North Uist -- ruins, dunces, fiddles & harps!
Continuing our visit to the Outer Hebrides
We enjoyed visiting the Neolithic burial cairn Barpa Langais in North Uist not only for the connection to people who lived and flourished there 5,000 years ago — a reminder of the distant past that we came across often, particularly in the western and northern islands — but also for the broad vista of a land of lakes punctuated by tall hills.
Only about five miles from there are the ruins of Trinity Temple, a medieval monastery and a college “of European significance,” as stated on the engraved stone sign at the site. Tradition tells us that it was founded by the daughter of Somerled, the 12th-century Norse/Gaelic king of the Isles, and educated students from the 13th to the 18th centuries. One of its most illustrious alumni was Duns Scotus, a prominent philosopher/theologian in the 13th century. Though influential and generally well respected, his critics gave rise to the epithet “dunce” and used “dunce caps” to punish bad students. History was kinder, in the long run. He was beatified in 1993.
Here’s a look at the ruins of Trinity Temple as we approached it.
And here are a couple of views from the inside looking out.
Just behind the temple site is the workshop of a fine violin maker, Eric Jackson. I couldn’t pass up a chance to say hello and take a look at his violins, as you can see below. On the right is the great harp player Patsy Seddon, who happened to be visiting North Uist while we were there as well. We found a small village hall (Dorothy was very good at this!) where Patsy was kind enough to join us to play some tunes and sing a few songs. For many years, Patsy played gut-strung harp in the great duo Sileas, with Mary MacMaster on the metal-strung clarsach. She has played with many other great musicians, including the band The Poozies. Sileas was inducted in the Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame in 2013.
In the main city of North Uist, Lochmaddy, is a great museum and arts center which we visited a few times. Once we saw their exhibit honoring the centennial of World War I. At that time, whole villages of men from the islands were drafted together and place in the same regiments. Not infrequently, the butchery that was World War I destroyed a whole generation of men from small towns in islands such as North Uist, sometimes in a single battle on a single day. In the earlier article about Gaelic singer Gillebride Macmillan, we talked about his song in commemoration of the Iolaire disaster at the end of World War I, when nearly all the soldiers on that ship, returning to the Outer Hebrides, drowned in a tragic accident on New Year’s Day 1919 within sight of harbor.
On a lighter note, quite a few other exhibits are shown in the museum, including whimsical outdoors sculptures. One exhibit we got to see there focused on the tradition of Gaelic song in North Uist. Below is a part of a display about the topic. In the center is one of North Uist’s most famous native Gaelic singers, Julie Fowlis. Although nearly all of her captivating singing is in Scots Gaelic, she did become famous for one song in English, the theme song for the movie Brave. We’ll learn more about Julie next week.
At one memorable restaurant in Lochmaddy, one of our groups were inspired by the long listing of whisky choices. We decided to close our eyes and point at one of the whiskies. By luck, mine was Glengoyne 12-year, which everyone agreed was the smoothest and tastiest! It’s become my favorite.
While staying in North Uist, we enjoyed a few visits from fiddler Allan Henderson, pictured below. A founding member of the great band Blazin Fiddles, Allan comes from a large family full of musicians who have played an important role in Scottish traditional music through their playing both in their own projects and in a number of popular bands such as Breabach (see my interview of Megan Henderson about this band) and Mànran (Ewen Henderson). You may recall my article about a visit to Glenfinnan, featuring Allan’s sister Ingrid, a great harper, with a link to a full-length concert she did with her husband, fiddler Iain MacFarlane. Iain and Allan spent many years as part of Blazin Fiddles and in fact, left the band at the same time, to move on with their own musical and family lives.
When Allan joined us, he played some fiddle but also told lots of traditional Gaelic stories. Some were epic historical tales, and some were essentially ghost stories, such as one about a ghost dog, or about people with second-sight, who could see when someone was about to die. Often he’d conclude the story by playing a tune tied to the tale.
Below, you can listen to a nice tune called “Eagle’s Whistle,” played by Allan, with all-star accompanists.