IX. HECTOR ROY MACKENZIE, FIRST LAIRD OF GAIRLOCH
Many years ago there lived at Craig of Gairloch an old man named Alastair Mac Iain Mhic Earchair. He was a man of great piety and respectability, and was one of those who devote much of their time to religious exercises, and are called "the men." He is remembered by old people now living. It was in the first quarter of the nineteenth century that early one morning Alastair went out for a load of bog fir for firewood. When he came to the peat moss where the wood was to be found, there suddenly appeared before him a tall fair-haired man attired in the Breacan an fheilidh, or belted plaid; with him were twelve other men similarly dressed; their plaids were all of Mackenzie tartan, and their kilts were formed of part of the plaid pleated and belted round the waist as was the manner in the old days. The fair-haired one, who from his noble bearing was manifestly a chief, inquired, "How fare the Gairloch family?" Alastair replied, "They are well." Then they departed. When they were leaving him, Alastair heard not the sound of their tread nor saw them make a step, but they passed away as if a gust of wind were bending down the tall grass on the hillside. Alastair, to his dying day, declared and believed that he had had a vision of the great chief Hector Roy with his bodyguard of twelve chosen heroes.
This account not only illustrates the reverential pride and affection with which the memory of the famous Hector Roy is regarded by the elder natives of Gairloch, but it also supplies a slight yet graphic sketch of the traditional appearance of the great chief.
We have already learnt (Part I., chap. iii.) that Hector was the son of Alexander Mackenzie (known as "the Upright"), sixth lord of Kintail by his second wife. She was the daughter of Macdonald of Clanranald, and Hector Roy himself married a daughter of Ronald MacRanald, the laird of Moidart. Hector was born about 1440, but the date cannot be positively fixed. He was called Ruadh or Roy, from the auburn colour of his hair; he was a tall powerful man, of marvellous physique, a fearless hero, and a redoubtable warrior,--in a word, a typical Highland chieftain.
Many of the old traditions of the Gairloch seannachies have centred in Hector Roy and the deeds of his followers, but in the present generation they are passing out of mind, so that our account of the famous warrior cannot be so complete as it might have been made fifty years ago.
In Part I., chap. vii., we have seen the circumstances under which the king gave Hector Roy a commission of fire and sword for the destruction of the M'Leods who were in Gairloch. Hector Roy soon set about the work of extermination, but he was so much occupied in other warfare that it was long before he made much way in Gairloch. Ultimately he received a charter from the crown in 1494, and later a new charter under the great seal dated 8th April 1513, of Gairloch, together with Glasleitire and Coire nan Cuilean in Kintail, in feu and heritage for ever. Notwithstanding these charters, he never himself succeeded in completely ousting the M'Leods from Gairloch.
Hector Roy resided with his father at Kinnellan or Brahan, and afterwards at Fairburn. When in Gairloch he seems to have fortified himself in the Tigh Dige mentioned in Part I., chap. vii., but the M'Leods still held the Dun or Castle of Gairloch not far away.
At that time a rock stood at the edge of the shore near the head of the bay of Ceann an t' Sail, or bay of Charlestown as it is now often called; it is the bay where Flowerdale House and the present Gairloch post-office and pier are situated. This rock then projected so far on the shore that the road round it was covered by the sea at high water. When the present road was made, a great part of the rock was removed and the road banked up above the reach of the tide. Before this the projecting rock contained several large recesses. Hector Roy went out one day unattended to reconnoitre the Dun, still occupied by his enemies the M'Leods, possibly thinking to devise a scheme for its capture. The M'Leods observed him, and three of them slipped out of the castle hoping to seize him. Hector, unwilling alone to face three of his foes, ran quickly towards the Tigh Dige. When he came to the rock with its recesses, he threw himself into one of them, with his dirk drawn. As the first pursuer rushed round the rock, Hector slew him with one slash of his dirk, and in an instant threw him into another recess just before the second pursuer came round the rock to meet the same fate, as did the third also, leaving Hector free from a rather awkward position. There is now at this place a small well by the roadside; it was formerly within one of the recesses. This recess was always called "the Gairloch," because it was the means of saving the life of the great chief of Gairloch, and since it has been removed the little well has borne the same title. Many persons in the neighbourhood can point out "the Gairloch," but few are now-a-days acquainted with the story. It was a favourite pastime of the sons of the late Sir Hector Mackenzie, Bart. of Gairloch, when they were boys, about 1815, to re-enact this episode, an iris or "flag" being used to represent the destroying dirk of their renowned ancestor.
During the later years of Alexander the Upright, his eldest son Kenneth Mackenzie, who was known as "Kenneth of the Battle," led the clan in the many contests in which it was engaged. Hector Roy usually assisted his brother Kenneth in warfare. He took a leading part in the celebrated battle of Park, which gave Kenneth his appellation.
It seems that Kenneth of the Battle had married Margaret, daughter of John Macdonald of Islay, who laid claim not only to the lordship of the Isles, but also to the earldom of Ross. One Christmas eve Kenneth imagined himself, with some reason, to have been insulted by Alexander Macdonald, nephew and heir of John of Islay. In revenge for the insult Kenneth sent his wife (whom he did not love) back to Alexander, who was her cousin. The lady was blind of an eye, and she was sent away mounted on a one-eyed pony, accompanied by a one-eyed servant and followed by a one-eyed dog. The result was that John Macdonald of Islay determined on a great expedition to punish the Mackenzies. He mustered his followers in the Isles, and his relatives of Moidart and Ardnamurchan, to the number of three thousand warriors. Kenneth called out the clan Mackenzie, and strongly garrisoned Eileandonain Castle. Macdonald and his nephew Alexander marched to Inverness, reduced the castle there, left a garrison in it, and then plundered the lands of the sheriff of Cromarty. They next marched to Strathconan, ravaged the lands of the Mackenzies, put some of the inhabitants to the sword, and burned Contin church one Sunday morning, together with the aged people, women and children, and the old priest, who were worshipping in the church at the time. Kenneth Mackenzie sent his aged father, Alexander the Upright, from Kinellan, where he was residing, to the Raven's Rock above Strathpeffer, and himself led his men, numbering only six hundred, to the moor still known as Blar na Pairc. The Macdonalds came to the moor to meet him. Between the two forces lay a peat moss, full of deep pits and deceitful bogs. Kenneth had his own brother Duncan, and his half-brother Hector Roy, with him. By the nature of the ground Kenneth perceived that Macdonald could not bring all his forces to the attack at once. He directed his brother Duncan with a body of archers to lie in ambush, whilst he himself advanced across the moss, being able from his knowledge of the place to avoid its dangers. The van of the enemy's army charged furiously, and Kenneth, according to his pre-arranged plan, at once retreated, so that the assailants following him became entangled in the moss. Duncan Mackenzie then opened fire from his ambush on the foe both in flank and rear, slaughtering most of those who had entered the bog. Kenneth now charged with his main body, and Macdonald's forces, thrown into confusion by the stratagem, were after a desperate battle completely routed. Kenneth was attacked by Gillespie, one of Macdonald's lieutenants, and slew him in single combat. Hector Roy, who commanded a division, fought like a lion, and most of the Macdonalds were slain. Those who fled before the victorious Mackenzies rallied on the following morning, to the number of three hundred, but Kenneth pursued them, and they were all killed or taken prisoners. Both Macdonald himself and his heir Alexander were taken prisoners, but Mackenzie released them within six months, on their promising that they would not molest him again, and that they would abandon all claim to the earldom of Ross.
During the battle a great raw ploughboy from Kintail was noticed by Hector Roy going about in an aimless stupid manner. The youth was Donnachadh Mor na Tuaighe, or Big Duncan of the Axe, commonly called Suarachan. He was one of the MacRaes of Kintail; you would have called him in English Duncan MacRae. He received the name of Big Duncan of the Axe because, not having been thought worthy--much to his annoyance--of being properly armed that morning for the battle, his only weapon was a rusty old battleaxe he had picked up. Hector Roy called upon Duncan to take part in the fight. In his chagrin at the contempt with which he had been treated, he replied, "Unless I get a man's esteem, I shall not do a man's work." Hector answered, "Do a man's work, and you will get a man's share." Big Duncan rushed into the battle, quickly killed a man, drew the body aside, and coolly sat upon it. Hector Roy noticed this extraordinary proceeding, and asked him why he was not engaged with his comrades. Big Duncan answered, "If I only get one man's due, I shall only do one man's work; I have killed my man." Hector told him to do two men's work and he would get two men's reward. Big Duncan went again into the fight, killed another man, pulled the body away, placed it on the top of the first, and sat upon the two. Hector Roy saw him again, and said, "Duncan, how is this; you idle, and I in sore distress?" Big Duncan replied, "You promised me two men's share, and I killed two men." Hector quickly answered, "I would not be reckoning with you." On this Big Duncan instantly arose with his great battleaxe, and shouted, "The man that would not be reckoning with me, I would not be reckoning with him." He rushed into the thickest of the battle, where he mowed down the enemy like grass, so that that mighty chief Maclean of Lochbuy determined to check his murderous career. The heroes met in deadly strife; for some time Maclean, being a very powerful man clad in mail, escaped the terrible axe, but at last Duncan, with one fell swoop, severed his enemy's head from his body. Big Duncan accompanied his chief in the pursuit of the fugitives next day. That night when the triumphant chief, Kenneth of the Battle, sat at supper he missed Big Duncan, and said to the company, "I am more vexed for want of my great sgalag (ploughman) this night than any satisfaction I had of the day." One of the others said, "I thought I saw him following some men [of the enemy] that ran up a burn." He had scarcely finished speaking when Big Duncan entered, with four heads bound in a woodie (a sort of rope made of twisted twigs and bark of birch trees), and threw them before the chief; "Tell me now," says he, "if I have not earned my supper."
In 1488, as his father Alexander the Upright lay on his deathbed, Hector Roy led five hundred of his clan in the battle of Sauchieburn, near Stirling, in support of King James III. Later on Hector submitted to King James IV., who is said to have granted Gairloch to him, and to have given him Glasleitire in Kintail and other estates. This may have been prior to the crown charter of Gairloch already mentioned as dated 1494.
Alexander the Upright died in 1488, and Kenneth of the Battle only survived his father three years. On his death Kenneth Og, his eldest and only son by his first wife, became entitled to the lordship of Kintail, but was murdered in 1497 through the treachery of the laird of Buchanan, avenged long after by Donald Dubh, as related in the last chapter. The next heir was John Mackenzie, commonly called John of Killin, who was the eldest son of Kenneth of the Battle, by his second wife, a daughter of Lord Lovat. It was a question whether this marriage was regular; but in 1491 the pope legitimised the marriage. On the death of Kenneth Og, Hector Roy, notwithstanding the pope's decree, declared his nephew John of Killin to be illegitimate, and took possession of the Kintail estates for himself, the whole clan, with whom he was a great favourite, willingly submitting to his rule. During this period occurred the battle of Druim a chait, in which Hector Roy, with only one hundred and forty men, completely routed seven hundred of the Munros, Dingwalls, and Maccullochs, under Sir William Munro of Fowlis, at a place on the south side of the hill called Knock-farrel, between Dingwall and Strathpeffer. Sir William was lieutenant of James Stewart, second son of King James III., who had been created Duke of Ross. Munro, instigated by Lord Lovat, grandfather of John of Killin, determined to punish Hector Roy for his contumacy in holding Kintail. Hector having only time to gather seven score men, resolved to make up for his numerical inferiority by a stratagem. He lay in ambush on Knock-farrel, and as Munro returned in the gloaming from plundering Hector's house at Kinellan, Hector Roy and his men suddenly attacked the triumphant foe. Munro's seven hundred men were not expecting any danger, as they believed Hector Roy had fled the country, hence they were marching carelessly and out of order. Hector's sudden onslaught in the dusk threw them into confusion, and the rout became so general that the Mackenzies slew all the Dingwalls and Maccullochs, and most of the Munros. Hector Roy's men were armed with axes and two edged-swords. The slaughter, on the first charge, was terrific; no fewer than nineteen heads rolled into the well, still called Tobar nan Ceann, or "the fountain of the heads." Our old friend Big Duncan of the Axe was there, and, by the side of his fierce chief Hector Roy, performed prodigies of valour. Duncan pursued one of the enemy to the church of Dingwall; as he was entering the door Big Duncan caught him by the arm, when the man exclaimed, "My sanctuary saves me!" "Aye," replied Duncan, "but what a man puts in the sanctuary against his will he can take out again." So he pushed him back from the door and slew him. It would seem as if Big Duncan had joined Hector Roy that day unexpectedly, for tradition says that when, after the fight, Hector and his men sat down to take food, they only had one bannock for each man, and there was none for Big Duncan; but every man gave him a mouthful, and in that way he got the largest share,--seven score mouthfuls, from which circumstance we gather that Hector Roy lost not a single man in this sanguinary affray, though hundreds of the foe were slain.
In 1499 a royal warrant was issued to the Mackintosh to put down and punish Hector Roy, who had become obnoxious to the government, as a disturber of the public peace. He was outlawed; a reward was offered for his capture, and MacCailean, Earl of Argyle, was appointed to receive his rents and account for them to the crown. A period of anarchy and disorder ensued. Hector, with his faithful bodyguard, took refuge in the hills, and MacCailean came down to gather the rents. The Caithness men, who at that time made frequent raids on Ross-shire, determined to destroy MacCailean and his force. When MacCailean looked out one morning the Caithness men were gathering above him, but he said to his followers, "I am seeing a big man above the Caithness men, and twelve men with him, and he makes me more afraid than the Caithness men all together." MacCailean and his men determined to cut through the Caithness men. When the combat began, Hector Roy and his twelve warriors came down and also attacked the Caithness men; few of them escaped. After the battle, Hector Roy and MacCailean went to speak to each other. MacCailean asked what he could do for Hector, who replied, "It's yourself that knows best." On this MacCailean bade him go to Edinburgh at such a time, and said he would meet him there. Hector Roy went to Edinburgh and saw MacCailean, who told him to be in a certain place on such a day, and, when he should see MacCailean and the king walking together, to approach them and kneel before the king. MacCailean said the king would then lay hold of him by the hand to take him up, and Hector was to make the king remember that he had laid hold of him. Before this MacCailean and the king were talking together about Hector Roy; the king said Hector was a wild brave man, and it was impossible to lay hold of him. MacCailean replied, "If you will grant my request, I will give you hold of his hand." To this the king agreed. On the day fixed Hector Roy came to where the king and MacCailean were walking together, and kneeled before the king. The king took his hand to raise him up, when Hector Roy gave him such a grasp that the blood came out at the points of the king's fingers. "Why did you not keep him?" said MacCailean, as Hector Roy turned away. "There is no man in the kingdom would hold that man," replied the king. Said MacCailean, "That is Hector Roy, and I must now get my request." "What is it?" asked the king. "That Hector Roy should be pardoned." The king granted the pardon, and took a great liking to Hector Roy for his strength and bravery.
In our last chapter is a reference to the attack made on Hector Roy by his nephew John of Killin, ninth lord of Kintail, and to Hector's surrender to the latter. John of Killin, who had now grown up a fine strong young man, had determined to compel his uncle to recognise his rights as the legitimate heir of Kintail. By a stratagem he put Hector Roy off his guard, and then surrounded and set fire to the house at Fairburn where he was stopping. Hector was compelled to capitulate. He was allowed to continue the management of the Kintail possessions during the remainder of his nephew's minority, and he himself retained Gairloch and Glasleitire in Kintail, besides other estates, as his own property. This was about 1507.
Hector Roy now again set about the work of driving the M'Leods from Gairloch, and a long struggle ensued. He was greatly assisted by Big Duncan of the Axe, who had become the father of a son of like valour named Dugal. They, with ten other MacRaes of Kintail, were ready to attend upon Hector whenever he desired their aid; these twelve MacRaes seem to have acted as Hector Roy's bodyguard; most likely they all settled in Gairloch. The greatest defeat Hector ever gave to the M'Leods was at Beallach Glasleathaid, near Kintail, where most of them were taken or killed. Big Duncan of course took part in this victory, and on being told that four men were at once attacking his son Dugal, he answered, "If he be my son, there is no risk in that." Dugal MacRae killed those four M'Leods, and came off himself without serious wounds.
After the fight at Beallach Glasleathaid, and several other skirmishes, the M'Leods were content to allow Hector Roy two-thirds of Gairloch, retaining the other third, which included the parts to the east and south-east of the Crasg, a hill to the west of the old churchyard of Gairloch, and between the present Free and Established churches. Thus the only strongholds left to the M'Leods in Gairloch were the Dun or Castle of Gairloch, and the Uamh nam Freiceadain, mentioned in Part I., chap. vii.
In 1513 Hector Roy, in response to a summons from King James IV., gathered his Gairloch warriors, and with them joined his nephew John of Killin, and the main body of the clan Mackenzie, in the war with England. They fought on the disastrous field of Flodden, and many of the clan perished with their king. The two chiefs of the Mackenzies were not among the slain; John of Killin was made prisoner, but escaped; Hector also made his way home in safety.
In 1517 John Duke of Albany, Regent, appointed "Colin, Earl of Ergile," lieutenant of the Isles and other lands, including Gairloch, for three years or more at the Regent's pleasure, for the purpose of establishing peace among the inhabitants. From this commission it may be inferred how troublous the Highlands then were.
Hector Roy had four sons and three daughters by his marriage with Anne Macdonald. He had also a son called Iain Beg, who, according to some authorities, was illegitimate.
The great warrior chief of Gairloch died in 1528, and some say was buried in the churchyard of Gairloch. If he was born as seems likely about 1440, he must have attained nearly ninety years of age. A large number of families trace their ancestry to him; they are known as Clan Eachainn, a name that signifies that they are the seed of Hector Roy.
X. JOHN GLASSICH MACKENZIE AND HIS SONS
There is little but trouble and misfortune to be recorded as regards the immediate successors of the great Hector Roy. His eldest son, Iain Glassich, was a minor at the time of his father's death, having been born about 1513. As a boy he was brought up in the house of Chisholm of Strathglass, whence his name of Glassich. On coming of age, he was served heir to his father of the lands of Gairloch, and the grazings of Glasleitire and Coire nan Cuilean in Kintail. We know nothing of his personal appearance.
Soon after John Glassich Mackenzie came of age, he endeavoured to upset the arrangement his father Hector Roy had made with John of Killin, ninth lord of Kintail, and a desperate feud ensued. In 1544 he was compelled to enter into a bond undertaking to keep the peace, and promising obedience to his cousin Kenneth, the tenth lord of Kintail. Notwithstanding this bond, he seems to have still persevered in his claims, which, as some say, extended to the whole of the Kintail estates.
In 1547 John Glassich refused to join the royal standard, and upon this his estates were forfeited to the crown; but though this forfeiture was never reversed, it does not appear to have affected the succession. The escheat was granted to the earl of Sutherland, but it is not likely that he was able to act upon the grant in such a wild inaccessible country as Gairloch then was.
In 1550 Kenneth, lord of Kintail, still suspicious of the intentions of John Glassich, sent for him to Brahan, where he came with only one attendant, Iain Gearr, probably one of the MacRaes who had settled in Gairloch. Kenneth, after charging John Glassich with designs against him, caused him to be apprehended. Seeing this, Iain Gearr drew his two-handed sword and made a fierce stroke at the lord of Kintail, who sat at the head of the table, and whose skull would have been cloven asunder had he not ducked his head under the table. Iain Gearr was instantly seized by Mackenzie's men, who threatened to slay him on the spot, but the chief, admiring his fidelity, strictly charged them not to touch him. When Iain Gearr was asked why he had struck at the lord himself, instead of at those who had seized his master, he boldly replied, "I see no one else whose life is worth that of my own chief." The sword made a deep gash in the table, and the mark remained until Colin, first earl of Seaforth, had the piece cut out, saying that he "loved no such remembrance of the quarrels of his relations."
John Glassich was removed to Eileandonain Castle, where they say his death was occasioned by poison administered to him in a mess of milk soup, prepared by the wife of MacCalman, a clergyman, and deputy-constable of the fort. His body was sent to the people of Strathglass, who buried him in Beauly priory, where the Gairloch baronets are interred in the present day.
It was in the days of John Glassich that Donald Gorm of Sleat, in Skye, made an expedition against Kintail, taking advantage of the absence of Mackenzie of Kintail. The latter had opposed the pretensions of Donald Gorm to the earldom of Ross. In the month of May 1539 Donald Gorm crossed over to the mainland. He first came to Kenlochewe, which, though part of Gairloch in the present day, still belonged at that time to the lord of Kintail. Here the Macdonalds destroyed all before them, and killed Miles, or Maolmuire, son of Fionnla Dubh MacGillechriosd MacRae, at that time governor of Eileandonain Castle. The remains of a monument erected on the spot where Maolmuire MacRae was killed were to be seen in 1704. Donald Gorm was himself killed soon afterwards, when attacking Eileandonain Castle, by a barbed arrow fired at him by a nephew of Maolmuire MacRae.
During the feeble rule of John Glassich the M'Leods strove to regain Gairloch, but were kept in check by the clansmen, including some of the valiant MacRaes.
John Glassich married Agnes, daughter of James Fraser of Foyness, and had three sons, viz., Hector, Alexander, and John, known as John Roy Mackenzie.
Hector, the eldest son of John Glassich, succeeded his father. During his minority the estates were given in ward to John, fourth of the Stewart earls of Athole. Hector came of age in 1563. His death occurred, probably by violence, in September 1566.
His brother Alexander, called Alastair Roy, second son of John Glassich, then succeeded to Gairloch, but as he did not make up his title he is not reckoned as one of the lairds of Gairloch. He and his brother Hector are said to have lived in Eilean Suainne, on Loch Maree. His death (without issue) took place within a few weeks of his brother's decease, and probably from the same cause. Some say that these two young men were slain at the instigation of their relatives of Kintail; but it seems quite as probable that their deaths were due to the M'Leods, who still held one-third of Gairloch. Alastair Roy married a daughter of John MacGillechallum M'Leod, laird of Raasay, by his marriage with Janet, daughter of Mackenzie of Kintail.
The Gairloch family have thus been under a cloud since the death of the great Hector Roy; but John Roy, the youngest son of John Glassich, saw brighter days. The story of his long and prosperous life will form the subject of our next chapter.
XI. JOHN ROY MACKENZIE
Iain Ruadh Macchoinnich, or John Roy Mackenzie, third son of John Glassich, and grandson of the great Hector Roy, was a minor when his brothers died in 1566, and his lands were in 1567 given in ward by Queen Mary to John Banerman of Cardenye.
John Roy became one of the most renowned of the old chiefs of Gairloch; he was in fact second only in fame to his celebrated grandfather, whom he closely resembled in appearance and physique. He is one of the most prominent figures in the old traditions of Gairloch, though there are no stories extant of his personal prowess in warfare.
He was born in 1548, but two years before his father was poisoned at Eileandonain. On this event his mother, Agnes Fraser, fled with John Roy to her own relatives, and she concealed him as best she could, putting him, it is said, every night under a brewing kettle. His mother afterwards became the wife of the laird of Mackay in Sutherlandshire, and John Roy then spent some time in hiding on his patrimonial estate of Glasleitire in Kintail, under the faithful guardianship of Iain Liath, one of the MacRae heroes. It is said he was afterwards concealed by the lairds of Moidart and of Farr.
