Iskair Macaulay ane Irish man
The Macaulays of Lewis are generally held to be of Norse descent, from an eponymous Olafr. Here’s Rev W Matheson…
Category: People
The Man from Scaliscro
From the Stornoway Gazette, 29 March 1957. Iain Macleod was born in Skipton, Yorkshire in 1913 and was educated at…
Tales of Aonghas nam Beann
We’ve looked before at the remarkable Angus of the Mountain. The little stories surrounding his life and faith are numberous…
Dolly Doctor speaks up for Gaelic
From the People’s Journal, 27 September 1958. It’s a while now since Dr Donald Macdonald of Gisla in…
Aonghas nam Beann
Angus nam Beann was a well-known figure in Uig at the time of the Revivals, and ever since. The following…
Dòmhnall Càm in South Dell
Another grisly story about our Uig hero, Dòmhnall Càm, who has a much less heroic reputation in other parts of…
Sandy and Mary, 1959
From the Stornoway Gazette supplement, 18 December 1959. Wedding bells have been ringing in Mangersta for the past year. Cupid…
Rev Aulay Macaulay and Tarmod Cleireach
The Reverend Aulay Macaulay was born in Brenish in 1669, son of Dugald, grandson of Angus Beag Macaulay, he of…
Dr Duncan Maclennan
Dr Duncan Maclennan served as the doctor in West Uig from 1935 to 1945. A native of Stornoway, he studied…
The Reverends Norman Morrison
A photo of the Rev Norman Morrison, with his wife, sister (behind him) and children. Rev Morrison was minister at Baile na Cille from 1931 to 1950. He wasn’t the first of that name in Uig; the third known minister in Uig was also Norman Morrison, 1742 to 1777, who was a grandson of John Morrison, tacksman at Bragar – known in the archives as Indweller.
Dòmhnall Cam and Alasdair na Saile Bige
Cha robh cam, nach robh crosda. The following is an account of a familiar tale of the island – perhaps…
The Career of William Maclean
We’ve mentioned before the story of William “Big Bear” Maclean, who was born in Scaliscro in 1837 and, after his…
Home-made Clothes
Another item from the endlessly entertaining Lewsiana, by W Anderson Smith (1874/1886). From the fact that every crofter owns a…
Farquhar Macdonald: A Contract with the Hudson’s Bay Company, 1832
Fearchar (Farquhar) Macdonald, son of Angus, was about born about 1809 at Capadal, roughly on the site of 3 Ardroil.…
The Centenerian
From the Inverness Courier of 25 March 1846: A correspondent has favoured us with some further particulars relative to the…
Ciorstaidh Mhòr
Ciorstaidh Mhòr, Christina Matheson, was born in 1861 in Enaclete, a daughter of William Ruadh and a sister of William…
The Postman Retires
Calum Macaskill (Calum Iain ‘ic Asgaill) was a postman and lived at Luachair. Latterly he would walk into Morsgail every…
Mac an t-Srònaich: Not as Bad as All That
James Shaw Grant, in one of his many books about the folk and tales of the Islands, reckoned that the…
The Uig Piper in Washington
Piper Lorne Cousin with Sir Sean Connery at the US Library of Congress. Lorne is an Uigeach, grandson to Murdo…