Kate Ferris, (CONTACT INFO), lives on the Isle
of Lewis, and manages occasional trips across the Minch to Ullapool, where
the Museum has many documents and materials of interest to her genealogy
researches into her Coigach ancestors, including the Matheson family of
Isle Tanera. A volunteer at the Museum, Ann Urquhart, has been a great
help to Kate, even hunting up pages unavailable during her visits,
photocopying them, and forwarding them to Kate on Lewis. Genealogy is very
much a collaborative hobby!
On a recent visit Kate photocoppied the following document, entitled
"TANERA ISLAND". A call out to the Ross and Cromarty listserve yielded
volunteers to scan and OCR this and another document (the "Mitford"
manuscript). The Tanera manuscript was scanned and OCRed by Flora
MacDonald who lives in southern Ontario (no, she is not "over the
sea....")
Though the author of the manuscript, Alexander "Alick" MacLeod, died in
1974, his nephew Roy Macpherson lives in Ullapool. Kate has spoken to Roy,
and been assured he has absolutely no objections to the manuscript being
posted as a file on this website, and he feels that Alick would have done
so himself if the internet was available when he wrote it. Roy notes that
in the article Alick indicates how nice it would be if someone picked up
the article he wrote and expanded on it.
This file links from my genealogy introduction file at index.htm, which includes links to files with some
other history of Coigach, a gazetteer of descriptions and translations
into english of the gaelic place names of Coigach communities and places,
and annotated 19th century census returns for the district. Those
annotated census files include one on the families of Tanera; tanera.htm
Any suggestions for additions or edits please feel free to email me,
Donald MacDonald-Ross, at;
This attractive island is situated at the estuary of Loch Broom, on the
West coast of the county of Ross and Cromarty. The distance to it by sea,
from the township of Ullapool is ten knots. The channel separating the
island from the mainland is two miles wide at its broadest and one mile at
its narrowest. Tanera is about l & 1/2 miles in length and about 3/4 of a
mile in breadth with an area of over 800 acres.
It has a safe anchorage, it's harbour being considered second best in
Scotland. Campbeltown harbour in Argyllshire is said to be first and
Tanera second. This however has been argued as some people are of opinion
that Tanera harbour, for safety and cosiness, is even better than
Campbeltown. The fishermen who came from the southern parts of Scotland to
fish in Lochbroom, named Tanera harbour the "Garadh Cal", meaning cabbage
garden because of its safety and quietness, This name applies particularly
to the part between the two small islands called the "Eilan Mor" (big
island) and the "Eilan Beag" (small island) at the south east end of the
big harbour. There is another harbour at the north side of the island
called the "Acarsaid Dhriseach" (thorny harbour). With strong easterly
winds this is also a very safe harbour.
I was born and spent the days of my youth in Tanera. It consisted of
two hamlets, one on each side of the harbour. The north end was called
"Ard-nan-goine" and the south end the Acarsaid or harbour. There were six
families resident on Ardnangoine in those days, nine on the Acarsaid and
two at Tigh a' Quay, the old fish curing station at the top end of the
harbour, being seventeen families in all, but my father remembered well
over twenty families being there.
Every yard of arable land was cultivated intensively and before the
days of artificial fertilisers, excellent crops of potatoes, corn and
barley were produced by using seaweed as manure.
So great was the demand for seaweed in those days that every crofter
was allotted a small piece of coastline to enable him to cut seaweed.
During the low spring tides every bit of seaweed along the coastline of
Tanera and indeed all the inner group of the Summer Isles was cut and
taken to the respective crofts both on Tanera and the mainland. It was an
interesting sight to see the sailing boats, during the late afternoons
returning, each loaded with seaweed.
I remember on one occasion , when we were short of the required amount
of seaweed, going round the island in the hope of getting a vacant spot
somewhere, which would enable us to get a load, but all around the back of
the island there were boats side by side and our task was hopeless. We
tried some of the smaller islands without result. We managed eventually to
get some at Buck Island, close to Tanera, but were forced to leave owing
to the rising tide and had to content ourselves with half a load.
On returning home with seaweed the boats were moored, near the crofts,
until the late evening when the tide was at its highest. The boats were
then pulled up level with a rock or ledge to make unloading easier. It was
hard labour unloading a cargo of seaweed and carrying it above the sea's
edge, where it was dumped and at a convenient time carried to the crofts.