John Roy grew up a tall, brave, and handsome young Highlander. When he could carry arms and wear the belted plaid, he went to the Mackay country to visit his mother. None but his mother knew him, and neither she nor he made known who he was. In those days any stranger who came to a house was not asked who he was until he had been there a year and a day. John Roy lived in the servants' end of the house, and slept and fed with them. Mackay had two rare dogs, called Cu-dubh and Faoileag, and they became greatly attached to John Roy, so that they would follow no one else. Near the end of the year Mackay told his wife that he suspected the stranger was a gentleman's son. Her tears revealed the truth. John Roy was then kindly received at the table of the laird, who asked him what he could do for him. John Roy begged that Mackay would give him a bodyguard consisting of the twelve of his men whom he might choose, and the two dogs Cu-dubh and Faoileag. He got these, and they went away to Glas Leitire in Kintail, taking with them an anker of whisky. Arriving there John Roy placed his twelve men in concealment, and went himself to the house of Iain Liath Macrae. It was the early morning, and the old wife was spinning on the distaff. She looked out, and saw a man there. She called to Iain Liath, who was still lying down, "There is a man out yonder sitting on a creel, and I never saw two knees in my life more like John Roy's two knees." Iain Liath got up, went to the door, and called out "Is that you John?" John Roy answered that it was. "Have you any with you?" "Yes, I have twelve men." "Fetch them," said Iain Liath. He killed the second bull, and feasted them all. Then he told John Roy that Mackenzie of Kintail was coming that very day to hunt on the Glas Leitire hills of his (John Roy's) fathers. John Roy, with his twelve men and Iain Liath, went to the hill, taking the whisky with them. Mackenzie arrived to hunt the deer, and when he saw John Roy and his men, he sent a fair-haired lad to inquire who they were. John Roy bade the boy sit down, and gave him whisky. Whenever he rose to go, more whisky was offered, and he was nothing loath to take it. Mackenzie, thinking the lad was long in returning, sent another boy, who was treated in the same way. Mackenzie then saw that John Roy had returned, so he went back with his followers to Brahan, and John Roy was not further molested by the lords of Kintail.
John Roy came back with Iain Liath to his house, when the latter told him that he had Hector Roy's chest with the title-deeds of Gairloch, and that John Roy must claim the estate. Iain Liath took all his belongings, and accompanied John Roy and his twelve men to Gairloch. They came to Beallach a Chomhla, at the side of Bathais [Bus] Bheinn. Coming down the mountain they found a good well, and there they rested and left the women and the cattle. The well is called to this day "Iain Liath's well." They met people who informed them that Iain Dubh Mac Ruaridh M'Leod, or Black John the son of Rorie M'Leod, who was governor of the old castle of the Dun, was accustomed to walk every day across the big sand and to lie on the top of the Crasg to spy the country. The party went to the Crasg, and Iain Liath told Iain Dubh Mac Ruaridh M'Leod, whom they met there, that unless he left the castle before that night he would lose his head. M'Leod took the hint, and sailed away in his birlinn with all his valuables, except one chest containing old title-deeds, which came into John Roy's possession along with the castle.
It is said that after this John Roy had the resolution to wait on Colin Cam Mackenzie, lord of Kintail, who established him in all his lands. John Roy came of age about 1569, but it was not until 1606 that he received a charter erecting Gairloch into a free barony.
How John Roy came to revenge the assassination at the hands of Ruaridh MacAllan M'Leod of Gairloch, of the sons of Mac Ghille Challum of Raasay, and how this led to John Roy obtaining possession of the third part of Gairloch, which had been retained by the M'Leods since Hector Roy's time, will be related in our next chapter. John Roy had a long feud with the M'Leods, and it seems to have been nearly the end of the sixteenth century before they were finally expelled from Gairloch. In the latter part of this struggle John Roy was much assisted by his twelve valiant sons, several of whom, as will be seen, also figured in struggles with the M'Leods after they had abandoned Gairloch.
John Roy was twice married. By his first wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Angus Macdonald of Glengarry, he had eleven children. By his second wife, Isabel, daughter of Murdo Mackenzie of Fairburn, he had five children. Besides these he had several illegitimate children. The recorded pedigrees give the names of only eleven sons; but tradition says that, as John Roy's family grew up, his bodyguard of twelve chosen warriors was composed solely of his own sons.
The northern lairds, like the nobility further south, profited by the alienation of church property which followed the Reformation. The rectory and vicarage of Gairloch was vacant for some years, and in 1584 we find John Roy dealing with the tiends or tithes. Disputes ensued, and ultimately John Roy seems to have abandoned his claim.
The ironworks at Letterewe were commenced about 1607 by Sir George Hay; they were on the property of Lord Mackenzie of Kintail. The iron-smelting furnace at Talladale was most likely established by Sir George Hay about the same time. No doubt woods on John Roy's Gairloch estate were cut down to provide charcoal for smelting, and if so John Roy must have derived pecuniary benefit from the Talladale ironworks, but there is no record to confirm this conjecture.
John Roy resided in Eilean Ruaridh, on Loch Maree. There are two islands of the name, distinguished as big and little; they almost adjoin. It was in the little island that John Roy dwelt, in the house where formerly Ruaridh M'Leod had lived. John Roy enlarged and improved the house, and made it his Gairloch home. Some remains of the house and adjoining garden are still to be seen.
It was early in 1609 that John Roy paid a visit to the laird of Mackay in Sutherlandshire. On his return journey the laird of Mackay escorted him as far as the Meikle Ferry, on the Kyle of Sutherland. When the party arrived at the ferry, the groom of a gentleman, who was also about to cross, endeavoured to keep possession of the boat. Amongst the attendants of the laird of Mackay was his youthful piper, named Roderick Mackay, a fine lad of seventeen summers. The groom placed his hand on the boat to hold it until his master should come up. The hot-headed young piper drew his dirk and cut off the groom's hand. The laird of Mackay said, "Rorie, I cannot keep you longer; you must leave the country." John Roy Mackenzie said to the piper, "Will you come with me, Rorie?" The piper lad was only too glad to accept this invitation, and his master, who had a great liking for the handsome and talented boy, was quite willing that he should go with John Roy, who sent Hugh Mackenzie of Gairloch, his gamekeeper, to the laird of Mackay in exchange for the piper. The descendants of Hugh Mackenzie still dwell in Sutherlandshire, where it is remembered how their ancestor came from Gairloch. Donald Mor Mackay, an elder brother of Rorie the piper, spent a number of years in Gairloch, and assisted his brother in the office of piper.
In the following winter--probably early in 1610--Kenneth, Lord Mackenzie of Kintail (son of Colin Cam), who had lately obtained a charter to the Lews, and had been raised to the peerage, returning from his new possessions, landed at Torridon on his way home to Brahan. His lordship sent a messenger to John Roy Mackenzie, desiring him to meet him at Torridon. John Roy's growing power had revived the old jealousy of the Kintail family, and Lord Mackenzie had determined to slay him. John Roy's sons strongly dissuaded their father from going to Torridon, fearing that he might share the fate of his father, but he determined to go, and to go alone. He requested his sons to follow him, and to keep watch, but to do nothing until the morning of the following day. Towards evening John Roy arrived at Torridon, and was hospitably received by Lord Mackenzie. He and his men were drinking and making merry far into the long winter night. At last they resolved to retire to sleep. It was in a barn where their couches of heather were prepared. John Roy would not lie down except on the same bed as Lord Mackenzie. He lay quite still as if asleep. After a while a man came in, with his dirk drawn, and asked Lord Mackenzie if he should stab John Roy. Lord Mackenzie replied, "No, you shall not befoul my bed; let be until daylight." At daybreak a man came hurriedly into the barn, and told his lordship that there were twelve big men and a piper on the Ploc of Torridon, putting the stone and playing other Highland games, and that one who seemed to be the chief of them was so tall that he had the head above the whole of them. Lord Mackenzie got up and went out in some alarm. No one knew who the men were, until Lord Mackenzie asked John Roy. John Roy said, "They are only my boys come to see if I got safe over the hill." It was a hard winter, and the snow was deep on the mountains. Lord Mackenzie then told John Roy that he had been thinking to do him harm. John Roy said, "If you had had the supper you intended, you would have had a dirty breakfast." When the young men saw their father they told the piper to play; they came up to where their father was and took him away with them. They went over the shoulder of Liathgach, and the piper played all the way to the top of the hill without a halt. Then they made their way homewards, and reached their house in Eilean Ruaridh without mishap. The man who was a head taller than any of the others was Alastair Breac, second son of John Roy, and his successor in Gairloch. The piper was Donald Mor Mackay, brother of John Roy's piper Rorie.
The terrible feud between the Glengarry Macdonalds and the Mackenzies of Kintail came to a head during John Roy's life. He was not involved in the warfare, and it is unnecessary to give any account of it in these pages. During its blood-stained progress Alexander MacGorrie and Ranald MacRory, allies of Glengarry, made an incursion to the district of Kenlochewe, and there meeting some women and children who had fled from Lochcarron with their cattle, attacked them unexpectedly, killed many of the defenceless women and all the male children, and killed and took away many of the cattle, houghing all they were unable to carry along with them. At this time Kenlochewe seems to have still formed part of the Kintail possessions.
Later on we find that the lord of Kintail was staying on a visit with John Roy at his house in Eilean Ruaridh in Loch Maree. There is some confusion or obscurity in the dates, but it seems certain that this visit was after the incident at Torridon; it shows that the enmity between the Kintail and Gairloch Mackenzies was now at an end, and we hear no more of it.
When the M'Leods were finally expelled from Gairloch, and all the fights to be recorded in our next chapter were over, John Roy applied to the crown for a "remission" for himself and his sons for their lawless conduct during the struggle, and this was granted by King James VI. on 2d April 1614, in a document now in the Gairloch charter-chest, which gives John Roy and his sons credit for "much and good benefit to His Majesty's distressed subjects."
John Roy acquired some properties in the part of Ross-shire, towards the east coast, partly in right of his mother and partly by purchase. He built the first three storeys of the tower of Kinkell, and no doubt himself resided there at times. He was a shrewd and prudent chief, frank and hospitable, and (notwithstanding his necessarily imperfect education) a good man of business. He greatly furthered the interests of his people and of his own large family.
He died at Talladale in 1628, in his eightieth year, and was buried in the chapel his son Alastair Breac had erected in the old churchyard of Gairloch.
XII. EXPULSION OF THE M'LEODS FROM GAIRLOCH
The stories of the various contests, extending over more than a century, during which the M'Leods were gradually expelled from Gairloch, fill a large page in the traditional history of the parish.
We have seen how Allan M'Leod, laird of Gairloch, was assassinated (along with his two little boys) by his jealous brothers, and how this led to the commission of fire and sword being granted by the king about the year 1480, directing Hector Roy Mackenzie to exterminate the Gairloch M'Leods. It must have been in Hector Roy's time that Ruaridh M'Leod was driven from the island in Loch Maree which bears his name, for we find that before Hector Roy's death, and after the fight at Beallach Glasleathaid and other skirmishes, the M'Leods were restricted to one-third of Gairloch, being the parts to the east and south-east of the hill called the Crasg, so that they must from that time have only retained the two strongholds known as the Dun of Gairloch and the Uamh nam Freiceadain (Part I., chaps. vii. and ix.).
The following incident seems to have occurred during the struggles in which Hector Roy took part, and before the M'Leods had been ousted from the islands of Loch Maree.
At this time a Mackenzie, known as Murchadh Riabhach na Chuirce, or Brindled Murdo of the Bowie-knife, lived at Letterewe. The M'Leods still held the fortalice or crannog called Eilean Grudidh, in Loch Maree, about a mile distant from Letterewe. One of these M'Leods, named MacIain Dhuibh, or Black John's son, crossed over one day in his boat to the house of Brindled Murdo at Letterewe, when the latter was away on an expedition among the hills. Only the women had stayed at home, and M'Leod is charged with a foul deed. He remained at Letterewe over night. Next day Brindled Murdo returned home, and finding what had happened, attacked M'Leod, who, becoming disabled, fled up the hills behind Letterewe. Seeing that Murdo was outrunning him, and knowing that his end had come, M'Leod stopped, and, as his pursuer approached, entreated that he might die in sight of his beloved Loch Maree. Brindled Murdo of the Bowie-knife refused his petition, and slew him where he stood, and there they buried him. The place is called to this day Feith Mhic Iain Dhuibh, i.e. "the bog of Black John's son." On the six-inch ordnance map it is called Glac Mhic Iain Dhuibh, or "the dell of Black John's son."
During the time of John Glassich Mackenzie and his two elder sons, there are no records of the warfare with the M'Leods. It seems possible that both Hector and Alastair Roy, sons of John Glassich, were slain by M'Leods of Gairloch, though some suppose that their deaths were the result of the continued hostility of their relatives of Kintail.
About the time that John Roy Mackenzie, youngest son of John Glassich, came to Gairloch, Ruaridh MacAllan M'Leod, head of the M'Leods of Gairloch, who had the soubriquet of Nimhneach, or "venomous," committed a fearful crime. It will be remembered that John Roy's deceased brother, Alastair Roy, had married the daughter of Iain MacGhille Challum M'Leod, laird of Raasay (called Iain na Tuaighe, or John of the Axe), by his marriage with Janet, daughter of John Mackenzie, lord of Kintail. Iain MacGhille Challum had given great offence to his clan, the Siol Mhic Ghille Challum, by marrying his daughter to a Gairloch Mackenzie. After the death of Janet Mackenzie, his first wife, Iain MacGhille Challum had married a sister of his relative, the before-named Ruaridh MacAllan M'Leod. There were sons by both marriages. Ruaridh MacAllan, taking advantage of the discontent of the Siol Mhic Ghille Challum, plotted the destruction of MacGhille Challum and his sons by his first marriage, hoping that his own nephew, the eldest son of MacGhille Challum's second marriage, would then inherit Raasay. Ruaridh MacAllan induced MacGhille Challum, and his sons by the first marriage, to meet him at the island of Isay, in Waternish, on the pretence that he desired to consult them on matters of importance. After entertaining them at a feast he retired to another room, and then caused them to be summoned singly to his presence. As each came forward he was assassinated. The eldest son of the second marriage, then a young boy, who was in an inner apartment, hearing the dying screams of one of his half-brothers, called out in an agony, "That's my brother's cry!" "Never mind," said the ruthless Ruaridh MacAllan, "his screams will make you laird of Raasay." Donald Gregory, in his history, says that the Mackenzies of Gairloch pursued Ruaridh Mac Allan, in revenge for the murder of Iain Mac Ghille Challum's sons, whose mother had been Janet Mackenzie, and whose sister had been the wife of John Roy's brother. At this time there was a great feud between Ruaridh M'Leod of the Lews, assisted by Neil Angusson M'Leod of Assynt and by the blood-stained Ruaridh Mac Allan of Gairloch on the one hand, and Colin Mackenzie, lord of Kintail (assisted by other chiefs), fighting on behalf of his cousin Torquil Connanach M'Leod, on the other hand. It is unnecessary in these pages to state the origin and course of this dispute. Donald Gregory tells us that John Roy Mackenzie, impelled no doubt by the motive of revenge already mentioned, was most active on the side of his relative of Kintail. In June 1569 the Regent Murray and his council sat at Inverness, and put a stop for the time being to the feud so far as the leaders were concerned, but their intervention did not make an end of John Roy's vengeful proceedings against Ruaridh Mac Allan M'Leod of Gairloch. The warfare between these chieftains is said to have been long and fierce. Ultimately Ruaridh Mac Allan was slain--probably shot--by the great MacRae archer, Domhnull Odhar Mac Iain Leith, of whom more anon. It seems to have been nearly the end of the sixteenth century before John Roy finally expelled the M'Leods from Gairloch. They had long since abandoned the Dun of Gairloch, and were now driven from the Uamh nam Freiceadain, their last stronghold in the parish.
The savage nature of this prolonged struggle is illustrated by the tradition, that a number of M'Leods were hung on gallows erected on a hillock a little to the north of the Free Church at Kenlochewe. The hillock is called to this day Cnoc a Chrochadair, or "the hangman's hillock." They say that Domhnull Odhar took part in the capture of the M'Leods who were executed here.
It was after the expulsion of the M'Leods that the affair of Leac nan Saighead occurred. Many of the M'Leods who had been driven from Gairloch had settled in Skye. A number of young men of the clan were invited by their chief to pass Hogmanay night in his castle at Dunvegan. There was a large gathering. In the kitchen there was an old woman, who was always occupied in carding wool. She was known as Mor Ban, or Fair Sarah, and was supposed to be a witch. After dinner was over at night the men began to drink, and when they had passed some time thus they sent into the kitchen for the Mor Ban. She came, and sat down in the hall with the men. She drank one or two glasses, and then she said it was a poor thing for the M'Leods to be deprived of their own lands in Gairloch and to live in comparative poverty in Skye. "But," says she, addressing the whole party, "prepare yourselves and start to-morrow for Gairloch, sail in the black birlinn, and you shall regain Gairloch. I shall be a witness of your success when you return." The men being young, and not over-burdened with wisdom, believed her, because they thought she had the power of divination. They set sail in the morning for Gairloch, and the black galley was full of the M'Leods. It was evening when they came into the loch, and they dare not risk landing on the mainland, for they remembered that the descendants of Domhnull Greannach (a great Macrae) were still there, and they knew their prowess only too well. They therefore turned to the south side of the loch, and fastened their birlinn to Fraoch Eilean, in the shelter opposite Leac-nan-Saighead, between Shieldaig and Badachro. They decided to wait there till morning, then disembark and walk round the head of the loch. But all the movements of the M'Leods had been well watched. Domhnull Odhar MacIain Leith and his brother Iain Odhar MacIain Leith, the celebrated Macrae archers (sons of Iain Liath, mentioned in Part I., chap. xi.) knew the birlinn of the M'Leods, and they determined to oppose their landing. They walked round by Shieldaig and posted themselves before daylight at the back of the Leac, a protecting rock overlooking Fraoch Eilean. The steps on which they stood at the back of the rock are still pointed out. Donald Odhar, being a short man, took the higher of the two steps, and Iain the other. Standing on these steps they crouched down in the shelter of the rock, whence they commanded a full view of the island on which the M'Leods were lying here and there, while the Macrae heroes were invisible from the island. They were both celebrated shots, and had their bows and arrows with them. As soon as the day dawned they opened fire on the M'Leods; a number of them were killed before their comrades were even aware of the direction whence the fatal arrows came. The M'Leods endeavoured to answer the fire, but not being able to see their foes, their arrows took no effect. In the heat of the fight one of the M'Leods climbed the mast of the birlinn, for a better sight of the position of the foe. Iain Odhar took his deadly aim at him when near the top of the mast. The shaft pierced his body and pinned him to the mast. "Oh," says Donald, "you have sent a pin through his broth." So the slaughter continued, and the remnant of the M'Leods hurried into the birlinn. They cut the rope and turned her head seawards, and by this time only two of them were left alive. So great was their hurry to escape that they left all the bodies of their slain companions on the island. The rumour of the arrival of the M'Leods had spread during the night, and other warriors, such as Fionnla Dubh na Saighead and Fear Shieldaig, were soon at the scene of action, but all they had to do was to assist in the burial of the dead M'Leods. Pits were dug, into each of which a number of the dead bodies were thrown, and mounds were raised over them, which remain to this day as any one may see. The name Leac-nan-Saighead means "the flat stone of the arrows."
Donald Odhar is credited with a similar feat to that performed by his brother Iain at Leac-nan-Saighead. It was probably before the affair at that place that a birlinn, manned by M'Leods, came in to the bay, now called the Bay of Charlestown, to reconnoitre Gairloch. Donald Odhar was on the hill behind Flowerdale, called Craig a Chait, and as usual carried his bow and arrows. He saw the Macleods enter the bay; one of them climbed the mast of the vessel for a better view, when Donald Odhar, taking advantage of the comparatively distinct mark thus presented, let fly an arrow with unerring aim, and pinned the unfortunate M'Leod to the mast. The distance traversed by the arrow cannot have been less than half a mile.
Fionnla Dubh na Saighead was a relative of Donald Odhar and Iain Odhar, and was also of the Macraes of Kintail. Finlay usually lived at Melvaig. As a marksman he was on a par with Donald Odhar. In his day young M'Leod, laird of Assynt, came to Gairloch in his birlinn to ask for a daughter of John Roy in marriage. He was refused, and set off northwards on his return voyage in his birlinn, which was manned with sixteen oars. They rowed quite close to the land round Rudha Reidh, the furthest out headland of the North point; Rudha Reidh was then known as Seann Rudha, a name which is still sometimes given to it. Fionnla Dubh na Saighead sat on a rock as the birlinn passed. He called out, "Whence came the heroes?" They replied, "We came from Gairloch." "What were you doing there?" said Finlay. "We were asking in marriage the daughter of Mackenzie of Gairloch for this young gentleman." "Did you get her?" said Finlay. They replied, "Oh, no." Finlay dismissed them with a contemptuous gesture and an insulting expression. They passed on their way without molesting him, because they had no arms with them. Young M'Leod brooded over the insult he had received from Finlay Macrae, who was well known to him by repute. He soon returned with his sixteen-oared birlinn, manned by the choicest warriors of Assynt, to take vengeance on Finlay, who noticed the galley and guessed who were its occupants. He called for one Chisholm, his brother-in-arms, and the two of them proceeded to a leac, or flat stone, close to the edge of the low cliff about a mile north of Melvaig; the leac is still pointed out. They reached this place before the Macleods could effect a landing. On the way the Chisholm said to Finlay, "You must leave all the speaking to me." As the birlinn drew near Chisholm called out, "What do you want?" "We want Fionnla Dubh na Saighead." "You won't get him, or thanks," said Chisholm; "go away in peace." The M'Leods began to threaten them. "If that is the way," said Chisholm, "let every man look out for himself." The contest (cath) began. Finlay and Chisholm were well sheltered at the back of the leac. A number of the M'Leods were killed by the arrows of the two heroes on shore, whilst they themselves remained uninjured. The M'Leods, finding their losses so severe, soon thought that discretion was the better part of valour, and, turning their birlinn northwards, departed for their own country. They never again molested Finlay.
There is an elevated place on the north point of Gairloch, called Bac an Leth-choin, or "the hillock of the cross-bred dog." About mile to the east, and much lower, is a ridge called Druim Carn Neill, or the "ridge of the cairn of Neil." Fionnla Dubh na Saighead one day spied a man named Neil M'Leod near his own house at Melvaig, at the south-west corner of the North Point. Finlay fired an arrow at the man and wounded him. Neil, who was a swift runner, fled eastwards over the high ground. Finlay gave chase, accompanied by a cross-bred dog, a sort of lurcher, which followed on the track of Neil. When Finlay reached the Bac an Leth-choin he caught sight of Neil, and shot him dead at the Druim Carn Neill. Neil was buried where he fell, and a cairn was raised over his grave. Both the Bac an Leth-choin and the Druim Carn Neill are shown to the north of Inverasdale on the six-inch ordnance map. Some remains of Neil's cairn are still pointed out.
