Framedlight

On the third day of the workshop we made a foray into Lewis to photograph the rock arch at  Rubha na Beirghe and spend sunset at the megalithic Callanish Stones. In between we went to  Dalmore Beach and Callanish II which lies a little way away from Callanish I, the main site, above  Loch Ceann Hulabhaig. Again there was little cloud in the sky.  I took a Lensbaby to make some more interesting pictures of the arch and stones, as well as the straight ones.

We intended getting to Harris by the end of the day, but we were determined that our trip out from the Uig peninsula should be as interesting as possible. At Camas Uig we stopped the van next to a large wooden replica of one of the Lewis chessman. This Viking chess set was found in a small stone chamber at the top of the beach in 1831. The pieces, which had been carved from walrus teeth, are thought to have been made in the 12th century, during the period when the Vikings ruled Scotland. The set is in the British Museum, not a popular place for exhibition with the Scots. We walked down to the dunes on the beach, presumably it was this shifting sand that had disclosed the treasure. Retracing our steps to the main road we came across a little stream and waterfall which I stopped to photograph from a slightly precarious position balanced on the rocks at the side. As you can see the weather was quite dark, although not actually raining and we made a spurt to r...

The Uig area of Lewis has some historical sites. Near Reef beach a memorial to the resistance made by crofters to the plans of the laird, Sir James Matheson, to turn the area into a sheep farm. The eviction notices were served in 1848-9, and by 1851 most of the crofters had gone and the population had fallen from 186 to nine.  In the late 19th century the Deer Forest Commission recommended that the farm be resettled with crofts, but nothing was done. So, in 1913, local landless people raided the stock and drove the sheep from Reef to Timsgarry Farm. They were arrested and imprisoned, but such was the outcry  throughout Scotland that they were released after serving only 2 weeks of their sentence.  These same people then went off to serve in the Great War. On their return 11 of these men wrote to the Secretary of State for Scotland requesting that the farm they worked on be returned to crofts as promised. Finally in 1921 the sheep farm, which now could only sustain ...