The last inhabitant of Bereiro was Donald Matheson, born about 1794. His father was also Donald Matheson, Domhnall Bàn or An Saighdear Chaluim Bàn, who was in Canada at the Siege of Louisbourg in 1758 – more of his story, and a song about him, are here. He returned to Crowlista and raised a family at Bereiro. His son, Donald Jr, joined the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1815 – or possibly a little earlier – and his personal record in the HBC archive records his career:

1815-1816       Middleman       Fort Hibernia (Fort Pellly) [A Middleman is the middle paddler in a canoe]
1816-1817       Labourer           Swan River
1817-1819       Labourer           Red Deer River
1819-1820       Labourer           Fort Hibernia
1820-1821       Labourer           Swan River
11 Sept – 26 Oct 1821               Home to Europe on the Prince of Wales

His record describes him as 5’5″, with light hair, and “a good man, acts as writer to Mr John Turnor, Assistant Trader”. Evidently he was offered land in Manitoba but he returned to Uig and to Bereiro, where he married Helen Maciver, Carnish, and had three children. About 1834 the family (including Donald Jr’s mother Chirsty Macdonald, but not his father who had died c1831) left Bereiro. At the time that Rev Alexander Macleod was extending his glebe to include that area, and it is likely that their removal from there precipitated their emigration to Cape Breton. They settled at Little Narrows and had nine more children.  The area around the head of Traigh na Sruban remains the property of the kirk and has not been inhabited since, though it is used for sheep by a local crofter.

The Mathesons of Bereiro are descended – as are most Mathesons in Lewis – from the first of that name on the island. Domhnall Ban, the adventuring soldier who was at Louisbourg in 1758, was the son of Malcolm Matheson, at Valtos until 1773 when he moved to Crowlista (possible Bereiro).

His father was John Matheson, Iain Arainis, tacksman at Arnish (after his own father) until he was pushed out and had later the farm at Lionel. He was taken prisoner by a French privateer in 1704 but was freed, and is reputed to have died at the battle of Sherrifmuir.

John’s father was Murdo Matheson, who as a cousin of the then Chamberlain, Murdo Mackenzie, came to Uig from the mainland in the mid 1600s, at a time when the ruling Mackenzies were bringing many of their allies to the island. Murdo Matheson settled first at Ardroil and later became tacksman at Arnish. His second wife was Chirsty Macaulay, granddaughter of Dòmhnall Càm, and they had several children.

Descendents of the Uig Mathesons are welcome to get in touch and share their connections, either below or on the Forum. We have a new Hudson’s Bay Company page here.

A Hardship on Interned Men

We have been informed that money sent by Post Office Money Order to prisoners of war in Holland is only worth 15s for every £1 remitted. This seems an exorbitant rate of exchange, and strikes very hard those lads who are unfortunate enough to be interned there. Their friends endeavour to supply them with a little extra cash to enable them to get a change occasionally from the usual routine of menu, but at the present rate of exchange the weekly or fortnightly remittance dwindles into a very insignificant sum by the time they get it. Perhaps some of our readers may know of other means to remitting cash to those prisoners without such a heavy reduction, such a s a society interested in the welfare of interned seamen. Any information on this subject will be welcomed by friends concerned.

Some Uig men were out fishing around the Flannan Isles, and a Viking longboat came along and asked for a local person to guide them through the treacherous Sound of Harris. Murchadh Ban was chosen to go and be their pilot. He was married in Crowlista and all were anxiously awaiting his safe return to the village. However he didn’t return that year to Crowlista and thinking that some ill had befallen him, his wife assumed the status of a widow in the village. Two years after his departure, a foreigner dressed in strange clothes appeared in Uig. He walked past Murchadh Ban’s mother, who was breaking down manure with her hands in the potato plot, and remarked to her: “Haven’t you the filthy job?”

This was Murchadh Ban returning and his mother didn’t even recognise him. The longboat was hit by a gale when it reached the Sound of Harris and the Vikings were so wary of the area that they turned into deeper water and eventually returned to Gothenburg, where Murchadh Ban stayed for two years before he could obtain passage back to Lewis. It is said of him that once he returned that he wouldn’t eat any kind of fish because he was so sick of eating dried fish on the longboat, or because the fish in Gothenburg had not been as good as that in Lewis.