How different are matters nowadays when not the slightest notice is taken
of seaweed for manuring purposes.
Tanera, or Tanera Mor, is the largest and nearest to the mainland of
the Summer Isles group. There is also Tanera Beag, which shows no signs of
ever having been permanently inhabited, but I am of opinion it was used
for the purpose of summer grazing for cattle, accompanied by people who
erected improvised dwellings or summer shielings and attended to the
milking of the cattle, in order to produce a winter stock of butter and
cheese. There is splendid grazing on the north side of Tanera Beag and a
bay with a very good landing place, which made it very suitable for
loading amd unloading cattle. It was in this way that these islands were
called the Summer Isles having been occupied during the summer months for
this purpose. The name Tanera is ubdoubtedly of Norse origin and believed
to be very old. There is nothing known of pre norse history and no such
records exist. In fact there is not a great deal recorded about Tanera
before the '45. It seems a pity that more information was not transmitted
to posterity, respecting this island, which no doubt has a most
interesting history.
I have never been able to obtain any definition of the name Tanera,
which I could accept as being perfectly accurate. The most accepted
definition was "Tamh ri rath", which means sheltering from a heavy shower
or storm. Perhaps before the days of barometers, or weather forecasts,
when seafarers had to rely on their discernment of an impending storm,
they would shelter in Tanera. It has also been called Taneray and the name
is Norse as I am not aware of any word in ancient or Irish gaelic which
ends with (ey) or (ay), which denotes an island. This is how we get the
Norse names Vatersay; Mingulay; Raasay; Scalpay; Pabbay; Taransay and
others.
Tanera was called Hararymoir by the Norsemen, which means "Island of
the haven". My own fancy is that the name Tanera is a derivative of the
word Tairanus, who was a Norse noble, but I have never heard that
suggested by anybody else.
Donald Fraser, who lives in the village of Achiltibuie, facing Tanera,
made a good deal of research, as a hobby, of celtic and Norse place names.
He was commended for this work by the School of Scottish Studies in
Edinburgh. He consulted some authority of place names, (it could have been
Professor Watson, the great authority on gaelic and norse place names)
regarding the name Tanera. He was informed that it was not Tanera, but
Honera or Honeray. I am not sure of the correct spelling only
phonetically, nor do I remember their definition of the name, but I am
sure Donald would put us right on this point.
Unfortunately there is nothing on record to inform us how long Tanera
was under Norse influence, but it can reasonably be assumed that it would
have been from the eighth to the thirteenth century. No doubt Tanera was
an island that suited them admirably, because of its excellent harbour, in
fact one on each side of the island.
The Norsemen were a seafaring race and never penetrated more than a few
miles inland anywhere and were not found at a height of more than 500
feet.
That Tanera is of great antiquity there can be no doubt, but little has
been done in preserving its antiquity. I would refer to the burial ground
from my own observation. During my young days the cemetery was open and
unprotected from sheep and cattle. It was presumed that a cow's hoof
slipped on one of the tomb stones, removing a covering of earth and moss.
This revealed that the stone bore the inscription 1193. 1 have examined
this stone more than once. This would indicate that it was a place of
burial during Norse times. This cemetery was also used on occasions by
people from the mainland. Within my own memory it was used occasionally by
mainland people who claimed to have relatives buried there and looked upon
it as their family burial ground. In olden times Tanera was considered to
be more inaccesible than most places for medical students or those who
worked for them. They crept surreptitiously during cover of darkness to
raise the corpses for the purpose of studying anatomy.
The inhabitants of Tanera were first and foremost fishermen. In my own
day crofting was only a sideline. Each crofter planted sufficient potatoes
to keep his family going and enough corn and other crops to rear two or
three cows to provide his household with milk. Each family had twenty or
thirty sheep, grazed communally. There was a spinning wheel in every house
and there was sufficient wool spun to provide most woollen garments, woven
by a weaver on the mainland.
An old man told me a story of how he collected wool. During the lambing
season, when ewes are heavy in lamb, wool becomes loose on their lower
parts, and when they come in contact with bushes, thorns or heather, there
is a tuft of wool left behind. He collected every bit of wool and placed
it on the inside of his jacket. At the end of the lambing season the wool
he collected in this way was washed, carded and spun. The yarn was then
taken to a weaver and there would be sufficient material to justify a
visit to a tailor. Out of this length of cloth he would have sufficient
for a suit for himself and a skirt (in those days called the gaelic name
"Drogaid") for his wife. This was a good achievement from the collection
of bits of wool from heather and peat banks.
