Morvern Lines - 15.8.24

In 1896 a sample was taken by a visiting chemist and archaeologist called Ivison Macadam, Professor of Chemistry, New Veterinary College, Edinburgh. His analysis showed that although the water contained small quantities of saline, chlorine, sodium, sulphate and ammonia it did not contain any particular medicinal properties.

The stone, which looks like an early baptismal font, resembles an eyeball from which shape it may have taken its name. Once called, the hypothetical curative properties may have followed. 

In keeping with many other wells, we found a large number of coins lying about it, mostly of low denomination and modern – evidence that someone locally still believes in its charms if not magical properties!

On our way to the ancient Kilchattan graveyard near Toberonochy, we passed through a small glen called Dubh Leitir, which means ‘the black half-land’, usually applied to a long, steep face of land, the half part of a glen. Here we halted to examine Easan Frogach – ‘the waterfall of the bewitched’, a small burn encircling a supernatural mound where fairies were thought to live.

It was customary, up until about the beginning of the 20th century, for every passer-by to pull a thread out of his or her clothing and put it on the mound as a peace offering to them. Not wishing to risk causing any offence to the early inhabitants, I left a bit of my shirt and we carried on to the fast-crumbling ruins of the old parish church of Kilchattan. A number of outer-facing stones in one of its walls bear some interesting graffiti showing ships, initials and other forms of hieroglyphics low to the ground giving rise to the theory that the carvings were made by children, which seems unlikely. A search for a gravestone to a man who lived for ‘1001’ years was unsuccessful. The tale goes that the deceased died aged 101 but the mason cutting the inscription, spoke only Gaelic and mistook his instructions given to him in English.

On the road to Toberonochy we met the now late Mr Coll MacDougall, a native of Morvern, then retired, who along with his father Angus, had been associated with the Cadzow family and their famous Luing cattle for most of their lives. Mr MacDougall’s ancestors came to Morvern from Lorn in the 1700s and were trusted tenant-farmers and tacksmen to the dukes of Argyll. When George, the 6th duke, sold most of his lands in Morvern in 1826, the MacDougalls, in order to stay in their homes, were forced to become shepherds and cattlemen for the new southern owners.

The 2011 national census records that the population of the Parish of Kilbrandon and Kilchattan was 808. In 1837 it was three times greater, indicated by the following incident. About 9am on  July 14 of that year, a large pod of whales appeared and stranded in shallow water on the west side of the island. Their presence soon attracted the attention of many local men, including the minister, who arrived with axes, slashing knives and claymores belonging to their forefathers, which had not been drawn in earnest since the days of Bonnie Prince Charlie. 

The battle began at 9am and lasted for 13 hours – longer than the Battle of Waterloo – during which time an incredible 192 beasts, about 100 of whom were from 30ft to 50ft in length, were allegedly killed. The author of the report concluded: “The prowess of one of the mountaineers [largely Sinclair by name] must not be allowed to pass unchronicled. A whale, about 50ft long, struggled hard to retreat; this individual, with a degree of gallantry worthy of his gallant clan leaped on its back, and with a hatchet belaboured and hewed the animal till exhausted by the loss of blood, it was compelled to surrender at discretion. A very copious supply of oil is expected from this unlooked-for source.”

According to one authority, the proceeds will be divided among the captors; according to another, they are to be applied for the benefit of the parish – an entirely different fate and dispersal of the pod of whales which stranded in Orkney earlier this year, rightly catching the attention of the national and international media.

Little was wasted in Luing and elsewhere in the Highlands and Islands in those days.