It would seem that the Gairloch M'Leods did not soon give up all hope of regaining their former territory, for we find that in 1610 a severe engagement took place between Mackenzies and M'Leods at Lochan an Fheidh (sometimes wrongly spelt Lochan a' Neigh), on the west side of Scoor Dubh, above Glen Torridon, just past the southern corner of Gairloch. The Mackenzies, under the leadership of Alastair Breac, John Roy's second son, and assisted by Donald Odhar and other MacRaes, completely routed the M'Leods, who were commanded by Iain MacAllan Mhic Ruaridh (now the representative of Allan M'Leod, formerly laird of Gairloch), accompanied by his uncle John Tolmach M'Leod. Iain MacAllan was taken prisoner; many of his followers were killed, seventeen or eighteen taken prisoners, and the few who escaped with John Tolmach were pursued out of the district. The slain M'Leods were buried on the field of battle, where their graves are still pointed out; nettles are growing about them to-day.
In August 1611 Murdo Mackenzie, third son of John Roy, with a party of Gairloch men, set sail for the Isle of Skye in a vessel well stocked with wine and provisions, with the object of carrying off the daughter of Donald Dubh MacRuaridh, a cousin of Iain MacAllan. A marriage between John Roy's son and Donald Dubh's daughter would have vested the ancient rights of the Gairloch M'Leods in the Mackenzies. Some say that Murdo's intention was also to seize John Tolmach M'Leod, who had escaped from Lochan an Fheidh. The ship was driven by a storm into a sheltered bay off Kirkton of Raasay, where young M'Leod, the laird of Raasay, at that time resided. Here Murdo Mackenzie cast anchor. Young Raasay hearing that Murdo was on board, resolved to attempt to secure him by stratagem, in order to get him exchanged for his relative Iain MacAllan Mhic Ruaridh, still a prisoner in Gairloch. Raasay, with Gille-challum Mor and twelve men, started for the ship, leaving orders for all the men in Raasay to be in readiness to go out to their assistance in small boats as soon as the alarm should be given. Murdo Mackenzie received his visitors in the most unsuspecting manner, and hospitably entertained them with as much wine and other viands as they could consume, sitting down with them himself. All his men joined in the revelry, except four heroes, who, feeling a little suspicious, abstained from drinking. Ultimately most of the party became so drunk that they retired to sleep below deck. Murdo Mackenzie remained sitting between Raasay and Gillie-challum Mor, when Raasay suddenly started up and told him he must become his prisoner. Murdo in a violent passion threw Raasay down, exclaiming, "I would scorn to be your prisoner." In the struggle which ensued one of Raasay's men drew his dirk and stabbed Murdo Mackenzie through the body, and he fell overboard. Being a good swimmer, he was making for Sconser on the opposite shore of Skye, when the Raasay men, who had heard the row, coming out in their small boats, pelted Murdo with stones and drowned him. The four heroes who had abstained from drink now fought nobly for their lives. The other members of Mackenzie's party were all slain, but not a soul of the Raasay men ultimately escaped alive from the dirks of the four abstaining Mackenzies. The small boats surrounded the vessel, and the Raasay men attempted to board her, but were thrown back, and slain without mercy by her four gallant defenders, one of whom, Hector MacKenneth, was however killed by a chance shot or arrow from one of the boats. The other three managed to cut their anchor cable, hoist their canvas, and sail away before a fresh breeze, with their horrible cargo of dead bodies lying about the deck. As soon as they were out of danger they threw the bodies of Raasay and his men overboard. It is said that none of the bodies were ever found except that of Gille-challum Mor, which came ashore on Raasay. The bodies of the dead Mackenzies, and of Bayne of Tulloch who had accompanied them, were taken to Lochcarron and buried there. The three heroes who survived were Iain MacEachainn Chaoil, Iain MacCoinnich Mhic Eachainn, and Coinneach MacSheumais; the first named lived for thirty years after, dying in 1641, the second died in 1662, and the third in 1663--all very old men. This seems to have been the last conflict between Mackenzies and M'Leods, and the Mackenzies have ever since held undisputed possession of Gairloch.
XIII. ALASTAIR BREAC, AND HIS SON AND GRANDSON
Alexander, second son of John Roy Mackenzie, succeeded his father in 1628 as chief of Gairloch, his elder brother having died without male issue during the father's lifetime. Alexander was known as Alastair Breac; the soubriquet "breac" means "pock-pitted," and had reference to traces of smallpox, then a terrible scourge in the Highlands. He was fifty years of age when he succeeded his father. He was a very tall man, being as we saw in Part I., chap. xi., a head above all his brothers, who were themselves fine men. Not only was he mighty in stature, but he was also a renowned warrior. It was he who led the Mackenzies in the battle at Lochan an Fheidh in Glen Torridon, described in our last chapter, when the M'Leods were completely routed; and he is said to have been his father's principal assistant and agent in finally expelling the M'Leods from Gairloch. He is described as having been "a valiant worthy gentleman."
He was twice married, and had twelve children. He added by purchase or arrangement to the family estates. He seems to have mostly resided on Eilean Suainne in Loch Maree, where he died; his father's house and garden on Eilean Ruaridh were still in existence in his days, and he certainly used at times the old Temple house at Flowerdale.
In the days of Alastair Breac, Gairloch was still subject to raids, especially by cattle-lifters from Lochaber. The Loch Broom men used often to assist the people of Gairloch in repelling invaders. The trysting-place of the Gairloch and Lochaber men was at the spring or well just below the present road at the head of Glen Dochartie. The present road has buried the well, but the water is still there.
There lived a man in Lochaber in those days called Donald, the son of Black Donald. He was a cross man, and a choice thief. He had a brother known as Iain Geal Donn, or White-brown John, and there was only one other man in all Scotland who was a better "lifter" of cattle than these two. Donald sent word to Alastair Breac, laird of Gairloch, that he would "take spoil of him, and no thanks to him." On a previous occasion Donald had been foiled in an attempt to rob Gairloch. Alastair Breac sent for Alastair Buidhe Mackay, from Strath Oykell in Sutherlandshire, who was the strongest and most valiant man he could hear of in the three counties, and him he appointed captain of his guard. Iain Geal Donn came with his men to An Amilt, in Easter Ross, and there they "lifted" eleven cows and a bull. They came with their spoil through Strath Vaich and Strath Conan to a place called Sgaird-ruadh, or Scardroy, where they stayed the night. It was they who gave this name to the place, because they had pushed the beasts so hard that blood came from them there in the night. Alastair Buidhe Mackay had a Lochaber lad for his servant, and it was this lad who told him for certain that the thieves were stopping that night at a shieling bothie at Scardroy. Mackay and his servant hurried away to Scardroy. There he put the muzzle of his gun to the lad's body, and made him swear to be faithful to him. They moved on to the bothie, and there Mackay again made the lad swear to be true to him, and not to let any of the thieves come out alive. The Lochaber thieves were in the bothie quite unsuspicious, roasting a portion of the bull. Mackay posted his servant at the door, whilst he himself climbed on the other end of the bothie. He quietly lifted the lower edge of a divot on the roof, and peeped in to see what was going on. He saw Iain Geal Donn looking very jolly, and warming the backs of the calves of his legs at the fire. Iain suddenly turned round, and said to his men who were about the fire roasting the meat, "Look out! I am getting the smell of powder." Before he could say another word, the charge from Mackay's gun was lodged in the small of his back. The instant he had fired the shot, Mackay rushed to the door to assist his servant, and the two of them slew all the Lochaber men as they came to the door, except one who got off by a fluke, and he had the heel cut off one foot! They followed him a little way, but were too tired to catch him. They returned to the dead bodies at the bothie, and ate their fill of the meat that was roasting. They sewed up the body of Iain Geal Donn in the bull's hide, and put the roasting spit across his mouth. Then they went away, leaving the dead in the bothie. Alastair Buidhe Mackay returned west to Gairloch, and told the laird what he had done. Alastair Breac was so pleased with the account, that he sent a running gillie at once to Brahan with a letter to tell Lord Mackenzie of Kintail what had occurred. Who should happen to be dining with Lord Mackenzie but Cameron of Lochiel! When his lordship had read the letter, he threw it over to Lochiel, saying, "There is blood on you over there, you thieves." Lochiel was so stung that he left the dinner untouched, and went straight home to Lochaber. He sent gillies to Scardroy, and they brought away the body of Iain Geal Donn. They buried him in Corpach in Lochaber, where his memorial cairn stands to this day. Soon after this, Lochiel meditated a raid on Gairloch; he thought he would make it hard for Alastair Breac, in revenge for the slaughter of the Lochaber men. When Alastair Breac heard of this, he collected four score men to keep back the Lochaber invaders. They were with the laird all night in the old house called the Temple, now the head-gardener's house at Flowerdale. They were a ragged crew, but they were strong and they were brave. In the morning they went away, and soon reached the Great Black Corrie of Liathgach. There were shieling bothies at the foot of the glen, and the Gairloch men thought their Lochaber foes might be lying in ambush in the bothies. Alastair Ross from Lonmor volunteered to go and see if the Lochaber men were in the bothies, which were not in use at that time of the year; he was not much in his clothing, but he did not lack pluck. He went to the bothies, and in a loud voice challenged the Lochaber men to come out. But he got no answer. The Lochaber men, fortunately for themselves, had not come forward, having heard of Alastair Breac's preparations to resist them. The Gairloch men got the news of the retreat of the Lochaber men from the people of Coire Mhic Cromail in Torridon, who at the same time assured them they would have assisted them against the invader had they come. Our ragged rabble, without pride or fear, returned to Gairloch, and spent the night with Alastair Breac in the Temple house, with music, drinking, and revelry. It was on their tramp homewards that they met at Kenlochewe Ruaridh Breac, son of Fair Duncan, the old bard who lived at Cromasaig, and he composed the celebrated song to the "Guard of the Black Corrie."
The story of the watch at Glac na Sguithar belongs to the same period. The dell bearing that name is to the east of the head of Glen Dochartie. Then almost all the proprietors in the Highlands paid blackmail to Colla Ban; consequently he made no raids upon their territories; and if others made raids upon them, Colla made good the loss. The laird of Gairloch refused to pay blackmail to Colla, and he sent him word that he had many brave men in Gairloch, therefore he would give blackmail to no one. Colla replied, "He would soon make a raid upon Gairloch, and before driving away the spoil he would sleep a night in the laird of Gairloch's bed." Upon hearing this Mackenzie called out the bravest and strongest of the Gairloch men, and he sent them to keep guard in the passes through which the Lochaber men were most likely to advance northward. There were thirty picked men in the Coire Dubh, and an equal member in Glac na Sguithar. In each guard Mackenzie had his own near relations and kinsmen. At this time there was an inn at Luib, at the Gairloch end of Loch Rosque; it was on the green at the head of the loch, below where the present Luibmhor inn stands; the innkeeper was called Iain Caol. While the guard of Glac na Sguithar were on duty, late on a Saturday night, four of the Lochaber men, who had been sent on in advance to spy the land, took up their quarters in Iain Caol's hostelry. On Sabbath morning they sat round the fire in the one public room in the house, and Iain himself went out for a walk. He was not long away, but soon returned to the Cameron spies from Lochaber. Addressing them he said, "I see four of the Gairloch men from the watch at Glac na Sguithar coming this way. I am sure they will call in for their 'morning.' Go to the other end, where you slept last night, and remain there quietly for a little. They will soon be off again." This request displeased the Camerons, for they answered rather tartly, "Where did we ever see four from whose face we would turn away?" "Be that as it may," said Iain, "take my advice just now. You can see and hear all that may go on; and, when you do so, if you think it prudent to go among them, you can join them before they leave the house." They took his advice and retired. The four came in, each of them a scion of the Gairloch family, except one who was a Chisholm. Big Murdo, son of the good man of Shieldaig, sat at the far end of the bench next the partition; beside him Iain Gearr Mac Mhurchaidh Mhic Iain took up his position. The third was Murdo Roy; and Chisholm occupied the other end of the bench. Big Murdo of Shieldaig called for a bottle of whisky; they drank it. Iain Gearr called for another bottle, and they drank it. Murdo Roy called for a third bottle; they got it also, and drank it. Then Chisholm called for a bottle. "You have enough," said Iain Caol. "Is it because I am not one of the gentry that you refuse me?" said Chisholm, with rising ire: "Give me my bottle of your own good will, or I will have it against your will." They got the fourth bottle, and while they were discussing it Murdo of Shieldaig said to Iain Caol, "Do you ever see any of those braggarts from Lochaber who are troubling us, keeping us on guard away from home? I wish a few of them came, till we would have some sport with them." "Not a man of them ventures this way," said Iain Caol. The Gairloch men went away, and Iain accompanied them over the hill. Here they sat and drank Iain's bottle, which he had concealed under his arm. Then Iain returned, and found the Lochaber men sitting again at the fire. "Have I here the heroes who never saw men from whom they would retreat?" said Iain Caol to them. One of them replied, "We saw only two of them, but we never saw such men before. If one of them caught any of us, he could easily crush every bone of the body in his hand." So the Lochaber spies quietly returned home. The Camerons never again attempted to make a raid upon Gairloch, and Alastair Breac heard no more of their menaces.
Alastair Breac died 4th January 1638, aged sixty, and was buried in the chapel he had erected in the Gairloch churchyard.
He was succeeded by his eldest son Kenneth, sixth laird of Gairloch, who was a strong royalist during the wars of Montrose and the Covenanters, and commanded a body of Highlanders at Balvenny, under Thomas Mackenzie of Pluscardine, and his own brother-in-law the Earl of Huntly, but when the royalist army was surprised and disarmed he managed to escape. As a malignant he was fined by the Committee of Estates for his adherence to the king (see Appendix F).
Kenneth added to the family property. He was three times married, and had eleven children. He built the Stankhouse, or "moat-house," on the site of the old Tigh Dige, and made his Gairloch home there. He died in 1669, and was buried in Beauly Priory, where his great-grandfather, John Glassich Mackenzie, had been interred.
Alexander, eldest son of Kenneth, became the seventh laird of Gairloch. He also added to the family estates. He was thrice married, and had six children. He seems to have lived a quiet life; he died in 1694, aged forty-two, and was buried in the burial-place in the Gairloch churchyard.
Chapter XIV
THE BARONETS OF GAIRLOCH, AND SOME OTHER GAIRLOCH MACKENZIES.
Sir Kenneth Mackenzie, eldest son of Alexander, seventh laird of Gairloch, was created a baronet of Nova Scotia by Queen Anne on 2d February 1703. These baronetcies were frequently conferred upon proprietors who assisted in peopling Nova Scotia, then an object of great solicitude with the crown, so that it is possible the first baronet of Gairloch, or his father, may have promoted emigration among the Gairloch people. He was educated at Oxford, and represented Ross-shire in the Scottish Parliament, where he strongly opposed the Union. When in Gairloch he lived at the Stankhouse. He had six children. He died in December 1703, aged only thirty-two, and was buried in Gairloch in the old chapel within the churchyard, which was the burial-place of the family. This old chapel was roofed in 1704. The sum of thirty merks was then expended in "harling, pinning, and thatching Gairloch's burial place." At his death Sir Kenneth was deeply involved in debt.
Sir Alexander, eldest son of the first baronet, became the ninth laird of Gairloch when only three years of age. For want of means he and his sister Anne had to be brought up in tenants' houses. During his long minority some of the debts were paid off. In 1712 he was sent to the school at Chanonry, and after six years there he went to Edinburgh to complete his education. He afterwards made a foreign tour, and on his return in 1730 married his cousin Janet of Scatwell, by whom he had nine children. He was called by his people Seann Tighearna, and seems to have resided mostly in Gairloch, for latterly his lady lived alone at Kinkell. In 1738 he pulled down the Stankhouse, which stood in a low marshy situation on the site of the old Tigh Dige, and built the present Flowerdale House on a raised plateau surrounded by charming woods and rugged hills, and with a southern aspect. The glen here was a perfect jungle of wild flowers before the introduction, long after this time, of sheep farming, and so Sir Alexander appropriately gave the name of Flowerdale to his new chateau.
The attempt of the unfortunate Prince Charlie to regain the throne of his ancestors occurred in the time of Sir Alexander. This prudent cautious baronet kept out of the "Forty-five," though some of his people fought with their fellow Highlanders at the fatal battle of Culloden.
It was shortly after that battle, when Prince Charlie was hiding on the west coast, that two vessels came to Sgeir Bhoora, the small island rock near Poolewe at the head of Loch Ewe, and remained there a short time waiting for a messenger, who was expected to bring gold sent by the court of France for Prince Charlie's use. Whether afraid of being caught in a corner by an English man-of-war, or impatient of the delay in the arrival of the messenger, the two vessels sailed away a few days before the occurrence of the incident about to be related.
There were at this time three brothers of the name of Cross, who were sons of one of the last of the Loch Maree ironworkers. One of them was a bard, who built a house at Kernsary, still called Innis a bhaird, or "the oasis of the bard." One of the bard's brothers, named Hector, who had become a crofter at Letterewe, was at a shieling at the Claonadh (or Slopes), at the back of Beinn Lair, above Letterewe, where he and other crofters grazed their cattle in summer. One day after the battle of Culloden a stranger, a young Highlander, with yellow hair and clad in tartan, came to Hector's bothie and asked for shelter and refreshment. When the girl gave him a bowl of cream, he drank it off, and returned it to her with a gold piece in it. The news quickly spread among the shieling bothies that the stranger had gold about him. Soon after his departure from Hector's hospitable roof next morning, a shot was heard, and on a search being made the dead body of the young man was found, robbed of all valuables. The murder and robbery were ascribed to a crofter, whose name is well remembered, and whose descendants are still at Letterewe, for from that time the family had money. It is almost superfluous to add that no steps were taken to bring the murderer to justice; the unsettled state of the Highlands at the time would alone account for the immunity of the offender. It afterwards transpired that the murdered stranger had been a valet or personal servant to Prince Charlie, and that he had gone by the name of the "Gille Buidhe," or "yellow-haired lad." He was conveying the gold to his master, which had been sent from France, and it was to meet him that the two vessels had come to Sgeir Bhoora, near Poolewe. It seems he carried the gold in one end of his plaid, which had been formed into a temporary bag, an expedient still often resorted to in the Highlands. A portion of the Gille Buidhe's plaid formed the lining of a coat belonging to an old man at Letterewe in the nineteenth century. Kenneth Mackenzie, an old man living at Cliff (now dead), told me he had seen it.
The Gille Buidhe was not the only one to whom gold sent from France was entrusted in order that it might be taken to Prince Charlie. Duncan M'Rae, of Isle Ewe, who had been with the prince in his victorious days in Edinburgh, and had there composed a song entitled "Oran na Feannaige," received a small keg or cask of gold pieces for the use of the prince. It was soon after the date of the murder of the Gille Buidhe, that Duncan M'Rae and two other men brought the keg of gold across Loch Ewe from Mellon Charles to Cove, and then hid it in the Fedan Mor above Loch a Druing, where Duncan M'Rae, by means of the "sian," caused the cask to become invisible. In Part II., chap, xiv., the superstition illustrated by this incident will be described. They say the cask of gold still remains hidden in the Fedan Mor. Duncan M'Rae was one of the faithful Highlanders who did all that could be done to secure the prince's safety and serve his interests. It seems the incident must have occurred after the prince had fled to Skye.
About the same time as the murder of the Gille Buidhe, one of the men-of-war cruising in search of the prince came into the bay at Flowerdale, and the captain sent word to Sir Alexander Mackenzie to come on board. The latter thought he was quite as well ashore among his people, so he sent his compliments to the captain, regretting he could not accept his invitation, as he had friends to dine with him on the top of Craig a chait (the high rocky hill behind Flowerdale House), where he hoped the captain would join them. The reply was a broadside against the house as the ship sailed off. One of the cannon balls, "apparently about an 18 lb. shot," was sticking half out of the house gable next to the sea in the youth of Dr Mackenzie (a great-grandson, still living, of Sir Alexander's), who adds, that "had the cannon ball hit but a few feet lower, it might have broken into a recess in the thickness of the gable, the admittance to which was by raising the floor at a wall press in the room above, although this had been forgotten, till masons, cutting an opening for a gable door to the kitchen, broke into the recess, where were many swords and guns. Then it was recollected that Fraser of Foyers was long concealed by our ancestor, and, of course, in this black hole."
Sir Alexander consolidated the family estates, and was a shrewd man of business. He was a kind landlord, and very popular with his people, though the conditions in the leases he granted would probably be considered oppressive in the present day. John Mackay, the celebrated "blind piper" (son of Rorie, who had been piper to John Roy Mackenzie and to his successors to the third generation), was piper and bard to Sir Alexander, who seems to have loved a quiet home life. He died in 1766, aged sixty-five, and was buried with his ancestors in the little chapel in the Gairloch churchyard.
He was succeeded by his eldest son Sir Alexander, tenth laird, who was called in Gairloch "An Tighearna Ruadh," or Alastair Roy, from the colour of his hair. He had also another soubriquet, viz., "An Tighearna Crubach," which had reference to a physical defect. Like his father, he travelled on the continent as a young man. Angus Mackay (son of the "blind piper") was his piper, and Sir Alexander left Angus in Edinburgh for tuition whilst he himself went abroad. This Sir Alexander built Conan House, about 1758, during his father's lifetime, and it still continues the principal residence of the baronets of Gairloch. He was twice married, and had six children.
His second son John raised a company, almost entirely in Gairloch, of the 78th regiment of Ross-shire Highlanders, when first embodied. He obtained the captaincy, and was rapidly promoted, becoming colonel of the regiment in 1795. He attained the rank of major-general in the army in 1813, and full general in 1837. He served with distinction, and without cessation, for thirty-five years, viz., from 1779 to 1814. From his personal daring and valour he became known as "Fighting Jack," and was adored by his men. He often said that it gave him greater pleasure to see a dog from Gairloch than a gentleman from anywhere else. He died, the father of the British army, on 14th June 1860, at the advanced age of ninety-six.
Sir Alexander (tenth laird) left his estates burdened with debt. He died on 15th April 1770 from the effects of a fall from his horse, and was buried with his forefathers at Gairloch.
Sir Hector Mackenzie, eldest son of the tenth laird, became the fourth baronet and eleventh laird of Gairloch. He was known among his people as "An Tighearna Storach," or the buck-toothed laird. He succeeded to the estates when a minor only twelve years of age. During the minority some of the debts were paid off, and in 1789 Sir Hector sold several properties (not in Gairloch) to pay off the balance of the debts. He lived at home, and managed his estates himself; and though he kept open house throughout the year at Conan and Gairloch, he was able to leave or pay a considerable fortune to each of his sons. In 1815 he was appointed lord-lieutenant of Ross-shire. He only visited London once in his life, and appears to have divided his time nearly equally between Flowerdale House and Conan, which he enlarged. He was adored by his people, to whom he acted as father and friend. His character was distinguished by kindness, urbanity, and frankness, and he was considered the most sagacious and intelligent man in the county.
Though not tall, he was very strong, almost rivalling in this respect his famous ancestor Hector Roy. (See the reference to his powerful grasp in the account of Alexander Grant, the big bard of Slaggan.) Sir Hector was a great angler. (See Appendix E.) A curious anecdote, shewing how Sir Hector befriended his hereditary foe, Macleod of Raasay, will be given in Part II., chap. xxv.
John Mackay (son of Angus), the last of the hereditary pipers of the Gairloch family, was piper to Sir Hector, and Alexander Campbell was his bard, in whose life (Part II., chap xx.) will be found an anecdote illustrating Sir Hector's kindly disposition.
