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Alasdair in Sunart, Ardnamurchan and Strontian

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Alasdair in Sunart, Ardnamurchan and Strontian 1 Alasdair in Sunart, Ardnamurchan and Strontian Ronald Black Formerly a lecturer in Celtic at Edinburgh University, Ronald Black now works as a writer and journalist. He is Gaelic Editor of ‘The Scotsman’ and has published, among other things, an anthology of eighteenth-century Gaelic verse –An Lasair – and a new edition of Johnson and Boswell’s tour – To the Hebrides. He has also published a classic study of the first part of Alasdair’s life,Mac Mhaighstir Alasdair, The Ardnamurchan Years. It is well known that Alasdair’s father, Maighstir Alasdair, a native of South Uist, was Episcopalian minister of the parish of Islandfinnan. This included Ardnamurchan, Sunart, Moidart, Arisaig and South Morar – a huge area. Nothing at all is known about Alasdair’s mother, however, except that she was a MacLachlan from Morvern.1 John Mackenzie had this to say about Alasdair’s ‘Òran an t-Samhraidh’, which seems likely to have been composed in 1724 or soon after: His “Oran an t-Samhraidh,” or “Ode to Summer,” … he composed at Glencribisdale, situated on the south side of Loch- Suainart, in the parish of Morven. He came there on a visit the last day of April; and rising early next morning, and viewing the picturesque scenes around, was powerfully impressed with the varied beauties of nature, displayed in such ample profusion.2 In those days there were MacLachlan communities, Jacobites and Episcopalians to a man, dotted all the way down the Morvern shore of Loch Sunart, so it may be that in this statement of Mackenzie’s we have a little clue as to exactly where Alasdair’s mother came from. I have been trying to find out anything I can about MacLachlans in Glencripesdale from the public records, but so far all I have found is this: in the register of testaments for Argyll, for Dugald MacLachlan of Fassaferne, who died in 1707, we have a testament dative given up by Ewn McLachlan in Glencremsdill, parish of Islandfinnan, ‘one of the curators of Lachlan McLachlan 1 Hew Scott, Fasti Ecclesiæ Scoticanæ, 2nd edn, vol. 4 (Edinburgh, 1923), 106; see also the Appendix to this paper, item 7. In discussion, Mr Iain Thornber pointed out that he recalled hearing that Alasdair’s mother’s people were Kilbride MacLachlans. If so, Alasdair was connected to a family who were known as poets, ecclesiastics, and possessors of a magnificent inheritance of medieval Gaelic manuscripts. See John Bannerman, ‘The MacLachlans of Kilbride and their Manuscripts’, Scottish Studies, 21 (1977), 1–34. 2 John Mackenzie (ed.), Sar-Obair nam Bard Gaelach: or, The Beauties of Gaelic Poetry (Glasgow, 1841), 104. See also the Appendix to this paper, item 22. 1 ronald black chapter 1 of Fassaferne, grandchild of the defunct and executor dative qua nearest in kin’, the testament being confirmed on 2 March 1709.3 Borve is Clanranald’s castle in Benbecula, and although the editors of the 1924 edition of Alasdair’s poems, who agreed with Is this Glencripesdale? Is it given as in the parish of Islandfinnan because Maighstir Alasdair was their minister? I know that is not Raghnall Dubh, cheerfully claim that ‘Craigorm is a rock in the neighbourhood’, I have never found any confirmation of that, and much, but it is a start.4 I suspect the claim may be a spurious one designed simply to support that particular reading of the song.9 The four mainland versions consist of one eighteenth-century one by the Rev. James MacLagan, two nineteenth-century ones by 10 Where exactly was Alasdair born? John Mackenzie from Ross-shire, and one nineteenth-century one by Donald C. Macpherson from Lochaber. They give the verse like this (regularised spelling): Many years ago I concluded that the date of the poet’s birth was probably around 1698, and I have found nothing since that has Sa chreig ghuirm a thogadh mise 5 In the blue rock I was raised caused me to change my view. I am no longer certain, however, about the place of his birth. The general belief appears to be that An sgìreachd Chaisteil Duibh nan Cliar, In the parish of Caisteal Dubh nan Cliar, Alasdair was born at Dalilea in Moidart, not because there is any record of his birth, but because his father had a tack of the place Tir tha daonnan a’ cur thairis A land that’s always overflowing 6 from Clanranald. There is one piece of corroborative evidence that he was born in Moidart rather than any other part of the parish, Le tuil bhainne, mil is fìon. With flood of milk, with honey and wine. and that is the description A Mhùideartaich dhuibh dhàna nan geurfhacal, ‘You bold black Moidartman of the sharp words’, which Caisteal Dubh nan Cliar, ‘the Black Castle of the Clergy/Poets’, is at Ormsaigbeg in west Ardnamurchan. Writing in 1838, the occur at the beginning of his Mìomholadh Mòraig (‘The Dispraise of Morag’). He puts them in