Laird of Jura newsletter no.5 Oct 05

Firstly, an apology for the lack of news letters over the summer. This has been down to several factors, including lack of time, reorganisation and plain old slackness on my part.  Sorry, I will do better!

Jura fell race 2005

Whitsun weekend at the end of May, 150 or so hardy souls embark on the annual Bens of Jura fell race. This involves running / scrambling over 7 mountain summits with a total vertical ascent of 7500 ft and covering a distance of approximately 16 miles. The course record is just over 3 hours. You may be thinking, “that’s only just over 5 miles an hour – I could walk it in 4 hours,” until you see the Paps and what they are made up of. (Paps, by the way, means breasts. Yes, there are 3 of them!) Sheer scree and boulders with boggy ground in between makes it one of the toughest fell races in the country. Unfortunately, this year the weather won the day. It was wet, windy, cold and the cloud base was low, so for safety’s sake the lower course, which misses out the Paps, had to be used. Five Jura runners completed the course and they took away the local challenge trophy which they compete for every year against the neighbouring island of Islay. Of course, come the morning after (and yet another good dance in the village hall) there were blue skies and bright sunshine. Several of the runners went round the full course just for the fun of it!

Doctor

The new doctor took up his post in May and he and his family seem to have settled well into island life. I hear he is a bit of a musician and will be performing at this year’s music festival.

Jura regatta

The annual regatta is held on the first Saturday in August. It is, and always has been, my favourite event in the Jura calendar and this year I managed a long weekend visit. It’s a busy weekend, but more so with “regular” visitors rather than the general hoards who descend for the fell race and the music festival. This, to me, makes it special as it gives you a chance to catch up with old friends and compete against old foes. The day was sunny and breezy and this year, for the sailing race, I managed to cobble together a boat using the mast and sails from a different one. My nephew and I finished 3^rd (out of 5) so that wasn’t too bad. In the afternoon there is a raft race, which always produces great hilarity, followed by swimming races then rowing and canoe races. I managed a couple of firsts and a second (including showing the young upstarts that I could still paddle a canoe!) and Ardfarnal won the inter-township, the biggest and most competitive race of the day. The evening concert featuring the Wherries was a great success and the dance, featuring Skerryvore from Tiree, was hailed as the best of the summer. A long and happy day was ended at 5am watching the sun rise over Small Isles bay. Perfect!

The Lairds view

When I was on Jura in May, I cleared some of the bracken at the Lairds View. The bluebells were out, the sun was shining and I sat and admired the view for a while.

Bluebells at the Lairds View.

Next time, more photos from the Lairds View and another story about Jura. Slainthe David

If you were asked the question “what is the most famous Scottish tradition” the wearing of tartan might be one of the first answers you give.

Almost everyone when asked that question would think about the Scottish kilt and the associated tartans that now symbolise Scotland throughout the world. Yet in the majority of cases they would be wrong in thinking of it as traditional wear!

A close examination of history will show us that although the Scots have indeed worn the kilt and the tartan from earliest times, the current style now bears very little resemblance to the original design. Indeed most of the now “traditional” tartans worn by Scottish Clans and sold throughout the world as such can only be traced back to the middle of the 18th century.

Historical Tartan Wear.

However history clearly shows that the kilt and tartans have been the true dress of Scots people for as long as their history has been recorded. Indeed there is still a sample of a small piece of Scottish brown and white tartan which was originally used as a stopper for an earthenware pot. This contained a treasure trove of silver coins and was found close to a Roman wall near Falkirk. This tartan cloth appears to have been buried in the third century.

There are also other references to tartans in various historic documents and paintings.

For example, a charter granted to Hector Maclean of Duart in 1587 for land in the neighbouring Isle of Islay details a rental payable in 60 ells of white, black and green colours. This is very similar to the pattern now being worn as the current Maclean Hunting tartan.

The Maclean Hunting tartan as described in the original charter dated 1587.

One account of the Battle of Killiecranke in 1689 described McDonnell’s men as being in a triple stripe. (However, it would be fair to assume that local communities would normally wear the cloth produced by their local weaver in quantities that would limit the number of different patterns. Invariably, most men of the district would be dressed in similar material.)

A modern Campbell of Argyle Tartan.
Note the current Campbell Clan Chief wears the 42nd (Black Watch) tartan
which is woven in brighter colours than that shown above.

Whilst the wearing of the Tartan was a distinctive form of identity enabling friend or foe to be recognised other forms of identity such as flags, standards, shields, feathers and plants. One story tells how a wounded clansman on the battlefield was nearly killed by his own side until he announced who he was to be told "we did not recognise you without your bonnet". Evidently the tartan of the kilt was not able to show to which clan he belonged.

A MacDonald of the Isles Hunting tartan. Generally hunting tartans are similar
but have darker colours which blend into the heather better.