Sir Hector gave a great impetus to the Gairloch cod-fishing, which he continued to encourage as long as he lived. Christian Lady Mackenzie (Sir Hector's wife), who was called in Gairloch "A Bhantighearna Ruadh," seems to have been as much beloved as her husband. Sir Hector's fourth son, Dr John Mackenzie of Eileanach, still survives, and is well known as a thorough Highlander. A number of extracts from his MS. "Odd and End Stories" are included in these pages. Sir Hector died on 26th April 1826, aged sixty-nine, and was buried in Beauly Priory.
Sir Francis Alexander was the fifth baronet and twelfth laird of Gairloch. He followed the example of his father Sir Hector in his kindly treatment of his tenantry, for whose benefit he published in 1838 the book quoted further on, entitled "Hints for the Use of Highland Tenants and Cottagers, by a Proprietor." Sir Alexander was a great sportsman and practical farmer, and spent a considerable part of each year at Flowerdale House.
By his first wife Sir Francis had two sons, viz., Kenneth Smith, the present baronet; and Mr Francis Harford Mackenzie. By his second wife he had one son, Mr Osgood Hanbury Mackenzie of Inverewe, who has largely assisted in the preparation of this book. Sir Francis died on 2d June 1843, aged forty-four. His widow, the Dowager Lady Mackenzie of Gairloch, now resides at Tournaig, in the parish of Gairloch.
Sir Kenneth S. Mackenzie, the sixth baronet and thirteenth laird of Gairloch, succeeded to the estates when a minor. Following the example of his immediate ancestors, he takes the lead in all local and county matters. Like his grandfather he is lord-lieutenant of his native county. He deals personally with his tenantry. His principal residence is Conan House, but he spends a portion of every year at Flowerdale in Gairloch. He was a member of the Royal Commission appointed 22d March 1883 to inquire into the condition of the crofters and cottars in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. This is not the place to offer any encomium on the present baronet of Gairloch, but it may be mentioned that the historian of the Mackenzies, himself a native of the parish, states that Sir Kenneth is "universally admitted to be one of the best landlords in the Highlands." Sir Kenneth married, in 1860, Eila Frederica, daughter of the late Walter Frederick Campbell of Islay.
There have been several collateral families of Mackenzies in Gairloch, to whom some reference must be made.
The Mackenzies of Letterewe were descended from Charles, the eldest son of Kenneth Mackenzie, sixth laird of Gairloch, by his third wife. By his father's marriage-contract Charles Mackenzie got Logie Wester, which in 1696 he exchanged with his half-brother Alexander, the seventh laird of Gairloch, for the lands of Letterewe. Letterewe continued in this family until Hector Mackenzie, in 1835, sold the estate to the late Mr Meyrick Bankes of Winstanley Hall, Lancashire. The present representative of the Letterewe family is Mr Charles Mackenzie, a lawyer in the United States of America; their representative in this country is Mr John Munro Mackenzie, of Morinish and Calgary. The present Letterewe House is an enlargement of the older residence of this family.
The Mackenzies of Lochend, or Kinloch (now Inverewe), sprang from John Mackenzie of Lochend, third son of Alexander, the seventh laird of Gairloch, by his second wife. They were tacksmen of Lochend, which belonged to the Coul Mackenzies, by whom it was ultimately sold to Mr Osgood H. Mackenzie in 1863. The old Lochend House stood where the walled garden of the present Inverewe House is.
The Mackenzies of Gruinard sprang from John Mackenzie, a natural son of George, second earl of Seaforth and fourteenth laird of Kintail, who, with Captain Hector Mackenzie, conveyed the news of the defeat of the Royalists by Oliver Cromwell at the battle of Worcester, in 1651, to his father in Holland, where the latter was at that time living in exile. This family produced several distinguished soldiers, especially Alexander, a colonel in the army, who served with the 36th Regiment throughout the Peninsular War. John Mackenzie, the fifth laird of Gruinard, who was a captain in the 73d Regiment, sold the property, which included Little Gruinard, Udrigil, and Sand, all in the parish of Gairloch, to the late Henry Davidson of Tulloch, who resold it to Mr Meyrick Bankes. William Mackenzie, the sixth head of this family, was a captain in the 72d Regiment, and is said to have been the handsomest man in his day in the Highlands. The Gruinard family increased rapidly. The first laird had eight sons and eight daughters, who all married. George, the second laird of Gruinard, was twice married; by his first wife he had fourteen sons and nine daughters, and by his second wife four sons and six daughters,--making the extraordinary total of thirty-three children, nineteen of whom at least are known to have married, and most of them into the best families of the north. The Gruinard family resided at Udrigil House, and subsequently at Aird House, both of which they built.
There was a family of Mackenzies settled at Kernsary who were descended from Murdo Mackenzie, fifth son of Colin Cam, the eleventh lord of Kintail. Murdo had a son and daughter. The son was killed in 1645 at the battle of Auldearn, where he commanded the Lews Mackenzie regiment.
In the seventeenth century the Rev. Kenneth Mackenzie, from Bute, purchased the Kernsary estate from the Mackenzies of Coul, to whom it then belonged. He was an Episcopalian clergyman, and held services in the little Inverewe church at the place now called Londubh, on the Kernsary estate, close to which he lived in the house now occupied by James Mackenzie. He married a daughter of Mackenzie of Letterewe. They had a son Roderick, who succeeded to the Kernsary property; so did his son Roderick. This second Roderick married Mary, sister of Mackenzie of Ballone; she was a beauty, and was known as Mali Chruinn Donn. Their son Alexander sold Kernsary to the Seaforth family some fifty years ago; his son, the Rev. Hector Mackenzie, was minister of Moy, and died a few years back.
In bringing to a close this account of the Mackenzies of Gairloch, their history and present position may be summarised thus:--A strong offshoot of the family of the earls of Ross separated from the parent stock, and having taken root in Kintail, developed into the illustrious family of the Kintail or Seaforth Mackenzies. Again, a vigorous branch of the Kintail Mackenzies took root in Gairloch, and culminated in the present series of the baronets of Gairloch. The earls of Ross disappeared centuries ago, and the family of Seaforth has become extinct in the direct male line, whilst their estates have melted away. The Gairloch family remain, and their fine property has increased in value. Although the present baronet does not claim the chieftainship of the whole clan, which is believed to belong to a more remote offshoot of the Kintail family, that dignity is now but a name, and Sir Kenneth Mackenzie of Gairloch is to-day the most influential and distinguished of the great Mackenzie race.
The crest of the Gairloch Mackenzies is the figure of Donald Odhar, though some lairds of Gairloch have used the general crest of the Mackenzies, viz., the Cabar Feidh, or stag's head and horns. The badge of the Mackenzies is the deer grass, or stag's horn moss. Their war-cry or slogan is "Tulloch-ard," the name of a mountain in Kintail. This mountain has sometimes been used as a crest with the "warning flame" on its summit, representing the beacon whence the clan was apprised of danger.
Of pipe music the following tunes have been stated to be specially appropriated to the Mackenzies:--
Marches: Cabar Feidh and Gabhaidh sinn an rathad mor, usually called, "The high road to Gairloch."
Salute: Failte Uilleam Dhuibh (Black William's salute).
Gathering: Co-thional (Mackenzie's gathering).
Lament: Cumha Thighearna Ghearrloch (Laird of Gairloch's lament).
A list of the Mackenzie lairds of Gairloch is given in Table V.
XV. GAIRLOCH ESTATES, AND OLD NAMES OF PLACES
An account must be given here of the ways in which the different parts of the parish of Gairloch came into the hands of the present proprietors. It shall be brief. Some notes on old names of places are included.
Hector Roy Mackenzie is said, in an old MS., to have possessed, among other properties, "Kenlochewe, a district adjoining to Gairloch on the east." But after his time it belonged to the lords of Kintail, and subsequently to the Mackenzies of Coul, from whom Sir Alexander Mackenzie, ninth laird of Gairloch, purchased it in 1743, with the proceeds of the sale of Glas Leitire, in Kintail. Kenlochewe has belonged to the Gairloch baronets since that date. It extends from the west end of Loch Rosque to the water flowing from Glen Torridon past the village of Kenlochewe into the head of Loch Maree, and to a burn running down Slioch on the north-east side of that loch; it also extends six miles on the road from Kenlochewe village to Torridon.
Gairloch itself became the property of Hector Roy under charters from the crown, and has ever since remained the possession of the Gairloch Mackenzies. In the earliest document of title extant, a protocol from John de Vaux, sheriff of Inverness, dated 10th December 1494, "the landis of Gerloch," granted to Hector, and of which the sheriff gave him possession by that protocol, are described as "lyande betwix the watteris callyde Innerew and Torvedene, within the Shireffdome of Innerness." The boundaries thus stated for Gairloch are the waters of Ewe, i.e. Loch Maree, the river Ewe, and Loch Ewe on the north, and Torridon on the south. The sheriff's protocol was sealed at "Alydyll"--no doubt Talladale--"in Garloch," and that place has always formed part of Gairloch, as have also the islands of Loch Maree.
The retour, in 1566, of Alexander, second son of John Glassich Mackenzie, specifies "the lands of Garloch" as including "Garloch, Kirktoun, Syldage, Hamgildail, Malefage, Innerasfidill, Sandecorran, Cryf, Baddichro, Bein-Sanderis, Meall, Allawdill." Kirktoun seems to have been the designation of the place now called Charlestown, near Flowerdale, being near the old Gairloch church; Syldage represents Shieldaig; Malefage, Melvaig; Innerasfidill, Inverasdale; Sandecorran, Big Sand (of Gairloch); Cryf, Cliff (Poolewe); Baddichro, Badachro; Meall, Miole or Strath; and Allawdill must be Talladale. Hamgildail no longer exists.
In 1638 "Kenneth McKeinzie of Garloch was served heir male to his father, Alexander McKeinzie of Garloche, in the lands and barony of Garloche, including Kirktoun, with the manor place and gardens of the same, Sildag [Shieldaig], the two Oyngadellis [same as Hamgildail, in the retour of 1566], Mailfog [Melvaig], Debak [Diabaig], Inneraspedell [Inverasdale], Sandacarrane [Sandacarran, or Big Sand], Badichro [Badachro], the two Sandis [north side of Loch Gairloch], Erredell [Erradale], Telledill [Talladale], Clive [Cliff, Poolewe], Tollie [same as now], and the two Nastis [Naast]; the lands of Ellenow [Isle of Ewe], Auldgressan [Altgreshan], with the waters and salmon fishings of Kerrie and Badechro, the half of the water of Ew, and the salmon fishings of the same, Achetcairne [Achtercairn], Meoll [Miole, or Strath], with the mill, Udroll, the loch of Loch Maroy [Loch Maree], with the islands of the same, and the manor place and gardens in the island of Ilinroy [Eilean Ruaridh], the loch of Garloch with the fishings of the same, with other lands in Ross, all united into the barony of Garloche and the town of Clive [Poolewe], with the harbour and shore of the same being part of the same barony of Garloch erected into a burgh of barony." This must have been a list of the inhabited places on the Gairloch estate two hundred and fifty years ago.
In a Dutch map of Ross-shire, by the famous geographer Blaeu, engraved by Pont, and dated 1662, kindly lent me by Mr D. William Kemp, some of the old Gairloch names are given with curious spellings. This map of Ross-shire purports to have been made by "R. Gordonius a Strath-loch." The map shows Telladull, Slotadull, Tawy, Yl Ew, Ruymakilvandrich, Dunast, Inner-Absdill, Melvag, Sanda, Erdull, Viroill, Meall, Achagacharn, Heglis Gherloch, Knokintoull, Ingadill, Shilkag, Padechry, Erradill, Typack (Diabaig), Ardetisag. Rudha Reidh is called Rowna Ra; the island of Longa is called Yl Lunga; the sea-loch of Gairloch is called Gher Loch; Loch Maree is called Loch Ew, which name is also given to the present Loch Ew, and the Garavaig river is called Alt Finnag. This last name seems to be for Allt Feannaige, or "the burn of the hoodie crow," a bird which still frequents the locality. These are all the names given on what was the original Gairloch estate. Of other names within the parish of Gairloch there are Inner Ew, Turnag, Drumnachoirk, Badfern, Oudergill, Sanda, Inoran, Ardlarich, Achabuy, Letyr Ew, Fowlis, Smirsary, Pinesdale, Achanaloisk, Glenmuik, Lecachy, Glen-dochart, Glas-Letyr, Heglis-loch-ew (apparently where Culinellan now is), and Groudy. The only mountain named is Bin Cherkyr. A large island on Loch Maree has the name Sow, probably intended for Suainne, which island had then previously been a residence of Alastair Breac, laird of Gairloch. Lochs Finn [Fionn loch], Dow [Dubh loch], Garavad [east of Letterewe], Fadd, and Clair, are the only lochs with names. It is curious that such places as Kenlochewe and Clive [Poolewe] are not named on this old map. The names that are given are very instructive when compared with the names in the old records just quoted. Ruymakilvandrich is not found elsewhere; it seems to be intended for Rudha Mac Gille Aindreas, or "the point of the son of Gillanders," i.e. of the servant of Andrew, and is applied to a small headland near Boor; it doubtless had reference to some incident long ago forgotten. Dunast [Dun Naast] is still the name of a rock close to Naast; from this name being given instead of Naast, it may be inferred that in the seventeenth century there was some part of the dun that stood there still remaining The names Heglis Gherloch, Heglis-loch-ew, Knokintoull, and Achanaloisk, do not occur elsewhere, either in old descriptions or modern nomenclature. Viroill seems to be the same as Udroll in the description of 1638. The map shows it where Lonmor now is. The other names are easily identified. The place called Ingadill on this old map, Hamgildail in the retour of 1566, and Oyngadellis in 1638, has now entirely disappeared; it seems to have been at the mouth of the river Kerry. The map gives only two churches in Gairloch parish, viz., Heglis Gherloch, near where the present Gairloch church now stands, and Heglis-loch-ew, at the head of Loch Maree. The names of places given on the map most likely indicate the most populous localities at that date. Some of the names are spelt phonetically; thus Bin is the Gaelic pronunciation of Beinn, and Finn is still the pronunciation by the natives of the name of Fionn loch.
Alexander Mackenzie, seventh laird of Gairloch, bought the second half of the water of Ewe and Mellon Charles in 1671. The precise extent of this purchase does not appear. Mellon Charles still belongs to the Gairloch Mackenzies, as well as Isle Ewe, and the whole right to the salmon fishings of Loch Ewe, the River Ewe, and Loch Maree. To finish with the Gairloch estate of Sir Kenneth Mackenzie, the present baronet, it may be mentioned that the Kernsary estate was purchased from the Seaforth family in 1844, very early in Sir Kenneth's minority, and was resold by his trustees to his half-brother Mr Osgood H. Mackenzie, in 1862, with the exception of the strip of territory extending from Inveran to Londubh on the north-east bank of the river Ewe, which, with Gairloch proper, Kenlochewe, Mellon Charles, and the Isle of Ewe, completes Sir Kenneth's possessions in the parish of Gairloch. They form a noble estate, which comprises more than three-fourths of the whole parish.
Letterewe unquestionably belonged to the Kintail or Seaforth family up to and including the early part of the seventeenth century. It was either acquired by Kenneth, sixth laird of Gairloch, at the time (about 1648) when he became cautioner for the Earl of Seaforth in a bond for five thousand merks, or else later on (in 1671) by his son Alexander as part of his acquisition of the second half of the water of Ewe. In 1696 this Alexander gave up Letterewe to his brother Charles in exchange for Wester Logie. Charles became the progenitor of the family of Mackenzie of Letterewe, who possessed the property until 1835, when it was sold to the late Mr Meyrick Bankes, whose daughter Mrs Liot Bankes is the present liferenter of it. It extends from Slioch, along the shore of Loch Maree, to a burn between Ardlair and Inveran, and back to Fionn loch. With Letterewe is held the old Gruinard estate; it includes all the lands on the promontory called the Greenstone Point, except Mellon Charles. The older annals of this property are complex, and need not be fully narrated here. It came into the possession of the Gruinard Mackenzies before 1655, and continued in the same family until 1795, when it was sold to Henry Davidson of Tulloch, who again sold it to the late Mr Bankes, about 1835, along with the other parts of the Gruinard estate to the south of the Meikle Gruinard river. Mrs Liot Bankes is also liferenter of this property: it forms, with Letterewe, a fine estate, which covers just one-sixth of the parish of Gairloch.
The remaining property in Gairloch parish is that of Mr Osgood H. Mackenzie. It includes Kernsary (except the strip on the north-east side of the Ewe, which, as before stated, is Sir Kenneth's), Lochend or Inverewe, and Tournaig. Kernsary, as we have seen, was, after belonging to more than one family, purchased by Sir Kenneth's trustees in 1844, and sold by them to Mr Osgood H. Mackenzie in 1862. It was bought from the Seaforth family, who had acquired it as providing a port at Londubh, from which the island of the Lews, then their estate, was accessible. The Lochend and Tournaig properties were in 1863 purchased by Mr Osgood H. Mackenzie from Sir William Mackenzie of Coul, to whom they had come after having had a succession of proprietors. These and Kernsary now constitute Mr Osgood H. Mackenzie's charming estate of Inverewe, about one-sixteenth of the whole parish of Gairloch.
XVI. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF GAIRLOCH
The chronological order of events, otherwise pretty closely adhered to in Part I., will be necessarily broken in this and the following chapters.
When we first hear of a church in Gairloch it was dedicated, as we should naturally expect, to St Maelrubha. It was a common kirk of the canons of Ross, and stood in what is still called the churchyard of Gairloch. The priests probably lived in the Temple house, as it was long called, which is now the dwelling of the head-gardener at Flowerdale. Possibly the little churches of Inverewe (now Londubh) and of Sand of Udrigil existed in pre-Reformation times, but they are not named in the Dutch map of 1662. There is a church shewn on that map called "Heglis Loch Ew," i.e. the church of Lochewe; it is at the head of Loch Maree, and was probably at Culinellan, near Kenlochewe. The map does not of course prove that this church existed before the Reformation, but it adds to the probability that it did so. It would be convenient of access for the monastics of Applecross. Little is known of the church history of Gairloch before the Reformation, which was consummated in Scotland about 1560.
Sir John Broik was rector of Gairloch at the time of the Reformation, and continued so until his death in 1583.
In 1560 Presbyterianism was established in Scotland, but it does not appear to have materially differed from the Episcopalianism it displaced, or rather absorbed, for it had superintendents whose office closely resembled that of bishops.
In 1572 the titles of archbishop and bishop were introduced, and a form of Episcopacy established. The bishops, however, enjoyed but a small portion of the benefices, and were known as "Tulchan bishops." The origin of this epithet "tulchan," is curious:--When a calf died and the cow thereupon refused to give her milk, the skin of the calf was stretched on a wickerwork frame and moved about to make the cow believe it was sucking, whilst the maid was really taking the milk; the sham calf was called "Tulachan."
In 1592 Presbyterianism was restored by Parliament; and in 1598 Episcopacy was reintroduced.
In 1641 King Charles I. sanctioned Presbyterianism; and in 1643 the Westminster Assembly met, and the Solemn League and Covenant was signed.
In 1649 King Charles I. was beheaded, and James Grahame, Lord Montrose, began his struggle in behalf of the king and the cause of Episcopacy.
In 1651 Charles II. was crowned at Scone, and signed the Covenant. On the Restoration in 1660 Episcopacy was re-established.
In 1689, immediately after the Revolution, Presbyterianism was finally established.
These changes from Episcopacy to Presbyterianism, and vice versâ, had very little effect in the Highlands, where the clergy and people long clung to Episcopacy; only one or two keen Covenanters on the east coast maintained Presbyterianism. The change in the government of the church was so slight, that in the days of Episcopacy the bishop, when present, presided as moderator over the Presbytery, which then consisted, as now, of the ministers and elders within the bounds. It was not until well into the eighteenth century that Presbyterianism became popular in Gairloch, and even then it does not appear to have introduced any great changes in the church, or in the form of worship. The principal Christian festivals were observed in Gairloch until the nineteenth century.
A list of all the ministers of Gairloch, with the dates of their presentation, will be found in Table IV. There are a few facts and anecdotes about several of them, which are worth recording here.
The Rev. Alexander Mackenzie was in 1583 presented to the parsonage and vicarage of Gairloch, vacant by the decease of Sir John Broik. Mr Mackenzie was vicar of Gairloch in 1590. He was the first vicar of Gairloch appointed after the Reformation.
In 1608 the Rev. Farquhar MacRae was appointed vicar of Gairloch by Bishop Leslie of Ross. He is referred to in our account of the old ironworks of Loch Maree, and some passages of his life are given in Appendix A. He was one of the Macraes of Kintail. In 1610 he was sent by Lord Mackenzie of Kintail on a mission to the Lews, with the most beneficial results. Though he continued his ministerial work in Gairloch until 1618, and though in his biography he is said to have been minister of Gairloch for ten years, yet his official position as such seems to have terminated sooner, for we find that some time before 1614 the Rev. Farquhar Mackenzie, who had "laureated" at the University of Edinburgh on 31st July 1606, was admitted minister of Gairloch. Probably Mr MacRae restricted his ministrations to those parts of Gairloch to the north of Loch Maree and Loch Ewe, which were then generally considered as in Loch Broom parish.
In 1649 the Rev. Roderick Mackenzie, third son of Roderick Mackenzie of Knock-backster, was admitted minister of Gairloch, and continued so until his death in March 1710, after an incumbency of sixty-one years. He seems to have been a man of quiet easy-going temperament. When he came to Gairloch Presbyterianism ruled; when Episcopacy was established in 1660, he conformed; and when the Revolution put an end to Episcopacy, he became a Presbyterian again. "Whatsoever king may reign, still I'll be vicar of Bray, sir!" The extracts from the presbytery records of the period, given in the first section of Appendix F, shew how careless this worthy minister was to obey the mandates of the presbytery. He married a sister of the laird of Knockbain, and had a son, Kenneth, born about 1703.
Some time during the seventeenth century the Rev. Kenneth Mackenzie, an Episcopalian clergyman, came from Bute, and bought the Kernsary estate. He resided in the proprietor's house at Kirkton, still standing close to the present Inverewe churchyard in Londubh, and officiated in the old church there, some remains of which are still to be seen. His great-great-grandson, the late Rev. Hector Mackenzie, minister of Moy, stated, some few years ago, that he remembered his grandmother Mrs Mackenzie of Kernsary (called Mali Chruinn Donn) shewing him an old prayer-book in an oak chest at the house at Kirkton, and that she said the chest and prayer-book had belonged to his ancestor who bought Kernsary. A loose stone may be seen in the part of the ruined church which was used as the burial-place of the Kernsary family; it is inscribed "K M K 1678," and is believed to have recorded the date when the Rev. Kenneth Mackenzie built or restored the little church. Possibly this clergyman chose Gairloch as a comparatively safe refuge for an Episcopalian in the covenanting times, and his services were most likely purely voluntary, and not intended to compete with those of the minister of the parish; or he may have voluntarily taken the place of Mr Farquhar MacRae as minister for those parts of Gairloch which were considered to be in Loch Broom parish.
The Rev. John Morrison became minister of Gairloch 1st March 1711. Although Presbyterianism had now been established for more than twenty years, it appears that some of Mr Morrison's parishioners still clung to Episcopacy, and in consequence the poor man had a bad time of it.
