|
One
of the earliest families (on record) to have inhabited
the Isle of Scalpay were the Campbells The earliest
member being the tacksman John Campbell (Iain Og). We
have taken the family
tree (move to right to veiw older members of
family, click on their names for further details) of
the Scalpay Campbells up to Alexander Campbell (1794)
who was appointed principal Lighthouse keeper at Eilean
Glas Lighthouse in 1831.
Along
with The tacksmen there would have been a small number
of sub-tenants and workers to tend to the sheep and
cattle for the Campbells, indeed Kenneth Campbell had
a terrible reputation for being a hard tacksman so much
so that it earned him the nickname "Black Kenneth".
When
the lighthouse was lit in 1787 the lighthouse keepers
and their families added to the inhabitants of Scalpay.
If you visit Eilean Glas Lighthouse today you can still
see the ruins of an extensive network of paths/roads
leading from the boundary to the lighthouse and around
the area given over to farming. There are further details
on Eilean Glas in both our History and Location sections.
In
the 1840's there was a considerable influx of inhabitants
to the island when the inhabitants of Pabbay were evicted
and forcibly settled on the Isle of Scalpay. Their crime
had been the illicit distilling of spirits- the Isle
of Scalpay is now a dry island! Various stories exist
but the main explanation of the choice of Scalpay appears
to be that the people from Pabbay had been evicted and
had set sail from Tarbert but a terrible storm engulfed
them forcing them to take shelter. The captain threw
the passengers off the boat and told them to settle
on Scalpay. When the passengers cried out that the land
was barren and what were they to do, the captain replied
by advising them to take up fishing. The new settlers
soon set about becoming the best fishermen in the land,
so famed for their hard work that people in places like
Peterhead often pretended to be from Scalpay to gain
work !!!!!
| 
