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Erskine Beveridge visits Tiree in 1901
TIREE. Mr Beveridge, the antiquarian, Dunfermline, has been on the Island for some days. and has been making some important discoveries, Oban Times and Argyllshire Advertiser, 27 July 1901, p. 6
We know from his diaries that he also visited in 1896 and 1897. -
Skeleton in Cnoc nan Deiligeanan
When they were building the ROC hut at Cnoc nan Deilgeanan they found a body with its feet crossed inside a circle of stones with another stone on top. They gave it to Dr Bonner who sent it away somewhere. John George MacLean, Scarinish, 1/1994 -
An Carnan Liath ‘the gray cairns’
A green dome in a wet field in Heylipol, measuring 30 m in diameter and about 3 m maximum height. GPS is NL97050 43509. The dome has a central depression, and there appears to be a structure to it. The centre and east of the dome has a different vegetation with a lot of nettles and Rumex. There are the stony footings of a 10 x 5 m rectangular building to the east, which may be on the 1768 Turnbull map. -
1788 Tiree hoard: Short cross pennies (12th and 13th centuries) found beside Dun Shiadair
1788
Caledonian Mercury, 27 November 1788, p.3
‘Some days ago, there was found, in an earthen pot, in a field on the island of Tyrie, one of the Hebrides, a few ounces of the silver pennies of Henry III of England. That monarch began his reign in the 1216, and reigned fifty-six years and twenty days. The coins here taken notice of, seventy of which, in a gentleman’s possession in Glasgow, are in general in fine conservation; all of them have on the obverse the king’s full face and head crowned; in his right hand a sceptre pointed with pearls cross-wise; in the legend, Henricus Rex. The reverse bears a cross moline voided, which only extends to the edge of the inner circle, (and denotes his first coinage, or before his thirty-second year), between a cross of four pellets in each quarter, with the moneyer’s name, and place where coined; such as, Adam on Norh. Fulre on Oxon. Miles on Winc. Pieres on Lic. Nicole on Eve. R.— on Nicol (probably Lincoln). and Roger of Ronce; for Norwich, Oxford, Winchester, Leicester, and Evesham; what the two last imports we do not affirm. Twenty-six of them have either Abel, Ilger, Rauf, Raulf, Ricard. T. Walter or Willelm. with the abbreviation of on Lu. Lun. Lund, or Lunde. for London. Eighteen have the Epigraph of Joan, Henri, Henry, Samuel, Simon, or Simun, with the contraction of a Can. Cant or Cante. for Canterbury. Others are so imperfectly struck, and some so obliterated by the corroding hand of time, as to put it out of our power to speak of them with any certainty; although the names of Arnaud and Tomas, with other partial inscriptions, are legible upon many of them; but we do not chuse to venture further conjectures. A considerable number of Savon coins were also found on that island, in the month of August 1782.’ (Caledonian Mercury, 27 November 1788, p.3)
There was lately found in an earthen pot, in a field in the Island of Tyrie, one of the Hebrides, a few ounces of the silver pennies of Henry III. of England. That monarch began his reign in the year 1216 and reigned 56 years. The coins here taken notice of, seventy of which are in a gentleman’s possession in Glasgow, are in general in fine preservation; all of them have on the obverse his full face and head crowned, in his right hand a sceptre pointed with pearls crosswise, in the legend Henricus Rex. The reverse bears a cross moline voided, which only extends to the edge of the inner circle (and denotes his first coinage, or before his thirty-second year) between a cross of four pellets in each quarter, with the moneyer’s name, and place where coined: such as Adam on Norh. Fulre on Oxen. Miles on Wine. Pieres on Lie. Nicole on Eve. R- on Nicol (Lincoln[)], and Roger of Ronce, for Norwich, Oxford, Winchester, Leicester, and Evesham; what the two last import we do not affirm. Twenty-six of them have either Abel, Iger, Rauf, Raulf, Ricard, T. Walter or Willelm. with the abbreviations of on Lu. Lun. Lund, or Lunde. for London. Eighteen have the epigraphs of Joan, Henri, Henry, Samuel, Simon or Simun, with the contraction of on Can. Cant. Cante. for Canterbury. Others are so imperfectly struck, and some so obliterated by the corroding hand of time, as to put it out of our power to speak of them with any certainty; although the names of Arnaud and Thomas, with other partial inscriptions, are legible upon many of them.’ (Scots Magazine, 50 (Dec. 1788), p. 617.)