At the first meeting of the presbytery after his admission, Mr Morrison presented a petition, stating "that after two days sojourn, in going to preach, he was interrupted at Kenlochewe by the tenants of Sir John Mackenzie of Coul, who had laid violent hands on him and his servant, rent his clothes, made prisoners of them, and kept them three days under guard in a cottage full of cattle and dung, without meat or bedding the first two days, the tenants relieving one another in turn by a fresh supply every day. On the third day a short supply was allowed, but they were yet kept prisoners in the same place without other accommodation. When the fifth day came Mr John was carried to Sir John's house, who declared no Presbyterian should be settled in any place where his influence extended, unless Her Majesty's forces did it by the strong hand."
Another example of the persecution of Mr Morrison is traditional in Gairloch. He was travelling on the east side of Loch Maree, and when at Letterewe was attacked by the inhabitants, who seized him, and having stripped him naked, bound him to a tree, where they left him. This would be about September 1711, and the midges were in full force. The sufferings of poor Mr Morrison are said to have been dreadful. Towards evening a woman of the place took pity on him and released him from his miserable position. Thus set free he escaped, and it was some time before he again visited his parish. It is a saying in Gairloch, that there has never been a really pious holy man in Letterewe since this outrage on a minister of the gospel was committed there!
Having thus no access to his parish, Mr Morrison, and a neighbouring clergyman who was in a similar plight, fled to Sutherland on 7th November 1711. On the petition of George Mackenzie of Gruinard, who "had built a little church at Udrigil at his own expense," Mr Morrison agreed (8th April 1713) to preach there once a year at least.
On 23d October 1716 Mr Morrison represented his grievances to the presbytery, and solicited an "act of transportation," or, in other words, prayed to be transferred to some other parish. On 12th November 1716 he stated that, "having no glebe, manse, or legal maintenance, he was obliged to take a tack of land, and that for three or four years successively his crops were destroyed by cattle. In the time of the rebellion the best of his cattle were taken away by the rebels, and very lately his house plundered of all provision to the value of four hundred merks." His solicitation was granted 14th November 1716, and he was transferred to Urray. It is said that the "tack of land" Mr Morrison took was in Tollie bay, and that he built a humble dwelling for himself close to the shore of Loch Maree. This was in the latter days of his short incumbency, after his return from Sutherlandshire. He conducted services in a turf-built church which stood by the shingly beach in Tollie bay. Old people now living say that they remember seeing the remains of the turf walls of Mr Morrison's church. Here is a curious story of this period:--It was nearly Christmas, probably in 1715, and whisky was required for the hospitality of the season. No whisky was made in Gairloch until long after this, but in Ferintosh, on the other side of Ross-shire, there was plenty of whisky distilled. Mr Morrison had a brother Rorie, who was also a minister. Rorie is said to have been the minister of Urray. If so, he must either have died about 1716, or have resigned to make room for his brother on the sudden transfer of the latter from Gairloch to Urray in that year. Early one morning the Rev. John Morrison sent off a man from Tollie with a horse to his brother at Urray for two casks of whisky. The man reached the brother's house the same night. Rorie determined to play a trick on his brother, so when his brother's man was out of the way he made his own servants fill the two casks with water-gruel instead of whisky. Next day the man returned to Tollie, believing the casks to be full of whisky. It was Christmas eve when he reached Tollie, and a party was assembled to celebrate the festivities of the season. But when the casks were opened there was no whisky,--only water-gruel!
The Rev. James Smith, after an interregnum of five years caused by the difficulty of finding a clergyman willing to undertake the charge of this wild parish, succeeded Mr Morrison in 1721. In his day the Presbytery of Gairloch was erected. A sum of £1000 was allowed him by the Assembly, and the heritors or proprietors of the parish provided a manse with garden and glebe, and erected churchyard dykes. Mr Smith was a man of energy, and effected much in the way of reforming the morals of his people and spreading religion among them. In 1725 he had a missionary catechist at work, and he established a presbyterial library. In 1724 a school was established in Gairloch by the Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge, but was removed to Strathglass in 1728 for want of encouragement by the people. However, the first parochial school in Gairloch was in operation before Mr Smith's removal.
Though under Mr Smith Presbyterianism appears to have made way in Gairloch, it was otherwise in the contiguous parish of Lochcarron. The hero of the following incident is said to have been the Rev. Mr Sage, first Presbyterian minister of Lochcarron. He was settled in Lochcarron in 1727, and in 1731 prayed the presbytery for "an act of transportability." Mr Sage, who was a very powerful man, was travelling on foot to Gairloch viâ Glen Torridon, accompanied by his servant, a mere boy, who carried the "bonnet" which held the provisions for the way. Two of Mr Sage's parishioners had conspired to put an end to his life. They followed him, and after a time joined company, beguiling the way with conversation, until a fit place should be reached for the carrying out of the projected murder. When they came to the burn of the Black Corrie the minister announced that the luncheon hour had arrived, and asked his parishioners to join him. He took the "bonnet" from the boy, and began to dispense the viands. The would-be assassins seated themselves quite close to the minister, one on either side, and the leader now at last mustered pluck enough to inform Mr Sage that he had been condemned to die, and that his hour had come. The powerful minister instantly threw an arm round the neck of each of the villains, and squeezed their heads downwards against each other and upon his own thighs with paralysing force, holding them thus until they were on the verge of suffocation, when, in response to their abject screams for mercy and promises of safety for himself, he released them from his strong pressure, and they went away both better and wiser, let us hope, for this display of the good minister's muscular Christianity.
The Rev. Æneas M'Aulay was minister of Gairloch from 1732 to 1758. He had bad health, and was often absent from his parish. He employed a catechist.
The Rev. John Dounie was minister of Gairloch from 1758 to 1773. In his time Mr Thomas Pennant visited Poolewe (Appendix B). He heard Mr Dounie preach in the church at Tollie Croft, or Cruive End, and stayed the night with him in the manse at Cliff, Poolewe. Pennant, in the preface to his "Tour," speaks in high terms of Mr Dounie.
The Rev. Daniel Mackintosh, who succeeded Mr Dounie, seems to have been in smooth waters, and religion flourished in his time. His incumbency extended from 1773 to his death in 1802. He wrote the paper on Gairloch in the Old Statistical Account (Appendix C), from which we learn that there was no division or dissent in the parish. He was greatly assisted in his labours by the support of the generous and enlightened baronet of Gairloch, Sir Hector Mackenzie, and his wife the beloved lady of Gairloch.
The Rev. James Russell was minister of Gairloch from 1802 to 1844. Some objection was made to his appointment on account of his imperfect Gaelic; but he was found to be advancing in his knowledge of the language. Notwithstanding his progress, some amusing stories are still told in Gairloch of the ludicrous mistakes he used to make in his Gaelic sermons. For instance, intending to mention the two she-bears that came out of the wood and tare the children who mocked Elisha, he used Gaelic words which made the animals to be she roebucks! Up to and during Mr. Russell's time the education of children in Gairloch, and the correction of adults for offences against morals, were in the hands of the presbytery. In 1825 the presbytery, having instructed Mr. Russell to deal with one of his parishioners charged with immorality, found that he was too remiss in so dealing, and suspended him from the office of the ministry. He appealed to the General Assembly, who reinstated him, and warned the presbytery to act with greater caution in future towards its members in such cases. The separate ecclesiastical (or "quoad sacra") parish of Poolewe was formed during Mr Russell's incumbency. The Rev. Donald MacRae was presented to the new church of Poolewe in 1830, though the separate parish was not declared to be such until an Act of Assembly on 25th May 1833, and was not erected by the Court of Teinds until 3d December 1851.
The Rev. Donald MacRae wrote the paper on Gairloch in the New Statistical Account (Appendix E).
In 1843 the secession from the Established Church of Scotland, usually termed the "Disruption," occurred, and the Free Church was formed. Mr MacRae seceded to the Free Church.
Mr Russell died in 1844, having been forty-two years minister of Gairloch. On the departure of his successor from Gairloch, the Rev. D. S. Mackenzie, the present minister of Gairloch, was appointed in 1850.
On the establishment of Presbyterianism, Gairloch was in the Presbytery of Dingwall. Several minutes show the difficulties in the way of the ministers of Gairloch attending the meetings of presbytery, and of members of presbytery visiting Gairloch. Minutes of the presbyteries relating to these and other matters in Gairloch are extracted in Appendix F.
Sometime between July 1668 and June 1672 there seems to have been nominally a Presbytery of Kenlochewe, but it does not appear that this presbytery ever met, and there are no records of it extant. In 1672 Gairloch was reannexed to the Presbytery of Dingwall by the bishop and synod.
On 4th September 1683 the "Highland churches," including Gairloch, were annexed to the Presbytery of Chanonry. This step appears to have been intended as a punishment to the ministers of the Highland parishes for their non-attendance at meetings of the Presbytery of Dingwall. Thus for a time Gairloch was no doubt in the Presbytery of Chanonry, but there is no other reference to the fact in the ecclesiastical history of the period. This was during the long incumbency of the Rev. Roderick Mackenzie, whose isolated position in Gairloch seems to have rendered him indifferent to the action of the presbytery.
On 19th May 1724 the Presbytery of Gairloch was erected by the General Assembly. This presbytery was composed of the same parishes as now constitute the Presbytery of Lochcarron. The meetings of presbytery were held at different places,--Kenlochewe, Gairloch, and Poolewe are mentioned.
In 1773 an Act of the General Assembly ordained that the Presbytery of Gairloch should be called in all time coming the Presbytery of Lochcarron, and Gairloch and Poolewe remain to this day in that presbytery.
The old parish church of Gairloch, dedicated to St Maelrubha, stood, as we have seen, in the churchyard of Gairloch, which is now used as the parish burial-ground. There was a church in existence here before 1628, for we find from an old document that Alastair Breac, fifth laird of Gairloch, had caused a chapel to be built "near the church" of Gairloch, during his father's lifetime, where he and his wife, and no doubt also his father John Roy Mackenzie, were buried. According to the Rev. Daniel Mackintosh, in the Old Statistical Account, the Gairloch church of his day had existed for "more than a century," so that it must have been erected in the middle or latter part of the seventeenth century,--possibly by John Roy or Alastair Breac; it stood most likely on the same site as the original church. In 1727 Mr Smith, minister of Gairloch, got the heritors of the parish to erect churchyard dykes. In 1751 the Rev. Æneas M'Aulay is said to have got a new church built. It must have been a frail structure, for in 1791 it had fallen into a ruinous condition; it was a thatched building. James Mackenzie says, that about 1788, when his mother was attending the parish school at Strath of Gairloch, under the tuition of William Ross, the Gairloch bard, she and other girls went one day during the dinner hour to the old church. The children opened the church door, when, from some cause or other--very likely only a puff of wind--the door closed in their faces with a bang, and they got a great fright!
The present Gairloch church was erected in 1791, and repaired in 1834.
The little church at Sand of Udrigil, which we may call the chapel of Sand, is commonly believed to have been originally erected by St Columba himself. In 1713 George Mackenzie of Gruinard, who is said to have built a little church at Udrigil, prayed Mr Morrison, the refugee minister of Gairloch, to preach there. Whether this was the same church we cannot be sure; tradition says George Mackenzie only thatched and repaired the ancient church. After this time the ministers of Gairloch periodically preached at this little church until at least the end of the eighteenth century.
There was an old church at Culinellan near Kenlochewe; the date of its erection is uncertain. The Rev. Daniel Mackintosh, in his paper in the Old Statistical Account, refers to this place of worship as existing in 1792.
The church at Tollie Croft, now called Cruive End, is not likely to have been of any antiquity. In 1733 the kirk-session of Gairloch petitioned the presbytery to enlarge the "chapel at Pollew," and the presbytery agreed to do so. This was probably the place of worship at Tollie Croft close to Poolewe. It was no doubt the church where Mr Thomas Pennant heard the Rev. John Dounie preach in 1772, for it was close to the place where he would land from his boat on Loch Maree (see Appendix B); the Rev. D. Mackintosh mentioned it in 1792. Old people now living remember the Rev. James Russell preaching in this little church as lately as 1826. At that time Duncan Mackenzie, the innkeeper at Poolewe, previously butler to Sir Hector Mackenzie at Flowerdale House, used to read the Scriptures to the people in the Cruive End church pending Mr Russell's arrival from Gairloch. This church would be very convenient for the minister of Gairloch when he had his manse only a mile away at Cliff, Poolewe, as was the case between 1759 and 1803.
The turf-built church in Tollie bay, where the Rev. J. Morrison used to hold his humble services, was only a temporary expedient during his short and troublous incumbency.
The old chapel of Inverewe, on the east side of the river Ewe, close to the former mansion-house of the Kernsary estate, seems to belong to the seventeenth century, judging from the appearance its ruins now present, but there is no record whatever of its history. The Rev. Kenneth Mackenzie, proprietor of Kernsary, preached there, as we have seen, during some part of the seventeenth century.
The present church of Poolewe was completed in 1828.
If there was a rectory, parsonage, or manse in Gairloch before the Reformation, it must have then ceased to be church property. The Rev. Farquhar MacRae, who became vicar of Gairloch about 1608, lived at Ardlair, on the north-eastern shore of Loch Maree. Ardlair is near Letterewe, where dwelt the ironworkers for whose special behoof Mr MacRae was sent to Gairloch by Lord Mackenzie of Kintail; and it may have been part of the arrangement under which Sir George Hay acquired the woods of Letterewe from Lord Mackenzie for the ironworks, that his lordship should allow Mr MacRae the use of a house at Ardlair, which was also on his property.
Poor Mr Morrison, in 1711-16, had no glebe, manse, or legal maintenance, and his hut in Tollie bay was on land leased by himself.
In 1728 a manse and glebe were provided by the heritors for the minister of Gairloch at Achdistall, near where the Gairloch hotel now stands.
In 1759 the presbytery exchanged the glebe at Achdistall for other land at Clive, or Cliff, close to Poolewe, and a manse was shortly after erected on the new glebe.
In 1803 the old glebe of Clive was exchanged by the presbytery for a portion of the lands of Miole at Strath of Gairloch, and a new manse was erected at once. This is the present manse of Gairloch; it was added to in 1823, when Hugh Miller, then a mason, took part in the work. His experience in Gairloch at that time is recorded in "My Schools and Schoolmasters."
The present manse of Poolewe was built in 1828.
The old Free church at Gairloch, and the Free manse there, were erected shortly after the Disruption in 1843. The church having become unsafe was pulled down in 1880, and the present handsome building erected on the same site.
The Free church and manse at Aultbea were also erected soon after the Disruption. The Free Church has also mission churches or meeting-houses at Poolewe, Opinan, and Kenlochewe in Gairloch parish. The first minister of the Gairloch Free church was the Rev. Duncan Matheson, who was succeeded by the Rev. John Baillie, the present minister. The first minister of the Aultbea Free church was the Rev. James Noble; to him succeeded the Rev. William Rose; after whose death the Rev. Ronald Dingwall, the present minister, was appointed.
XVII. ANCIENT GAIRLOCH IRONWORKS
Many visitors to Gairloch, and not a few of the inhabitants, will learn with astonishment that the manufacture of iron was carried on in the parish from remote times, and that there are still abundant remains to testify to the magnitude and importance of the industry. There are many places in this wild and picturesque Highland district where are to be seen to this day large heaps of slag and dross, and remains of blast-furnaces or bloomeries; whilst many acres of arable ground, as well as of uncultivated moorland, are still thickly strewn with fragments of charcoal and of several kinds of iron ore.
The remains of ironworks examined in Gairloch may be roughly divided into two classes, viz:--(1) The ancient ironworks, of which there are no historical records extant; and (2) The historic ironworks of Loch Maree.
The ancient ironworks or bloomeries are the subject of our present chapter. Some of them appear, as we should expect, to belong to a later period than others, but nothing can be said with precision about the date of any of them. They will be described in Part I., chap. xx.
There are some interesting notes on the subject of ancient Highland ironworks in the curious book entitled "Remarks on Dr Samuel Johnson's Journey to the Hebrides, by the Rev. Donald M'Nicol, A.M.," published in 1779, and extracted in Appendix G. Mr M'Nicol does not give his authorities, but there is ample ocular demonstration of the truth of his statement, that "the smelting and working of iron was well understood and constantly practised over all the Highlands and Islands for time immemorial." Other writers have expressed the opinion, that iron was made throughout Great Britain long before the Roman invasion.
Perhaps a coin now in my possession, which was found some years ago in a field on the bank of the river Went in Yorkshire, near large quantities of ancient heavy iron slag, may be taken as giving some clue to the date of the older ironworks. It is an ancient British coin of the type of the quarter stater of Philip II. of Macedon. The British coinage is supposed to have been in existence at least as far back as 150 B.C., and this is one of the early types.
The querns frequently found in all parts of the Highlands shew that the ancient inhabitants grew some corn,--that they had some acquaintance with "the staff of life." It seems a reasonable inference, that they used iron implements for tilling their lands and securing their crops. It is certain that some iron weapons, tools, and implements, besides those employed in agriculture, were in use in the Highlands in those old days. An iron axe-head, of the shape of the bronze celt figured among our illustrations, and with the aperture for the handle similarly in a line with its axis instead of at right angles to it, was found in 1885 in the garden at Inveran; its remains are much eaten by rust, but there is enough to shew that this iron axe is of an old type. It may be objected, that if iron implements for peace or war were extensively used in ancient days there would be more relics of them. The obvious reply to such an objection is, that iron is so liable to oxidation that most of the smaller iron articles of ancient times must have perished from that cause. Many of the small masses of rust-cemented gravel and earth, found everywhere, may have originally had for their nucleus an ancient iron implement, or a fragment of one. If it be allowed that the Picts or other early inhabitants of the north used iron tools and weapons, the question at once arises,--Where and how did they procure them? The remains of the ancient class of ironworks supply the answer. Those so-called savages well knew where to procure iron, and how to fabricate from it the articles they required,--another proof that the Picts were by no means the uncivilised barbarians that some people suppose.
The ancient ironworks of Gairloch were probably not more numerous than those of some other parts of the Highlands and Islands. There is little doubt but that many of the remains, both in Gairloch and elsewhere, have been obliterated by the husbandman, or concealed by overgrowth of heather and other plants. In many places throughout Sutherlandshire, Ross-shire, and Inverness-shire, as well as in other Scottish counties, there are large quantities of iron slag. The Inverness Scientific Society have examined remains of ancient iron-smelting near Alness in Easter Ross. The Rev. Dr Joass, of Golspie, and Mr D. William Kemp, of Trinity, have to a certain extent investigated some Sutherlandshire remains. There are also quantities of slag on the Braemore estate, on the shores of Loch Rosque between Achnasheen and the eastern boundary of Gairloch parish (Part IV., chap, iii.), and in many other parts of Wester Ross, as well as in the island of Soa off the west coast of Skye, and many other places.
At the iron-smelting works near Alness a native hematite iron ore was used, as well as what is termed bog iron. Bog iron is also believed to have been used at a bloomery near Golspie, Sutherlandshire. This bog iron appears to have been commonly employed by the ancient ironworkers; it was extracted by the action of water from ferruginous rocks and strata, and was accumulated at the bases of peat bogs. In process of time granular masses of oxides of iron were thus formed, sometimes covering a considerable area. Within the parish of Gairloch there are still quantities of bog iron to be seen, apparently formed exactly in the manner described. The localities will be stated in Part I., chap. xix. No bog iron has been found in proximity to any of the remains of ironworks; probably the iron-smelters consumed all that was conveniently near the scenes of their operations. In the neighbourhood of all the remains of ironworks in Gairloch are found ferruginous rocks and shales, or rust-coloured earths. The best samples of these rocks have on analysis yielded but eight per cent. of metallic iron, and the rust-coloured earths are by no means rich in the metal. But there can be no doubt that bog iron was formerly present in the vicinity of these rocks, shales, and earths; and the analyses of the ancient iron slags prove to demonstration that such bog iron was the ore used at the ancient bloomeries.
Mr W. Ivison Macadam, analytical chemist of Edinburgh, is hopeful that the analyses he has undertaken may in course of time throw more light on the methods and productions of the ancient ironworkers. It is not probable that we shall ever know much of their history. According to the Rev. Donald M'Nicol they made iron "in the blomary way, that is by laying it under the hammers in order to make it malleable, with the same heat that melted it in the furnace." In the present day the processes of smelting iron and of producing malleable iron are separate and distinct; these ancient artisans probably combined the two. The slags produced at their furnaces contained a large proportion of metallic iron. Mr Macadam has found fully fifty per cent. of iron in most of the samples of ancient Gairloch slags he has analysed, and at some modern ironworks quantities of ancient slag have actually been found worth resmelting. The wasteful richness of the old slags can be easily accounted for; the ancient methods of smelting were comparatively imperfect, labour was cheap, the iron used cost nothing, and the forests whence was derived the charcoal for smelting it were apparently inexhaustible, whilst the business was no doubt carried on more for the supply of local and immediate wants than as a branch of commerce. If the ironworkers could obtain by their primitive processes enough iron to supply their own requirements, they would naturally be careless of the amount of metal wasted.
The fuel universally used for iron-smelting, until far into the eighteenth century, was wood-charcoal, and even to the middle of the nineteenth century it was still employed at two blast-furnaces in Scotland. Every part of the Highlands, not excepting the parish of Gairloch, was clothed with dense forests of fine timber. Far up the mountain slopes, and down to the rocky shores of the sea, the fir, oak, and birch flourished in wonderful and beautiful profusion. There is no poetic license, no picturesque exaggeration in this statement. Everywhere the relics of trees are to be seen to this day, and much of the timber used by Gairloch crofters in roofing their dwellings and for other purposes consists of branches found underground. The disappearance of the great Caledonian forest has been accounted for in several ways; some have conjectured that a vast conflagration or series of conflagrations destroyed it; others think that its destruction was more gradual, and resulted from the labours of the charcoal burners and similar doings. In Gairloch there are charred stumps still to be seen preserved in peat bogs, that support the conflagration theory; but there is also widespread evidence of extensive charcoal burnings, so that there must be some truth in both these modes of accounting for the destruction of the woods. Some localities of charcoal burnings will be mentioned in Part I., chap. xx.
All the ancient Gairloch ironworks are in the vicinity of burns. This fact raises a strong inference that the older ironworkers, like their historic successors, utilised the water-power afforded by adjoining streams for the purpose of working machinery. The Rev. D. M'Nicol's statement, already quoted, that hammers were used to produce malleable iron confirms the inference; and the remains of dams or weirs, and other expedients for augmenting the water-power, convert the conjecture into an established fact. It appears certain, then, that heavy hammers worked by machinery, with water for the motive power, were used in remote times,--another testimony to the ingenuity and mechanical skill of the ancient inhabitants of the Highlands. The tuyere for a furnace-blast found at Fasagh (see illustration) is another evidence of that skill.
The reader must please remember that the ancient ironworks referred to in this chapter are quite distinct from the historic series to which our next is devoted.
XVIII. THE HISTORIC IRONWORKS OF LOCH MAREE
To the lonely and romantic shores of the queen of Highland lochs belongs the curiously incongruous distinction of having been the scene where the new departure in iron-smelting processes, which commenced the present series of Scottish ironworks, was inaugurated. How wonderful it seems, that the great iron industry of Scotland, which to this day enriches so many families and employs so many thousands of workmen, should have sprung from this sequestered region! The claim to the distinction is based on the facts, that up to the present time no records of any earlier manufacture of iron have been discovered, and that the iron industry established here early in the seventeenth century became, as we shall shew, of such national importance as to call for special legislation. It appears to have been in 1607 that Sir George Hay commenced ironworks at Letterewe, on Loch Maree, which were continued for at least sixty years. It is true that in 1612 a license previously granted by the king to "Archibald Prymroise, clerk of his maiesties mynis, his airis and assignais quhatsomeuir ffor making of yrne within the boundis of the schirefdome of perth," was ratified by Parliament, but the date of the license is not given, and we hear no more of these Perthshire ironworks.
