Category: Islay History

A post providing information about Islay’s history in some form.

Crom Dubh na Nollaig, Christmas and Islay

Islay Fun

Over the last few days I’ve seen a few posts, mainly on Facebook, about Crom Dubh na Nollaig, a mystical creature which was used to scare children on Islay to behave around Christmas. Usually the post contained some AI generated image of said creature, so I couldn’t resist to create my own version before we get to what the story behind it is:

Picture of a creature with ram like horns sitting on a coastal cottage under dark stormy clouds
Crom Dubh na Nollaig (as imagined by AI)

Usually the story went something like this:

On the Isle of Islay, people once told the story of Crom Dubh na Nollaig, a creature like Krampus, to scare children into behaving at Christmas. Legends said that screams from the chimney marked his arrival, though it was often just the sound of the winter wind.
This Scottish Christmas monster is mostly forgotten now, but it was once an important part of the holiday season.

Several Ileach have commented on it, some had heard of it, many others hadn’t. As usual there is some truth in the story:

Back in 1969 Peggy Earl (who passed away in 1978) told Mary MacDonald about celebrating New Year and a Christmas creature:

The contributor says that although New Year was an important celebration, Christmas was also kept. Children were threatened with ‘Crom Dubh na Nollaig’, a creature that howled down the chimney.

Please take a minute and listen to Peggy’s story here.

I believe the comparison to Krampus is a later addition, but I don’t think it’s right. While Krampus was used to scare Children I think the link is mainly made to get people familiar with the better known Krampus interested.

From some articles I’ve seen the creature isn’t only an Islay story, it seems to also be known in other parts of the Hebrides, possibly also Ireland (if anyone from Ireland reads this and knows, can you let us know in the comments?).

Either way, a story worth preserving, I hope you found it interesting as well.

Video about the dig at Olistadh, Islay

Islay on Video

Back in June I had the opportunity to visit the Reading University archaeological dig at Olistadh on the Rhinns of Islay. I took a few pictures and also dug out a few older pictures from when I passed Olistadh back in 2007, you can find them tagged Olistadh on my Islay photoblog. Yesterday I came across a nice video about the dig:

Islay archaeology

A nice refresher/reminder for me, I hope you also enjoy it, either completely new for you or a good revisit. Nice to learn about this lesser know part of Islay’s history.

Islay ferry MV Hebridean Isles to be retired

Islay News

An era is coming to an end. For many years the MV Hebridean Isles was one of the ferries on the Islay route, I’ve done many many crossings on her, don’t know how many. Initially it was together with the MV Isle of Arran (still in service, at times still on the Islay route), more recently with the MV Finlaggan. With the two new ferries coming into service later this year and next year this is now coming to an end.

Picture of the ferry MV Hebridean Isles in the Sound of Islay, a lighthouse in the distance
MV Hebridean Isles in the Sound of Islay

In November the MV Hebridean Isles will be retired after 38 years in service, as reported widely:

As someone who likes to be outside during a ferry crossing if possible I will certainly miss her. While I’m not sure about the exact layout of the two new ferries I believe they will be more like the MV Finlaggan in regards to outside spaces accessible to the public, much more limited than the older ferries.

Old tunes, pictures and film by Ionad Chaluim Chille Ìle – Islay Gaelic Centre

Islay on Video

Some Islay history from the YouTube channel of the Ionad Chaluim Chille Ìle – Islay Gaelic Centre today. Some old Gaelic tunes sung by a variety of people from Islay, combined with pictures and film footage from around the time the recordings were made, during a Ceilidh in Bowmore in 1967. I hope you enjoy them:

Islay Ceilidh 1967 – Marion MacArthur
Islay Ceilidh 1967 – Lily MacLean
Islay Ceilidh 1967 – Robert Forrest
Islay Ceilidh 1967 – Cam Shaw
Islay Ceilidh 1967 – Tom and Cath Crawford

The original recordings were loaned to Gaelic Centre by Etta Shaw, the Gaelic Centre then digitised them and added the pictures and film footage from the time. Great work by everyone involved!

Interesting Scottish American history video (with Islay featuring heavily)

Islay on Video

Regular visitors to Islay will mostly be familiar with the American Monument on the Oa and the history behind it with the Tuscania and Otranto shipwrecks in WWI. Still, history tour guide Bruce Fummey has created an interesting video about the history and the links between Scotland and the USA, well worth watching:

A Scottish American Disaster

I hope you found the video interesting and informative, especially if you’re new to this part of Islay’s history.

Nice Finlaggan and Lords of the Isles Islay video

Islay on Video

Something a bit different today, not just a video with some beautiful views of Islay, but some background on what we’re seeing. Kate Gordon and Nigel Scott take us to Finlaggan and tell us about the history of the Lords of the Isles:

Finlaggan and The Lords of the Isles

Nigel had contacted me a month ago about using one of my pictures for a video he was editing about Finlaggan. As it was for a non-commercial educational project I was happy to give him permission. While I was away on Islay for my second visit this year (more about that in another post) he sent me an update with the link to the video. Now that I’m back and had time to catch up with a view things I finally had a chance to watch the video and now share it with you.

I quite like it, I think it’s well made and tells the story very well. Quite a lot of information without getting too long and going into too much detail, just right. Hopefully you like the video as well and found it interesting.

