ST BRENDAN'S PARISH CHURCH.
SKIPNESS
Murdo MacDonald
St Brendan's looks suspiciously "Piskie" from the outside, more C. of E. than C. of S. It is a simple structure of grey rubble walls trimmed with bright red sandstone (from Arran, presumably). It is lit by plain Gothic lancets, and is entered by a small porch at the south-west corner. The church is a category C(S) Listed Building.
The church was built in 1896 to the designs of London architect Bertram Vaughan Johnson. He was a close friend of Robert Chellas Graham of Skipness, the prime mover for the provision of the church, and indeed he married Robert's daughter, Dorothy, in 1903 in this same church.
The most interesting feature of the building is its unique East window. This consists of three narrow lancets, the central one taller than its two companions. They are filled with an intricate Celtic-revival abstract mosaic of delicately coloured glass, the pattern outlined in lead. The glass is by James Powell & Co, Whitefriars, London, but working to a design by R.C. Graham of Skipness who gifted the window in memory of his mother.
Robert Chellas Graham had intimate knowledge of late-mediaeval West Highland gravestones, and the Skipness window is a product of his studies. In 1895, the year prior to the making of the window, he had published his book on The Carved Stones of Islay. As the Campbeltown Courier of 16 January 1897 observed, "Mr Graham, who designed the window, is an authority on Celtic art, and the conventional lines of the scheme are beautifully lighted up by drifts of rainbow colour, an effect which admirably sustains the character of old West Highland Art". More generally, too, the window reflects the revival of interest in Celtic design in the 1890s in Scotland and elsewhere.
A mural tablet, of appropriate Celtic design, in memory of R.C. Graham (1848-1908) will be found within the church.
Scots Proverbs
Dinna tie a knot wi' your tongue that ye canna louse wi' your teeth.
He was scant o' news that said his father was hanged.
He that cheats me ance, shame fa' him. He that cheats me twice, shame fa' me.
Sweet i' the bed, and sweer up i' the morning was ne'er a guid housewife.
They are free wi' their horse that hae nane.
Bitin' and scartin' is Scots folks wooin'.
A SAILOR'S LETTER
Hallafax
June 8 1794
Dear Mother This comes from my hand to let you no that I am in good health at presant thank god for it & I am very sorry to inform you of my Being on board of his majesty's ship the Terpischore friggat for Capt. Tarbert proved very bad to us when we came to the West Indies that Every Man Left us all but the carpenter & I & another Lad that Left Greenock with us & so I was forst to go on hoard a man of war for to save my Wages but our Capt. was at Pt Tomasseo & I could not Recive my wages but the mate gave me a Not for my far (?) wages & I will Recive it when the ship is paid off there is 4 Pound some odd coming to me & Marey Sherrar it answers Better for me to Write to you then to Campbelltown but you Can Write to my mother in Campbelltown her name is Marry Mathes you will give it to Peter Taylor in the Packet & Tell him to give it to my mother & Be shure of it & tell my mother to get Eney thing of my ants that Was left for me & if the Letter that you send home Will not Do you will send this one Peter McNaught, Sailmaker that belongs to Greenock You Tell John Hamilton's Mother for he is John's Shipmate and ther is a grate many Greenock lads, aboard I have No more at Presant But Remains your wellwisher
Peter Clark
Marrey Sherrier mind what I Told you & be shure of it & Give my Compliments to al my Frends & aquantenis & Tell them I will see them by & by.
We are Expect Peace this summer & the first start I Will do is to Greenock. I have No more in this place so I will (Drop this?)
Addressed to "Mary Shearer" Mrs Orr's Land near the West Bridge, Greenock".
What happened to Peter Clark is unknown but his hopes of early peace ware not fulfilled and three years later Terpischore formed part of Nelson's fleet in the action against Santa Cruz, Tenerife in which the Admiral lost his arm.
IN PRAISE OF KINTYRE
Rich in brook-lime and water-cresses is every
Jet of fresh water that gushes forth like crystal
in the hollow of each green pasture and knoll -
a cool sweet and satisfying cordial.
In her fields, so pleasant and elegant and noble,
sowers of seed congregate in the spring; in the
autumn the fields look joyful gay, ecstatic, rich in
the tresses of crops, in sheaves, in stacks of corn.
Her beetling cliffs are alive with starlings and doves;
into her ports and harbours flock northern divers
and cormorants as well as wild geese, wild duck
otters, seals, and swans.
This literal translation of an anonymous early 18th century Gaelic Poem, appears along with the original in Moray McLaren's The Scots (A Pelican Book, 1951). as McLaren says, "the poem is highly characteristic of the Gaelic way of dealing with nature, a highly detached but exuberant and detailed way. And though the translation, which is literal, may not suggest lyricism, the English-speaking reader is assured that the original burns with the authentic 'hard, gem-like flame'."
Page 2: Plantation Registers - Mid 18th Century
Page 4: Firth of Clyde Herring Fishery / Flint-Lighters and Tobacco-Smokers
Page 5: The Etiquette of Good Society: 2. Excursions and Picnics
Page 8: The Coast Road North of Tarbert / Roads Old and New / The Twa Brigs