It was not until the eighteenth century that the seed sown by Sir George germinated, and the iron industry began to spread in Scotland.
The iron furnaces in Glengarry, referred to by Captain Burt, are said to have been established by a Liverpool company, who bought the Glengarry woods about 1730.
The iron-smelting works at Abernethy, Strathspey, were commenced in 1732 by the York Buildings Company. This company was formed in 1675 to erect waterworks on the grounds of York House in the Strand, London, and was incorporated in 1691 as "The Governor and Company of Undertakers for raising the Thames water in York Buildings." The operations of the company have been described by Mr David Murray, M.A., F.S.A. Scot., in an able pamphlet entitled "The York Buildings Company: A Chapter in Scotch History." The company raised at the time of its incorporation the then immense capital of £1,259,575, and conducted not only the original waterworks, but also enormous speculations in forfeited estates in Scotland; the company also carried on coal, lead, and iron mines, the manufacture of iron and glass, and extensive dealings in timber from the Strathspey forests. Their agents and workmen in Strathspey are described in the Old Statistical Account as "the most profuse and profligate set that were ever heard of in this country. Their extravagances of every kind ruined themselves and corrupted others." Their ironworks were abandoned at the end of two years, i.e. in 1734, or, according to the Old Statistical Account, in 1737. They made "Glengarry" and "Strathdoun" pigs, and had four furnaces for making bar iron. The corporation of the York Buildings Company was dissolved in 1829.
The Loch Etive side, or Bonawe, ironworks, were commenced by an Irish company about 1730. They rented the woods of Glenkinglass, and made charcoal, with which they smelted imported iron ore. That company existed till about 1750. In 1753 an English company, consisting of three Lancashire men and one Westmoreland man, took leases, which ran for one hundred and ten years, and these were renewed in 1863 to the then manager of the company for twenty-one years, expiring as lately as 1884. By the courtesy of Mr Hosack, of Oban, I have seen duplicates of the leases under which the undertaking was carried on. The works comprised extensive charcoal burnings and the blast-furnace at Bonawe; they were discontinued before 1884.
Other important works of a similar character were afterwards established by the Argyle Furnace Company, and by the Lorn Company, at Inverary.
In a work on "The Manufacture of Iron in Great Britain," by Mr George Wilkie, Assoc. Inst. C.E., published in 1857, it is stated that the Carron works were established in 1760 by Dr Roebuck of Sheffield and other gentlemen; that in 1779 two brothers of the name of Wilson, merchants in London, established the Wilsonton ironworks in Lanarkshire; that in 1788 the Clyde ironworks were established in the neighbourhood of Glasgow, and that in that year there were only eight pig-iron furnaces in Scotland, of which four were at Carron, two at Wilsonton, one at "Bunawe in Lorn," and one at "Goatfield in Arran," the two latter being worked with wood charcoal for fuel. The furnace at Bunawe is that already noticed as on Loch Etive side. Of the alleged furnace at "Goatfield in Arran" there are no records or remains to be found in Arran to-day. Probably Goatfield was in Argyleshire.
But we need not here further trace the wonderful growth of the still existing series of Scottish ironworks. To establish our claim to precedence, it will suffice to shew that the furnaces on Loch Maree were commenced by Sir George Hay more than a century earlier than any of those just named.
Pennant, in his tour of 1772 (Appendix B), mentions the time of the Queen Regent as the period when Sir George Hay was head of a company who carried on an iron furnace near Poolewe; this statement is given on the authority of the Rev. John Dounie, minister of Gairloch. The regency of Mary of Guise extended from 1542 to 1560; so that the historical commencement of the ironworks on Loch Maree might date as far back as the middle of the sixteenth century. But Sir George Hay lived at a later date, and Mr Dounie must have been inaccurate in this respect.
From Donald Gregory's history of the Western Highlands, Alexander Mackenzie's history of the Mackenzies, and several old MSS., including the genealogy of the MacRaes (Appendix A), we glean the following facts:--
In 1598 a party of gentlemen, known as the "Fife Adventurers," obtained a grant from the crown of the island of the Lews, and took steps to plant a colony there. Mackenzie of Kintail and the M'Leods of the Lews, ceasing for the time their own feuds, combined to oust the Fife Adventurers. In 1607 the king granted the Lews to Lord Balmerino (Secretary of Scotland and Lord-President of the Session), Sir George Hay, and Sir James Spens of Wormistoun (one of the original "Fife Adventurers"), who in 1608 renewed the attempt to colonize the Lews, but without success. In 1609 Lord Balmerino was convicted of high treason and executed, thus forfeiting his share. Sir George Hay and Sir James Spens about that time sent an expedition to the Lews, but Neil M'Leod, secretly backed by Mackenzie of Kintail, opposed the intending colonists, who were driven from the island. Mackenzie was raised to the peerage in the same year with the title of Lord Mackenzie of Kintail, after he had induced Sir George Hay and Sir James Spens to give up their scheme and transfer their rights in the Lews to himself. Lord Mackenzie, in part payment, gave them the woods of Letterewe for iron-smelting; the arrangement was concluded in 1610, and Lord Mackenzie then obtained a fresh grant to himself from the crown.
But we can carry back the history of the Letterewe ironworks to a slightly earlier date still.
The Rev. Farquhar MacRae was appointed vicar or minister of Gairloch by Bishop Leslie of Ross in 1608, in order that he might "serve the colony of English which Sir George Hay kept at Letterewe." Mr MacRae continued his work in Gairloch parish till 1618, and his son informs us, in the "Genealogical Account" (Appendix A), that on his death in 1662 Mr MacRae "had lived fifty-four years in the ministry, ten of which at Gairloch." Thus it is evident that he was ordained vicar of Gairloch in 1608. This was two years before Sir George Hay acquired the woods of Letterewe from Lord Mackenzie, but the later date of his acquisition of those woods does not preclude the possibility of Sir George having already commenced the manufacture of iron there, perhaps in a tentative manner. It will be noticed that the Genealogical Account of the MacRaes speaks of Sir George Hay's undertaking at Letterewe as a going concern when Mr MacRae was sent in 1608 to minister to the ironworkers. It seems almost certain, therefore, that it had begun in 1607, for we cannot but assume that the appointment of Mr MacRae to Gairloch was made to supply a want that must have taken at least a year to develop. The conclusion that Sir George Hay began the Letterewe ironworks in 1607, receives some confirmation from the fact that the grant of the Lews to him and his colleagues took place in the same year. The two matters were very probably connected. Either Sir George was led to enter into the Lews adventure from his being located at Letterewe, so near to Poolewe, the port for the Lews, or--which is more probable--the advantages of Letterewe attracted his attention when at Poolewe planning the subjugation of the Lews. The date (27th January 1609) of the act forbidding the making of iron with wood (Appendix G) is not inconsistent with the commencement of the ironworks in 1607. Assuming that the prohibition was (as seems likely) aimed at the Letterewe ironworks, it is reasonable enough to suppose that they must have been begun in 1607, so as to have attained sufficient importance to excite the alarm of the legislature in January 1609. News from the Highlands took a long time to travel so far as Edinburgh in those days.
We hear nothing more of Sir James Spens in connection with the ironworks.
Sir George Hay's history is remarkable. He was the second son of Peter Hay of Melginche, and was born in 1572. He completed his education at the Scots College at Douay in France. He was introduced at court about 1596, and seems at once to have attracted the attention of James VI., who appointed him one of the gentlemen of the bedchamber, and in 1598 gave him the Carthusian priory or charter-house at Perth and the ecclesiastical lands of Errol, with a seat in Parliament as a peer. But he declined the peerage, was knighted instead, and subsequently adopted the profession of the law, in which he attained to great distinction. He seems to have been a favourite with the king, whom he defended when in 1600 the Earl of Gowrie was killed in his treasonable attempt on his majesty's life. Assisted by the favour of the crown, Sir George acquired large territories both in the Highlands and Lowlands. (See extract from "Douglas's Peerage," Appendix G.) But some think that at the time he settled at Letterewe he was under a cloud. Political troubles had arisen; one of his partners, Lord Balmerino, had been convicted of high treason and executed; so that the statement that Sir George had chosen the remote Letterewe "for the sake of quiet in those turbulent times" appears reasonable enough. The fact that he occupied the leisure of his enforced retirement in establishing and improving iron-smelting, is a standing testimony to the energy of this remarkable man. He is said to have resided some years at Letterewe, or at least to have made his headquarters there. No doubt Lord Mackenzie would provide the best habitation he could for the learned and enterprising lessee of his woods. Probably Sir George lived in an old house on the site of the present Letterewe House.
The only Gairloch iron-furnaces which we can be sure were carried on by Sir George Hay were those at Letterewe, Talladale, and the Red Smiddy near Poolewe. (They will be described in Part I., chap. xx.). The vast woods of Letterewe were undoubtedly the prime motive that led Sir George to start the ironworks there. They must have been very extensive, for it is the opinion of those who should know, that each furnace would annually use as carbonised fuel the product of one hundred and twenty acres of wood. The works Sir George conducted seem to have combined two classes of industry,--(1) The manufacture of wrought-iron, the ore being smelted with charcoal into a mass of metal called a bloom, which was hammered whilst yet hot into bars of wrought iron, or into various articles used in the arts of peace or war; (2) The manufacture of pig-iron and articles of cast-iron, the metal being poured into moulds.
The Letterfearn MS. says, that at Letterewe "Sir George Hay kept a colony and manufactory of Englishmen making iron and casting great guns, untill the wood of it was spent and the lease of it expired."
The Genealogical Account of the MacRaes tells of "the colony of English which Sir George Hay of Airdry kept at Letterewe, making iron and casting cannon."
The Bennetsfield MS. mentions the grant of the "lease of the woods of Letterewe, where there was an iron mine, which they wrought by English miners, casting guns and other implements, till the fuel was exhausted and their lease expired."
Pennant notes in his Tour (Appendix B), that the Rev. John Dounie had seen the back of a grate marked "S. G. Hay," or Sir George Hay. Those acquainted with old inscriptions tell us that the initial S was a usual abbreviation for the title "Sir."
It appears, then, that Sir George not only produced articles used in warfare, but also such goods as we are accustomed to procure at the ironmonger's.
It is certain that improved processes of iron-smelting were introduced at Furnace, Letterewe, and perfected at the Red Smiddy, Poolewe, so that the results obtained at the latter place were almost on a par with those of the newest methods of the present day. The credit of these improvements must be given to Sir George Hay. In resuscitating the ancient manufacture of iron, he brought the intelligence of his cultivated mind to bear on the subject in a practical and successful way.
The "new industry" thus commenced on the shores of Loch Maree soon attracted the attention of the government. Reference has already been made to the act of 27th January 1609, prohibiting the making of iron with the natural woods of the Highlands. The act is printed verbatim in Appendix G. There seems little doubt, as previously remarked, that it was intended to injure Sir George Hay. It was probably passed on the instigation of a political foe.
But Sir George must have still possessed considerable influence at court, and the importance of his new industry must have produced a strong impression, for on the 24th of December 1610, at Whitehall, the king gave him what appears to have been a monopoly of the manufacture of iron and glass throughout the whole of Scotland, for thirty-one years from that date, and this gift was ratified by Act of Parliament, dated 23d October 1612. The delay of two years in its ratification seems a little strange, and perhaps indicates that whilst Sir George continued such a favourite with his king as to receive from him so valuable a "Christmas box," he still had enemies in the Privy Council or the Parliament of Scotland. The ratification will be found in Appendix G; it recites the license. It would appear from a Scots Act passed 16th November 1641, that several noblemen and gentlemen had obtained monopolies of other manufactures,--probably about the same time. That act brought these monopolies to an end in the same year (1641) that Sir George Hay's monopoly of the manufacture of iron expired. Whether Sir George carried on ironworks elsewhere than on Loch Maree we know not, but it is most likely that they were his principal, if not his only, undertakings of the kind.
In 1613 a proclamation was made by the Privy Council restraining the export of iron ore out of the country, so that the enterprise of the new industry should not be hindered or disappointed (Appendix G). If the act of 1609 prohibiting the making of iron with wood had been obtained by an enemy of Sir George Hay's, the adverse influence of the foe was now at an end. Possibly Sir George had by this time returned from the Highlands, for we find that in 1616 he was appointed Clerk-Register. If so, his personal influence may have over-ridden that of his former political enemies. Under this proclamation Sir George became able to procure the clayband ironstone almost at his own price. He used it extensively both at Furnace (Letterewe) and at the Red Smiddy, as well as at Talladale.
There is another record relating to Sir George Hay's iron manufacture; it is the curious license anent selling of his iron, granted to him by a Scots Act, dated 4th August 1621, and printed in Appendix G. It purports to be a license to Sir George to carry his iron to any port or harbour of the free burghs royal, and to dispose of the same to any person notwithstanding the privileges and liberties of the burghs. This license, granted fourteen years after the commencement of the Letterewe ironworks, testifies to the vigour with which the enterprise had been pushed. It would seem that the quantity of iron produced now only required a free market. The monopoly granted to Sir George, the proclamation restraining the export of iron ore, and the special license he now obtained for selling his iron in royal burghs, were exceptional provisions, which would now-a-days be considered antagonistic to cherished political principles. To what extent Sir George profited from the advantages granted to him we cannot tell. That he became a rich man there seems no doubt, and the ironworks on Loch Maree may have added to his wealth.
John Roy Mackenzie was the prudent, business-like, and hospitable laird of Gairloch during the residence at Letterewe of Sir George Hay, who appears to have had a furnace at Talladale on John Roy's Gairloch estate. Doubtless some intercourse took place between them, but as John Roy had been previously engaged in warfare, and could not, so far as we can judge from the story of his youth, have been a man of much culture, it is unlikely that he and Sir George became very intimate. But Sir George, the learned lawyer and man of science, had a thoroughly congenial friend in the great Latin scholar the Rev. Farquhar MacRae, vicar of Gairloch, whose house at Ardlair was but a three miles' walk or row from Letterewe House. The account given in Appendix A proves that the friendship of this accomplished and genial clergyman was much appreciated by Sir George, who endeavoured to induce Mr MacRae to accompany him when he himself returned to the south. A remarkable rock or stone at Ardlair, called "The minister's stone" (see illustration), is still pointed out as the place where Mr MacRae used to preach in English and Gaelic. No doubt he also preached at Letterewe; and we are told that he "did not only please the country people, but also the strangers, especially George Hay." The interesting memoir of Mr MacRae, in Appendix A, is well worth perusal; he married in 1611, and brought his bride to the parsonage at Ardlair, where several of his children were born. Unquestionably the refined life of the vicar and his family at their beautiful and retired home, would be more enjoyable to Sir George than the rougher habits of the natives of the country, nay, even than the society of the fighting laird of Gairloch himself.
The date when Sir George left Letterewe is not certain; the reason of his departure is plain,--he had superior calls on his presence in the south. After he left his Highland retreat his career was one of unbroken success and distinction. In 1616 he was appointed Clerk-Register, and on 16th July 1622 he was constituted High Chancellor of Scotland. He was raised to the Peerage by the title of Viscount Duplin and Lord Hay of Kinfauns in 1627, and was created Earl of Kinnoull by patent dated at York 25th May 1633. As chancellor he won "the approbation of the whole kingdom, and the applause of all good men, for his justice, integrity, sound judgment, and eminent sufficiency." He died in London in 1634, aged sixty-two. Some account of the statue of his lordship, of the epitaph on his monument, and of the portraits of him still extant (see illustrations), will be found in Appendix G. If we may trust the expressions contained in the epitaph, it would almost appear that the iron-founder of Loch Maree became, under his king, the ruler of fair Scotland, for he is termed "the great and grave dictator of our clime."
But the departure of Sir George from Letterewe did not stop the progress of his ironworks on Loch Maree. The concession or monopoly granted by the crown had still many years to run, and the works were unquestionably continued for a long further period under a manager or factor. The last manager is said to have been called John Hay, a name which obviously suggests that he was a relative of Sir George.
In the Gairloch churchyard is a picturesque tombstone, evidently of considerable age. It has a well carved skull and cross bones, and underneath them a shield (originally faced with a brass), with a design below it resembling an inverted fleur-de-lis. At either side of the shield are the letters I and H, of large size. The inscription round the border of the stone is only partly legible. It runs as follows:--
* * R ‧ LYIS ‧ IOHNE ‧ HAY ‧ SON * * HAY ‧ OF ‧ KIRKLAND ‧ WHO ‧ DIED ‧ AT ‧ LOCH * * * * * *
It is said that this stone was sent to the port or wharf at Port na Heile, in Gairloch (the present Gairloch pier), some years after the death of John Hay, to be placed over his grave; that he was the last manager of the Letterewe ironworks; that he died, and was probably buried, at or near Letterewe; that the stone lay at the port for many years; and that, ultimately, when the situation of John Hay's grave had been forgotten, Sir Alexander Mackenzie, the second baronet and ninth laird of Gairloch (who succeeded 1703, came of age 1721, and died 1766), authorised one William Fraser to place the stone in the burial-place of his (Fraser's) family, where it now lies. It is added that "Sir Alexander received a stone from William Fraser for it."
These statements about the Hay tombstone are from the mouth of James Mackenzie, who says that William Fraser and his own grandfather were first cousins, and that the facts about the gravestone were told him on their authority when he was young. He is corroborated by other old Gairloch men.
Although this John Hay, whose father appears from the tombstone to have been Mr Hay of Kirkland, was probably a relation of Sir George Hay, it is impossible to fix the degree of relationship. Sir George Hay's father had three sons, Patrick, George, and Peter. This Peter was designated as of Kirkland of Megginch. He had a son called Francis, whose great-grandson Thomas succeeded to the earldom of Kinnoull, on the direct line of Sir George Hay, the first earl, becoming extinct in the person of William, the fifth earl, in 1709. Possibly Peter Hay had a son known as James Hay of Kirkland, or else some collateral relation of the family bore that designation, for we gather from a short account of the parish of St Martins, Perthshire, contained in a footnote to the account of that parish in the Old Statistical Account, that a James Hay acquired Kirkland by an exchange with Mr John Strachan, minister of St Martins. The son, Thomas, of this minister, "after his return from his travels, when he had waited on the earl of Kinnowel his son as his governour for the space of three years, became conjunct with his father, and died minister there in the year 1671." Kirkland was a "good manor house;" it was built of old by the abbot of Halyrood-house, and was afterwards the minister's manse. It is possible that this Kirkland may not have been the same as Kirkland of Megginch. In all probability, however, John Hay, the last manager of the Loch Maree ironworks, was a son of James Hay, and the latter was a relative of the great Sir George. It was indeed natural that Sir George should prefer to entrust his ironworks to a relative rather than to a stranger.
After the death of the Earl of Kinnoull, his ironworks appear to have fallen into a languishing condition, possibly from the timber being exhausted. In Knox's Tour it is stated that Mr Alexander Mackenzie of Lochend, in 1786, told the author (Mr Knox) that cannon were still made at Poolewe in 1668. Mr Mackenzie said his grandfather had "lent ten thousand marks to the person or persons who carried on the works, for which he got in return the back of an old grate and some hammers." It is curious that these relics are the only remains known to have existed (except the breech of a cannon and some small pigs of iron) of the productions of the Loch Maree ironworks. The "back of an old grate" was no doubt the same as that which Mr Dounie told Pennant of, and the hammers, or at least one of them, must have been the same as existed in living memory. (See Part I., chap. xx.)
So far as we can judge, the ironworks were discontinued soon after the date of the loan mentioned by Mr Mackenzie of Lochend. Thus the undertaking was carried on for a period of at least sixty years. Local tradition affirms that the industry was prolonged into the eighteenth century, but there is nothing to confirm the tradition except the story of the Gille Buidhe (Part I., chap. xiv.); it speaks of men living in 1746 as being sons of one of the last of the Letterewe ironworkers.
The artisans employed by Sir George Hay are said by some to have been from Fife, by others to have been Welsh, and by all to have been "English." But this last term only means that the ironworkers spoke English, for as truly remarked by the Rev. Donald MacRae, minister of Poolewe (Appendix E), "Highlanders look upon all who do not speak the Gaelic language as Sasganaich [Sasunnach] or Englishmen."
The names Cross, Bethune or Beaton, and Kemp, are still known in Gairloch parish as belonging to descendants of the ironworkers. Cross is a common Lancashire name. Mr D. William Kemp, of Trinity, who has read a valuable paper on old ironworks in Sutherlandshire to the Scottish Society of Arts, says that the name Kemp is very uncommon in Wales, but is a north of England name, and was common in Cumberland after the fourteenth century, artisans of that surname having settled in that county in the reign of Edward III.
It is probable that Sir George Hay's artisans were mostly from Fife; they were very likely some of the men who had been taken by the "Fife Adventurers" to the Lews, with the object (frustrated as we have seen) of establishing a colony there. To these Fifeshire men were no doubt added a few (including a Cross and a Kemp) who had come with iron ore from Lancashire or Cumberland. Of course all of them were ignorant of Gaelic.
These ironworkers remained in Gairloch for several generations; some of them became permanently settled in the parish. It is said that at one time an epidemic of smallpox carried off a number of them. Narrators of Gairloch traditions differ as to where the ironworkers buried their dead. Some believe it was at the burial-place on flat ground near the head of Loch Maree, which is accordingly called to this day Cladh nan Sasunnach, or "the Englishman's churchyard," but others say, with more probability, that the beautiful burial-ground on Isle Maree was their place of sepulture. This last view is in accord with the information obtained by Dr Arthur Mitchell (Part II., chap. xi.), and appears to be the better opinion.
I do not think the Cladh nan Sasunnach was used for interment so recently as the time of Sir George Hay's undertaking. I examined this strange place on 12th May 1884. There are indications of twenty-four graves, all with the feet pointed towards the east, and all covered more or less with large unwrought stones. There are head and foot stones more or less distinct to all the graves, which, from their dimensions, might well be called the graves of giants. I opened two of the graves in different parts of the group to the depth of four or five feet, in fact as far as the ground was workable with ordinary pick and spade. In the first grave opened, a cavity, filled with water, eighteen inches deep and much wider than the grave, was reached at a depth of between two and three feet, and below that the stratum was nearly as hard as concrete. There were no indications whatever of organic remains. In the case of the second grave opened, which was the largest and most marked of the group, no water was reached and no remains were found. To the depth of about four feet the gravel was comparatively loose, as if it had been wrought at some time. Below that it was so hard that evidently it had never been moved by man. Now, had there been interments here in the seventeenth century, there must surely have been some traces of them. My own opinion is, that these graves date back some centuries earlier than the ironworks, in fact to the period when tradition says it was usual to bury the dead in shallow graves scraped out of hard gravel, and then to cover the graves with large stones, the hardness of the gravel and the weight of the superincumbent stones being intended to hinder wolves from exhuming the bodies.
