Skip to main content

Story and notes about burials and archaeological finds on Tarasaigh/Taransay, 8 July 1870

 Item
Identifier: Coll-97/CW116/12

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