Help fund a new walkway to Finlaggan, Islay

Islay News

The wooden walkway to Eilean Mòr at Finlaggan, the ancient seat of the Lords of the Isles on Islay, has gone through a few iterations over the decades. Because of the harsh conditions at Loch Finlaggan the wood starts to decay and the wear and tear at some point makes the walkway unsafe. Over the years there have been different walkways, this is how it looked in 2006:

Picture of an old wooden walkway to a small island
Finlaggan walkway in 2006

In 2007 it was replaced by a new walkway built by the Army 39 Engineer Regiment after removing the old rotting walkway. Visitors soon enjoyed good access to Eilean Mòr again:

Picture of a group of visitors next to a information board, a new wooden walkway in the background
Visitors after crossing a new walkway in 2007

In 2008 the visitor centre also saw some significant renovation and extension, making it the valuable place to learn about Islay’s history it is today:

Picture of a visitor centre extension under construction
Finlaggan visitor centre under construction in 2008

The walkway built in 2007 has now aged so much that it needs to be replaced to ensure continued access to the site. To do this the Finlaggan Trust needs support. The Finlaggan Trust writes:

We have already secured partial funding from a number of sources and are able to contribute a certain amount ourselves, but there remains a £30,000 shortfall in the £86,000 total nonetheless. If successful in our fundraising we hope to begin work in September/October 2021, with a five- to seven-week timescale for completion of the build, C-19 restrictions and weather conditions permitting.

The Lordship of the Isles needs you – Tha feum aig Rìoghachd nan Eilean ortsa

If you want to support the Finlaggan Trust you can make a donation at The Finlaggan Walkway Project JustGiving campaign. As of writing this in the early days of the campaign 8% of the target have been reached, hopefully that will jump up soon and continued access to Finlaggan can be secured:

Picture of a small island with ruins in a lake, a walkway leading to it
Finlaggan from the air, walkway bottom right

Claig Castle in the Sound of Islay (video)

Islay on Video

Most people who have travelled to/from Islay via Port Askaig will at some point have noticed the ruins on Am Fraoch Eilean on the Jura side at the southern end of the Sound of Islay. This is Claig Castle, once a quite important castle on the west coast of Scotland. Someone from Cine Gate has flown a drone over it for a closer look:

Claig Castle by Cine Gate

It is probably around 500 years old, dating back to medieval times, and once was a Macdonald stronghold. Certainly an excellent position to control the area and any traffic passing through the Sound of Islay!

A mix of Islay links to read

Islay Links

Haven’t blogged here as much recently as I would have liked, so I’m going to try to get better again. Today I thought I’d share a mix of links to articles and other things I found interesting recently. I hope you’ll find something of interest to you as well:

Western Ferries had long gone from the Islay route by the time I first boarded a ferry to Islay, so I don’t have any real memory of them (apart from the pictures and articles about them I’ve seen). This might be changing again at some point, as reports indicate they are interested in (re-)starting a freight only service to Islay.

Digital and that the future is digital is a lot in the news at the moment, good to see that Islay is listed in “£100k funding to inspire Scotland’s next generation of digital experts“. I can’t seem to link directly to it, but scroll down to Port Ellen Primary and click on the + to expand the section on this digitalXtra fund page for more detail about the afterschool robotics club.

Most people are aware of the Otranto and Tuscania sinking off Islay a century ago, more recently during WWII the Floristan sank off the Rhinns of Islay. You can read Tony Cummings memories of the events in 1942.

In The National Andy Gemmell’s pub of the week in late February was the Ballygrant Inn.

And that’s all for today, more some other time. I hope you found something interesting to read this time.

Celebrating a decade of @islayblog on Twitter

Islay Fun

Earlier today a wee blue bird told me (not sure if this qualifies as a bad pun?) it’s 10 years ago today that I joined Twitter, of course using the handle @islayblog (although my name shows as Armin, as I tweet as me, a human being). A decade of squeezing a post into 140 characters (or more recently writing 280 characters). Naturally I sent out a quick tweet, promising a celebratory dram later on:

Now it’s time for said dram, I decided to open a special bottle (also keeping in mind that New Year is approaching rapidly and I need something nice for that): From my Islay shelf I picked a Laphroaig 10yo Cask Strength, batch 004, Jan.12. Here’s the proof:

Picture of a bottle of Laphroaig 10yo CS next to a laptop showing Twitter and Tweetdeck screens
Sometimes don’t drink and blog needs to be ignored, especially when a 10yo Laphroaig cask strength batch 04 is to hand on your 10th Twitter anniversary

A lot has happened in those 10 years. According to Twitter I’ve posted 33,838 tweets so far (probably a few more by the time you read this). Apparently I have just under 3,000 people following me now (I hope not too many of them are bots). Quite a few of you I’ve met personally, others I only know from Twitter (and sometimes other social networks), but we’ve still had many helpful, interesting, funny and more exchanges. Others I don’t really know yet, but I hope we’ll bump into each other one day. I’ve learned quite a few things on Twitter, found out information, had a lot of fun and more. I hope I could give some of that back, give those who follow me or communicate with me something to enjoy, something they found helpful or something that inspired them. Or just something to laugh.

With that I’ll finish for now, time for another dram. And another tweet.