During the early centuries the West Highlands were invaded by
Scandinavian pirates or sea-robbers, probably from the eighth to the
eleventh century.
Meal Mor, which is over 400 feet high, is the highest part of Tanera.
This was a point of vantage and there is some evidence to support it for
warning the mainlanders of danger when pirates were sighted coming round
Stoer Point or Rubha Re (Gairloch Point) by lighting fires to warn them to
flee to the timber woods surrounding the villages for safety. The peat
bogs on the top of Meall Mor is evidence that peat was cut for this
purpose. There were also cairns of stone from which flares could have been
used conspicuously. There were expanses of timberwood at the rear of these
villages in those days and indeed there is ample evidence that parts of
Tanera had been wooded. The tree stumps are still visible in "Coulle
Dhorch" or dark wood on the north end of the island. This wood was like
many more, destroyed by fire by a Norse princess, known as "Dubh a'
Ghuis", who was out for plunder and indeed did plunder. Adverting to Meall
Mor the sea robbers or Vikings could be sighted at long range. They came
round Cape Wrath, a further 20 miles to Stoer Point, another 26 miles if
they chose that route to Gairloch Point, or if making direct for the
Summer Isles they would come round Coigach Point and every move could be
spotted from Meall Mor.
There are three small fresh water lochs on the Ardnangoine end of
Tanera. A stream runs from each into the sea at Acarsaid Driseach. Between
the largest loch and the sea there are ruins of an old "Shebeen" or
illicit still. The water was considered to be ideal for the blending of
whisky. There was a good sale for this illicit spirit from the fishing
fleet. However Customs Officers began to make their presense felt. The
"still" was camoflaged with turf and heather, but they called at the house
where the "distiller" lived and asked him if they could each have a glass
of whisky. On being wide awake as to who they were he said "yes, certainly
" and served the gentlemen. On being asked what the charge was, he replied
"Nothing at all, I never charge for whisky. I only keep a little for
visitors and friends." Needless to say there was nothing they could do by
way of prosecution. I still remember an old man, who lived at Ardnangoine
telling me a story. He was an old man when I was a boy. His father was the
man who owned the "Shebeen" and when the visits of customs officers became
too frequent and he discovered he would be caught sooner or later, he
dumped the distilling equipment into one of the lochs. This consisted of
copper urns, spiral pipes (worms) and other implements. There is no doubt
they are still embedded in the loch as I have never heard of any attempt
at salvaging them.
It was the heavy fishing of the eighteenth century at Tigh a' Quay,
which was then a curing station.
An old woman at Polbain, who lived to be 103 years, told me that her
family came from Harris to Tanera to work for the proprietor at Tigh a'
Quay. When she was old enough to work she obtained employment with the man
who owned Polbain. She called him the Officer McLeod. Whether he was an
Army or Naval Officer I don't know. She said the only other person living
in Polbain at that time was a keeper or overseer employed by the Officer
McLeod. I wish I had committed to memory more of the stories she told me
about Tanera. She has a grand daughter, a Mrs. Sarah McLean, an
intelligent woman, still living at Polbain and I feel sure she would
recall some of her grandmother's stories.
My own grandfather and his brother came to live on Tanera by eviction.
Ruthless evictions were rife all over the Scottish Highlands during the
eighteens. He and his family had a shop and an inn an Isle Ristol, a few
miles north of Tanera. This island is tidal and it is possible to walk
across to the mainland at low tide. My grandfather had a thriving trade
owing to the heavy fishing and sea traffic. This was too much for the
proprietor and consequently my grandfather and his brother were evicted.
They had nowhere to go, but eventually landed on Tanera and each erected a
thatched cottage.They remained on Tanera for the rest of their lives.