In 1959 I was a 23-year-old Corporal Technician in the Royal Air Force. I had been stationed for some time at RAF Beachy Head near Eastbourne in Sussex – an early warning radar site literally on the top of Beachy Head. There I met Hilary Macdonald who was a nurse in one of the local hospitals. We arranged to get married in the September of 1959. No sooner had we made our plans and I was informed that I was to be posted, in September, to RAF Aird Uig.

RAF Aird Uig was also an early warning radar site. The prospect did not enthral us, as there were no facilities for families at the station. The only slightly good thing was that postings to this station were only 18 months duration. Also, theoretically, one could request where the next posting might be at the end of your tour.

I applied for a delay in my posting date but did not expect to get it. In consequence we rearranged our wedding bringing it forward to 22nd August. No sooner had I done this than the unexpected delay was granted with a new date in November. In those days trainee nurses were not allowed to marry so Hilary gave up nursing. The wedding went ahead in August, as replanned, and we lived with her relatives for the next few months.

Despite the lack of family facilities at Aird Uig we were determined that Hilary would join me during my tour on the island. Amongst other things we bought a Morris Minor car with canvas top. The plan was for me to take the car up to Aird Uig and look for rented accommodation.

On the appointed day we loaded the all our worldly goods into a large tin trunk, put it in the back of the Morris Minor, and I set out for Scotland. It was a considerable journey in those days. The part through the Highlands was particularly interesting. I can’t remember if I loaded the car onto the Loch Seaforth at Mallaig or Kyle of Lochalsh. What I do remember is that they put slings under the wheels and dragged the car sideways across the quay and up onto the foredeck.

There were several other RAF personnel making the crossing and I was able to get some information about things to come from them. On arrival at Stornoway the car was dumped off the Loch Seaforth on to the dock. An RAF bus was waiting to transport the RAF people to Aird Uig and I arranged to follow it, not knowing how to get there any other way. The boat arrived in the early evening and in November it was getting dark. Following the bus right across the island, with the roads as they were then, was a bit nightmarish. Needless to say we made it and I was installed in the billet for the Corporals. If you visit Aird Uig today you will find all the RAF buildings still there but put to other uses. The technical site is still there but the radars have gone.

In the next few days I made enquiries amongst other airmen about available rented accommodation. There was not much on offer, it seemed. One of the Radar Operators, George Banks, and his wife Chrissie, lived at Linshader.  He said that his landlady was looking for another couple to rent a room. (Chrissie was a Lewis Islander.) Those who know the island will appreciate that Linshader is half way across the island, between Stornoway and Aird Uig. A long commute, especially if working shifts.

Never the less I arranged to visit Linshader and meet Mrs Mackay. After the inevitable hospitality with drop scones, crowdie and jam, washed down with tea, she showed me the room she was willing to rent and the rest of the cottage. The arrangement was that George and Chrissie had the downstairs room, we would have the room above them.   Mrs Mackay had the other upstairs bedroom and we all shared the kitchen, bathroom, lounge, etc. I can’t remember how much the rent was but it included electricity and peat for fuel. As it seemed to be the only option I agreed to take the room.

While having more scones and tea Mrs Mackay’s son, Murdanie arrived. Murdanie was home on leave from sea. I enquired where I could get oil for the car. He enthusiastically said he would show me and we set out for Stornoway. It didn’t occur to me that at that time of the evening nowhere would be open. We spent some time in Mac’s Bar but didn’t get any oil for the car. Mrs Mackay was not best pleased, I feel, when we returned later that evening.

I spoke to Hilary and told her all about our new home and we planned her journey up to the island. She arrived at Mallaig by train, a long journey from Eastbourne. I had gone across on the boat to meet her and on arrival at Stornoway we drove to Linshader.

Life in Linshader

Life soon settled into a steady routine. My work involved working shifts. The routine was; morning and evening on the first day. The next day was afternoon, and eleven pm to eight am the following day. There was then one day off, (sleeping). This was followed by a repeat of the first two days after which one had three days off, the first being to catch up on sleep.