Short Cross Pennies issued first in 1180 in reign of Henry II, and last issued in 1247 during reign of Henry III
1959
Dolley, R. H. M. (1959) ‘A Note on the Chronology of some ‘Short Cross’ finds from the British Isles’ British Numismatic Journal, 29, pp. 297–321.
p. 259
‘[Inventory] No. 358 Tiree c.1247
pp. 318–9: ‘Mrs. J. S. Martin’s recent researches into the Ruding MSS. preserved in the British Museum enable much to be added to Lindsay’s brief mention. On the basis of a transcript of the Reverend Richard Southgate’s almost contemporary listing of a portion of the hoard presented to the British Museum, the date of discovery can be moved back a year, and we now know that both this hoard and the 1782 find of tenth-century pence had been concealed in pottery containers buried between two and three feet of the surface. The find-spots of both hoards are indicated, and that of the Short Cross hoard is given as the immediate vicinity of Dun Hiadin. More important still, Mrs. Martin has been able to identify no fewer than forty coins in the British Museum as being from this hoard, and we can now be reasonably certain that this hoard follows the same general pattern as those from Eccles and Colchester. Once again, too, Lawrence class VIII seems to have been completely absent.
Class Ia Exeter, Iordan
Class Ib Winchester, Gocelm
Class III Canterbury, Ulard
Class IV London, Fulke; Norwich, Iohan
Class Va Canterbury, Hue; London, Ricard; York, Davi
Class Vb Canterbury, Arnaud, Robert, Simon; Ipswich, Alisandre, Iohan; Lincoln Andreu, Hue; London, Beneit; Winchester, Andreu
Class Vc Canterbury, Iohan M; London, Adam, Rauf, Walter
Class VI Bury St Edmunds, Rauf; Canterbury, Hiun, Roger
Class VII Bury St Edmunds, Norman, Simun, Willem; Canterbury, Ioan Fr., Iun, Osmund, Salemun, Tomas, Willem; London, Elis, Giffrei, Ledulf, Nichole, Raulf, Terri
Anomalous ‘Goldvine on Eisi’
Two further coins are listed but cannot now be traced. The moneyers are ‘Reinard’ (= Reinaud) of Canterbury who struck Lawrence classes II, III, and IV, and Walter of Canterbury who struck classes V, VI, and VII. The class VII coins include all three varieties distinguished in Lawrence’s 1914 paper, and it is clear that the hoard was deposited towards the end of the currency of class VIIc—it will be noticed that the six London coins include all four of the class VII’ new’ moneyers whom the Eccles and Colchester hoards suggest to have struck on a quite exceptional scale.
There is, thus, no reason to disassociate the Tiree hoard from the same general grouping as the English finds from Eccles and Colchester, and one cannot help wondering how Andrew would have woven it into his ‘Buried Treasure’ paper had he been aware of its composition. The Inventory dating c. 1247 seems too late, even for a find from outside England, and again a dating c. 1240 seems as much as can be hazarded on the present evidence.’
1964
Dolley, R.H.M (1964) ‘The Date of the Medieval Coin-Hoard from Tom a’ Bhuraich in Aberdeenshire’. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 95, pp. 241–248.
Listing of Tiree coin hoard (Inventory 358) on p. 246
Thompson, J.D.A. (1956) Inventory of British coin hoards, A.D.600-1500 (Royal Numismatic Society.
1993
Manville, H. E. (1993) ‘Additions and Corrections to Thompson’s Inventory and Brown and Dolley’s Coin Hoards’, pp.91–115.
p. 103: ‘No. 358. [reference to Scots magazine of December 1788] Note: A shorter version of this account was printed in GM [Gentleman’s Magazine] 58, Dec. 1788, 1112-3. Footnotes in the Inventory correct some of the attributions: e.g. probably CIC instead of LIC and FOLCE for Fulpe – although the SM text has Fulre.’
