[singlepic=1048,389] Miavaig; taken 29 December 2009, 9am. The bay at Miavaig is frozen, as are all the smaller sealochs, including Little Loch Roag, which doesn’t happen often. There is a story of crossing Little Loch Roag on foot, however. James Macnaughton, born 1804 and the son of a shepherd at Cleit a Thog (near Scaliscro), […]
Read more →[singlepic=1046,357] A very unseasonable picture: a party from Reef, out at Strome for peats in fine weather. Angus Mackay (an Gagan), James Morrison (Seumas Mhurchaidh Seumais), Christina Mackay, Peggy Macritchie (Peggy an Irish) and Murdo Macdonald (Morgan).
Read more →From The Times, 2 March 1858 (with a geographical infidelity) Enormous Shoal Of Dogfish. – From all quarters we are furnished with information regarding the appearance of a prodigious shoal of dogfish along the whole north-east coast of Scotland, and as far as to the westward of the Lewis. This circumstance, so unusual at this […]
Read more →It’s Film G time again – this is filmed in our shop, with some familiar faces. (We don’t have line dancing in the hall though.) Don’t forget to vote.
Read more →Stornoway Gazette, 6 October 1939 West Uig, along with other parts of the Island, has contributed its quota to the fighting forces, both army and navy. Being on the Atlantic Seaboard, much interest is taken in all surface craft observed, and much speculation as to their intentions is rife. More interest, however, is taken in […]
Read more →Thanks to Murray and Seatrek for this collection of pictures around Uig and St Kilda. [singlepic=1034,387]
Read more →The house at 35 Cliff is currently being renovated – here are three pictures from the collection of the late Joan Maciver of the house at the time of previous improvements. In the middle photo the new kitchen is being added. [singlepic=939,396] [singlepic=938,329] [singlepic=940,392]
Read more →For next year, Uig Museum will be mounting a display of wedding and christening objects, and we’re very keen to collect any items, stories, photographs and archives connected with these events in Uig over the years. Naturally we don’t need to take ownership of them, unless you’d like to give them a safe home – […]
Read more →[singlepic=936,388] The cause of my sadness is the mill’s decline, Not getting what I need for my baking. -Calum Ruairidh Bhàin (Calum Mackay, Bragar) The Norse Mills of Lewis by Dr Finlay Macleod (Acair, 2009) is surely the most comprehensive volume imaginable on our horizontal mills – including their construction and use, context in world […]
Read more →[singlepic=866,379] This rare picture was taken inside Baile na Cille Church (1950s?) and contributed by Peter N Macdonald. The minister is Rev Angus Macfarlane and the precentor (top left) is Peter Macdonald 5 Crowlista. Can any of the others be identified from the backs of their heads? Edit: immediately identified, thanks to Pat. See comments […]
Read more →[singlepic=863,385] A stone mould for a crusie, an oil lamp of ancient design once in common use throughout the Hebrides.This mould, of unknown provenance, is in our museum collection but unfortunately we don’t have a crusie itself, much as we would love to. (This piece is the first in an occasional series on objects in […]
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Read more →From Mary Beith’s Deanamh a’ Leighis column in the West Highland Free Press, 3 October 2008. The ballan, a cow’s horn used for cupping against the skin to draw out impurities and cure sciatica and rheumatism, was well known in Lewis and continued into living memory. One such ballan used in Lochaber was described by […]
Read more →We don’t do much editorialising here but please allow an aside. Yesterday, after years of argument, debate and mudslinging and a last-minute breakdown, was the first scheduled Sunday ferry from Stornoway to Ullapool (BBC video here) taking people away after the Heb Celt Festival but also now a permanent fixture. Several hundred people turned out […]
Read more →Another item from the endlessly entertaining Lewsiana, by W Anderson Smith (1874/1886). From the fact that every crofter owns a few sheep, wool is naturally the first and most important article in use [in clothing]. This is often torn from the animal, Shetland fashion, in place of being clipped. More wretched looking creatures than these […]
Read more →Thanks to Chrissie for this lovely collection of photos of the Macdonalds at 8 Kneep and their neighbours. They may be easier to view on the Gallery page.
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Read more →From Lewsiana, by W Anderson Smith (1874, 1896). During the autumn and winter the grain is prepared at leisure as potatoes are first consumed, or nearly so, before the meal is much run upon. When in urgent need of meal, the grain is sometimes dried in an iron pot on the fire, and then taken […]
Read more →To mark the expectation that our new Enaclete bypass will opening soon (surely), here’s a further extract from the unpublished memoirs of Rev Col AJ Mackenzie, who was born at Kinresort in 1887, son of the gamekeeper Roderick Mackenzie. The family moved in to the gamekeeper’s house at Uig Lodge in 1891, and a few […]
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