Berneray, General

BERNERAY

(Beàrnaraigh; Norse: Bjorn's Island) Berneray lies like a great reef across the Sound of Harris, largest of the myriad isles and skerries that litter this treacherous channel. From 1998 it has been joined to North Uist by a causeway, although it falls into the same parish as Harris. The island came into possession of the Macleods of Harris and Dunvegan in the 14 th century, from whom descended the warrior Berneray Macleods. In 1633 the 'sincere and steady' Sir Norman Macleod, third son of the 15th Macleod chief, Sir Ruairidh Mòr, was granted a lifetime rent of this fertile outpost, and his descendants continued to hold Berneray until 1807, when the tack was broken into crofts. His grandson was Donald Ruadh Macleod (1693-1781), the 'Old Trojan', who acquired affluence as an improving farmer and pioneer of the kelp industry, married three times and fathered 29 children, including Capt. Alexander Macleod who bought Harris in 1779. By 1834 , when Berneray was sold to the 5th Earl of Dunmore, it had been drained, planted and dyked and was yielding plentiful harvests of kelp. Intense cultivation with liberal supplies of corn and potatoes was paralleled by an influx of people cleared from elsewhere, so that settlements like Ruisgarry became unmanageably overcrowded. Ruthless intervention by the Harris factor led to evictions in 1854, followed by the creation of the single farm of Borve, which was only broken up into crofts after much dissent in 1900-1904.

Taken from "Western Seaboard: An Illustrated Architectural Guide", by Mary Miers, 2008. Published by the Rutland Press http://www.rias.org.uk

NL58SE 139 Centred NL 55951 80066