An American Laird

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30769, 5 June 1965, Page 12

An American Laird

(By

GORDON IRVING

tn the Isle

of Barra > A TOURIST from California, walking down the single village street here, was astounded to. hear a soft American voice and learn that its owner, an architect from Vermont, is the hereditary 45th chieftain of the Clan Macneil.

That is the kind of magic touch you except to find in these remote and magic islands of the Scottish Hebrides, where everybody talks to a stranger and it’s not unknown to find a 98-year-old lady out in the evening sun, scything her grass in front of her cottage home.

Independence and friendli-' ness are side-by-side in the' magic islands of Skye, Barra. Eriskay, Rhum and Eigg.l Fascinating names for each, 1 and the last two, side by j side, have been neatly! dubbed “the Cocktail Islands”. because of their intriguing' names.

The kilted chieftain rebuilding his ancient Kisimul Castle on this pleasant isle of Barra is, in fact, Robert Lister Macneil, chieftain of his clan.

Each summer he spends on Barra with his wife, rebuilding and decorating his pride

and joy, a castle stronghold which has belonged to the Macneil family for centuries, and which, incidentally, is jopen to tourists each holiday season.

It was once the lair of the pirate chiefs of the Clan Neill, who are said to have arrived here about the year 1030. In winter the chieftain of the Macneils returns to his home in Vermont and dreams of his castle home in Scotland.

He has incorporated a modern residence inside the castle, and has built himself a luxury bathroom with a king-sized bath sunk into the tiled floor. Special nonsplash taps have been imported from America. Kisimul Castle stands on a tiny rock in a bay of the island.

In an area where much of the housing is ancient and even primitive, the American chieftain’s bathroom and residence stands out like an oasis in the desert.

An open peat fire blazing a cheery welcome to all is a concession to tradition.

The magic islands of Scotland are all accessible by ship. The new facility of a ferry-ship this summer is allowing the tourist to drive his own car between the islands making the West coast resorts of Oban or Malliag a convenient jumping-off spot. On the isle of Eigg you find primroses growing all year

around, and the cuckoo singing most of the night in sum- j mer. Eigg—where the mainland steamer calls three times a week—is famed for its Bay of Singing Sands. Walk across them when they’re dry, shuffle, and they give out an odd high-pitched squeak which nobody around can really explain. Eriskay, dreamy isle of song and legend, has long golden sands practically unknown even to most Britishers. The islanders keep to the age-old custom of digging out peat from the hillsides and carrying it on pannier-ponies to their cottage homes to kindle their fires. The island of Barra (became world-famous when ! the film industry chose it as i the location for the Compton I Mackenzie film “Whisky about a cargo-load of I Scotch whisky that was i washed ashore while en iroute to America ! Ferry fares to the isles are i exceptionally reasonable. It [costs only 28s. for instance. ' to ferry a car from the mainland to the romantic Isle of Skye, where, incidentally, the tourist should remember that, because of strict church rules, no business of any kind is allowed on Sundays. The lonely Island of Mull, another West of Scotland isle, is reached by ship from Oban for a car-ferry fee of 355.