My grandfather said fish was so plentiful in those days that all he had
to do was to spend an evening hour on practically any rock of Tanera and
return with a basketful of fish. That was prior to the days of trawlers
and seine-netters. Indeed I would add that during the heavy fishings of
1909-10-11-12, herring were so plentiful that as boys we used to catch
them in pools when the tide was low. During the years mentioned every inch
from Tanera to Horse Island and all the visible area was so crowded with
fishing boats, that on looking out at nights, their lights seemed like
Blackpool. It was great fun for us as boys watching these boats, with the
charm of sail, leaving Tanera for the fishing grounds and taking a note of
their numbers in nautical almanacs and find out where the port of
registration and owners were. It was just like what London boys do
nowadays at King's Cross and Euston Station taking a note of the train
numbers.
During these years there were several curing ships in Tanera harbour.
They were from Russia, Holland and the Mediterranean ports, nowadays
called Klondykers who came to purchase large quantities of herring for
curing. They used to recruit all the male and female labour available for
packing herring. As boys we used to do everything possible to get on board
these ships. They used to treat us to small luxuries such as sweets and
biscuits and in return it was a pleasure to dig a basketful of potatoes
for them. We used to be amused watching the Russians slitting up salted
herrings into small chunks, eating them raw with ship's biscuit and a
colourless liquid which I now believe to have been vodka.
Another attraction was a sailing ship, in fact two (floating shops)
which made monthly visits from the Orkney Islands. Each ship was
sub-divided into three compartments, one for groceries, one for drapery
and another for sweets and toys. We used to gather winkles, for which they
would give us a few shillings, or barter them for sweets, biscuits and
chocolates. The ships were anchored in the harbour and in response to a
signal they would come with a dinghy and collect the customers. When the
shopping was finished they would ferry us back.
In those days two boats from each end of the island, loaded with
people, went every Sunday to church on the mainland. On stormy days when a
crossing was not possible, services were held in the schoolhouse on the
island. The religion was Protestant - reformed faith - and there was an
outstandingly able lay-preacher, who I believe, had he received the
advantage of an advanced education, would have been one of the outstanding
theologians of his day and generation. Very often the schoolhouse used to
be packed with people who came ashore from the fishing boats in the
harbour, to worship with us.
This Church-going habit had a good moral influence on the people and I
can only say that I just caught the tail end of a very fine race. They
were strictly honest and a kindly law-abiding people. I have never known
even a petty theft to have been committed. It never entered anybody's mind
to lock a door, but the same thing could happen in London. There would be
no need to lock a door if everybody were honest.
I often wonder what the religion would have been on Tanera, in
pre-reformation times, whether it would have been on Catholic or mere
paganism. Perhaps it shared the fate of North Uist, in the outer Hebrides.
In the days when Roman Catholicism swept across from the continent of
Europe, it penetrated the West Highlands and Hebrides, However a new
proprietor, a perfervid Protestant, came to North Uist. He was a man of
very powerful physique. It was his custom to walk about with a big yellow
walking stick and with this weapon he bullied all his tenants into
protestantism and ever afterwards it was called "The creed of the yellow
stick."
There is a good schoolhouse on the Ardnangoine end of Tanera and not
long before my own time there were 33 schollars. There is a dwelling-house
(teacher's accommodation) attached to the schoolhouse.
I recall meeting an old man - Donald MacRae - many years ago, He lived
at Strathpeffer and was a building contractor. It was he who had the
contract of the interior carpenter work at the school. He remarked what a
hard job it was carrying building material from the shore up the steep
hill to the schoolhouse site. This was done in the only way it could have
been done by carrying slates in creels on people's backs, while wood and
pipes were carried on handbarrows.
Those were the days of cheap labour. There is a slated cottage on the
Ardnangoine end of Tanera, substantially built and still standing, which
cost only 20 pounds to build and there is another one, now roofless,
beside it which cost only 14 pounds.
Before the days of heavy taxation, when many of the nobility owned
yachts, Tanera used to be a popular place for these luxury boats to anchor
and perhaps wait for a week, both steam and sailing yachts.
I remember, on one occasion, a beautiful steam yacht came steaming up
the channel between the island and the mainland. It anchored in the
harbour. I met a lady, accompanied by a pomeranian dog, who came ashore
from the yacht, walking along at Ardnangoine. It was a beautiful day in
July. The sun was shining brightly and the air was sweet from the sea. The
potato fields were in full bloom, corn and clover delightfully green and
the place looked at its best. The lady asked me some questions about the
island and remarked how beautiful it was. I ascertained afterwards that
the lady was the Duchess of Bedford and owner of the yacht.
