It's not a chapel. It's a rock.

Sometimes we get things wrong. The rectangle pictured here, from fo.15 of notebook CW111 and referring to a site in the Isle of Barra, looked like any number of archaeological sketches Alexander Carmichael was compiling at the time. The accompanying words should have given us a clue:

Clach Mhor nan Gleann

4 Mar[ch] [18]74. Wednesday ev[en]ing.
Averag[e] height 22 ft – or thereby.
Projects at north end 8 ft fr[om] ground. [CW111/63]

The drawing is surely none other than a sketch of Clach Mhór nan Gleann (or Clach Mhór nan Gleannan) itself, a monstrous glacial erratic with a nice big overhang, five hundred yards up the north-east slopes of Beinn Eireabhal, just above the road at the south end of the Tràigh Mhór.

How did the Big Rock of the Glens come to be there in the first place? Carmichael explains it all in another notebook:

Clach mhor nan Glean[n]an was thrown by a L[och]lan[n]ach [Viking] fr[om] Fuidey on his at his sweetheart who was aft[er] a buidein sheep. The stone struck her & drove her into the ground. Boulder stuck in the earth. Large. He didn’t wish to kill her but just threw this as a spitheag [pebble] at her. [CW90/105]

This piece of information was recorded on 24 September 1872 at a céilidh in Ceann Tangabhal, Barra, with two of Carmichael’s favourite informants there, John Pearson (1814–85), Iain Peusan, and his sister Catrìona (c. 1807–80). As described in an earlier blog, in island tradition the island of Fuideigh is particularly connected with the Vikings, and is supposed to have been their last redoubt from the MacNeils. We don’t know yet what a ‘buidein sheep’ might be – any ideas from Barraich gratefully received!

At another céilidh a couple of nights later Carmichael records another rather gnomic reference:

The mark fr[om] which stone [del: at] Clach mhor nan Gleannan. [CW90/150]

The remains of the Vikings killed by the MacNeils in Fuideigh ‘are turned up now & again’ [CW90/107], including:

One skull as large as a pot of 2 gal[lons] bones as large in pro[portion]. At first you would think it was a human skull. This was found in Fuidey. Others ordinary size. [CW90/154]

Today Clach Mhór nan Gleannan has not been forgotten: we see that it’s been noted as a good site for Barra bouldering! We recommend comparing Carmichael's rough sketch with the excellent pictures in Adi Gill's flickr stream. Did Carmichael himself climb it to make his measurements for the field notebook sketch?

As for the chapel site we originally thought Carmichael was describing in his sketch, Caibeal Chrois É – well, we’ll leave that for another blog.

References:

CW90/105, /154; CW111/63

The Last of the Vikings

This short anecdote about the last of the Vikings in Fuday, lying just off Barra, was probably collected by Alexander Carmichael from the famous storyteller, Roderick MacNeil, known as Ruairidh an Rùma (c. 1790–1875). It is not impossible that there may well be an element of truth in saying that MacNeil of Barra’s illegitimate son wiped out the last of the Vikings in Fuday. Although the Vikings came at first to pillage the Hebrides they would eventually come to settle and marry into the local populace. It could be that this historical tale refers to the bloodier side of the Viking ‘conquest’ for it is clear to see that the King of Lochlann’s son, Barp, made himself extremely unpopular not only to the native islanders but also to the Vikings themselves. Such a legend has all the hallmarks of an assassination motivated in part by political expediency in gaining influence and control in the Hebrides:

Dùn a’ Bhairp / Dùn Bharpa, Barra

The last of the Lochlannaich lived in

Fuda[y] and were killed there. They were
killed by Mac an Amharais. He was a
an [sic] illeg[itmate] son of MacNeil – disowned
by his father, hence the name. Mac
Neil at last said to him. If thou
be my son go and kill a ghraisg ud
am Fuda[idh]. He went and left none
of them living. The Lochlannaich
at one time owned all these islands
A son of the King of L[ochlann] whose name
was Barp and who was the embodi[ment]
of all that was fierce and cruel
and murderous died. He was buried
behind Bailenacreaige and all
the Loch[lannaich] in all the islands col[lected]
and piled stones over him for fear he
should rise again to be a scourge
upon them. This was the origin
of “Dun a Bhairp” in Barra.

It may be noted that Dùn Bharpa is really a Neolithic chambered burial cairn or passage grave, located between two hills near Borve, in Barra. The scale is quite impressive at five metres in height and thirty-four metres in diameter. The capstone measures three square metres which is now split in two. Outside the cairn itself there are single upright stones that used to lean against the cairn.

Reference:

CW 114, fos. 83r–83v.
Image: Dùn a’ Bhairp / Dùn Bharpa, Barra.