We should like to know more about the ironworks, and particularly about the men who were employed at the furnaces, and their families and circumstances. The struggles that had engaged the MacBeaths, Macdonalds, M'Leods, and Mackenzies for two centuries, and had rendered Gairloch a veritable battlefield, were at an end in Sir George Hay's time. With the exception of occasional raids on Gairloch by Lochaber and other cattle-lifters, there was now peace throughout the parish. The Scots Act of 27th January 1609 (Appendix G) speaks of the "present generall obedience" of the Highlands, as contrasted with the previous "savagness of the inhabitantis." Letterewe was then, as now, a peculiarly retired spot; there is still no access to it for wheeled vehicles; Sir George Hay's choice of it as a retreat from political troubles confirms the view that it was safe and secluded; the mountains behind Letterewe had long been a favourite hunting-ground of the lords of Kintail (Part I., chap. iv.); and we may well believe that Sir George and his men were able not only to carry on their business without interruption, but also to enjoy in peace the sport afforded by the district. At the same time, it must be remembered that the natives were still in a half savage condition, miserably fed, clothed, and housed, and entirely destitute of education. Very loose notions of morality were prevalent; and to a great extent the old principle that "might is right" still ruled the daily life of the people. They say that some of the ironworkers, severed from home ties, and finding themselves far away from the executive of the law, became reprobates. One of the latest of the ironworkers, or a son of one of them, was known as the Sasunnach Mor, or "Big Englishman"; he is said to have been a wild character. A crofter and carter now living at Londubh is a great-grandson of the Sasunnach Mor; the last Mackenzie of Kernsary testified, in the presence of persons now living, to the descent of this Londubh crofter from the Sasunnach Mor. But whatever were the idiosyncrasies, either of the early or of the latest ironworkers, there can be no doubt that they all led rough and almost lawless lives in their wild Highland homes.
XIX. THE IRON ORES USED IN GAIRLOCH
The first question that most people ask, when they hear of the ironworks in the parish of Gairloch, is,--Where did the iron that was smelted come from? The answer can only be supplied by an examination of the remains of the ironworks now to be met with, and of their neighbourhood. Of records bearing on the subject there are none. There are but two incidental notices that help to throw light on the question; both are comparatively modern.
The Bennetsfield MS. speaks of "the woods of Letterewe, where there was an iron mine which they wrought by English miners."
The New Statistical Account (Appendix E), in the account of Gairloch written by the Rev. Donald MacRae in 1836, says, "Sir James Kay [Sir George Hay] sent several people to work at veins of iron ore on the estate of Letterewe."
Let us discuss the questions of the ores used at the ancient bloomeries and at the historic ironworks under separate heads.
I.--AT THE ANCIENT BLOOMERIES.
It has been already stated (Part I., chap. xvii.) that bog iron was the source whence the ancient ironworkers of Gairloch obtained their metal, so that the terms "iron mine" and "veins of iron ore" quoted above must be considered as referring--unwittingly perhaps--to it. The ingredients of ancient Gairloch iron slags, as ascertained by Professor Ivison Macadam, shew that they have unquestionably resulted from the smelting of bog iron. His analyses and conclusions will in due time be made public; they will prove that the iron ore used at the ancient ironworks in the parish of Gairloch was undoubtedly bog iron.
Mention has been made of ferruginous rocks, shales, and earths existing in the vicinity of the old ironworks. Local tradition affirms that these were the sources of the iron used in the old days. It appears certain that bog iron was found in the vicinity of these ferruginous strata,--probably derived from them,--but they cannot have been the subjects of the ancient iron-smelting. Mr Macadam finds that the richest samples of them do not yield more than 8 per cent. of metallic iron, and that the sulphur they contain does not occur in the slags produced at the furnaces, as would have been the case had they been used.
The most abundant and apparent of these rocks is the large band of ferruginous stone that runs from Letterewe, in a south-easterly direction, along the shores of Loch Maree to the further end of the base of Slioch. It is so extensive, and so rusty in colour, that it can be easily discerned from the county road on the opposite side of the loch. Similar ferruginous rock appears in several other places, as far at least as to the head of Glen Dochartie, but not so abundantly, and therefore not so conspicuously. It also occurs in other parts of Gairloch parish. Gairloch people point out several places where they say this ferruginous rock was quarried, viz.: (1) on the south side of the Furnace burn at Letterewe, nearly a quarter of a mile above the site of the iron furnace; (2) on the face of the ridge immediately behind and above the cultivated land at Innis Ghlas; (3) at Coppachy; and (4) in a gully, called Clais na Leac, at the north-west end of the cultivated land at Smiorsair. At each of these places there are exposed scaurs or escarpments of the ferruginous rock, which are said to have been the results of quarrying, but which are much more like natural fractures. We may therefore dismiss the tradition that iron ore was obtained directly from these supposed quarries as not only unreliable but impossible.
The absence of bog iron in the neighbourhoods of the Gairloch iron furnaces or bloomeries is quite intelligible; it was no doubt all consumed by the ironworkers. Considerable quantities of bog iron are still to be seen in other parts of Gairloch, and their frequent occurrence throughout the parish confirms the contention that this description of ore formerly existed near the bloomeries, and was used at them. Most bog iron is rich in the useful metal. Mr Macadam has analysed a sample from Golspie, submitted by Dr Joass, and has found it to contain 54½ per cent. of metallic iron. Some Gairloch samples are nearly as rich, as will be seen from the results of Mr Macadam's analyses stated below.
The deposits of bog iron are locally called by the descriptive name of "pans." The following is a list of places where these deposits occur within the parish of Gairloch, as so far noticed by Mr Macadam and myself:--
1. In the churchyard at Sand of Udrigil.
2. At the highest point on the road between Aultbea and Laide.
3. In the village of Cove; masses of bog iron are built into fence walls.
4. Near Meallan na Ghamhna.
5. Near the Inverasdale Board School, where there are three "pans."
6. In the township of Strath of Gairloch; the "pans" have been broken up; they say there were several of them.
7. At the north-west end of the township of Lonmor; here too the "pans" have been broken up, and lumps of bog iron are to be seen in walls or dykes. Mr Macadam has found 51¼ per cent. of metallic iron in a heavy sample from this place.
8. Among the sand hills at the easternmost corner of the farm of Little Sand; one "pan" is entire; another is partly broken up. Mr Macadam's analysis shews 51½ per cent. of metallic iron in a sample from this place.
9. At North Erradale; "pans" broken up. Mr Macadam states that a heavy sample of bog iron from this place yields 49 per cent., and a sandy portion 38¾ per cent. of metallic iron.
10. At South Erradale. There is a fence wall, locally called Garadh Iaruinn, or the "iron dyke," entirely composed (for fifty yards of its length) of masses of bog iron, varying from 3 to 13 inches in thickness, and some of them nearly a yard in length. The dyke was erected in 1845, when the present system of crofts was being established in Gairloch. Quantities of bog iron are also to be seen in other dykes, and the soil of probably about two acres of the adjacent cultivated land mainly consists of comminuted bog iron. There must have been large deposits of it at this place; one or two unbroken masses still remain in situ. Mr Macadam finds that the heavier kind yields, on analysis, 50 per cent. of metallic iron, whilst a sandy portion contains 46½ per cent.
11. On the farm of Point, Gairloch, near the house of Mr MacClymont, farmer. The heavy bog iron analysed by Mr Macadam yields 50 per cent. of metallic iron, and some red sand from the same place contains 15 per cent.
II.--AT THE HISTORIC IRONWORKS.
Mr Macadam is of opinion that bog iron was not only used at the ancient bloomeries, but also at some of the historic furnaces in Gairloch parish, particularly at Letterewe and Talladale. He gathers this from the general character and composition of some of the slags found at these places. It was in the early stage of Sir George Hay's career as a manufacturer of iron that he used the native bog iron ore; later on he began to import iron ores of a different kind from other parts of the kingdom,--at first in order to mix them with the local bog iron, and afterwards, perhaps, for separate use. The introduction of these imported ores may have been primarily due to the failure of the supply of the bog iron; it undoubtedly led to a vast improvement in the results obtained at Sir George Hay's furnaces.
The evidence that Sir George imported what we may term foreign ores is not far to seek.
At the Letterewe ironworks there are to be seen fragments of two kinds of imported iron ore, scattered in the soil of the field adjoining the furnace, or built into fence walls; they are red hematite ore, and clayband ironstone.
Mr J. E. Marr, F.G.S., has described these foreign ores as follows:--"Red hematite exactly the same as that in the Furness and Whitehaven districts in England. Large masses of a brown clay ironstone; one of these masses being a septarian nodule, with radiating crystals along the cracks; the other being bedded, and containing numerous plant and fish remains, but no shells; these fossils shew them to belong to the carboniferous system."
Some small fragments of similar clay ironstone have been found on the traditional site of the Talladale iron furnace.
On the bank above the ironworks on the river Ewe, called the Red Smiddy, are fragments of clayband ironstone, which Mr Marr has described as follows:--"Clay ironstone nodules, mostly blue inside, and weathering red and yellow on the outside. Many of these were septarian; and when fossils occurred they were of shells, and there were no traces of plants or of fish remains. This ore, in fact, is entirely different from either of the two kinds found at the Letterewe furnace. At the same time, the fossils shew that it also belongs to the carboniferous system."
On the west bank of the pool at Poolewe, the landing-place both for Letterewe and the Red Smiddy, is a considerable heap of red hematite exactly similar to that found at Furnace, Letterewe. At the same place are many masses of clay ironstone, which include all the varieties found at Letterewe and the Red Smiddy. In the soil in the bank below Poolewe church, where a jetty and storehouse were erected in 1885, there are also large quantities of clayband ironstone, which were not seen by Mr Marr.
Mr Macadam has examined and analysed samples of all these foreign ores. He is unable to draw the same distinction as Mr Marr between the apparent varieties of clayband ironstone, and thinks that they were in all probability from the same place, and that most likely the south of Scotland. He finds that the samples of hematite ore contain metallic iron varying in quantity from 30 to 60 per cent. The samples of clayband ironstone he finds to yield from 6 to 38 per cent. of metallic iron; they also contain a considerable quantity of lime.
Mr Marr thinks that these foreign or imported ores were mixed with local ore. The lime in the clayband ironstone would render it a useful ingredient from its quality of acting as a flux. Mr Marr adds, "The theory of intermixture of local and imported ores receives support from a similar case in Wales which has come under my observation, where somewhat impure ore containing quantities of phosphorus, occurring among the old slaty rocks of North Wales, is carried to South Wales to mix with the carboniferous ores."
For convenience of reference in our next chapter, the several sources from whence iron was obtained for the smelting-furnaces on Loch Maree, and in other parts of Gairloch, may be classed as follows:--
1. Bog iron obtained locally.
2. Red hematite. Same as found in Lancashire and Cumberland, and unquestionably imported thence.
3. Clayband ironstone, possibly in two varieties. This was also imported either from the south of Scotland or elsewhere.
XX. REMAINS OF IRONWORKS IN THE PARISH OF GAIRLOCH
The following descriptions will include all the remains of ironworks so far noticed within the parish of Gairloch, whether belonging to what we have called the ancient class, or to the more modern historic set.
The slags found in and about the various remains are broadly divided by Mr Macadam into two classes, which he describes as follows:--
(1.) A dark black slag, compact and heavy, in some cases slightly porous; the percentage of iron in this slag is high; in many samples more than half is iron.
(2.) A gray light porous mass, resembling the slags formed in blast furnaces at the present day; this slag contains a large proportion of lime, and a comparatively small proportion of iron.
The descriptions of iron ores found at the different places are indicated by numbers referring to the list of ores at the end of the last chapter.
It appears certain that there were ironworks in the following different places in Gairloch parish,--
1. Glen Dochartie; three places. 2. Fasagh. 3. Furnace, Letterewe. 4. Talladale. 5. Garavaig, on Slatadale farm. 6. Red Smiddy, near Poolewe.
1. GLEN DOCHARTIE.
The traveller proceeding from Loch Maree to Achnasheen may notice, to the right of the road, about four hundred yards before the head of Glen Dochartie is gained, and on the seven hundred feet contour line of the ordnance survey, a scattered heap of small pieces of the slag No. 1. The burn runs past not many yards below. No site of a furnace can be identified. On the other side of the road, about three hundred yards up the hill, on the thousand feet contour, are more extensive similar remains, with the same kind of slag. Mr Macadam finds that this slag contains 66 per cent. of metallic iron, and no lime as silicate. There is red earth in the neighbourhood resembling what is found with "pans" of bog iron. The burn runs past, but is now in a deep gully. At the foot of the glen, more than a mile nearer Kenlochewe, and a little to the west of the bridge over the burn, are fragments of similar slag, and traces of charcoal burnings. The place is on the ancient beach, about twenty feet above the level of the road. No doubt all these remains are of considerable antiquity; they may perhaps have been parts of the same undertaking.
2. FASAGH.
The most extensive remains of ironworks on Loch Maree are on the south side of the Fasagh burn, close to where it runs into the loch. This burn comes from Loch Fada, a considerable sheet of water to the north of Slioch. There are remains of a sluice or dam where the burn leaves Loch Fada, evidently used long ago to regulate the water supply. The burn flows into Loch Maree at its south-east corner, close to the head of the loch. There are indications of a large artificial bank, probably the remains of a dam, formed at right angles to the burn, near the site of the ironworks; but the burn has of late years been subject to great floods, that have to some extent varied its course, and altered the surrounding features.
There are two places which seem to have been the sites of furnaces or bloomeries; at each of these spots, which are near each other, and have a small watercourse (now dry) running alongside, there is a mass of slaggy material surrounding a root or stump of a tree. In the same part is a quantity of blackish material, weathering red and splitting on exposure like quicklime, and on all sides are heaps and scattered masses of dark heavy slag No. 1. The tuyere (see illustration) of a furnace was in 1882 removed from a cottage close by, where it had been for a long time; it is now in the possession of Mr Macadam, and is to be placed in the Museum of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. I have obtained from an old man at Kenlochewe, an ancestor of whose brought it from the Fasagh ironworks, a curious article (see illustration); it is of cast-iron, and seems to have formed part of the apparatus for working a large forge-hammer. In examining the furnaces with Mr Macadam in April 1886, we found a portion of a thin bar, which appeared to be of iron. They say that a massive hammer head brought from Fasagh was long at Culinellan, and that an anvil at the Kenlochewe smithy was formed from part of it. Not far from the sites of the furnaces is a mound of rust-coloured earth like that found with bog iron (ore No. 1). There are evidences of extensive charcoal burnings on the other side of the burn, to the west of the ironworks.
Mr Macadam has supplied the following results of his analyses of samples of substances obtained at Fasagh:--The slaggy material from tree roots contains 66 per cent., the blackish material 73 per cent., and the dark slag 68 per cent. of metallic iron; the slag also contains 11 per cent. of silica; the bar of iron contains 63 per cent. of metallic iron, and a large quantity of carbon.
About half a mile to the east of the Fasagh works, at the foot of the crag called Bonaid Donn, is a small circular pond, or rather a large hole in the middle of a circular marsh. It is called Lochan Cul na Cathrach. There is a perpetual flow of spring water from this hole, and the surrounding marsh prevents close approach to it. It is the common tradition, accepted with the fullest credence, that into this hole the last ironworkers at Fasagh threw all their implements when the furnaces were discontinued. Possibly a drag might bring something to light, or the hole might be drained. The tradition is so firmly believed, that it produces on one's mind a strong impulse to search the hole, and try to find something bearing on the nature and history of the Fasagh ironworks.
From the character of the slags, the comparatively complete state of the remains, and from the tuyere and other things having been discovered, it seems probable that the Fasagh works, whilst belonging to the ancient class of ironworks, were amongst the most recent of that class; and Mr Macadam thinks it possible that Sir George Hay may have commenced his operations at this place in continuation, no doubt, of older ironworks.
3. FURNACE, LETTEREWE.
The remains of the ironworks at the hamlet of Furnace, a mile south-east of Letterewe, are perhaps the most generally interesting in Gairloch, as being especially identified with Sir George Hay. The furnace which gives its name to the hamlet is on the north-west bank of the "Furnace burn," about one hundred yards from its confluence with Loch Maree. The remains of the furnace are tolerably complete, and a hole in its lower part looks as if it had been the aperture for the blast. On the banks of the burn are masses of sandstone, which formed part of the furnace. Some fragments of vitrified bricks are also to be seen. In the soil of the adjoining field, and in its fence walls, are quantities of the ores 2 and 3. In places the soil is quite red with fragments of hematite. In other places it is stained black with charcoal burnings, and many fragments of charcoal are to be found. No doubt the water-power of the burn was utilised, and Loch Maree afforded an easy means of transport of imported ores from Poolewe, where they were landed.
The slags found about this furnace are of both classes. May we not conclude from this fact, that Sir George Hay commenced the manufacture of iron on the old methods anciently in vogue, and that it was at Letterewe that he began the improved processes which were afterwards carried to still greater perfection at the Red Smiddy? This furnace belongs of course to the historic class.
4. TALLADALE.
A strong local tradition places the Talladale furnace on the bank of a small burn about one hundred and fifty yards south-east of the Talladale river; it stood in the corner of the field nearest to, and to the west of, the road. They say that when this field was reclaimed and trenched, large quantities of slag were turned up, and were buried in the land and in drains. The few specimens of slag found on the surface in 1883 are of both kinds. Some small fragments of ore discovered are No. 3. It seems pretty certain, therefore, that the Talladale furnace was carried on by Sir George Hay, and that it belongs to the historic class of ironworks.
5. GARAVAIG, ON SLATADALE FARM.
The Garavaig furnace stood in a slight hollow in the east corner of what is now the easternmost field of the Slatadale farm, close to where the Garavaig burn (on which are the Victoria Falls) runs into Loch Maree. They say the water-power of the burn was anciently increased by artificial means. When I first examined the field where the furnace stood it was newly ploughed, and part of it was stained black with fragments of charcoal, indicating extensive burnings. The farmer stated that he had buried immense quantities of slag in the drains and soil of this recently reclaimed field. There are still numerous fragments of No. 1 slag on the surface, so that the furnace belonged to the ancient class. The farmer said that he had noticed indications of there having been a furnace in the slight hollow already mentioned, and the fragments of slag are thickest there. The agricultural operations have reduced the place almost to a dead level. No kind of iron ore is found, but the locality is just the place where one would have expected "pans" of bog iron might have occurred.
6. RED SMIDDY, NEAR POOLEWE.
The remains of the iron furnace on the river Ewe are still called A Cheardach Ruadh, or "the Red Smiddy." They are more perfect, and therefore to some extent more attractive to one studying the subject, than any of the others. Unquestionably they are also more recent. That the Red Smiddy was part of Sir George Hay's undertaking appears certain; but it was very likely under his manager or factor that it was established, and probably a number of years later than the Letterewe furnace. The slags are exclusively of class No. 2, and closely resemble those formed in blast-furnaces at the present day, thus demonstrating the progress Sir George made in the art of the manufacture of iron after his commencement at Letterewe. Mr Macadam finds that this light slag is completely soluble in acids, and that it contains 16 per cent. of oxide of calcium, and only 23 per cent. of metallic iron. The ore found on the bank above the Red Smiddy and elsewhere near its remains are of the No. 3 class. Many of the fragments of ore have been roasted. This process does not seem to have been adopted at any of the other furnaces. It is another indication of the more recent date of the Red Smiddy, and of the improvements in the methods pursued there. The Letterewe and Talladale furnaces appear to have been originally established solely for the smelting of bog iron (No. 1). Gradually the paucity of that ore, the advantage of mixing imported ores with it, and their superior quality, led to the introduction of the latter; and then the convenience of having a furnace near the place where these imported ores were landed, led to the establishment of the Red Smiddy. No doubt timber for charcoal burning was at first obtainable in every direction, and afterwards, if there were not a sufficient quantity standing near the Red Smiddy, it could easily be floated down to it from Letterewe or other places on Loch Maree.
The Red Smiddy is on the north-east bank of the river Ewe, immediately below the termination of its navigable part, which also bears the name of the "Narrows of Loch Maree," so that this furnace may properly be said to stand at the foot, as the Fasagh works stand at the head, of the loch. The furnace is about half a mile from Poolewe, and is said to have been approached from the other side of the river by means of a weir or dam, which was long afterwards converted into a cruive dyke. This weir served also to maintain the water-power used for working the hammers. It spanned the river in a transverse direction from east to west, and the line of the old road is still visible leading down to its west end. Leaving the navigable part of the Ewe at the east end of the weir was a race or cut, more or less artificial, the channel of which still runs past the furnace which it formerly insulated. It was not till some time prior to 1830 that the old weir was restored, and used for salmon cruives. They were removed about 1852 in order to lower the level of the water above, and so drain land at the head of Loch Maree.
The furnace is still tolerably complete. It is about six feet square, and stands on a mound red with its remains. It is built of sandstone. The chimney stalk was standing to the height of eight or ten feet at the time the cruives were removed. Several men in the neighbourhood speak to this fact, and identify numerous pieces of sandstone lying about as having formed portions of it. They are all vitrified along the cracks. Some bricks or pieces of brick are also found; they are formed of rough clay. Mr Marr thought they contained rushes, that had been mixed with the clay to bind it. There is a large heap of the slag No. 2 near the furnace. A flat space to the north of the furnace appears to have been artificially formed for the purpose of moulding the iron; here I have found two small masses or pigs of cast iron. Mr Macadam has found that one of these masses contains 98‧8 per cent. of metallic iron, very little carbon, and only ‧8 per cent. of silicon. A pig of iron which Dr Arthur Mitchell found here in 1859, and deposited in the museum of Scottish Antiquities at Edinburgh, is of cast iron. Besides these pigs of iron several other iron articles have at different times been taken from the Red Smiddy. Pennant was told by the Rev. Mr Dounie in 1772, that he (Mr Dounie) had seen the back of a grate marked S. G. Hay. Mr Alexander Mackenzie of Lochend informed Mr Knox in 1786, that his grandfather had got from these works "an old grate and some hammers." Sir G. S. Mackenzie of Coul mentions in his "General Survey," in 1810, "the breech of a cannon he had found among the rubbish, which appeared to have been spoiled in casting." Old men state that they remember to have seen, about 1840, in front of the inn at Aultbea, a large iron hammer head which had been brought from the Red Smiddy; it required two men to lift it, and to raise it from the ground was a common test of strength; it was removed from Aultbea by Donald Macdonald, fishcurer at Lochinver. It may have been one of the hammers mentioned by Mackenzie of Lochend.
There are evidences of extensive charcoal burnings on several flat places along the east bank of the Narrows of Loch Maree for a space of nearly half a mile above the Red Smiddy, and much of the bank immediately above it is black with charcoal and the remains of fires where ore was roasted.
There is a tradition that Sir George Hay or his manager projected a canal, to connect the navigable part of the Ewe with the sea at a place called Cuil an Scardain, at the south-west corner of Loch Ewe. Two large circular holes at this place, now nearly filled up with stones cleared from the adjoining arable land, are said to have been borings made to test the feasibility of the project. They give some probability to the tradition.
* * * * *
In chronological order the Glen Dochartie and Garavaig bloomeries were probably the earliest of the Gairloch ironworks. The Fasagh works seem to have been intermediate between those and the historic series, which includes Furnace (Letterewe), Talladale, and the Red Smiddy. These last belong, as we have seen, to the seventeenth century.
Old inhabitants have a tradition that there was a bloomery in Tollie bay on Loch Maree. They say that after it was discontinued the business of tar boiling was carried on at the same place. If this were so, it must have been long ago, for no vestiges of old fir trees are now to be seen in the neighbourhood. Some small fragments of slag are found among the shingle in Tollie bay. Mr Macadam has analysed a sample of this slag, and is of opinion that it is lime-kiln slag; it contains 33 per cent. of carbonate of lime, and 64 per cent. of insoluble silicates, which include only 13 per cent. of metallic iron.
