Early history

Human presence on Barra since the Neolithic era was established by the discovery of a near-complete pottery beaker dating from 2500 BC during the construction of a road in the 1990s. A number of stone remains were also found, including a neolithic "work platform", which complement the several standing stones scattered around the island. In the hills to the north of Borve, there is a large chambered cairn, sited in a prominent position.

Beyond the main island, a Bronze Age cemetery is located on Vatersay, as well as an Iron Age broch; the remains of a similarly aged broch is located on the east of Barra itself. Remains of Bronze Age burials and Iron Age roundhouses were also discovered in sand dunes, near the hamlet of Allasdale, following storms in 2007^{[note 1]}. Occupation of Barra continued during the later Iron Age, as evidenced by the discovery of a wheelhouse from the end of the period, which was later re-occupied between the 3rd and 4th centuries, and again in the 7th and 8th centuries.

These occupations were followed in the 9th century by Viking settlers, who gave the island the Old Norse ey ("island") part of its name. Various origins of Barr have been suggested, including the Gaelic personal name Finnbarr, the Old Norse elements berr or barr ("bare" or "rough"), and the Celtic element *barr ("top" or "peak").^[11] According to the ancient Grettis saga, the first viking to arrive was named Omund the Wooden-Leg.

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  Neolithic "work platform", near Vatersay
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  Standing stone at Borve
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  Iron Age wheelhouse near Vatersay
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  Broch at Bruernish

Kingdom of the Isles

The Vikings established the Kingdom of the Isles throughout the Hebrides, including Barra. Following Norwegian unification, the Kingdom of the Isles became a crown dependency of the Norwegian king; to the Norwegians, it was Suðreyjar (meaning southern isles). Malcolm III of Scotland acknowledged in writing that they were not Scottish, and King Edgar quitclaimed any residual doubts. In the north of Barra, from this period survived a gravestone, on which a Celtic cross is present on one side, and runic inscriptions on the other^{[note 2]}.

In the mid 12th century, Somerled, a Norse-Gael of uncertain origin, launched a coup, which made Suðreyjar entirely independent. Following his death, Norwegian authority was nominally restored, but in practice, the kingdom was divided between Somerled's heirs (Clann Somhairle), and the dynasty that Somerled had deposed (the Crovan dynasty). Clann Ruaidhrí, a branch of Somerled's heirs, ruled Barra, as well as Uist, Eigg, Rùm, the Rough Bounds, Bute, Arran, and northern Jura.^{[12][13][14][15][16]}

In the 13th century, despite Edgar's quitclaim, Scottish forces attempted to conquer parts of Suðreyjar, culminating in the indecisive Battle of Largs. In 1266, the matter was settled by the Treaty of Perth, which transferred the whole of Suðreyjar to Scotland, in exchange for a very large sum of money^{[note 3]}. The Treaty expressly preserved the status of the rulers of Suðreyjar; the Clann Ruaidhri lands, excepting Bute, Arran, and Jura, became the Lordship of Garmoran, a quasi-independent crown dependency, rather than an intrinsic part of Scotland.

Lordship of Garmoran

Cliad bay

In 1293, King John Balliol established the Sheriffdom of Skye, which included the Outer Hebrides. Following his usurpation, the sheriffdom ceased to be mentioned^{[note 4]}, and the Garmoran lordship (including Barra) was confirmed to Ruaidhrí Mac Ruaidhrí, the head of Clann Ruaidhri. In 1343, King David II issued a further charter to Ruaidhrí's son, Raghnall,^[17] but Raghnall's assassination, just three years later, left Garmoran in the hands of Amy of Garmoran.

The southern parts of the Kingdom of the Isles had become the Lordship of the Isles, ruled by the MacDonalds (another group of Somerled's descendants). Amy married the MacDonald leader, John of Islay,^[18] but a decade later he divorced her, and married the king's niece instead (in return for a substantial dowry). As part of the divorce, John deprived his eldest son, Ranald, of the ability to inherit the Lordship of the Isles, in favour of a son by his new wife. As compensation, John granted Lordship of the Uists to Ranald's younger brother Godfrey and made Ranald Lord of the remainder of Garmoran.

