Barra in the Hebrides
Barra in the Hebrides
Barraigh
Barra, shown left (click photograph to enlarge), is often seen as the most romantic of the Hebridean islands and the reasons for this are not hard to find. Its physical setting, size and landscape are all its own, and the personal 'feel' one gets from its ancient past, its social history, its Gaelic culture and its Celtic Catholicism is one of acceptance and belonging. The visitor is ever enchanted with the very 'idea' of Barra; it is easy to love it even if you have never seen it. Something like St Kilda.
Much of Barra's engaging mystery is represented by two locations. The first is Kisimul Castle, 'the castle in the sea', set uniquely in the seclusion of Castlebay harbour and speaking of other times and linked strongly with the MacNeills of Barra down to the present day, with its current 'American' Chief. To view it from the road rising east above Castlebay (with the ephemeral string of the Bishop's Isles to south) is to gain a lasting image of how many people 'in dreams behold the Hebrides,'
It is a useful antidote to be reminded of how hard people have had to work getting a living here from the land and the sea. And it must not be forgotten that Barra suffered the common social traumas of overpopulation in harsh conditions and the subsequent loss of its people through emigration. More recent times have seen the coming of a strong fishing tradition as well as a strong link with the merchant navy and migrant work in the cities and elsewhere.
The second location of kernel importance is Cille Bharra in the north. It epitomises Barra's continuing link with its Celtic past both in religion and in language. Barra's unbroken chain of attachment to the Celtic Church is one of its most outstanding features. A most fortunate element of this is how this sustained system of belief has tended to support and complement the secular Gaelic culture within which it has existed. So it is that Barra's Catholicism and Gaelic culture tend to be synonymous in people's minds.
Barra's ancient past has recently been brought to the fore due to the extensive work undertaken by archeologists from the University of Sheffield and their first book (Barra: Archeological Research on Ben Tangaval. 1995) is an essential part of the Barra story.
See also: Castlebay on Barra, Northbay on Barra & Vatersay in the Hebrides
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