the mouth of his wife, who is scolding minister of the parish stated: “At Ormsaig beg there are the remains of a very small tower, dignified by the name of ‘Castial due nan him for praising Morag to the heavens rather than herself.7 Clior,’ the black Castle of the Minstrels.”11 Here is part of the Historic Monuments Commission’s report on the structure. That is hardly conclusive, however, and other evidence points to the other end of the parish. This evidence is partly to be found in Alasdair’s song Smeòrach Chlann Raghnaill (‘The Mavis of Clanranald’). Unfortunately Alasdair never published it himself, so we This building … occupies the summit of a small rocky knoll immediately above the NW foreshore of Kilchoan Bay. The are reliant on six different texts published by others between 1776 and 1924, and the curious thing is that with respect to where structure is now extremely ruinous and its original form is uncertain, but it probably comprised a small two-storeyed tower Alasdair was brought up, an island/mainland split emerges. The island men, including Alasdair’s own son Raghnall Dubh, who had of irregular plan … The age of this building is uncertain, but it may tentatively be ascribed to the 16th or 17th century. a tack of Laig in Eigg, give a location in the islands, while the mainland men give a location on the mainland. In Raghnall’s version It seems too small to have been a permanent residence, and it is possible that it served as an outpost of Mingary Castle …, the third verse goes (his spelling): securing the anchorage in Kilchoan Bay.12 Sa chraig guirm a thogadh mise, In the blue rock I was raised In 1996, in his edition of the poem, it fell to Derick Thomson to make a choice between the island and mainland versions. He An sgiorachd chaisteal bhuiribh nan cliar, In the parish of Borve Castle of the poets, plumped for the mainland one.13 Tìr a ha daonan a cuir thairis, A land that’s always overflowing Obviously this raises several questions. What does Alasdair mean by sgìreachd? The word usually means parish but it could mean Le tuil bhainne meala ‘s fion.8 With flood of milk, of honey and wine. simply district. Is it the very small area to the west of Kilchoan Bay? Is it everything between Kilchoan and Ardnamurchan Point? After all, if it included the district to the east of Kilchoan, it is impossible to see why he should name it after a little lookout tower 3 Frank Bigwood, The Commissary Court of Argyll: A Calendar of Testaments, Inventories, Commissary Processes and Other Records (1686–1825) (North rather than Mingary Castle. Is there a Creag Ghorm or ‘Blue Rock’ in Ardnamurchan, especially in the district west of Kilchoan?14 Berwick, 2001), 114. 4 These points were put directly to the audience in Strontian, and there was agreement that ‘Glencremsdill’ may be identified with Glencripesdale, the stressed vowel in which is nasal (Gleann Chnìobasdail). 9 Revs Angus Macdonald and Archibald Macdonald (eds.), The Poems of Alexander MacDonald(Inverness, 1924), 181. 5 Ronald Black, Mac Mhaighstir Alasdair: The Ardnamurchan Years (SWHIHR, Coll, 1986), 5. 10 Derick S. Thomson (ed.), Alasdair mac Mhaighstir Alasdair: Selected Poems (Scottish Gaelic Texts Society, Edinburgh, 1996), 112. 6 Black, Ardnamurchan Years, 4. I stated there that Dalilea was Dail an Léigh ‘the Physician’s Meadow’. That is the understanding locally, though Mr 11 Rev. Archibald Clerk, ‘Parish of Ardnamurchan’, in The New Statistical Account of Scotland, vol. 7, part 2, pp. 117–63: 147. Iain MacMaster, Acharacle, believes that léigh in this case signifies a Master of Arts rather than a physician. I am now convinced that the name is 12 Argyll: An Inventory of the Monuments Vol. 3: Mull, Tiree, Coll & Northern Argyll (Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Dail Eilghidh, meaning a field levelled for ploughing, cf. Dwelly’s Dictionary s.v. eilgheadh and Fearann Eilghidh (Fernilea) on Loch Harport in Skye. Scotland, Edinburgh, 1980), 190. 7 Black, Ardnamurchan Years, 3, 18. 13 Selected Poems, 114. 8 Raonuill Macdomhnuill (ed.), Comh-Chruinneachidh Orannaigh Gaidhealach [‘The Eigg Collection’], (Edinburgh, 1776), 247. 14 On this point the audience at Strontian had no contribution to make, except that Mr Bill Innes wondered if Creag Ghorm could have been the name for the rock upon which Caisteal Bhuirgh stands in Benbecula. Although land-locked now, it was once in the sea. 2 3 ronald black chapter 1 Then why should we have this island/mainland split, with Alasdair’s own son on the island side? Is it because Alasdair was raised every Sunday from Dalilea, preached at Kilchoan and then walked back the same day, a round journey of over fifty miles.18 If we have partly in west Ardnamurchan and partly in Benbecula? Or was Raghnall Dubh falsifying the record for some reason? After all, he now discovered that his family lived near Kilchoan, that puts a different light on it.
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