I remember about 40 years ago reading questions in a London newspaper,
which had been set at an examination. One of the questions was, "Where is
Tanera Island?" I do not consider it was a fair question. My own fancy is
that it would have been a master or an examiner, who had been cruising in
a small yacht single-handed, as many of them did and probably anchored at
Tanera. The place likely appealed to him and he thought of setting that
question.
Tanera is a paradise for picnicers. I visited the island about three
years ago, on a beautiful day in early September. I was having a walk
around my old haunts at Tigh a' Quay, when two motor launches, packed with
people, arrived from Ullapool and berthed at the stone pier where the
visitors embarked. The 'squeak' went round, probably by a member of the
crew who recognised me, that I was born and bred on the island. On hearing
this the visitors were clamouring around me amd bombarded me with
questions about the island. I met some from Brighton, Tunbridge Wells and
other parts of the south of England. As they were like myself, on holiday,
I tried to make things as interesting for them as possible. They said they
never realised there was such a beauty spot in the British Isles and
remarked "Why go to the continent of Europe, or the Channel or Scilly
Isles, when there is such a place as this?" The crowd then dispersed and
walked up Gnoc Glas, as far as Ardnangoine.
As a boat was calling for me at Mol Ban, opposite Polbain, I followed
in the same direction. It was a beautiful day with bright sunshine and not
a ripple on the sea. As I walked up to Cnock Glas, with thoughts of old
times crowding upon me and the heather purpling beautifully, I thoroughly
enjoyed the walk. I overtook some of the visitors, in two and three's
basking in the sun. I chatted with an American couple and one of them
said, "I guess this is the most beautiful place on earth."
I had a peep over the top of the old quarry, now hardly recognisable as
a quarry, as long grass has grown all over it. I remembered the day when I
kept an otter under observation at the bottom of the quarry. It landed
with a big salmon in its mouth. The salmon was full of vigour and kept
slashing at the otter's head with its tail, but the otter held on to it
and soon settled down to a sumptuous meal of the rich lower part and the
offal, leaving the remainder on a ledge.
When I arrived at Ardnangoune, more visitors were sitting along the
green fields which used to be under cultivation. I spoke to a Dutch couple
who expressed the greatest admiration for the island.
I would recommend to anybody who would want a pleasurable walk to go
along to Mol Mor, about half a mile from Tigh a' Quay, at the back of the
island, then bear right to the headland at Mol Dubh and lie receptive
above the cliffs. I cannot imagine anything better for anybody suffering
from any form of a nervous disease, or who would want to be "away from it
all", away from noise, bustle or air pollution. To watch the waves
dashing against the rocks, the seabirds and perhaps a few seals, has a
tonic value. From there one would be within full view of the whole of the
Summer Isles group and the Hebrides if visibility was good.
I must say something about the social life of the island. It was the
custom to visit one another's houses, in groups of about half-a-dozen.
This was called "ceilidh", a practice which has more or less disappeared
nowadays. There was a saying (translating it from Gaelic) "the ceileidh
finished with the disappearance of the sooty caber." That meant that in
the old type of houses much smoke escaped from the chimneys and created
soot on the beams of the roof (cabers). When more modern houses were built
the "ceilidh" was much less practised.
At these "ceilidhs" people played draughts, dominoes or play musical
instruments and tell stories of various experiences and topics of all
kinds. Some people would regard this as a waste of time, but I disagree
entirely. It had an educative medium. There one would listen to
accomplished folklorists and seafarers who travelled the seven seas,
relating their experiences and visits to foreign countries. Quite
frequently some of the crews of the fishing boats anchored in the harbour
would come ashore and join in at the ceilidh. Fishing news and experiences
in storms would be exchanged. Seldom was there a night without some
reference being made to fairies and ghosts. There is a cave half way along
the harbour side called the Piper's cave, where the fairies were supposed
to play their musical instruments. I heard an old man telling a story
about his own experience near the cave in the early morning. One
particular morning, however, he heard the "little folk" inside playing
bagpipes and violins quite audibly and he became so scared that never
again would he meet his fellow fishermen at that point.
There was the story of another man who came face to face with a ghost
at a stream - I could pin point it - about one hundred yards south of the
schoolhouse. Everybody didn't have the slightest doubt but it was true.
