A SCOTTISH CHARITABLE INCORPORATED ORGANISATION (SCIO) SC048899
Exhibition Archive
Scalpay’s Fishing Heritage - August 2017
Scalpay Croft History Launch – 2 December 2017
Calanas (Working with Wool) - July-August 2018
Life on Scalpay for the first crofters in the 1840s was tough and soon reached a crisis. The rocky land was inhospitable and a fry cry from fertile Pabbay from where many of them had been displaced. Scalpay, with its two superb natural harbours and many sheltered inlets, threw them a lifeline. They turned to the sea for their living and took up lobster and long-line fishing.
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In December 2017 we hosted the launch of Bill Lawson's Croft History on Scalpay. We have started organising our archives by croft using Bill's Croft History as our guide. The work is currently on hold and needs a few more enthusiastic volunteers to get it off the ground again. If you would like to be involved in this work, please get in touch.
Drochaid Scalpaigh
(Scalpay Bridge) - August 2019
Bainnsean Scalpach (Scalpay Weddings) - 24 May 2019
Iolaire
1 January 2019
Kirsty Morrison, Scalpay’s oldest resident at 103 years of age, was the first person driven over the bridge on 16 December 1997; and the bridge was officially opened by the then Prime Minister, Tony Blair, on 28 August 1998. Tony and Cherie Blair flew in for the occasion and were joined by Donald Dewar, Scotland’s first First Minister.
The information on display was drawn from the Scalpay School archives and it was interesting to read what the young writers thought about the bridge and the impact it was likely to have on Scalpay. Scalpay School has produced some very good artists over the years and our exhibitiion poster featured their work in “The Day the Nuttalls came to School”.
“May the roof of your house never fall in and the couple within never fall out”
so read one of the telegrams sent from well-wishers in Scalpay to Dolina MacSween of Scalpay and Donald John MacAskill of Maaruig when they wed in Glasgow in 1948. This was just one of the many telegrams kindly loaned to exhibition “Bainnsean Scalpach”. We were also loaned many wedding albums dating from the 1950s through to more recent times, invitations and cards. The albums and photograph displays were very popular. It’s good to be reminded of our younger selves and a lovely way to remember those who are no longer with us.
Our wedding traditions commenced with the Reitach (Engagement party) which was a lot of fun and source of great hilarity. The house weddings that followed were also a very happy community occasion, except if you happened to be a chicken. Before the churches were built in Scalpay, the bridal party went by boat to Tarbert for the wedding ceremony and we've included the late Thomas Cameron’s account of a Scalpay wedding 100 years ago.
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Finlay Morrison – Scalpay
Finlay Morrison, Fionnlagh Dhòmhnaill Fhionnlaigh, Scalpay drowned when the
HMY Iolaire hit the Beasts of Holm outside Stornoway Harbour on 1 January 1919.
Finlay (25) had been in the Royal Naval Reserve during the war and was returning home following the cessation of hostilities. Many of the returning islanders crowded on to the HMY Iolaire that fateful night.
The Iolaire never made it into the safety and shelter of Stornoway Harbour. She struck the Beasts of Holm and was wrecked. Two hundred and one (201) men lost their lives on the doorstep of their homeland. The New Year celebrations quickly changed to mourning throughout Lewis and Harris as news of the disaster spread. Family members who had come to meet the returning servicemen had instead to identify their loved ones’ remains. Finlay’s body was found and transported back to Scalpay. He was buried in Luskentyre.
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Hebridean Coasters
(September 2021)
Many people in Scalpay and Harris still remember the coal boats that brought much needed supplies to the communities of Scalpay and Harris. These boats were owned and operated by the late Roddy Cunningham of Scalpay and crewed by intrepid local sailors. The Cunninghams also operated a number of coasters that carried a surprising range of goods and supplies around the coasts of the United Kingdom. Colin Tucker of Stornoway has written a book about these ships – “Hebridean Coasters – the Ships of R Cunningham (Scalpay) Limited”.
