Struthan Cottages - Tiree Accommodation » Tiree Folklore

Ringing Stone, Tiree

tireecottage — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 21:35:30 +0000

Tiree Love Song

tireecottage — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 22:01:21 +0000

Mike Milne, Aran Silmeryn and Denise Aspinall performs at the Al Whittle Theatre on Dec 6, 2008, during “Oh Night Kitchen Divine!” This song is a Traditional Scottish song called “The Tiree Love Song”. I could listen to this sort of music all night long.

The Tiree Love Song

St Patrick’s Chapel – Tiree

tireecottage — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 21:47:01 +0000

Tiree’s certainly an island for going out on nice walks. There’s nothing more pleasant than heading off into the unknown or around the miles of beautiful scenery around the coastline. If/when you do get out and about, be sure to visit “St Patrick’s Chapel”. Located at the end of Balephuil Beach on the small headland called “Ceann a Mhara” this 6th century chapel had connections to Iona. Tiree used to supply the monastic community with their corn. Several small chapels and ruins still exist on Tiree.

According to the sign in the picture below, the chapel walls were intact until as recently as 1898 when two local lads apparently vandalised the building. Legend has it they died soon after as a result of the desecration.

I’ve only ever been to the little chapel once when i was a child and i remember being fascinated by the engravings carved deeply into the stones. Even back then there was something peaceful and amazing about the place.

Thanks to Gordon Scotts excellent blog for the (assumed) use of these 2 photographs. (His link is in the site menu on the right).

The Battle of Tiree Sheaves

tireecottage — Mon, 04 May 2009 13:57:13 +0000

This ancient Tiree battle is believed to have been fought between Loch Bhasapol and Cornaigmore beach (within 1 mile from Struthan Cottage!) many centuries ago.

Vikings try to take Tiree

Fionn (meaning “Fair”) was the son of an irish mother and Norse father. One day, while working in the fields with his followers, Fionn suddenly spotted Norsemen coming to attack them from the nearby beach. He immediately sent Thinman, also known as Duorglas or Gleghlas (“Intensly Gray”) and famous for his great speed, and the Back of the Wind macae, son of Ronan, to fetch weapons from Ciste nan Arm, a small armoury in Caolas, a distance of 8 miles away.

The story continues with the Norsemen landing and the battle began, the Tiree folk , led by Fionn only using straw sheaves to defend off the incoming sword blows. They used the sheaves by thrusting them into the bodies of the enemy Viking raiders and held them at bay, long enough until Thinman returned with the weapons. They then fought furiously , defending their families and drove the Norsemen back to the shore, never to return to Tiree again. To this day, there is a saying on the island , “A corn sheaf to its band in a Norsemans stomach“.