I have only been to Isay once; on a dark, wet, and gloomy day in May 2009 (see chapter 4 of book 2). The Gaelic spelling is 'Ìosaigh'. I am not sure of the correct pronunciation; but I've heard all the following: "Icy", "Ice-ay", "E-oh-sigh", "E-shay", and "E-oh-say". Isay lies in Loch Dunvegan, six miles north of Dunvegan Castle. The first thing that strikes you when approaching the island is the gaunt outline of Isay House; last inhabited in 1860, and where a mass killing occurred.
Isay first caught my attention 30 years ago when I read the story of Dr. Johnson's visit to the Hebrides (1773). The following is from Boswell’s journal of the trip:
There is a beautiful little island in the Loch of Dunvegan, called Isay. MacLeod said he would give it to Mr. Johnson, on condition of his residing on it three months in the year, nay, one month. Mr. Johnson was highly pleased with the fancy… He talked a great deal of this island—how he would build a house, how he would fortify it, how he would have cannon, how he would plant, how he would sally out and take the isle of Muck.
Upwards of ninety people called Isay home in the nineteenth century, when it had been a fishing station with a general store. That era of occupation came in 1830, made up of people evicted from Bracadale, fifteen miles away on Skye. But life on the island came to an end in 1860 when it was cleared for sheep.
At the south end of the village lies the ruin of Isay House. The house is an eerie looking structure. Its roof is missing, and the jagged and split gable ends look like pincers pointing to the sky. Access to the first floor is via a once balustered staircase. The door is gone, and if you step through the opening you'll fall ten feet onto the rocky ground floor, as the house is now just a shell.
If he had taken MacLeod up on his offer, this could have been Samuel Johnson’s holiday home, from where he could have sallied forth to take the Isle of Muck. But there was someone who stood here forty years ago that did make Isay a holiday home of sorts, and that was the singer Donovan. Donovan bought Isay, the two neighboring isles of Mingay and Clett, and some nearby land on Skye in the late 1960s.
An earlier owner, 400 years before Donovan, was Ruairaidh MacAilein MacLeod, known as Nimheach (the venomous). MacLeod wanted his son to inherit Raasay and the lands of Gairloch, but his family was third in line for the inheritance. So Ruairaidh decided to host a banquet, and the families that stood in the way were invited to Isay. During dinner he invited each attendee, one by one, to have a private word with him and, one by one, they were quickly dispatched.
Isay is an island that's had a few moments of fame in its time, but is now mostly left alone. I visited it during one of the Northern Light cruises. My 2008 edition of Hamish Haswell-Smith's The Scottish Islands says day trips may be available from Dunvegan in the summer. I'm not sure if that's still true, and a search on the internet does not show any such trips on offer from Dunvegan. But you can get there for a few hours on the 'Go Ashore and Explore' day-trip offered by Diver's Eye Boat Trips, which operates out of Stein, two miles east of Isay. A more fascinating destination for a day out would be hard to find.
No comments:
Post a Comment