Much as has been written about it by other writers, I would make brief
reference to the poltergeist at Tigh a' Quay, but I heard a somewhat
different version of it from my father. The man who was pestered was
George McLean, who occupied part of Tigh a' Quay. He was fishing in the
Minch and called at Stornoway. He visited a man who was reputed to have
power to expel evil spirits and pled with him to remove the poltergeist.
He said he would do so but that he (George McLean) would have to be
prepared to suffer the loss of relatives and possessions. He replied that
he would like it expelled at all costs as it was driving him mad. The
poltergeist was removed, but shortly afterwards George McLean lost a
sealskin wallet (fashionable in those days) containing 7 pounds, a lot of
money at that time. This was followed by the loss of a young son and in
addition much illness in his family.
There was an old woman living in the house next to the schoolhouse, who
had a fund of stories about ghosts. She was Mrs. Matheson, who was born
and bred at Little Lochbroom. Her father lived at Annat Bay, opposite
Tanera on the other side of the water, but he was evicted in the year
1867. She eventually married a Tanera man and she remained there for the
rest of her life.
There used to be tales told about the "Mermaid" which was supposed to
be seen from time to time. One of her favourite spots was at the fresh
water lochs, where I heard one man state convincingly that he saw her at
the lochside washing her clothes!
When the herring shoals moved away people took to lobster fishing, a
profitable occupation, providing they dealt with honest buyers. However
the "sharks" of Billingsgate cheated them right and left. They had such
excuses as the market being bad and no demand, or the lobsters were dead.
Matters improved when a man came into the harbour with a small yacht. He
conversed with some of the lobster fishermen and asked them how they went
on about prices. They told him their returns from Billingsgate were
generally poor. He said he would like to help them and advised them to
send some to the Army and Navy Stores in London. They took his advice and
received excellent priced (s), but unfortunately they could only cope with
a limited number of lobsters. About 1910 a Billingsgate shellfish merchant
(Coverly) appointed an agent at Polbain to buy lobsters at 1 shilling each
for every lobster over 8 inches. This was considered a reasonable price,
until the outbreak of the first World War, when the price of lobsters went
up by leaps and bounds. Coverly raised his price to 1 pound per dozen, but
never higher. Some sent small consignments to the Army and Navy again and
received prices as high as 3 pounds 12 shillings per dozen.
Crab fishing was never profitable owing to their heavy weight which
incurred high freight charges and the same applied to winkles. Lobster
fishing demanded a great deal of skill and hardiness. Lobsters were larger
and more plentiful at the outer islands, such as Priest Island and Glas
Leac Ghorm, a distance of about eight miles from Tanera. Many hazardous
journeys were made in sailing boats to these islands. Haddock fishing was
also engaged in, but not for sale.
Strange as it may seem Tanera enjoyed a much higher standard of living
than their neighbours on the mainland. The reason was that Tanera was so
sheltered and congenial that the fishermen would make a good day of it
when nobody could dare think of venturing out from the exposed shores of
the mainland.
The crofts were worked so well and the ground so fertile that they were
self-supporting as far as feeding stuff for the wintering of cattle was
concerned.
On one occasion a boat arrived in Tanera and was met by an old man. He
enquired of them where they were from and what their errand was. They
said they came from 'Foachag' (Gaelic for winkle) which was a hamlet near
the Sutherlandshire border and now uninhabited. They said they ran out of
feeding stuff for their cattle and hoped they may be able to get some corn
or hay in Tanera. The old man replied "How extraordinary that you should
come from such a small thing as a winkle".
Sheep shearing was a big annual event. There was a cave on the south
side of the island, surrounded by a drystone wall. This served as an
excellent sheep fank and shearing was carried out there until a more
modern fank was built quite close to Tigh a' Quay.
There were never any snakes on the island or any rabbits. The people
very wisely objected to rabbits as they would be destructive to the crops.
Hares would never be tolerated as they were reputed of being able to
transform themselves into witches! This was an ancient belief.
Another annual event was peat cutting. In the days when there was
enough man-power they used to employ what was called peat-cutting squads,
which meant that about a dozen men would cut one person's peats in one
day. The following day they would cut another man's and so they went on
until everybody was served. That practice was carried on well within my
own memory, but when the population dwindled and not enough men to form a
"squad", the practice ceased and every family cut their own.