On Ranald's death, disputes between Godfrey and his nephews led to an enormous amount of violence. In 1427, frustrated with the level of violence generally in the highlands, King James I demanded that highland leaders should attend a meeting at Inverness. On arrival, many of the leaders were seized and imprisoned; Alexander MacGorrie, son of Godfrey, was considered to be one of the two most reprehensible, and after a quick showtrial, was immediately executed.^[19] As Alexander had by now inherited Godfrey's de facto position as Lord of Garmoran, and in view of Ranald's heirs being no less responsible for the violence, King James declared the Lordship of Garmoran forfeit.

Lairds and pirates

Kisimul Castle

Following the forfeiture, and in that same year, the Lord of the Isles granted Lairdship of Barra (and half of South Uist) to Giolla Adhamhnáin Mac Néill, Chief of Clan MacNeil.

Headquartering themselves at Kisimul Castle and making use of Birlinns, the MacNeils became famed for piracy after attacking English ships during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. They were summoned by King James VI – King of Scotland – to answer for their behaviour. The Chief, Roderick MacNeil ("Rory the Turbulent"), argued that he thought King James would be pleased, since Queen Elizabeth had beheaded his mother Mary, Queen of Scots. Pleased, King James released him.

The mainly Catholic population of the island was under serious threat during the Jacobite Uprising of 1745. According to Bishop John Geddes, "Early in the spring of 1746, some ships of war came to the coast of the isle of Barra and landed some men, who threatened they would lay desolate the whole island if the priest was not delivered up to them. Father James Grant, who was missionary then, and afterward Bishop, being informed of the threats in a safe retreat in which he was in a little island, surrendered himself, and was carried prisoner to Mingarry Castle on the Western coast (i.e. Ardnamurchan) where he was detained for some weeks."^[20]

After long imprisonment at Inverness and in a prison hulk in the Thames River, Father Grant was deported to the Netherlands and warned never to return to the British Isles. Like the other priests imprisoned with him, Father Grant did so almost immediately.^[21]

An abandoned watermill on Barra

The descendants of the Clan Chiefs held on to Barra until 1838, when the island was sold to Colonel John Gordon of Cluny (for the sum of £38,050). Roderick MacNeil, Chief of the MacNeils, had already abandoned Kisimul Castle, and built a mansion in the north of Barra; the ensuing debt was one of the reasons he sold the island.

In common with many of the new Anglo-Scottish landlords, Colonel Gordon evicted most of the islanders to make way for sheep farming. Some of the displaced islanders variously went to the Scottish mainland. Others joined the Scottish diaspora in Australia, New Zealand, the United States, and Canada.

Gaelic traditional singer and Barra native Flora MacNeil later recalled one the best sources of the Gaelic songs she learned at local ceilidhs was her mother's cousin, Mary Johnstone. Johnstone's parents had moved to Mingulay after being evicted by Colonel Gordon's factors and she returned to her ancestral island after Mingulay was abandoned in 1912. In later years, Johnstone would regularly visit the MacNeil family's croft near Castlebay and sing at the ceilidhs.^[22]

By far the worst mass evictions took place, according to Barra seanchaidh (historian) John "The Coddy" MacPherson, during the Highland Potato Famine of the 1840s. Many residents of Barra were unwillingly rounded up and forced by Colonel Gordon's factors to board the Admiral, an immigrant ship anchored at Lochboisdale, South Uist, and which then set sail for Canada.^[23]

MacPherson later said of those who were evicted, "Now they were aboard, and they sailed away and it took them six months, I think, to get across from Lochboisdale to Quebec - or the St. Lawrence somewhere anyway. After that, there was nothing for them but trees and poverty, and those wretched fellows had to back it for life. Going through the hardships of the emigrants who went across the Atlantic in the Admiral, not many people would credit them today."^[24]

The MacNeil Chiefs were also among the migrants, settling at first in Canada, but moving to the United States by the 20th century. Barra was restored to MacNeil ownership in 1937 when the Barra estate, which encompassed most of the island, was bought by Robert Lister Macneil, an American. In 2000, his heir, Ian Roderick Macneil (another American), let Kisimul Castle to Historic Scotland, on a 1000-year lease (for a rental of £1 and a bottle of whisky, per annum). In 2003, he transferred ownership of the Barra Estate to the Scottish Government;.^[25] Under Scottish law, the inhabitants have the right to take possession of the estate themselves, if they so wish.