As Hilary was, by our standards, rather isolated living at Linshader, I elected to travel too and fro for each shift. This meant that I was travelling approximately eighty miles a day. If I was duty NCO on the station I would of course not come home. George Banks worked similar shifts and he travelled separately on a motorbike. I would fill up my car with petrol at the wind up pump at Miavaig. If no one was about we would leave a note of how much we had taken and pay later. With all this travelling the car tyres soon wore out. I would take them off the wheels and make “gaiters”, cut from old tyres, and fit them inside over the holes and then put the tyres back on the car. Eventually I had to get some new ones from Stornoway. Travelling between Linshader and Aird Uig was pretty arduous especially when the snow came. With a couple of sacks of peat in the boot, to give the car some weight, I managed it without ever getting stuck.

Evenings would mostly be spent around the fire in the lounge. We would read, Hilary would knit or darn socks, etc. Later Mrs Mackay taught me to crochet. Supplies were obtained from a weekly visit from the Co-op van. Occasionally a van with fish would call. You had to buy the whole fish as there was no filleting or selling part of the fish. A big Minch eel or cod would last us for days. We also got occasional items from the Naafi Shop on the station. At this time we only visited Stornoway about once a month. Also once a month a catholic priest would come up from Barra and a Mass would be said on the station to which our spouses were allowed to attend.

Christmas and New Year were a little different to most of our previous years celebrations. I seem to remember we visited the camp, and then went with another couple to their rented accommodation for Christmas Dinner. At that time there was about four couples from the RAF living in rented rooms in crofts not far from the station. We would meet in each other’s accommodation from time to time for a chat, smoke and may be a meal. We all seemed to smoke hand rolled ‘fags’ at that time so someone was always rolling the next cigarette to hand round. Once in a while the RAF would run a liberty bus to Stornoway for the airman on the station. They could also travel on the bus that most days went to meet the boat for those travelling to and from the mainland. Personnel on the station found many things to occupy their time. There was a boat that could be taken out to sea to fish. One could of course fish in the lochs for trout, etc. A couple of the lads took up scuba diving and brought scallops, clams and lobsters up from the deep. Much of their time was spent playing board games and cards.

From time to time Mrs Mackay would leave to stay with her relatives on Bernera or her daughter Jessie. On these occasions we would look after the dog, chickens and the bullock. The dog, having no work to do, would herd the chickens, one by one at a time, out of the hen house. He would then put them all back, one by one. Needless to say, we didn’t get as many eggs as we might have done. The bullock had been brought back, from an island in the loch, for the winter and housed in the byre. One of our jobs, when Mrs Mackay was away, was to let the bullock out onto the moor to graze. He had been treated as a pet by Murdanie when a calf. Having been kept in the byre most of the time, due to bad weather, he was full of fun when let out. He would charge up the lane and bash the next peat stack, then turn around and rush up to you to “play”. It was very nerve wracking and difficult to avoid getting a prod with a horn. We learnt a few things from Mrs Mackay. She made great drop scones, crowdie, jam, and wonderful marag dubh and marag geal. She even made me a haggis on one occasion.

Early in the New Year we discovered we were to become parents. Hilary started knitting and I crocheted a shawl during our evenings around the fire. Hilary went once to Stornoway Hospital and afterwards was visited by the local District Nurse.  The Nurse had done her training in Glasgow and she had some remarkable tales to tell of her experiences there.

Life in Aird

In June Alec Gumbrecht, another RAF person, came near to the end of his eighteen-month tour. He and his wife had rented rooms from John [An Geal] and Maggie Maclennan at Aird Uig and with his help we negotiated a move from Linshader to Aird Uig. Mrs. Maclennan did not seem to think it was a problem that Hilary was pregnant and that the baby would arrive in September. We would still have six months of our tour to complete at that time. We were sad to leave Linshader as Mrs Mackay was such a nice person, but the travelling was a bit excessive.

At Aird Uig we had one living room and a bedroom and the use of the bathroom. We also had the use of the kitchen at the other end of the house. We supplied our own fuel for the fire in our lounge but could use their peat for the Rayburn range to cook on, etc. I can’t remember what the rent was but it included the electricity and the kitchen fuel.  Mrs. Maclennan was always worried that we were using too much electricity. As well as our selves and Mr and Mrs Maclennan their son, John Angus lived in the house. One of our jobs was to look after and clean the public telephone that was located in the entrance porch. On our recent visit we noticed it still is.

