Iona: The Living Memory of a Crofting Community

321 Pages·2002·1.53 MB·English

by  E. Mairi MacArthur

IONA:
The living memory
of a crofting community,
SECOND EDITION
E. MAIRI MACARTHUR
POLYGON
‘… a first-rate piece of historical research which impressively combines a whole
range of investigative techniques in a highly imaginative way … I hope that some at
least of Iona’s countless visitors will read this book.’
The Scotsman
‘… will justly take a place among the major reference works on island history.’
The Herald
‘MacArthur offers a fine mix of historical insight and personal sensitivity. As a study
of Iona this book must be definitive.’
Radical Scotland
‘Dr MacArthur has used oral history from her family and other islanders to give a vivid
account of ordinary life in Iona. You read of swimming horses being steered across
the Sound; the unloading of the coal puffer; dancing on the machair. If you care
about Iona and Hebridean life, buy this book.’
The Scots Magazine
‘Using oral evidence, living memory as well as traditional documentary sources the
book provides an extremely well-researched and graphic account of island life.’
Scottish World
‘A lively history of Iona’s people.’
Books in Scotland
‘Much has been written about Iona since Columba’s day, especially after the island
was ‘discovered’ by tourists like Johnson and Boswell two centuries ago, but this
book has two unusual features to complement it. It provides the first detailed
history of Iona’s crofting community and it is written by someone who is descended
from that community … [It is] a readable and valuable source book about one of the
Hebrides’ most celebrated islands.’
Inverness Courier
‘Like every other book written by someone with sensitivity and close links to the
subject, this book is a good example of the way in which scholarship and history can
be presented to people in an accomplished, elegant manner … We have a lively
picture of a way of life, of the pastimes and culture of an island’s people.’
Oban & Lorn Review
‘The book provides no sentimentalised account but a vivid picture of a close-knit,
independent, mutually supportive community: it makes fascinating and moving
reading.’
Coracle
‘For the first time, a native islander has told the inside story of her society, and has
done it with extraordinary thoroughness.’
The Scottish American
Iona_00_Prelims 1 27/3/02, 2:20 pm
Image Not Available

Engraving by W. Banks & Son, nineteenth century: locals gather in
the harvest while visitors view the ruin of Iona Abbey.
Iona_00_Prelims 2 27/3/02, 2:20 pm
IONA
The living memory
of a crofting community
second edition
E. MAIRI MACARTHUR
Iona_00_Prelims 3 27/3/02, 2:20 pm
Disclaimer:
Some images in the original version of this book are not
available for inclusion in the eBook.
Dedicated to
Dugald MacArthur, 9 January 1910–22 December 1999
and to his father before him
© E. Mairi MacArthur, 1990, 2002
First published 1990
Reprinted with corrections 1991
Second edition published 2002
Polygon at Edinburgh
An imprint of Edinburgh University Press Ltd
22 George Square, Edinburgh
Typeset in New Caledonia
by Koinonia, Manchester, and
printed and bound in Great Britain
by MPG Books Ltd, Bodmin
A CIP Record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 1 902930 27 4 (paperback)
The right of E. Mairi MacArthur
to be identified as author of this work
has been asserted in accordance with
the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Iona_00_Prelims 4 27/3/02, 2:20 pm
Contents
List of Illustrations vii
Preface ix
Acknowledgements xv
Abbreviations xvii
Section I (1700–1800)
11 Peopling the Landscape 3
12 The Age of Improvement 21
Section II (1800–1845)
13 The Making of the Crofts 43
14 Gathering Storms 67
Section III (1846–1860)
15 The Year the Potato went Away 83
16 Continuing Crisis 100
17 Adjustment at Home and Abroad 116
Section IV (1860–1900)
18 The Broadening of Horizons 139
19 A Voice for the Crofters 162
10 Custom and Community 184
11 The Iona Crowd, Out West and Down Under 210
Iona_00_Prelims 5 27/3/02, 2:20 pm
Section V (1700–1900)
12 A School for Education 223
13 A Temple for Worship 233
Section VI
Conclusion: Change and Continuity 257
Bibliography 268
Appendices 272
Index 297
Iona_00_Prelims 6 27/3/02, 2:20 pm
List of Illustrations
Frontispiece Engraving of the ruins of Iona Abbey
Plate 1 Map of Iona, 1769 6
Plate 2 Map of Iona, 1769, in detail 8
Plate 3 Croft house and outbuildings, Sligineach 26
Plate 4 Aerial view of Calva 36
Plate 5 Croft divisions 51
Plate 6 Boats drawn up below Iona village 74
Plate 7 Old rigs at Goirtean Beag 85
Plate 8 Lochan Mòr 88
Plates 9 and 10 Dugald MacFarlane and his wife, Marion
MacInnes 105
Plate 11 James MacArthur and his wife, Catherine MacCormick 131
Plate 12 Children’s souvenir stall close to Iona jetty 142
Plate 13 Iona Post Office 157
Plate 14 Neil MacKay, tailor 158
Plate 15 Visitors departing by paddle steamer 167
Plate 16 Croft house at Clachanach 169
Plate 17 Preparing to sail or row sheep out to the cargo steamer 193
Plate 18 Loading stirks at Iona jetty 195
Plate 19 Swimming a horse from Iona jetty 197
Plate 20 Haymaking, c. 1910 200
Plate 21 Flora MacDonald and family, c. 1891 211
Plate 22 ‘Peter the Gold’ 218
vii
Iona_00_Prelims 7 27/3/02, 2:20 pm
viii iona
Plate 23 Schoolchildren at their annual picnic, c. 1910 229
Plate 24 Ruins of Iona Cathedral 236
Plate 25 Parish minister, Donald McVean 242
Plate 26 Local guide, Donald Alexander MacDonald 244
Iona_00_Prelims 8 27/3/02, 2:20 pm
Preface ix
Preface
Among many prophecies attributed to Columba by his biographer
Adomnan, ninth abbot of Iona, was one made on the evening before the
monastery’s founding father died, in the year 597. Small and humble
though this island was, he said, it would in time be regarded by the kings
and commoners of many lands as a place of great and special honour.
The saint’s prediction has indeed proved true. This speck of rock and
turf in the Hebridean sea, little more than fıve kilometres by two,
rapidly assumed deep spiritual significance for the peoples of Scotland
and Ireland, their stories bound together through the personage of
Columcille or St Columba. Some of their early kings were brought for
burial in Iona’s hallowed soil as, later, were many of the great chiefs of
Gaeldom. Over the centuries the island became the destination of
pilgrims from, ultimately, every Christian denomination. Its ecclesiastical
remains, carved stones and high crosses have been visited and inter-
preted by countless antiquarians. archaeologists, theologians, historians,
writers and artists. Down the years, textbooks and travel guides have
tended to echo the sentiments of Samuel Johnson, that Iona was above
all ‘that illustrious island’, inspiring piety in all. At times the impression
has even been that no one, outside of the monastic orders, ever lived
there. Yet, as Dr Johnson’s party approached the shore on an October
evening in 1773, his companion James Boswell noted that he ‘saw a
light shining in the village at Icolmkill’.
Where there was a light, there was habitation. And to bring the story
of Iona’s people out of the shadows was the primary reason for under-
ix
Iona_00_Prelims 9 27/3/02, 2:20 pm