Having been flown unofficially for at least a decade, the island's flag received official recognition from the Lyon Court and the Flag Institute in November 2017. The design is a white Nordic cross on a green background.^[26][27]

Film and TV

Besides being regularly featured in various television programmes on the Scottish Gaelic channel BBC Alba since it began broadcasting in 2008, Barra has also been part of:

The 1949 Ealing Studios comedy Whisky Galore! was filmed on Barra. The film is based on the novel Whisky Galore by Sir Compton Mackenzie, itself a fictionalised telling of the story of the SS Politician, which ran aground with a cargo of some 50,000 cases of whisky on board in 1941. Mackenzie, who lived near the airport and died in 1972, is buried in a grave marked by a simple cross at Cille Bharra cemetery, which is situated a little way up the hillside overlooking Eoligarry jetty.^[4][51][52] The sequel Rockets Galore! was also filmed in and around the island.^[53]

The sitcom Dad's Army, broadcast from 1968 to 1977, Private Frazer claims to be from Barra, which he often describes as "a wild and lonely place".^[54]

Barra was featured on Time Team, in which archeologists excavated several Iron Age sites.

Barra was also featured in the 2006 Channel 5 documentary Extraordinary People: The Boy Who Lived Before, where a young boy named Cameron, who lived in Glasgow, claimed to have memories of past life on the island.^[55]

The island was the location for the fifth (2011) and sixth series (2012) of the BBC Two documentary An Island Parish documenting the arrival and subsequent experiences of a new Catholic priest on the island – Father John Paul.^[56]

Books

The Franciscan priest, specialist in mystical theology and author Rayner Torkington wrote a book describing how he was influenced after a chance encounter on Barra by meeting a hermit called Peter Calvay who had lived on the island of Hellisay for a number of years in the first half of the twentieth century.^[57] The book titled ‘Peter Calvay, hermit: A personal rediscovery of prayer’ was first published in 1977 and has had at least eleven reprintings.

Torkington's book ‘Wisdom from the Western Isles: the making of a mystic’, published in 2008, also describes the author's meetings with Peter Calvay whilst he was staying on Barra.^[58]

Other

In 2008 the Barra RNLI Life Boat, Edna Windsor was featured on a series of stamps.^[59] The first class stamp shows the 17-metre (56 ft) Severn class lifeboat in action in the Sound of Berneray 20 kilometres (12 mi) southwest of Barra in 3.5 m (11 ft 6 in) swell with 30 km/h (16 kn) of wind.^[60]

Air

Twin Otter at Barra airport

Barra's airport, near Northbay, uses the 2-mile-long (3 km) cockle shell beach of Traigh Mhor, (Scottish Gaelic: An Tràigh Mhòr "The Great Beach") as a runway. Planes can land and take off only at low tide, so the timetable varies. Voted the world's most scenic landing location using a scheduled flight,^[64] Barra's airport is claimed to be the only airport in the world to have regular scheduled flights landing on a beach.^[65] As of 2019 Loganair advertises flights to Barra in the de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter, aircraft travelling to and from Glasgow. There are usually flights every day of the week in the summer.

Sea

A large Ro-Ro Ferry runs between the island and Oban from the ferry terminal at Castlebay, and takes about 5 hours. A smaller vehicle ferry links the island to South Uist and travels between Ardmore (An Àird Mhòr) at the north of the island and Ceann a' Gharaidh in Eriskay (Èirisgeigh). This crossing takes around 40 minutes. Both are run by Caledonian MacBrayne.

Internal road

Signs at Castlebay showing the two routes on the circular road A888 to Bagh a Tuath (Northbay)

There are local buses, which use the circular A888 and the road to the northern ferry terminal to Eriskay and the airport, and usually coincide with flight times and ferry times.