Collections:
Currently 21 short cross silver pennies in the British Museum and 1 ingot ascribed to Tiree
No coins National Museum of Scotland ascribed to Tiree
No coins Glasgow Museums Collection ascribed to Tiree -
1782 Tiree hoard: Anglo-Saxon coins found beside Dun Mor a’ Chaolais
1782 cuttings:
‘Extract of as letter from Glasgow. Aug. 29: “A very sweet Morsel for Antiquarians was lately discovered in the Island of Tyrie, one of the Hebrides: It is no less; than ten or twelve Ounces of Saxon Coins, inscribed with the Names of Æthelstan, Edmund, Edred, Edgar, &c. These Saxon Monarchs flourished from the Years 916 to 975. We have seen them and can say they are in excellent Preservation, and about Six-pence intrinsic Value. A few Years ago, a considerable Number of Saxon Coins were found in she Island of Uist”’ (Chester Courant, 10 September 1782, p. 3)
‘ln our paper of August 31, we gave an account of some Saxon coins, which were lately found in the island of Tyrie. As a supplement to that account, a gentleman of Glasgow, who has some of each, informs us, that they were found in an urn, in digging the foundation of an old wall, and that they are the pennies of the Kings Athelstan Eadmynd, Eadred, Eadwic, and Eadgar, with Re or Rex, and other legends ; those of Edgar have sometimes Anglie, or Anglorum, and on the reverse various moneyers names; and almost all of them of different dies or stamps. The intrinsic value of them is about three-pence sterling.’ (Caledonian Mercury, 14 September 1782, p. 3)
Saxon Kings:
Athelstan r. 924–939
Edmund I r. 939–946
Edred r. 946–955
Edwig r. 955–959
Edgar r. 959–975
Edward II The Martyr r. 975–978
1953
Stevenson, R (1953) ‘Notes: (6) A Hoard of Anglo-Saxon Coins found at Iona Abbey.’ Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 85, pp. 170–175.
p. 172: Table of ‘Tenth- to Eleventh-Century Coin Finds in Scotland’
Tiree: Found 1782 Coins [only] [from the reign of] Edmund, Edred, Edwig, Edw. Martyr, Edgar (d. 975) Collection partly in the National Museum.
Ref: ‘Don. Soc. Ant. Scot. 1 Oct. 1782 90 Anglo-Saxon Coins. Lindsay, Coinage of Scotland, 261: “Urn … 15–20 ounces of A.-S. silver pennies”’.
1959
Dolley, R. H. M. (1959) ‘A Note on the Chronology of some ‘Short Cross’ finds from the British Isles’ British Numismatic Journal, 29, pp. 297–321.
pp. 318–9: ‘Mrs. J. S. Martin’s recent researches into the Ruding MSS. preserved in the British Museum enable much to be added to Lindsay’s brief mention. On the basis of a transcript of the Reverend Richard Southgate’s almost contemporary listing of a portion of the hoard presented to the British Museum, the date of discovery can be moved back a year, and we now know that both this hoard and the 1782 find of tenth-century pence had been concealed in pottery containers buried between two and three feet of the surface. The find-spots of both hoards are indicated, and that of the Short Cross hoard (see 1788 hoard) is given as the immediate vicinity of Dun Hiadin.’
RHM Dolley (1959) A Query concerning the 1782 Find of Anglo-Saxon Coins on Tiree. Spinks Num. Circular (Sept 1959). quoted in Discovery and Excavation in Scotland 1958, 10–12.