If the squad worked a long distance away, food was carried to them in
containers. They had both breakfast and mid-day meal in picnic fashion.
When they worked near enough they had their meals in a house.
The peat-bogs on the harbour end were of considerable depths and could
be cut in layers of several feet deep, but this type of peat was mossy and
fibrous and very'light when dried up in wind and sunshine. A different
type of peat was cut on Ardnangoine. This was peat of hard substance, very
black and heavy and only went to the depth of one layer. This peat made
splended fires when mixed with some driftwood, better and much cleaner
than coal.
Another custom was herding cattle in the mornings. They were turned out
about 7:30 am and were herded on the infields as the corn and hay fields
were unprotected. When the sun shone directly on the top of Ben More
Coigach, that indicated that the time was 9.30 am, that was before British
Summer Time (10.30 BST) the milk cows were brought home and milked. They
were afterwards turned out to the heather for the rest of the day. When
British Summer Time was introduced early in the first world war it was
very much resented, as it was thought to be an innovation from the evil
one. It was years afterwards before it was accepted and never accepted by
some. An old man on being asked what the time was, when he replied was
questioned whether he meant the old or new time. He said "I have only an
old watch, which shows only the old time and always will as far as I am
concerned."
Since the first world war the population of Tanera began to dwindle.
The younger generation would not put up with the way of life of a former
generation. Family after family left for the mainland and Ullapool.
Eventually there was only one family left on the harbour end (Grants) and
owing to depopulation they removed to Ullapool. What dealt the final death
blow was a drowning accident May 1920. Two men (Campbell and Matheson)
were lobster fishing at Glas Leac Dubh when an unexpected wave rose from a
sunken reef and swamped their boat. That was a further reduction of two
able-bodied men.
It is impossible to work an island for a living without manpower and it
requires a crew of four skilled fit men to man a sea-worthy boat in order
to keep things going.
My father had to remove regretfully in 1931 to the mainland. His sheep
were there for a few years afterwards and it was his delight to go there
and attend to them for six weeks during the lambing season.
Ferrying sheep became more difficult and he was forced to sell them,
when the markets were at rock bottom in this country, for a ridiculously
low price.
I would mention that there are two sunken rocks or reefs parallel and
visible at low tides, one about 200 yards from the mainland at Dornie and
the other equidistant from Tanera. I have known steamers and fishing boats
(not acquainted with that part) becoming stranded on the reef next to
Tanera. My father's advice to strangers was "If only you keep a couple of
inches of Horse Island in sight, you are safe.
A cargo steamer, laden with timber, became stranded there in the summer
of 1909. They employed all the labour they could muster from Tanera and
the mainland to unload the timber and put it into rafts, in order to get
the ship refloated. When the job was finished each man received a
remuneration of 37/6, which was very acceptable at that time of scarcity
of money.
Years ago some man prophesied that Tanera would yet be bridged as he
was of opinion the two reefs were there for that purpose. Should such a
thing ever happen I don't think I would welcome it as it would spoil the
exclusiveness and wildness of the place. It would be the means of opening
the floodgates to every Tom, Dick and Harry.
About the beginning of this century and later, very few people visited
remote Highland villages and islands, but since the advent of the
motor-car, there has been an invasion of all kinds. During my early years
in London I have often been asked, "Is Scotland beyond Ireland?" Nowadays
the "spivs" of Hoxton and Bethnal Green are conversant with Highland
geography, but one thing sure and certain is that they cannot enter Tanera
unless they are taken there.
The following story may be worthy'of mention. Two strangers went up
there on holiday. They met a simple-minded man and thought they would have
a joke with him. On asking him some questions they said "Can you count?"
"Yes I can count" he said. The next question was "How many of us are here
now? He replied "One Hundred." On being asked how he arrived at that
figure he replied, "Well I am one and you are two nothings." No further
questions were asked.
If any people competent of making an historical survey of Tanera and
feel inclined to write it for publication, I have endeavoured to set
before them - conscious of my limitations in attempting it - some facts of
the way of life, as I have known them, of an isolated community on Tanera.
In reviewing the past, I often think people who missed it missed a lot.
It is my sincere wish that the present proprieter will in years to come
- as I feel sure he will - derive much pleasure from his ownership of this
island of my birth.
As written by Alick MacLeod Sep.1897-July 1974
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