Our bedroom was at the back of the house. Behind the house was the byre, which had a room for the tweed loom, right outside my bedroom window. The other end of the byre housed a cow. When I came off watch after a night shift my sleep was not always peaceful. First Maggie would take the cow out through the alley between the byre and my bedroom. Apart from the “mooing” it was not always the sweetest smelling cow. Later Maggie would go into the loom room to start the bobbin-winding machine, usually just after I had dropped off to sleep. Later John would come out and start weaving. You will all know that the “clack, clack” of the loom is not the most restful thing to have outside your bedroom window.

Sunday was different for us. The Maclennans would go to church. Usually Maggie would have boiled her Sunday mutton on Saturday night and on Sunday she would ask Hilary to put it into the oven to brown for their lunch after church. We were somewhat restricted on Sundays. For example, we were asked not to have the radio on. It was a very quite day. On occasions there would be “meeting” held in the house. At these times we would be restricted to our own rooms. We found the style of hymn singing at these meetings fascinating, and by our standards, most unusual.

We had the privilege of being invited to John Angus’s wedding in Stornoway. This was a big event with about four hundred people attending. I happened to have tape recorder and John Angus asked if I could record the wedding for him. In consequence we were seated at the top table with tape recorder. I think most of the other guests wondered who on earth we were. One of the interesting things was that people would get up and sing, usually without prior announcement, as far as we could tell. Needless to say all the songs were in Gaelic and some of them were very beautiful.

Eventually September came. Hilary went into labour while I was on duty on the camp and I had some difficulty getting away. We called the District Nurse and the three of us started out for Stornoway Hospital. Every few miles the nurse got worried that things were progressing too fast and we might have to deliver the baby behind a peatstack on route. We arrived at the hospital and I left Hilary, not expecting anything to happen too soon. I returned to duty on the station and later went to bed. The next day I discovered that a baby boy was born within half an hour of my leaving. I was in serious trouble for not ringing up earlier for news and to see how she was. About a week later we brought Mark back to Aird Uig. Hilary found it difficult to get organised due to the domestic arrangements and also need to be treated by Dr. Matheson for some time. She will tell you that he always warmed his hands before examining her.

About March the following year my tour at Aird Uig came to an end. We packed our worldly goods and baby into the car. Having said good by to all our friends and acquaintances we set off for Stornoway and the boat to the mainland. It took two days for us to reach our home in the south of England. We never forgot our stay on the island and have just revisited fifty years later. But that’s another story.

During the late 1990s archaeologists from Edinburgh University excavated four sites around Uig. Recently the directors of the excavations, Dr Mike Church now at Durham University and Dr Simon Gilmour, director of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, have been awarded funding from Historic Scotland to produce a book
detailing all of the excavation results. Together with Dr Claire Nesbitt, also of Durham University, they are currently working on this monograph which will be published by The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.

The sites included in the volume are:

• An Dunan a small natural island at the north end of Tràigh nan Srùban which was in use from the Iron Age to the Post-Medieval period;
• Gob Eirer, a promontory stack connected to the mainland by a small strip of land on the north shore of the Camas Uig which was occupied during the Bronze Age;
• Guinnerso, a Post-Medieval relict landscape on the Aird Uig peninsula;
• Beriero, a Blackhouse village above Tràigh nan Srùban dating to the Medieval or Post-Medieval period.

This volume, which it is hoped will be completed by 2012, will bring together the evidence from all of these sites to try to understand how people lived and died in Uig in the prehistoric past and to consider how the sites fit into the rich archaeological heritage of the Uig Landscape.

More information on the project is available on the project website which will be updated as results become available. Meanwhile, everyone is invited to two free events:

A Site Visit at An Dunan and Bereiro (map)
2pm on Saturday 28 August
Meet on site; park at the Community Centre and walk or share cars to Crowlista if possible.
Wear walking shoes or wellies and waterproofs if need be.

An Illustrated Talk at Uig Community Centre
7.30pm on Tuesday 31 August
hosted by Comann Eachdraidh Uig, with a tea

A picture from the early years of the new Uig School, with the closed Crowlista School in the background. Thanks to Donna for the names… please help to fill in the rest!

