Boreraig and Suisinish
Check out the video under “Podcasts” called “The lost villages of Skye.” We visited these two cleared villages a couple of weekends ago and were impressed by the atmosphere of the places, touched by the resonances of the past. Taking away the emotions of the Highland Clearances it was also a great walk for what was a pretty grey and dull day, not really suitable for the high tops…
July 31st, 2009 at 9:58 am
Beautiful spot but a particularly nasty clearance. My neighbour has an interesting tale as some of the cleared managed to stay on Skye and settle near the villages. There’s an 8th century temple across the loch at Ord, Teampall Choan, where Saint Comgan preached around 720AD - there’s one at Boreraig too, from the same date. Comgan’s parish in those days. Also, if you wander up the loch a bit you’ll see Sgeir Gormul - the Rock of Gorm Suil (Blue Eye), the famous witch but that’s another story… very historical area. Thanks for the vid!
July 31st, 2009 at 10:17 am
Thanks Alistair, and thanks for the extra information. All fascinating stuff.
September 17th, 2009 at 7:53 pm
My neighbour Alastair’s great grandfather was cleared to our village, Drumfearn, across the loch. Alastair’s croft house has lintel stones from his relative’s original house in Boreraig. We’re building a house on the hill above and will be calling it Boreraig.
September 18th, 2009 at 5:55 am
Thanks for that Jim. I’m off there this weekend with a BBC film crew to try and find out more about those clearances. Visiting Boreraig and Suisinish as part of a lkong walk through Skye for a programme to be shown on Boxing Day. Good luck with the house building.