Story and notes about burials and archaeological finds on Tarasaigh/Taransay, 8 July 1870
Scope and Contents
Story and notes about burials and archaeological finds on Tarasaigh/Taransay telling how a large, thick skull with a piece cut out of the back of it as if by a sword was seen at Teamp[ull] Charrain or Tharrain [Teampull Tharain/St Tarran's Chapel]. He describes the skull and a large skeleton found near it. He records how men and women were buried separately, the men at Teampull Tharrain and the women at Teamp[ull] Che [Teampull Chè] although the two places are fifty yards apart. The story tells how it was a Ruary Campbell or MacDonald who persuaded the islanders to break with the tradition. The belief was that a woman's body buried at Teampull Tharain would be found on the top of Cladh Chè the following morning. He asked them to test this belief by burying the body of a woman beside her husband and the following morning she was still buried there. A note written transversely over the text in pencil reads 'Skull found by Don[ald] Macdonald Taransay was as large as a big kettle found at Aoi [Uidh] near the cross.'
Dates
- Creation: 8 July 1870
Language of Materials
Gaelic English
Conditions Governing Access
This material is unrestricted.
Extent
From the Series: 64 folios ; 19.5 x 23 cm
Physical Location
5.07
Physical Location
folio 4r, line 6 to folio 4v, line 4
- Archaeology
- Cemeteries
- Cladh Tharain Taransay Inverness-shire Scotland
- Customs
- Funeral Rites and Ceremonies
- Saints
- Skull
- Tales
- Taransay Harris Inverness-shire Scotland
- Taransay Inverness-shire Scotland
- Taransay Inverness-shire Scotland
- Teampull Tharain Taransay Inverness-shire Scotland
- Uidh Taransay Inverness-shire Scotland
Subject
- Campbell, Roderick (Ruairidh | or MacDonald | Taransay | Inverness-shire | Scotland) (Person)
- MacDonald, Donald, c1825- (Taransay | Inverness-shire | Scotland) (Person)
Creator
- From the Fonds: Carmichael, Alexander, 1832-1912 (Excise officer | folklorist and antiquarian | Edinburgh | Scotland) (Person)
- From the Fonds: Watson, William John, 1865-1948 (Professor of Celtic) (Person)
Repository Details
Part of the University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections Repository
Centre for Research Collections
University of Edinburgh Main Library
George Square
Edinburgh EH8 9LJ Scotland
+44(0)131 650 8379
heritagecollections@ed.ac.uk