Back Row: 1. MA Buchanan (Bambi)
2. Cub
3. Racko
4.
5. Willie
6. Duval
7.

Middle row: 8. Meg
9. Pat
10. Donna Macaskill
11. Gina
12. KB
13. Norma
14. Lena
15. Anna
16. CB

Sitting: 17. Flora
18. Rhona Macleod
19. Dean
20. Meg
21. Maureen Mackay
22. Anchris Macleod
23. Lena Smith

Front: 24. John Tochie Macdonald
25. Sid
26. Nangie
27. Flookie
28. Duck
29. Christopher Smith
30. Ali Macritchie
31.

Last Sunday [2 August 1914] will be a memorable one in Lewis. During the night the Mercantile Marine authorities at Stornoway received instruction to mobilise the Royal Naval Reserve. On Sunday afternoon motor cars were dispatched to all parts of the island with notices summoning the men to report themselves at Stornoway, but earlier in the day the news had become generally known through intimations made from the pulpits of the various churches, all the ministers having been officially wired to, asking them to announce the mobilisation. The proclamation affected not only every hamlet in Lewis but practically every family in the island.

How often have successive Governments been reminded in memorials from the crofters and fishermen of Lewis, as a claim to have their grievances remedied, that the “entire manhood of the island was trained to arms?” in this statement there was no exaggeration, for out of a rural population of 26,000, some 2000 men are connected with the Royal Naval Reserve, while about 1200 are enlisted in the Seaforth, Cameron and Gordon Militias, besides which the island contributes its fair quota to the regular Army and Navy.
The commotion occasioned in the homes of Lewis by this unprecedented breach in the customary Sabbath calm may be imagined. The men themselves made a commendably prompt response, practically every available man having found his way to Stornoway by Monday evening.

“And they left their nets”

On Sunday the Customs officers and police visited the fishing boats lying at Stornoway and instructed all Naval Reservists, no matter where they hailed from, to report themselves at the Mercantile Marine Office, and about fifty men from the boats were thus sent away by the mail steamer that night, en route for Chatham. Many of the fishermen had to go leaving their nets on the fields where they had spread them on Saturday, while a number of the East Coast boats have to lay up here on account of their crews being depleted. As for the local fleet, with the exception of time-expired Reservists, hardly a fisherman is left.

On Monday 430 men were sent on to Chatham where they will meet with hundreds more of Lewismen who were called up at Fraserburgh, Peterhead and other fishing ports, as well as Rosyth, etc.* The men who were conveyed across the Minch by the steamers Claymore and Sheila, had an enthusiastic send-off. The cheers of the large crowds which gathered at the steamers’ quay were joined by the sirens of the steam drifters and other shipping which kept up a deafening din till the steamers had rounded the beacon.

The mobilisation of the Militias and Territorials, after the Naval Reservists, has practically denuded Lewis of its able-bodied male population. It is safe to say that no other district in the British Isles has contributed its manhood in such proportion as Lewis.

* Those working at mainland ports such as Fraserburgh were not allowed to return home first, but were required to report immediately to the depot.

Bha bean Alasdair na Riobhach ‘na boireannach diadhaibha bha cumail smachd theann air na searbhantan. Glè thric, anns a’ mhadainn an dèidh na leabhraichean bhiodh cùirt ann nam biodh amharus aice gu robh cuideigin air lochd a dheanamh.

‘Nuair a bha iad an Capadail, bha gille air an tac a bha dona gu droch cainnt, agus a feasgar so fhuair e sanais gu robh i dol a’ sheasamh aige larna-mhàireach as dèidh na leabhraichean.

“Ach,” arsa càch ris, “ma chanas tu rithe gur ann aig Alasdair fhèin a tha thus cluinntinn nan guidheachanm, chan eagal dhuit.”

Sin mar a thachair. Anns a’ mhadainn sheas i aige agus an dèidh earalachadh thubhairt i ris nach robh i tuigsinn idir caite a robh e a’ cluinntinn a leithid a dhroch cainnt.

“Chuala”, arsa esan, “aig fear a bhaile!”