Our society published “Hebridean Coasters” on Colin’s behalf and were very grateful to receive grants from our local councillors at that time – Paul Finnegan, Grant Fulton and John Mitchell; the Scalpay Community Council; and the Western Isles Development Trust Small Grants Fund.
The book makes fascinating reading and retails for £12 a copy (plus £3.00 packaging and postage within the UK).
“Hebridean Coasters” was launched on 25 September 2021 and the associated exhibition ran from 28 September to 7 October 2021. The exhibition included more information and photographs of the Cunningham family and the ships of R Cunningham (Scalpay) Limited.
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Royal Connections
(Summer 2022)
Our Royal Connections exhibition was first displayed at the Platinum Jubilee bonfire event held in Scalpay on 4 June 2022 and had a short run at the community centre. It proved to be very popular and returned as part of our 2022 Summer Exhibition.
Scalpay’s royal connections began in 1746 when Bonnie Prince Charlie was given refuge by Donald Campbell, the Scalpay Tacksman. A stone over the door of the former manse (now Two Harbours Guest House) commemorates that visit. The Prince’s visit was well documented and it makes for interesting reading. A cairn at the football pitch commemorates the visit to Scalpay of another Prince Charles when King Charles III visited to Scalpay in 1985 with Princess Diana.
While Queen Elizabeth did not visit Scalpay, her 1956 visit to Tarbert was a very important occasion. The Scalpay fishing fleet formed a guard of honour at East Loch Tarbert and many people were ferried across by fishing boat to see the young Queen. Finlay MacSween shared his memory of that eventful day which you can read below. Images here.
Betty Morris Archive
(Summer 2022)
Betty Morris and her husband, Dick, were frequent visitors to Scalpay from the mid 1970s to 1990s. They were both keen photographers and took many photographs on their visits. Betty, who died on 24 May 2022 at the grand age of 101 years, gave her Scalpay photographic collection to Comunn Eachdraidh Scalpaigh.
Betty and Dick recorded a very interesting period of change in Scalpay’s history: the fishing industry was transitioning from herring ring netting to prawns and velvet crabs; crofting was down-sizing from crops, cattle and sheep to a much smaller number of sheep; and the car ferry, that ran between Kyles Scalpay and the island, was in the process of being replaced by a bridge. Scalpay was still served by DR Morrison’s (DRM’s) shop and John Angus MacLeod’s mobile grocery van; and there were a few people offering accommodation on a bed and breakfast basis to visitors. According to DRM, the ferry brought 26 visitor cars to Scalpay in 1978 – which is probably closer to a daily total today.
There are over 500 photographs in the Betty Morris Collection and a selection of photographs was displayed at the exhibition. They gave us the opportunity to revisit Scalpay as it was towards the end of the 20th century before the bridge connected the island to mainland Harris.
Crofting
2023
Crofter
Last thing at night
he steps outside to breathe
the smell of winter
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The stars that trembled in summer
glare down
from a huge emptiness
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In a huge silence he listens
for small sounds. His eyes
are filled with friendliness
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What's history to him?
He's an emblem of it
in its pure state.
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And proves it. He goes inside.
The door closes and the light
dies in the window
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_____________Norman MacCaig
Wrecks
(September 2022)
2022 marks the 60th anniversary of the Boston Heron tragedy when 7 men lost their lives off the Scalpay coast. It was a very wild night but the fishermen of Scalpay were quickly on the scene and saved 5 lives in the atrocious conditions.
The “Boston Heron” is only one of many boats that have been wrecked along the coast of Scalpay. Our summer exhibition told the story of the “Boston Heron” and some of the other boats that have come to grief along our rocky shores. It was very interesting to read the diary entries from Alasdair MacLeod when he was working on the salvage of the “Klydon”; and the letter of thanks received from the family of a crew member on the French trawler, “Olivier Guite”.
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