Harkness – MacGillivray Stories

I visited the Galmisdale Farmhouse and the Gamekeeper’s Cottage in 2007 with my son Alan. Tasha and her daughter were living at the cottage at the time. I took some photos of the gamekeeper’s cottage but the photos didn’t turn out very well. One, I only had a cheap camera. Two, I, Alan, Tasha, and her daughter were ‘attacked’ by the midges, prompting a hasty retreat.

However, the cottage has been much altered over the years and in its present form probably little resembles the cottage in which Roderick Campbell and his family lived. I managed to take a better photo of Galmisdale Farmhouse. But I included both photos here as a point of reference. 

Galmisdale Farmhouse

Shown above is the oldest photograph of Galmisdale (1890). It was a scene that was sketched by Edgeworth 32 years earlier. The cottages were pulled down by the island’s new owner Thomson around the turn of the century. The pulldown happened some years after the photo was taken. Galmisdale Farmhouse was an inn until it was occupied by Robert Laurie Thomson from 1893 to 1897. To know more about Thomson, the laird, read this post.

In this context, when it was an inn, it was perhaps frequented by my great grandfather, Roderick Campbell. For that, however, I haven’t found a source for yet. 

Gamekeeper’s Cottage

The Campbell’s lived in what came to be known as the ‘Gamekeeper’s Cottage’. The family were ‘evicted’ by Thomson. For about 30 years (between 1870-1900) the Campbell’s had lived in their ‘blackhouse’ cottage under the An Sgurr, Eigg’s high volcanic hill. 

“The last blackhouse on the island was occupied until 1938. The houses did not usually have windows, most of the light coming through a central doorway.” The MacQuarries lived in the last blackhouse, Tighe na Lossit, to be occupied until just before the outbreak of WWII. It is perhaps a little misleading to call the Campbell’s cottage a ‘blackhouse’; according to the 1891 census, the Campbell’s cottage had three windows.

By cross checking various references it seems to be clear that the Campbell’s cottage is the same as ‘the Gamekeeper’s Cottage’ (see Dressler, p. 100).

Ruairidh Ruadh, the island’s ‘ferryman’

As mentioned, Ruairidh Ruadh was the island’s ‘ferryman’. The move to a new croft would make his job as ferryman more difficult. Camille Dressler writes in her book:

“Ruairidh Ruadh’s (…) house at the foot of the Sgurr also offered him a convenient view of the steamer rounding Ardnamurchan Point. Instead of a short walk down to the shore, he would now have a long trek across the island without the means of knowing whether the ferry had arrived or not.” (2007: 100). 

Ironically, Roderick Campbell’s cottage was not pulled down and, as mentioned above, came to be known as the ‘gamekeeper’s cottage’. It was preserved for use by Thomson’s gamekeeper, Donald MacLeod, but he never moved in.

Roderick Campbell, and his father before him, lived for about thirty years in the ‘gamekeeper’s cottage’. They were registered there in the 1871 census, and moved to Cuagach around the turn of the century. The Campbell family lived in the same cottage at Cuagach for 55 years until it was destroyed by an avalanche. So it might be said that their lives were relatively stable; they lived in two cottages for roughly 85 years, at least in comparison to other crofters and agricultural workers on Eigg, and the neighbouring islands.

However, it might also be said that their lives would have perhaps been even more stable, if it were not for proprietors of the island and acts of god such as the landslide at Cuagach. In retrospect, a question also arises whether it was prudent to build the cottages at Cuagach under the unstable cliffside?

Ferrymen

Roderick Campbell was the island’s first ferryman, together with Alasdair MacKinnon. The job was passed down through the family line to his son, Donald; and then on to Donald’s son Roddy Campbell, and then Dugald MacKinnon. 

When I was younger, my mother used to tell me about Eigg. She would always proudly mention that her Uncle Donald was the Eigg ferryman. In my childish imagination, I thought this meant he captained a large ferry boat. The photograph of the ferry-boat taken in 1951 shows a fair-sized boat (the 1928 ferry-boat seems smaller).

The Dangers for Ferrymen

The job of the ferrymen was to transport goods and people from the larger ferry to Eigg by using a smaller boat. The harbour at Eigg was not substantial enough to enable the docking of the larger ferry. Larger ferries were what provided services between the islands and the mainland. However, despite the fact that the ‘ferry-boat’ was not of impressive dimensions, its function was very important. The piloting of the boat could also be hazardous.

Below is an interesting anecdote regarding the dangers of the job is told by Dugald MacKinnon in Eigg the Story of an Island.

The first Eiggaichs to work as ferrymen were two Galmisdale men, Roderick Campbell (Ruairidh Ruadh) and Alasdair MacKinnon. The manned the MacPherson’s boat, the Isabella. As the steamer could come at any time between 10 in the morning and 7 in the evening or later, it had to unload on the way; once Ruairidh Ruadh and Alasdair were on duty, they had to wait all night if need be until the steamer arrived.

Their families were quite used to it and they did not worry if they were late. Dugald MacKinnon, who was to work on the island ferry all his life shared their story with us. “What happened one day was that after meeting the steamer they just found themselves unable to steer the boat against the wind and the tide. They tried everything they could. They even threw the cargo overboard, all of it, apart from the mailbags. And yet, they still couldn’t make it to the shore. So what could they do but drift away with the waves and manage the best way they could.

They were lucky to land where they did, not far from Rhu Arisaig which was the steamer’s calling port; so they were alright in the end. And who was surprised but Ruaridh’s Ruadh’s wife when she got a telegram telling her that they were safe and sound? She thought they were on Eigg all the time!”

This was most likely a harrowing experience! Since a telegram was sent to Roderick Campbell’s wife, the story must have taken place before 1895 (the date when his wife died). Dugald MacKinnon was born much later, so this must be a story he heard second hand, perhaps from Donald Campbell, Roderick’s son. However, we don’t learn what the cargo was – and why it was so heavy that they had to throw it overboard.

The recipients of the cargo were probably displeased, and might have thought this was just another ‘tall’ story. The fact that Alisdair MacKinnon’s wife isn’t mentioned suggests that he wasn’t married. It might also mean he is the crofter Alexander McKinnon mentioned in the 1891 census living together with his unmarried sister, Christine. There may even be some relation between this McKinnon and Roderick’s wife’s father Hugh McKinnon (she was born out of wedlock). The McKinnon family (wife Jane, deceased husband Ranald) lived at Galmisdale for at least 50 years.