The Isle of Skye Part Three - Stone Trees and Large Boulders

 Skye Part Three

Having already covered Clach Mhor Mhic Crimmion and the potential for a stone at Dunscaith castle, it's time to move onto the rest of Skye - much like North Uist, we've got quite a few stones on this relativley small place, I'll insert the list from the content's of Peter Martin's book for you once again for a refresher. 

Add Dunscaith to this list, and potentially more soon

So left there is An Sithean, Clach Chraboithbh I'c Thearlaich, Ultach Gillean a' Bealaich and Clach Mhor na Saothraich. This post looks at the second and third from that list.

A few of these have really trumped me thus far I'll be honest, so I'll share what I have here and there and when hopefully I find more we can add to the knowledge. We'll start with the most and work our way down the knowledge list. Ultach Gillean a' Bealaich, or Lift of the Martin's Boys, first made it's appearance in the seminal text "Of Stones and Strength", released in 1996 by Peter Martin senior and Steve Jeck. I've found naught more then what was published in that book, so for the full account (and the rest of the book ) I highly suggest you go read it in it's entirety. Long story short, it's a large boulder at Duntulm, on the North East corner of Skye. Once whole, it's now split in two, and the Martin's of Bealach (or the two sons at least) were the only ones capable of lifting it, henceforth earning their names into the history books, their feat of strength forever remembered by us anoraks. Peter Martin writes that the smaller part of the boulder is the only one that could be moved but even then is in the 600-700lb (or 272.5-317.5kg) range, so even then a lift might just be breaking it from the ground with some sort of shove/lean. I'd hesitate a guess that given the sheer size this two part rock must be in, it is still extant - and likely known about locally. 

There's one source I've found about this stone online in addition to Of Stones and Strength, and it was in a weird online document that was a huge scrapbook-esque collection of newspaper stories and such, clearly all scanned in, with various notes scribbled on some pages - most of it in Gaelic. Below is the relevant scanned piece which mentions this stone.

I'd love to ask someone who speaks Gaelic to translate this, certainly on my to-do list.

In putting the sentence starting with "Theagamh" to "Bhealaich" into Google translate gives you this : "Mary seems to be swearing a little; but it is good for that. They are famed for the Gaels " which I somehow don't believe would be the true translation, but hey I could be wrong... Maybe the second sentence is intended to be they are famed for the "Lift of the Martin's Boys at Bhealaich" which would fit with what we already know. If you break down the two segments of the second sentence there, you get "They were famed all the way" for the first bit, which seems reasonable given the assumed context.

The first inlayed paragraph Google gives: "When I went last year, That I looked with joy. The stone that lifted the hero; A handful of peat in it." Maybe the middle sentence there should be translated as the stone that the hero lifted?

The rest of the passage (which I'll refrain from trying to dissect as I feel there's certainly a readable message and the mention of a the feat placing their names in memory forever is a touching end) from "Tha" to "ann" at the very bottom is translated by Google to; "

"Many people go about here teaching us that the generation who is rising up is better than ever changing in all it. They are best placed in a variety of ways, and there is certainly room for improvement in strength. Doirne is nothing to mention but to the lads of the lads, and they are dumb. That's a lump that they can't get over. They are buried in Kilmuir graveyard without seeing anything as a flock; however they will be remembered by local folklore as well as the Isle of Skye"

Clach Chraboithbh I'c Thearlaich

Or, The Stone Tree of John, Son of Charles (translation from Sleat Local History Society website), another MacKinnon if you remember the surname from Glagen-Gluine, lifted by Peter MacKinnon. Our previously used source, Place Names of Skye, also has a listing for this stone, with the same translation. Additionally it locates it at Camuscross in Sleat.  EDIT: The Sleat Local History Society cites Place Names of Skye as the source, so these two sources are one and the same.

From Place Names of Skye - a stone tree, not just in Game of Thrones

First thing that springs to mind and probably shouldn't need mentioning but for the sake of completeness - this isn't going to be a lifting stone. So if you only want to visit stones on Skye that you can lift, this probably isn't it. For all the why's of why he placed a stone in a tree, the Gaelic strength culture of showing off your strength without showing of seems the most obvious, given it's context and location - we've already discussed the Ultach at Duntulm, and the Gaelic stone lifting culture we see across the Hebrides seems strongly based around remembrance and displaying feats of strength - go read Peter Martin's Of Twixt The Stone and Turf, and additionally his research and writing on the stones of North Uist - both available at www.oldmanofthestones.com . I can't hope to explain the culture as he can, but it wasn't the done thing or acceptable to talk or brag about your strength, it was for others to judge or discuss by virtue of your feats.

Worth mentioning (I think!) is the historical context of the time - the parish of Sleat experienced large scale emigration, to North America and Australia under government schemes. Between 1852 and 1854, 302 people left Sleat for further shores, and this was only one such emigration of many over the prior decades. Doubtlessly this would have changed communities drastically as families moved and people left. In North Uist, Peter Martin wrote about a stone which was lifted by a man before he moved to Glasgow for work so he would be remembered, on North Rona there is Ultach Fear Hiort a stone lifted to remember those who perished on the Island. Through pure conjecture I wonder if this stone was lifted in a similar manner? I believe that John MacKinnon lived on Skye for the rest of his life (hope to confirm this soon,) but maybe he lifted the stone to remember families or friends moved to far away lands. 

So if we go with the working assumption that John MacKinnon put a stone in a tree to be remembered via an outrageous feat of strength, it would be unthinkable for someone to try remove the stone from it's spot to try replicate the lift. Even if I'm wrong on the why, to try remove it would risk damaging it, and if unable to be replaced, to erase a part of history and a man's legacy. All that said, if we can locate this stone, it would be a spot similar to Glagen-Gluine to visit, to pay your respects to the culture we participate in and acknowledge the feats of those before us. Handy that the road to/from Dunscaith castle and the rest of Skye passes right by the town of Camuscross so it's unlikely to be a large diversion on any tour. 

Does late mean former as in, now retired? Or does late mean now deceased, in this context. I doubt it matters really, and given the book was published in 1923, could quite easily be the latter. Or maybe he was a habitually bad time keeper. I've looked at all records on Hebridean Connections and been unable to find records of a John Mackinnon who lived on Skye and was a teacher, nor of his father, and the website only has one person listed as living at Camuscross. I've also looked at some genealogy sites and other census databases to no avail. So far I know no more of this man other than this deed, so at current that avenue of exploration is at a dead end. I've contacted someone whose relatives were MacKinnons from Camuscross, and lists a John that I believe to be the same man, but time will tell on that one.