1966
Stevenson, R. B. K. (1966) Sylloge of Coins of the British Isles. National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland. Part 1 Anglo-Saxon Coins. London: British Academy.
p. viii: ‘A major accession was ninety pennies from Tiree, also in 1782, a hoard thought from other evidence to have run from Eadward the Elder to Eadgar inclusive … [see Appendix II]… So the sixty-three Eadgars to Onlaf in Dr Jamieson’s list must all be from the Tiree hoard … Some thirty have fallen victim to the Antiquaries vicissitudes [i.e. lost]. This makes it impossible to be sure that the original gift of Tiree coins did not include any Æthelstan and of Eadward the Martyr (or recte Elder), both reported by Lindsay and supported by the independent reference to Æthelstan in the Yorkshire Courant’s notice of the discovery. It should be noted, however, that the British Museum’s accessions also begin with Eadmund. The date 1780 given in A-S Coins p. 239 from Ruding’s manuscripts cannot stand against the evidence of 1782. Annotations in Dr Jamieson’s list suggest that eight of the (Tiree) coins were given to Capt. MacDonald of Inchkenneth in exchange for the eight which he gave to the Society.’
p. xi: ‘The other frequently recurring surface feature in the collection is the presence of small spots of green corrosion, generally waxy in appearance. These are noted in the catalogue because they occur most often, and possibly solely, on coins to be identified as (Tiree hoard). Three of a group of four Normandy coins also have these spots. These observations are amply confirmed by the Tiree coins in the British Museum.’
p. xxiii: ‘Tiree (nr. Dun a Chaolais) (1782)
‘Part [of hoard]: 90 coins out of 10–12 oz. or of 15–20 oz [up to 500 coins]; 71 Eadmund–Eadgar to B.M. [British Museum]; included also Eadwerd the Martyr (recte the Elder?) and Æthelstan?; possibly also Normandy.’
Featured 54 coins.
1966
Dolley, R. H. M. (1966) Sylloge of Coins of the British Isles. The Hiberno-Norse Coins in the British Museum. London: British Museum.
Provisional Listing of Viking-Age Coin-Hoards from Great Britain and Ireland c. 795–c. 1105
p. 51: Tiree 1782 120–1,199 coins Anglo-Saxon and Continental with archaeological material Deposited c. 975 AD
1975
Graham-Campbell, J. (1975) ‘The Viking-age silver and gold hoards of Scandinavian character from Scotland’, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, vol. 107, pp. 114–135.
https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-352-1/dissemination/pdf/vol_107/107_114_135.pdf
‘The hoard from Tiree (also deposited c.AD 975) is not recorded as having contained any ingots, but the British Museum acquired, in 1807, an ingot ‘found among a parcel of Saxon and other coins in Scotland in the year 1780 upon the estate of the Duke of Argyll’ (Appendix A, note iii). There is little doubt that this is to be identified with the 1782 hoard from Tiree, Argyllshire, for even in the early 19th century Ruding believed that this hoard had been found in 1780 (p. 122)
‘In 1807, the British Museum was presented with an ingot (1807, 3-14, 1) which was, according to the Register, ‘found among a parcel of Saxon and other coins in Scotland in the year 1780 upon the estate of the Duke of Argyll’. The ingot can no longer be identified with certainty, although there is in the Museum an unnumbered ingot which, in the absence of any other unnumbered specimens, may be equated with this find. This hoard is probably to be identified with that of 1782 from Tiree, Argyllshire, for Ruding in the early 19th century thought that this Tiree hoard had been found in 1780 (Stevenson 1966, viii;. Confirmation of this identification is afforded by the fact that the British Museum ingot displays the ‘waxy’ green corrosion which is a characteristic feature of the Tiree coins (ibid, xi). I am most grateful to Dr Graham Ritchie for drawing my attention to this ingot, and to Mrs L Webster and Miss M Archibald for arranging a comparison between the ingot and Tiree coins in the Department of Coins and Medals, British Museum.’ (p. 128)
‘Hoard Tiree deposited c. 975; ingot’ p. 130
2008
Eagles, R. J. (2008) Sarah Sophia Banks and her English Hammered Coins British Numismatic Society, 78, p. 210–15.
p. 209: Table 2: She had 12 Eadgar coins from the 1782 Tiree hoard
p. 210 Tiree hoard (1782)
‘Apart from the twelve coins from the Tiree (Hebrides) hoard (1782), (78) the period from 925 to 1016, as Table 2 shows, is represented by only six coins. The hoard, amounting to several hundred coins, (79) was found on land belonging to the 5th Duke of Argyll whose donation to the British Museum in 1789 included fifty-four coins of Eadgar. (80) In 1807 his brother, Lord Frederick Campbell, gave the twelve coins of Eadgar to Sarah. (81) In 1819 four of these were kept by the British Museum and the remaining eight passed to the Royal Mint. (82)
78 Ruding MS gives the year of discovery as 1780, quoted by Martin 1961, 232.
79 Stevenson 1966, xxiii; Dolley 1959, 159.
80 Martin 1961, 232. SCBI British Museum Anglo-Saxon Coins V lists fifty-two. Another thirty-six coins of Eadgar in the trays of the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland have also been attributed to the hoard (Stevenson, 1966).
