Mull and the Western Isles, 1651–1653 Historical Background Twenty years had passed since Martin MacGillivray was seized by armed men and thrown from his own kirk at the command of Murdoch Maclean of Lochbuie. Scotland had changed greatly in the years between, although peace had proved rather harder to establish than any of those who fought for it might once have imagined. The National Covenant of 1638 had challenged royal interference in the Scottish Church, and the struggle

Across Mull, ruined townships preserve the outlines of communities whose people worked the land, raised families and made lives within the island’s estates. Their disappearance was neither simultaneous nor uniform. Archaeology, relief investigations, newspaper reports and personal testimony reveal how agricultural change and decisions about landholding reshaped the island, and why the fate of its inhabitants cannot be read from the ruins alone. High An Island transformed Knoc

Morvern and Kilninian, Mull, 1651 Historical Background By the spring of 1651 the fighting that had convulsed Scotland for more than a decade had changed shape again, but the Church was still reckoning with what men had done during the years of rebellion. The campaigns of James Graham, Marquis of Montrose, and Alasdair MacDonald - MacColla - had drawn deeply upon the western Highlands and Islands, where loyalties to king, Covenant, clan and local chief did not always point in

Mull, Iona and Argyll, 1645–1649 Historical Background By 1645, the quarrel that had begun with arguments over worship and the government of the Scottish Kirk had become a civil war in which religion, loyalty, land and clan could no longer be kept neatly apart. The Covenanters, who had bound themselves in 1638 to defend Scotland's Reformed religion, now faced Royalist forces fighting in the name of Charles I. In the Highlands the King's most successful commander, James Graham

Martin MacGillivray lived through one of the most turbulent periods in Scottish history. Minister, landholder, Gaelic scholar and, according to family tradition, a man rarely separated from his sword, his surviving records take us into the religious, political and everyday life of seventeenth-century Mull. These stories are based upon documented events. Where the records fall silent, historical fiction is used to restore the people, places and ordinary moments around them, wh

A William Daniel painting of kelp burning at Gribun, Isle of Mull For much of the early 19th century, the Isle of Mull was shaped not only by crofting and cattle but by something far more surprising: seaweed. Long before the potato famine transformed life in the Hebrides, Mull’s coastline was the centre of a thriving kelp industry—an industry that promised prosperity, altered the island’s economy, and ultimately left communities more vulnerable than they had ever been. This i

A poisonous bird, a mysterious servant, and a forgotten headline from 1910. Who was Isabella MacGillivray, and whose household was she serving when her name made the papers?

Reflected Through the MacGillivray Family in Echoes of the Clearances By William A. Allan, Mull MacGillivray Heritage Project A crofter giving evidence to the Napier Commission The Heart of History: Voices from the Past In the summer of 1883, crofters from Bunessan on the Isle of Mull gathered to speak before the Napier Commission. Their words were raw, direct, and deeply personal. Men who had known hunger and hardship stood and told their stories—stories of removal, of rent

The Crofter's Commission and Its Impact With the establishment of the Crofter's Commission following the Napier Report, a new chapter began for many crofters. The commission set out to examine those who had applied for rent reductions. This was a crucial moment in history, as it aimed to address the grievances of crofters across Scotland. On April 19th, 1890, the members of the commission arrived at Iona. Present were Sheriff Brand, assessors Watson and McVean, along with Chi

The MacGillivray family, known as *Na Dròbhairean* (The Drovers), moved from Mull to Iona in the 1860s, settling at Cnoc Oran. Their story, including Duncan MacGillivray’s legendary instinct for a direct path across the island, is a powerful reflection of Highland heritage. Based on Mairi MacArthur’s *Tracks & Paths – Iona’s Namescape*, this blog explores family, tradition, and the lasting imprint of those who “took their own road.”

I wish I’d started looking into my MacGillivray family history many years ago. But, like many people, I was caught in the rush of life. First, a self-absorbed teenager. Then a twenty-something trying to find his feet. Then a thirty-something juggling work and a young family, chasing money and milestones. It wasn’t until my forties that I finally stopped and asked, Why? Why did I support Scotland, despite being born near Manchester? Why was I so stubborn? Why did I always boun