There are a few masses of slag near the entrance to the Gairloch churchyard. Owing to the crowded state of the graves within, some interments have recently taken place outside the churchyard, and this slag has been dug up. Mr Macadam finds that it contains 29½ per cent. of metallic iron, and 8¼ per cent. of insoluble silicates. He does not think this slag has been the result of iron-smelting.
* * * * *
Two notices not already quoted referring to iron mines or the manufacture of iron in the neighbourhood of Loch Maree or Loch Ewe ought to be mentioned before concluding this part of our subject.
The following is an extract from the letterpress (written in 1660) on the back of Blaeu's map of the north of Scotland--the old Dutch map previously referred to in these pages. It seems to speak of an outer and inner Loch Ewe, the latter (Loch Maree) surrounded by thick woods where in past years there had been iron mines (ysermijnen).
After describing Kintail, and then Lochcarron, it goes on to say (proceeding northwards):--"Dus voort-tredende komt men aen eenige onbekende zeeboesems, en den volght de zeeboesem Ew, en duysent schreden daer boven de binnenzee Ew, van alle zijden met dichte bosschen beslotten, daer in de voorgaende jaren ysermijnen gevonden zijn, en ick weet niet of men noch heden daer aen arbeyt."
The other notice occurs in the "Present State of Great Britain and Ireland," printed by J. Brotherton, London, 1742, where we read that "further on the same coast lies Loch Ewe with thick woods on all sides, where a great deal of iron was formerly made."
This brings to a close my remarks on the old ironworks of Gairloch. The dense forests of timber that yielded the charcoal used by the iron-smelters of old have disappeared, and coal, which is not found in Gairloch, is now the usual fuel for smelting. The local bog iron does not occur in such quantities as would be required for profitable working in the present day. It is therefore unlikely that the iron industry will again find a footing in Gairloch; but it must ever be interesting to recall what we know of the ironworks, both those commenced by the illustrious Earl of Kinnoull, and the others of more ancient date.
The existing remains almost go to prove that the parish of Gairloch has been in bygone days the "Black Country" of the west coast. Whilst admiring the energy and skill of the former ironworkers, may we not be allowed to express the hope that charcoal burnings and iron furnaces may never again--at least in our time--be set agoing to mar with their smoke and refuse the beautiful shores of Loch Maree and the river Ewe?
XXI. ANTIQUITIES
In this chapter I shall attempt little more than to catalogue the objects of archæological interest in Gairloch parish, and to suggest some subjects for the investigation of archæologists.
Gairloch is very deficient in remains of old buildings. In ancient times the mason's art was unknown in the district, and the erections of those days were formed of uncemented and unchiselled stones, so that no architectural features are to be found among the slight remains of ancient buildings.
Of Druidical, or supposed Druidical, remains there are very few in Gairloch, and even these are of doubtful origin. The only place connected by local tradition with the Druids is a circular enclosure in Tollie wood. It is formed of a rough wall enclosing a regular circle. The stones composing the wall are of comparatively small size, and are much scattered. There are several heaps of stones and remains of detached pieces of wall near the circle. This part of Tollie wood consists mostly of indigenous oaks, which are said to be descended from the oaks of the Druids. By some the traditional Druidical origin of these remains is discredited, and the circle and other buildings are supposed to have been fanks or folds for cattle or sheep. The tradition is however generally current in Gairloch, and at least deserves consideration.
The circular enclosure on Isle Maree, which has for many centuries been used as a burial-ground, was supposed by Thomas Pennant (Appendix B) to be Druidical, and Dr Arthur Mitchell inclines to the same opinion. The sacrifices of bulls, and other pagan practices, connected with this island, render this view highly probable.
The circular island in the paddock below Flowerdale House, which was until recent times the place where justice was administered in Gairloch, is probably Druidical. It is to-day scarcely an island, the moat or ditch which formerly insulated it being now filled up, or nearly so. It formed no part of the Tigh Dige, or its garden or outbuildings, which were all in the field on the seaward side of the paddock. A full account of the manner in which the administration of justice was conducted at this island will be given in Part II., chap. iii. The curious way in which the laird and his assessors or jurymen were stationed at trees favours the Druidical origin; the criminal and his accusers were also stationed at ancient trees.
Of other prehistoric remains the Pictish brochs or round houses are perhaps the most notable. One occurs on Craig Bhan, on the north-east side of the river Ewe, half-way between Poolewe and Inveran, within two hundred yards of the road. Another round house, with unusually high and perfect walls, stands on a grassy eminence to the east of the road between Poolewe and Tournaig. Three others were exposed to view in trenching new land on the shores of Loch nan Dailthean at Tournaig several years ago. Some steatite whorls, stone troughs (see illustrations), ashes, and other remains, were found in them. Other round houses occur near Kernsary, and in other places. No doubt the remains of many are now concealed by an overgrowth of heather and other plants, and many more have been destroyed by agricultural operations.
The only vitrified fort in Gairloch stood on the rocky eminence near the volunteer targets at the south-west end of the largest sandy beach at Gairloch. Slight traces of the vitrification are said to be still found.
There are remains of a number of ancient strongholds or fortalices in Gairloch. Some were duns or castles, others were crannags or crannogs, i.e. fortified islands, more or less artificial.
The one most frequently mentioned in the traditions of the country is the Dun or Castle of Gairloch. It occupied the same site as the vitrified fort just referred to. Probably it was more of a fortification than a castle. Some of the low banks or lines of stones on the rocky eminence are said to be the ruins of the castle walls. This dun is said to have been a stronghold of the MacBeaths, and subsequently of the M'Leods.
The remains on Eilean Grudidh are more perfect. The natural rocky bank of the island appears to have been completed and heightened into a fortification by rude masonry cemented with clay. This fortification surrounded the island; the interior formed a tolerably level plateau, now much overgrown; on this plateau are slight remains of buildings, which in the present day are little more than mounds. At one place there is a deep hole with a circular wall round it; tradition says this was a dungeon. The area of Eilean Grudidh is barely half an acre. Like the Dun of Gairloch, it is said to have been held by the MacBeaths and afterwards by the M'Leods.
Of the stronghold, or rather crannog, on Loch Tollie, there only remain the loose stones scattered on the little island (now overgrown by bushes) and in the water around it. This small island (see illustration) is to-day the nesting-place of two or three pairs of the common gull, and no one would suppose that it was once a fortalice of the MacBeaths, and subsequently of the M'Leods.
Another stronghold, or dun, said to have been the last held in Gairloch by the M'Leods, is now only known by a large mound, apparently natural, with traces of a long straight bank on its top, and by the name Uamh nam Freiceadain. It is situated on the headland between Port Henderson and Opinan; its position is marked on the six-inch ordnance map. The name Uamh is said to be derived from a recess on the face of the hill towards the sea.
There were also duns at Tournaig and Naast. The site of the former is still called Dunan, or the "little dun"; it is only evidenced to-day by the large stepping-stones that give dry access to it at the highest spring-tides. There are no remains of the castle of Naast, said to have been a fortalice of Vikings. The rock on which it was situated still bears the name of Dun Naast.
There are crannogs, or artificial islands, on Lochs Kernsary and Mhic 'ille Rhiabhaich; nothing is known of their history. It is interesting to recall that, in the instructions given by the Privy Council of Scotland to the commissioners appointed in 1608 to treat with the Highland chiefs, "crannaks" were specially referred to. They must have caused much difficulty in dealing with the Highlanders, who found in them secure refuges against attacks by government agents.
There were six churches, or places of worship, in old days in Gairloch, mentioned in the traditions still current among the people, and referred to in chapter xvi. of this Part:--
1. The church of Gairloch was originally dedicated to St Maelrubha, and perhaps erected by him in the seventh century; it stood near the centre of the burial-ground at Gairloch. There are no remains whatever of it. In the Dutch map of 1662 the place is called Heglis Ghearrloch, i.e. the church of Gairloch.
2. The church at Culinellan, near Kenlochewe, was mentioned in the Old Statistical Account (Appendix C) as a place of worship at Kenlochewe; no traces of it remain. It is probably the church referred to in the map of 1662 as Heglis Loch Ew.
3. The turf-built place of worship near the beach in Tollie bay was but a temporary expedient; some remains of it (since obliterated by farming operations) existed in the memory of old men now living.
4. A little church or meeting-house stood at Cruive End or Tollie Croft. Here Pennant heard the Rev. John Dounie preach in 1772, and here some old people still living attended public worship up to 1826, when it fell into disuse upon the erection of the present church at Poolewe. It was a thatched house, and agricultural works have destroyed all traces of it.
5. The church or chapel of Inverewe stood in what is still called the Inverewe churchyard. This place is perhaps more generally known as the Londubh burial-ground. The old name of Londubh is Baile na h' Eaglais, which means the town of the church. The burial-ground is a hundred yards to the east of the road leading from Poolewe towards Aultbea, a short distance beyond Pool House. The house where James Mackenzie lives is close to the churchyard; this house used to be the residence of the proprietors of Kernsary; the place is now called Kirkton, a literal translation of Baile na h' Eaglais. What is left of this old church of Inverewe is supposed by some to be the remains of the oldest church in Gairloch parish. It seems to have been forty feet long and eighteen feet wide; it was not placed due east and west. The original wall forming the north-east side of the church is still standing, overgrown with a large mass of ivy. The Rev. Kenneth Mackenzie, from Bute, founder of the Kernsary family (Part I., chap, xiv.), purchased the Kernsary estate, including this churchyard, some time during the seventeenth century. He was an Episcopalian clergyman, and held services in the church of Inverewe, probably with much acceptance among his neighbours, who clung to the old form of worship long after Presbyterianism had been established by law. It seems likely he built this little church; some say he only restored an older church; in either case this may have been the site of an ancient pre-Reformation church, and even of a monastic institution, for there are many traces of buildings in the neighbourhood. On the death of Mr Mackenzie there was no one to conduct services here; and on the final establishment of Presbyterianism in Scotland in 1689, or within a few years thereafter, the church was partly pulled down, and the two present roofless apartments or chapels were constructed out of its remains for family burial-places; they have since been used as such. The Inverewe church does not seem to have possessed any architectural features; a moulding round the door of one of the burial-places is Jacobean. A loose stone in one of the burial-places is inscribed "K M K 1678," and very likely records the date when the Rev. Kenneth Mackenzie built or restored the church. On the lintel of the door of the principal burial-place are initials and a date, now nearly eradicated by decay; the date looks as if it had been the same as that on the loose stone. The stone basin of the font lies loose in the burial-ground near; a stone now placed over a grave is moulded along one edge, and may possibly have formed part of the altar.
6. The chapel of Sand of Udrigil (see illustration), situated in a churchyard crowded with graves, close to the village of Laide, is stated in Dr Scott's Fasti Ecclesiæ Scoticanæ, Part V., to have been built (about 1713) by George Mackenzie of Gruinard, at his own expense, as a Presbyterian place of worship; but the universal tradition in Gairloch is, that the little church was erected by St Columba, the apostle of Scotland, or one of his followers, in the seventh century, and that the chapel was only thatched by George Mackenzie of Gruinard, if indeed his place of worship were not an altogether different edifice. I incline to the opinion that the chapel dates further back than the eighteenth century. It seems to have been an Episcopal church, for (1) it is placed nearly east and west; and (2) when I first knew the little ruin, its single window showed what appeared to be the remains of a mullion and tracery, which I would not have expected in a Presbyterian church of the eighteenth century. If then the church be older than the time of George Mackenzie of Gruinard, who can say that the local tradition may not be authentic? The walls of the church are cemented with lime made by burning shells, or possibly shell sand from the island of Tanera, some twelve miles away. I am bound to say that several houses in the locality, known not to date further back than the eighteenth century, were cemented with similar lime, notably the old house of Ardlair, demolished about 1883. The strength of such lime was shown at Ardlair, where blasting-powder had to be resorted to for the destruction of the old house. The little church of Sand is very picturesquely placed near the seashore.
Of old burial-places worth examination there are several in Gairloch:--
1. The Cladh nan Sasunnach, or English burial-ground, near the head of Loch Maree. It contains twenty-four graves. Some have supposed that it was the cemetery of the ironworkers, but I incline to the opinion that the graves are far older than the period of the historic ironworks (Part I., chap. xviii.). I recommend this burial-ground to the investigation of antiquaries.
2. The burial-place in Isle Maree so thoroughly described by Dr Arthur Mitchell (Part II., chap. xi.). Its most interesting gravestones are those beneath which the unfortunate Norwegian prince and his bride are sleeping.
3. The mounds to be seen on Fraoch Eilean, in Gairloch, mark the graves of the M'Leods slain by the heroes of Leac nan Saighead (Part I., chap. xii.).
4. The Gairloch churchyard is now overcrowded with graves. In it are the chapel or burial-place where lie some of the older lairds of Gairloch, and the tombstone of John Hay, described in Part I., chap. xviii. There are two unroofed chapels or burial-places. The northern one is that of the lairds of Gairloch; it contains two flat tombstones, one not inscribed, the other bearing an illegible inscription. Outside this chapel is a raised tomb covered with a flat bevelled stone, on which are the Cabar feidh, the initials K M K and I M K, and the date 1730. In the other burial-place are several graves, but no monuments or inscriptions; outside it, on the east wall, are monuments to the Chisholm family. Into the wall facing south is built a handsomely sculptured stone, with the text "Timor domini est initium sapientiæ" carved upon it in relief; below is what looks like a representation of the Cabar feidh, with the letter A on one side and M K on the other side. The date 1633 is cut into the stone, in a different character and evidently by a different hand to that of the original sculptor. If the date were 1638 the stone would unquestionably be a monument to Alexander (Alastair Breac), fifth laird of Gairloch; perhaps it may have been in memory of one of his family. Many of the leading celebrities among the natives of Gairloch in the days that are gone repose in the churchyard. None of the older gravestones bear inscriptions. Of modern ones, the monument to William Ross, the Gairloch bard, is most noticeable.
5. The Inverewe churchyard, where stands the ruined old chapel already described. A few shapeless stones are the only antiquities beyond those connected with the little church.
6. The churchyard or burial-place at Culinellan, near Kenlochewe, to which the same remark applies.
7. The churchyard at Sand of Udrigil already referred to. It contains nothing except the ruins of the old chapel which can interest the archæologist.
I am told an ancient burial-place was discovered some years ago at Bruachaig, near Kenlochewe, where the bodies had been buried in a doubled-up position, the well-known custom in remote times. I have visited another spot, in a glen among the mountains, traditionally described as a burial-place of giants; it may have been so, but the stones (which indeed are mostly flat) look more as if they had been deposited naturally than by human agency.
Of remains of old buildings, besides those already described, there are few of any antiquarian interest in Gairloch:--
1. Perhaps the oldest remains of these other buildings are the few stones and the mound on Isle Maree, supposed to represent the cell of St Maelrubha and the tower to which the Norwegian prince brought his bride (Part I., chap. ii.).
2. On Eilean Ruaridh Beag are the remains of the residence of John Roy Mackenzie, fourth laird of Gairloch, who lived here in the latter part of the sixteenth century and the beginning of the seventeenth. It is said that long before that time Ruaridh M'Leod, who gave his name to the island, resided here, possibly in the same house, or in one on the same site. This small island almost adjoins Eilean Ruaridh Mhor on its south side. The buildings present no architectural features, and only ruinous dry-stone walls remain; there are also some half-wild garden fruit-trees on the island. I remember about the year 1868 seeing a small cannon ball sticking in one of the walls, and I am told that bullets have often been found in the moss on this island. Perhaps the cannon ball and the bullets had been there since the fight when Ruaridh M'Leod was driven from the island. The remains of John Roy's house confirm Captain Burt's accounts of the "huts" in which the Highland lairds of his day (early in the eighteenth century) resided; the chiefs seem to have been generally little better lodged than their clansmen.
3. On Eilean Suainne were the houses or huts where the sons of John Glassich Mackenzie, the second laird of Gairloch, dwelt in the sixteenth century, and where Alastair Breac, the fifth laird of Gairloch, resided from about 1628 to 1638. There are very slight, if any, remains of these dwellings.
4. The old Tigh Dige and its gardens and outbuildings stood in the field below Flowerdale House. The Tigh Dige itself was, as its name implies, a house in a ditch or moat. Its remains still existed up to the time of the late Sir Francis Mackenzie, Bart. of Gairloch, in the centre of this field, but agricultural operations have now entirely obliterated them. Simon Chisholm, at Flowerdale, remembers them well. The lines of the garden walls can still be traced in the part of the field lying to the east. This was the Gairloch home of Hector Roy Mackenzie, the founder of the family in the latter part of the fifteenth century. The Tigh Dige is said to have been originally a turf hut, with a roof made of sticks and divots. Kenneth Mackenzie, the sixth laird of Gairloch, erected on the same site, within the same moat, about the middle of the seventeenth century, a more substantial building, which was called the Stank House or Moat House, and continued to be the west coast home of the Gairloch family until 1738, when Sir Alexander Mackenzie, Bart., the ninth laird of Gairloch, erected the present west coast residence of the family, which he named Flowerdale House. Sir Alexander also built there the old barn called Sabhal Geal (still in use) in 1730. On the south side of the barn the arms of the Gairloch Mackenzies are carved in stone, with the date 1730 below. The figure of Donald Odhar, in tartan trews, appears as one of the supporters of the shield. There are two Latin mottoes, viz., "Fidelitatis præmium" and "Non sine periculo;" the former (above the coat-of-arms) refers to the faithfulness of Donald Odhar; the latter is the usual motto of the Mackenzies. The old Temple House at Flowerdale, where Alastair Breac seems to have sometimes lived, is now occupied by Simon Chisholm above named, who is Sir Kenneth's present forester and head-gardener. It is a modernised dwelling. No doubt a great part of the wall is ancient. Simon Chisholm says the style of the windows and entrance when he first remembers the house, gave probability to the tradition that it was originally, as its name implies, a church or temple of worship. It may have been the residence of the priest or priests of Gairloch church before the Reformation.
5. The old house of Kirkton, close to the Inverewe or Londubh churchyard, is probably the house erected as his residence by the Rev. Kenneth Mackenzie, in the seventeenth century. It is a good example of a laird's dwelling of that period. It is said that Mr. Mackenzie, who came from Bute, had a smack load of Bute earth brought to Kirkton. Part of it was put into the Inverewe church, so that when he was buried there he might lie beneath Bute soil; the overplus was deposited in the garden of Kirkton house, where the heap is still preserved.
6. The houses of Udrigil and Aird were old residences of the Mackenzies of Gruinard, but possess no architectural features, and are not of great antiquity. The same remark applies to Letterewe House, which was the residence of the Letterewe Mackenzies. Cliff House, Poolewe, was formerly the manse of Gairloch, and was erected about 1760. In the old house of Udrigil are curious large cupboards or closets in the very thick walls; they are said to have been used for the purpose of detaining recruits captured by the pressgangs.
Most of the bronze weapons and other remains found near Poolewe have been described by Mr William Jolly, F.G.S., F.R.S.E., in a paper he wrote on the subject. Representations of the most perfect of the bronze and stone weapons or implements so far discovered are included in our illustrations. The following is a list of them:--
No. 1. Bronze ring, T-shaped section. 2. Hollow bronze ring. 3. Bronze spearhead, small. 4. Bronze spearhead. 5. Bronze celt. 6. Stone celt. 7. Bronze spear. 8. Bronze celt. 9. Stone implement. 10. Quern or trough. 11. Fragment of trough. 12. Penanular ring.
All these except Nos. 3 and 9 to 12 are in the possession of Sir Kenneth Mackenzie; Nos. 3, 9, 10, and 11 are in the possession of Mr O. H. Mackenzie. Nos. 1, 2, 4, and 8 were found by Hector Maciver whilst cutting peats at Londubh. No. 3 was found near Inverewe House, about three feet below the surface in a peat cutting; a stag's horn was found at the same place in the following year. No. 5 was found at Slatadale; it is considerably worn. No. 6 was found at Cove; it is of some variety of trap well polished. No. 7 was found by two sons of Kenneth Urquhart (Kennie Rob) in a peat cutting near Croft, not far from the place where the Feill Iudha was formerly held. No. 9 was found in 1844 in a peat cutting between Inveran and Kernsary; it is of a sandstone uncommon in this country; it may have been used in flaying cattle and deer. Nos. 10 and 11 were found in brochs or Pictish round houses on the shores of Loch nan Dailthean, when land was newly trenched there in 1879. No. 12 is a penanular ring of bronze with expanded ends; being of a type rare in Scotland, Sir Kenneth Mackenzie deposited it in the museum of antiquities at Edinburgh. Hector Maciver found another bronze ring at Londubh, similar to Nos. 1 and 2, at the same spot where he discovered the above-named. There is a stone quern, resembling No. 10, lying near Drumchork House.
On the flat peat moss behind Poolewe, and to the west, a large market was held for generations, known as the Feill Iudha, or "ewe market." It was frequented by the Lews men, as well as by the people of the district. The last of these markets was held about 1720, when many of the Lews men who had attended the market were lost in a violent storm in the Minch, while returning home in their open boats. Traces of this old market have frequently turned up while cutting peats, in the form of bundles of cabars or sticks tied up with withes, as brought from the woods ready for exportation; moulds of some fatty substance, either butter or tallow; and a rounded block of wood, fourteen inches in diameter, found ten or twelve years ago, probably prepared for being converted into the wooden bickers or plates formerly common in the Highlands.
The remains of the ironworks described in the last chapter are of considerable archæological interest. Two of the iron articles found near the Fasagh furnaces are represented among our illustrations; they are Nos. 13 and 14 in the list of antiquities illustrated; they are to be deposited in the museum at Edinburgh.
Among our illustrations are outlines of the crosses on the tombstones of the prince and princess who were buried on Isle Maree. The tragic story connected with them is told in Part I., chap. ii.
The caves at Cove and Sand of Udrigil are said to be meeting-places of great antiquity; they are still used for public worship. I have explored for some little distance the cave on the seashore at North Erradale, but have discovered nothing of interest beyond some apparently recent evidences of distillation of whisky.
II. INHABITANTS OF GAIRLOCH
CHAPTER PAGE
I. Ancestry and Names 109
II. Warfare and Weapons 112
III. Polity and Customs 114
IV. Religion and Religious Observances 117
V. Character and Characteristics 121
VI. Language and Dress 125
VII. Ways and Means 132
VIII. Agriculture and Stock 136
IX. Fisheries 143
X. Posts and Roadmaking 147
XI. Superstitions of Isle Maree 150
XII. Superstitions of Isle Maree--continued 153
XIII. Superstitions generally 158
XIV. Witchcraft and Magic 163
XV. Visions and Second Sight 169
XVI. Bards and Pipers 173
XVII. Hereditary Pipers of the Gairloch Family 177
XVIII. William Mackenzie and Malcolm Maclean 180
XIX. William Ross, the Gairloch Bard 183
XX. Alexander Campbell, Bard to Sir Hector 185
XXI. Alexander Grant, the great Bard of Slaggan 187
XXII. John Mackenzie of "The Beauties" 189
XXIII. Living Gairloch Bards 192
XXIV. The Poolewe Artist 200
XXV. James Mackenzie's Gairloch Stories 201