81 Sarah’s MS register of acquisitions.
82 See Table 2 above
Refs:
Dolley, R.H.M., 1959. ‘A query concerning the 1782 find of Anglo-Saxon coins on Tiree’, NCirc 67/9, 159.
Martin, J.S., 1961. ‘Some Remarks on Eighteenth-Century Numismatic Manuscripts and Numismatists’, in R.H.M. Dolley (ed.), Anglo-Saxon Coins (London), 227–40.
Stevenson, R.B.K., 1966. SCBI 6. National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland – Edinburgh, I, Anglo-Saxon coins with associated foreign coins (London).
p. 212 Tiree hoard (1787)
‘Sarah acquired eighty-six Short Cross pence, which she took to represent the first coinage of Henry III. Of these, twenty-two from the mints of Canterbury, London and Bury St Edmunds were the gift of Lord Frederick Campbell, who also gave her the coins of Eadgar from the Tiree hoard of 1782, referred to above. The hoard containing these coins was found in the Hebrides in 1787 and weighed ‘several ounces’, three ounces representing about sixty coins.94 According to a note in the British Museum’s copy of Thompson’s Inventory, forty-three coins were acquired by the Museum, suggesting that their and Sarah’s holdings represented the totality of coins discovered. The five coins retained by the British Museum from Sarah’s collection are still identifiable, but both Webster and Hocking catalogued only five of the remaining seventeen coins passed to the Royal Mint Museum. It thus appears that the twelve missing coins were most likely culled by Webster in 1874. The twenty-two coins recorded by Sarah in her manuscript catalogue as emanating from Lord Frederick Campbell are listed in Table 3. The dates on which the Museum and Sarah acquired the coins from Lord Frederick Campbell are not recorded.
94: Thompson 1956, 136
TABLE 3. Sarah’s coins from the Tiree hoard (1787). 22 coins listed on p. 213
1993
Manville, H. E. (1993) ‘Additions and Corrections to Thompson’s Inventory and Brown and Dolley’s Coin Hoards’, pp.91–115.
p. 103: ‘No. 358. [reference to Scots Magazine, SM, of December 1788] Note: A shorter version of this account was printed in GM [Gentleman’s Magazine] 58, Dec. 1788, 1112-3. Footnotes in the Inventory correct some of the attributions: e.g. probably CIC instead of LIC and FOLCE for Fulpe – although the SM text has Fulre.’
Collections:
Currently 21 short cross silver pennies in the British Museum and 1 ingot ascribed to Tiree
No coins National Museum of Scotland ascribed to Tiree
No coins Glasgow Museums Collection ascribed to Tiree -
Water mill, Cornaigmore
Turnbull had recommended the building of a linen mill for processing flax in 1768, and Cameron wrote that “a portion of the walls of an older flax mill stands about 20 yards to the north of [the new mill] and forms part of the present miller’s steading.” Turnbull had also thought that “a water mill at Cornaigmore, where there seems to be better fall, or a greater supply of water, would be sufficient for grinding the whole victuals of the island.” Landlords throughout the country were starting to invest in larger, more efficient mills with vertical water wheels. These generated a greater income, and made the tenants less dependent on outside relief in times of poor harvests. By 1771 the 5th Duke had written to his chamberlain asking for plans to be made for such a mill. It took until 1802 for a contractor, James Morrison, to be appointed. The builder, however, disappeared to the Ross of Mull where he was erecting a church. The chamberlain was furious. “Though the milns are very much needed, the least evil may be to postpone the work till next spring and put the old miln in Cornaigmore in the best order it will admit of to grind the crop.” The ‘water wall’ bearing the water wheel had to be built stronger than the rest as it took more strain. The mill was finished in 1803.
