The Western Isles - The Rough Guide to Scottish Highlands and Islands - page 321

Barra (Barraigh)
Just four miles wide and eight miles long, Barra is like the Western Isles in miniature:
sandy beaches, backed by machair, mountains of Lewisian gneiss, prehistoric ruins, Gaelic
culture and a laidback, welcoming Catholic population of around 1200. Like some feudal
island state, it was ruled over for centuries, with relative benevolence, by the MacNeils.
Unfortunately, the family sold the island in 1838 to Colonel Gordon of Cluny, who had
also bought Benbecula, South Uist and Eriskay. The colonel deemed the starving crofters
“redundant”, and offered to turn Barra into a state penal colony. The government
declined, so the colonel called in the police and proceeded with some of the cruellest
forced Clearances in the Hebrides. In 1937, the 45th chief of the MacNeil clan bought
back most of the island, and in 2003 gifted the estate to the Scottish government.

6

Castlebay (Bàgh a Chaisteil)
The only settlement of any size on Barra is CASTLEBAY (Bàgh a Chaisteil), which curves
around the barren, rocky hills of a beautiful wide bay on the south side of the island.
It's difficult to imagine it now, but Castlebay was a herring port of some significance in
the nineteenth century, with up to four hundred boats in the harbour and curing and
packing factories ashore. Barra's religious allegiance is immediately announced by the
large Catholic church, Our Lady, Star of the Sea, which overlooks the bay; to underline
the point, there's a Madonna and Child statue on the slopes of Sheabhal (1260ft), the
largest peak on Barra, and a fairly easy hike from the bay.

Kisimul Castle
April-Sept daily 9.30am-noon & 1.30-4.30pm • £5.50; HS • T 01871 810313 • Access by ferry (every 30min), weather permitting
As its name suggests, Castlebay has a castle in its bay, the picturesque medieval
islet-fortress of Caisteal Chiosmuil, or Kisimul Castle , ancestral home of the MacNeil
clan. The castle burnt down in the eighteenth century, but when the 45th MacNeil
chief - conveniently enough, a wealthy American and trained architect - bought the
island back in 1937, he set about restoring the castle. There's nothing much to see
inside, but the whole experience is fun - head down to the slipway at the bottom of
Main Street, where the ferryman will take you over.

Dualchas
The Square • March, April & Sept Mon, Wed & Fri 10.30am-4.30pm; May-Aug Mon-Sat same hours • £2 • W barraheritage.com
The Barra Heritage Centre, known as Dualchas , is on the road that leads west out
of town. It's an unpretentious little museum, housing the odd treasure like the
monstrance from St Barr's Church in Northbay. There are lots of old newspapers,
photo archives and local memoirs to trawl through; the museum also has a handy
café serving soup, toasties and cakes.

The north
If you head to the north end of the island from Castlebay, you have a choice of taking
the west- or the east-coast road. The west-coast road takes you past the island's finest
sandy beaches, particularly those at Halaman Bay and near the village of Allasdale
(Allathasdal). The east-coast road winds its way in and out of various rocky bays, one of
which, Northbay (Bàgh a Tuath), shelters a small fishing fleet and a little island sporting
a statue of St Barr, better known as Finbarr, the island's Irish patron saint.

Cockle Strand
At the north end of the island, Barra is squeezed between two sandy bays: the
dune-backed west side takes the full force of the Atlantic breakers, while the east