Lismore: 'The Great Garden'

By Robert Hay

From their first sight of Tirefour Broch, dominating approaches from mainland, visitors to the Isle of Lismore can explore an outstanding heritage of monuments to the past—Bronze Age cairns, medieval castles, the Cathedral of Argyll, carved graveslabs, deserted townships and watermills, not to mention a Stevenson lighthouse. Talking to islanders, they soon realize that there is also a long and unbroken tradition of Gaelic culture. This is a guidebook to the story of Lismore, placing the events in the context of the times. Because of its strategic position at the mouth of the Great Glen and its fertility, as a limestone island, Lismore played an important part in the prehistory and early history of the West Highlands and Islands, not least as the headquarters of the community of Celtic monks founded by St Moluag. Colonized by the Vikings, and forming part of the extensive empire of the Gallgael leader Somerled, it was at the center of the complex power play between the rulers of Norway and the emerging Scottish nation. The MacDougalls built castles and established the diocese of Argyll on the island, but lost possession in the Wars of Independence, and it passed through the hands of the Stewarts to the Argyll and Glenorchy Campbells, who protected it from the effects of warfare and raiding, including the Jacobite Rebellions. The enthusiasm of the Campbells for keeping records provides an opportunity to discover a great deal about the lives of the ordinary people, and the fact that there was limited immigration before the middle of the nineteenth century means that the census records give a clear picture of a closed community undergoing rapid change.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Birlinn
• Release date: May 1, 2009
• ISBN: 9780857903594

Robert Hay

Robert Hay spent his professional life as a professional agricultural and environmental scientist. After academic posts at Edinburgh, Lancaster and the Scottish Agricultural College, he was director of the Scottish Agricultural Science Agency. He has lived full time on Lismore since 2006, where he is the archivist of the Historical Society.