Although the water wheel was vertical, gears inside the mill turned the upper horizontal ‘runner’ stone over the stationary lower or ‘nether stone. These were held together by a wooden spindle which was greased with beef suet. The best stone, quarried in pieces and stuck together, came from France, but some of the mill wheels probably came from a sandstone quarry at Inninmore bay, south of the mouth of Loch Aline. The wheels, weighing around 35 cwt., were easier to transport by sea. The grinding surfaces of the stones were ‘dressed’ by the miller every year into an elaborate pattern of channels. Grain was fed in the centre of the upper stone, and the miller controlled the distance between the stones, and consequently the fineness of the meal, with a number of small wedges. The miller could also control the speed of the grinding wheel, by opening a metal hatch before the water hit the wheel. The new mill was powered by water from Loch Bhasapol. Originally a small stream had emptied the loch from where the windsurfing hut is today. This flow was blocked, and the loch level raised by controlling the col-uisge, or sluice gate, at the start of the lade. Even the entry of water into Loch Bhasapol from the Kilmoluaig sliabh was controlled by the miller using a small dam called Garradh a’ Tòrraidh (wall of the mill dam). At the same time on the rest of the island the estate was draining small lochs and marshes to bring land into cultivation as the population soared. The water was led down a sluice to the vertical wheel, which was ‘breast-driven’, hitting the wheel halfway down. This was less efficient that an overshot wheel where the water hit the wheel higher up, but was the best that could be achieved as the loch level is only slightly higher than the mill.
The south end of the mill is taken up with the àth, or drying kiln. Grain had to be dried before milling, and great skill was needed in making sure it did not toast too fast or the flour would be left with a bitter taste. Once the fire was going well it was kept going round the clock. One man, Donald MacDougall (Dòmhnall Chaluim Dhùghallaich) from Cornaigbeg, once slipped on the plates and almost fell into the fire below.
“The kiln at the mill was fired mostly with drift wood [and coal] which was washed ashore during the winter. The grain was poured onto the iron sheets above the kiln and two men, with white cloths tied over their boots, went into this part of the mill with wooden shovels with which they kept turning the grain at intervals until all the grain was toasted brown. At this stage the grain was then ready for milling. The kiln had no chimney and, when fired with the wood, the hot fumes were very sore on the eyes, especially when you went up the wooden stair to the loft and stood at the entrance doorway above the kiln where the seed was being toasted. This door entrance can still be seen in the centre gable inside the mill.”
“I can remember as a boy going into the mill where the kiln was fired and the men were busy toasting the grain, they would give myself and the other boys a handful of grain to eat. I can also remember watching the mill wheel going round and was fascinated by the spray it threw off on a windy day. At school playtime I and the other boys would stand watching it, such was the spectacle. Another recollection is of Hugh MacDonald, a builder from Kenovay, repairing the wooden buckets on the wheel. I don’t ever remember being at the actual milling of the grain as, I presume, children would not have been allowed in then. I can also remember the mill bridge and the bridge at the cross-roads, both made of timber with wooden sides. In 1940 they were replaced with concrete and stone built sides as seen today.” Archie MacKinnon. “There was a chute coming from the top…the miller was all white [when he was grinding]. You’d think he had a white
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Reading Room, Scarinish
‘READING ROOM — The reading room kindly erected by the Duke of Argyll is a great boon to the island. It is exceedingly neat and handsome, and will be most useful for those waiting the steamers, who have hitherto had to endure much wet and cold in former years. There are quite e number of papers and serials in the reading room, and friends are expected to send more. The editor of the Strand Magazine sent several books; some were sent also by Mr Campbell, Inverness, and others.’ (Oban Times and Argyllshire Advertiser – Saturday 24 September 1892, p. 6)
1891: Tiree cattle show’s contribution to building a reading room and waiting rooms at Scarnish £45 13s. This was erected in 1892 by P. and R. Fleming of Glasgow at a cost of £102 2s’ (Factory Act Books, An Iodhlann cat. no. 1998.151.1)
It was divided internally by a partition. The east end contained shelving and was used as a Reading Room. Coates of Paisley donated books. The west end was the waiting room. After the Gott Bay pier opened in 1915, it was no longer used for this purpose, but as one of the few public rooms on the island it came to be used for weddings and ceilidhs, once as a shelter for shipwrecked sailors, an office for the Caledonian Construction Company who were building roads on the island during the Second World War, home for the pier master, a dentist’s surgery, and a polling station. It is now home to An Iodhlann, Tiree’s historical centre.
