lovat Scouts.
Cpl. GEORGE MACIVER, Lovat Scouts and Minesweeper.
Lance-Cpl. HECTOR GUNN, 1st Seaforth Highlanders; wounded
Piper DONALD CAMPBELL, Cameron Highlanders; wounded in
France. January, 1916-
Pte. DONALD MACKENZIE, 2/20 Lovat Scouts (Gordon Highlanders);
wounded in France, March, 1917-
Pte. WILLIAM MACLEAN, 44th Battalion Canadians; wounded at
Zillebeke, May, 1915.
Guardsman ALEXANDER MACLEOD, Scots Guards; wounded in
France, April, 1918.
Pte. DUNCAN MACLEOD, 4th Cameron Highlanders; wounded at
Neuve Chapelle, 1915; Loos, 1915.
Pte. JOHN MACLEOD, Gordon Highlanders; wounded 30th April,
1918-
Pte. ALEXANDER MACKENZIE, Gordon Highlanders; wounded 28th
June, 1917.
Pte. JOHN MACKENZIE, 4th Seaforth and Tank Corps
Deckhand GEORGE CAMPBELL, 4th Seaforth Highlanders.
Trooper GEORGE MACKENZIE, Lovat Scouts.
Trooper HECTOR MACKENZIE, Lovat Scouts.
Trooper MURDO MACKENZIE, Scottish Horse.
Guardsman ALEXANDER" MACLEOD, Scots Guards; wounded in
France April, 1918.
SAND AND NORTH ERR AD ALE DISTRICT.
Sergt. ALEXANDER BAIN, 1st R.S.F.; wounded 12th March, 1916-
Trooper DONALD BAIN, Lovat Scouts.
Gunner JOHN BAIN, Royal Garrison Artillery.
Pte. JAMES BAIN, 4th Seaforth Highlanders
Deckhand JOHN D. MACRAE, R.N.R.T.
A.B. JOHN MACRAE, R.N.R.
Pte. GEORGE MILLAR, R.A.F.
Pte. GEORGE MILLAR, Seaforths.
Deckhand RODERICK MORRISON, R.N.R.T. (40 Big Sand).
Deckhand ALEXANDER MACPHERSON, R.N.R.T.
Pte. WILLIAM BAIN, 1st K.O.S.K.; wounded 3rd May, 1917-
Deckhand RODERICK MORRISON, R.N.R.T. (14 Big Sand).
Pte. THOMAS MACDONALD, 4th Seaforths; wounded February, 1916.
Pte. KENNETH MACLEAN, 3/2 Lovat Scouts.
Pte. RODERICK MACLEAN, 4th Seaforths.
Deckhand JOHN MACLEAN, "R.N.R.T.
Pte FINLAY BEATON, 3rd Seaforths.
Pte. KENNETH MACKENZIE, 4th Seaforth Highlanders.
Engineer Sub-Lieut ALEXANDER MACGILI.IVRAY, R.N.R.
JOHN BEATON, 15 Big Sand.
KINLOCHEWE DISTRICT.
Captain MURDO MACDONALD, Royal Defence Corps.
Lient. JACK CKOSS, 4th Seaforth Highlanders.
Sergt. JOHN MACLENNAN, 4th Seaforth Highlanders; wounded at
Festubert, 9th May, 1915: D.C.M. and Mons Star.
72 THE BOOK OF GAIRLOCH.
R.S.M. JOHN MACKENZIE, Seaforth Highlanders; British Soudan
Medal and Egyptian Medal.
Sergt. RICHARD F. MACDONALD, 4th South African Scottish;
wounded Meteren (Belgium), 19th July, 1918; and at Le
Cateau, 10th October, 1918- ,
Sergt. RODERICK CAMERON, 16th Argyle and Sutherland Highdrs
Lieut. DONALD M. MACKENZIE, 4th Seaforth Highlanders.
Sergt. MURDO MACRAE, M.G.C. ; gassed March 2nd, 1917, and August
1st, 1918; wounded IQth May, 1919. D.C.M. and mentioned in
despatches April 7th. 1918.
Corpl. JOHN MACLENNANV 4th Seaforth Highlanders
Corpl. DUNCAN MACLENNAN, 8th Seaforths.
Pte. RODERICK M. MACKENZIE; wounded llth April, 1918; M.M.
Pte. ALEXANDER MACIVER, 4th Seaforths; wounded at Neuve
Chapelle , Mons Star •
Pte. JOHN MACIVER, A.S.C. ; served also in South African War.
Lance-Coipl. CHARLES MACKENZIE, 4th Seaforth Highlanders;
Mons Star.
Pte. KETTFTETH" MACKENZIE, 4th Seaforth Highlanders.
Lance-Coipl. ALISTAIR WATSON, 16th A. & S. Highlanders.
Pte. ANGUS CAMPBELL, Lovat Scouts Sharpshooters.
Lance-Corpl. ALICK MACKENZIE, 1st Seaforths; 1915 Star.
Pte. JOHN MACKENZIE, 4th Seaforths.
Pte. ALEXANDER URQUHART, R.A.S.C., M.T. ; wounded at Ypres,
September 9th, 1917.
Pte. JOSEPH URQUHART, 4th Seaforth Highlanders; wounded at
Arras, May, 1917, and La Bassee, 18th April, 1918; gassed at
Rheims, 1918-
Pte. ANGUS URQUHART, Lovat Scouts Sharpshooters, and 5th Cams.
Pte. JOHN MACDONALD, 3rd Seaforth Highlanders.
Driver ALEXANDER MACDONALD, South African M.T. Corps.
Pte. HECTOR MACDONALD, 1st Cameron Highlanders; wounded at
Festubert, 18th May, 1915. and at Butte de Warlencourt
(Somme). 18th Nov , 1916-
Pte HECTOR CAMERON, 4th Seaforth Highlanders ; wounded in 1918-
Major DUNCAN MACDONALD, D.A.D.V.S., O.B.E.
Sapper DONALD FRASER, 9th Australian Engineers.
Pte. JOHN MACDONALD, 95th Canadian Infastry; wounded at Vimy
Ridge
SIMON MACDONALD, Flying Corps, U.S.A.
Piper ANGUS MACKENZIE, 5th Seaforth Highlanders; wounded at
Arras, May, 1918.
Pte. KENNETH MACKENZIE, 17th Scottish Rifles, and 8th Coy.,
RA.M.C. ; wounded at Armentieres, Sept. 6th, 1916.
Pte. HECTOR CAMERON, 4th Seaforth Highlanders.
Sapper DONALD FRASER, 9th Australian Engineers.
Bdr. DUNCAN MACGREGOR, 4th Highland Brigade Ross Battery.
ADDITIONAL NAMES.
ROLL OF SERVICE.
STRATH DISTRICT
Deckhand JOHN ALLAN, R.N.R.T.
Conner JAMES A MACKINTOSH, R.F.A.
ALEXANDER MACLEAN
Stigt. -Major HECTOR BAIN, 4th Seaforths.
ERRATA.
ROLL OF HONOUR.
LAIDE DISTRICT.
No. 8 — Aphgarve should be Achgarve.
ROLL OF SERVICE.
STRATH DISTRICT.
Pte. Simon Mackintosh should be l/4th Seaforths; Victory Medal. "^
Hector Mackenzie, Gairloch, Flowerdale, should be Capt. Hector
Mackenzie.
The Er tries Rory Mackenzie, Gairloch, Flowerdale, and A.C.I. "^
Ctorge Macintosh, Royal Air Force, should be omitted. «x"
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