Bha fear a bhaile air a chasan, ‘s a mach leis as dèidh a bhalach, le streath mhallachdan dè dheanadh e air na ‘m beireadh e air.

Mrs MacRae at Capadal was a very religious woman. The young lad on the farm was terrible for swearing, so she took him to task one day. On being asked where he had heard the swearwords, he replied, from Mr MacRae — who then took after the lad swearing as to what he would do to him.

Bhiodh bodaich Islibhig uaireigin a tighinn glè thric gu Triagh Lèire an Carnais a dh’iarraidh lugaichean. Là bha so, ‘nuair a ràinig iad, bha e gun tràghadh agus shuidh air an Iargainn a’ ghabhail “smoke” ach cha robh maidse aig duine agus chuir iad balach misionaraidh a bha còmhla riutha gu tigh Chapadail a dh’iarraid maidseachan. Chaidh a thoirt a steach agus dh’innis e thuras. Bha banntrach Alasdair na Riobhadh beò na sean aois agus chan fhuilingeadh i farainm a chluintinn air duine. “Who’s with you on the sands, dear,” she asked. “Butcher, Poacher and Todd, Siorraidh, Croot and Fox,” answered the lad.

The Islivig menfolk were often going to Leire Beach in Carnish to get lugworms. On this occasion they were too early and the tide was still in so they decided to have a smoke. They had no matches so they sent a lad to Capadal Farm House [as the villages had no other inhabitants at that time] for matches. The old lady hated nicknames being used. She asked the lad who was with him at the sands, to which he replied: “Butcher, Poacher, and Todd, Siorradh, Croot and Fox.”

1. Feature articles on the front page – just the best stuff, and the news. Most significant posts should appear in one or another of the categories but if you’re concerned about not missing a single thing, keep an eye on the Fresh Notes box in the right sidebar, on every page except the front page. You could subscribe to our RSS feed which will deliver every story straight to your chosen reader or inbox.  Edit: there’s a What’s New page now that list the fifteen most recent posts plus other updates to the site.
2. More links to other related stories, also appearing in the sidebar. Every old story is still here and we’ve got over 500 now, so there must be some you’ve missed. You can also use the place and subject tags at the foot of the sidebar to focus on specific types of story, or do a text search with the box above.
3. New pages on places, notably villages for now but with islands, estates and deserted settlements coming soon. These mostly consist of information, links and pictures from other parts of the website, or other sites, but they’ll grow to be a central point for related material.
4. New pages with transcripts, lists and general accounts of historical issues, for background and to provide some original documents for your own research, organised under the History tab and with much more to come. We take requests so if there’s anything you particularly want to see, let us know.
5. The Biscuit Tin. This is a way to collect your favourite stories on the site, into a single list for quick reference. Click the gold star at the foot of any page to add it to your list.
6. Expanded galleries. There are more pictures in the galleries, accessible from different points across the website but most comprehensively from the Galleries pages.
7. The Forum. This isn’t entirely new but hasn’t taken off yet, so I hope that any queries regarding genealogy and general history will be directed there.
8. Coming very soon: tick-lists of the mills (drawn from Dr Finlay Macleod’s excellent book, with additions) and shielings (from Finlay Maciver’s maps) of Uig, suitable for those who are site-bagging. We will be adding to the lists and developing a database, and better maps.
9. The links that used to live in the sidebar are on their own Links page now, and there are More Links in the form of our new Outer Hebrides group on the Diigo bookmarking service – see the page for more detail. It may be useful to researchers.
10. A trimmed-down but full-content mobile version, which you’ll see automatically if you’re on a mobile device.
11. For the future: thinking about online family trees (though there’s already Hebridean Connections) and our object catalogue, and more audio and video content. And more Gaelic.

There are a few aspects need work yet, so don’t be alarmed if you come across some oddness. Comments and input are always welcome, whether about the design, structure, content, direction or historical accuracy. This is still something of an experiment in putting all sorts of minute detail online in what is hopefully a palatable format, so by all means let us know what you think.

Thanks meanwhile those who completed the survey a few months ago, which really has informed the way the site is developing, and to Mike Graham for some useful advice. And as always, contributors of material of any kind will be embraced with enthusiasm.

-sarah