‘NOTES.—Mr Watson, photographer, Edinburgh, has presented the Tiree Reading Room with two fine pictures beautifully framed, viz.— “Oituar Scarinish agas Cleite Ruaig” and “Tra Bhaigh agus Eilean nan Shiliag.” They are very valuable pictures, and Mr Watson has already got a medal for them. Mr Watson, one of the masters in the Merchants School, Queen Street, Edinburgh, is taking holidays in the island at present. He is staying at the Baugh Manse.’ (Oban Times and Argyllshire Advertiser, 4 August 1894, p. 6)
‘READING ROOM.—The Committee beg to acknowledge, with thanks, a number of illustrated papers, viz., “The Sphere,” received occasionally from an unknown donor, with a postmark of Liverpool, also a number of magazines from Lady Victoria Campbell, Miss Goodrich Freer, and Miss R. M. Laudon. Contributions of this type are highly acceptable. It is hoped that those interested in the Reading-room will do what they can in this way.’ (Oban Times and Argyllshire Advertiser, 8 March 1902, p. 6)
Mr Jas. [James] Coats, jun, of Ferguslie House, Paisley, has presented the Tiree Reading-room, Scarinish, with a very handsome contribution of useful books. The committee feel exceedingly grateful for this valuable gift, which will be found most useful during the winter months in a lonely island like Tiree, where there is no access to other libraries. Besides the books, Mr Coats has also kindly given book-cases.’ (Oban Times and Argyllshire Advertiser, 5 September 1903, p. 6)
‘His Grace the Duke of Argyll has presented to the reading room, Tiree, the following books :—“Organic Evolution”; “Irish Nationalism”; “The Unity of Nature”; “Our Responsibilities for Turkey”; “Guido and Lita”; “Burdens of Belief”; “Rome”; “Crofts and Farms in the Hebrides”; “ A Gift Book for the Home.” Of all of these volumes, the late Duke was the author.’ (Oban Times and Argyllshire Advertiser, 6 May 1905, p. 6)
‘Parish Council.—A meeting of the Parish Council was held on Saturday last within the Reading-Room of Scarinish Library for the purpose of judging of applications, numbering over a dozen, for the medical officership rendered vacant by the death of Dr. Alex. Buchanan. Ratepayers and all concerned are anxious that the post now vacant for a period of almost six months be filled with the minimum of delay. Dr. Campbell, assistant to Dr. Currie, Oban, is giving temporary supply, and his services are much appreciated by all classes of the community.’ (Oban Times and Argyllshire Advertiser, 16 September 1911, p. 6)
‘SCHOOL BOARD— A special meeting of the School Board was held in Scarinish Reading Room on Saturday last, Mr H. McDiarmid, chairman of the Board, presiding.’ (Oban Times and Argyllshire Advertiser, 17 August 1912, p. 6)
See KING C. The Rise and Decline of Village Reading Rooms. Rural History.
2009; 20(2):163-186. -
Benchmarks
‘Ordnance Survey Bench marks (BMs) are survey marks made by Ordnance Survey to record height above Ordnance Datum. If the exact height of one BM is known, the exact height of the next can be found by measuring the difference in heights, through a process of spirit levelling. Most commonly, the BMs are found on buildings or other semi-permanent features. Although the main network is no longer being updated, the record is still in existence and the markers will remain until they are eventually destroyed by redevelopment or erosion.’ (Benchmark locator website)
Benchmarks are marked by an arrow on the OS 25-inch maps (1878 1st edition. Numerous marks are shown on the maps, but few survive. A thorough survey of the two islands would be good.