Fw: [FreeScots] Eilean Munde from the Loch Ness newspaper

[heather]

Sent: Friday, February 08, 2002 10:50 PM
Subject: [FreeScots] Eilean Munde from the Loch Ness newspaper



They came in a blizzard, we offered them heat
A roof for their heads, dry shoes for their feet
We wined them and dined them, they ate of our meat
And they slept in the house of MacDonald.















Fight to Stop Sale of Ancestral Isle Burials Site


Villagers are fighting to halt the sale of half a historic island -
because many of their kinsmen are buried there.

Eilean Munde - reputedly the resting place of MacIain, chief of the
MacDonalds at the time of the infamous Glencoe Massacre - has been put
on the market. Half of the Loch Leven burial island is owned by
Callart Estates. But the move by Glencoe Estates to sell its share,
along with the remaining remnants of its land, has upset villagers in
Glencoe and Ballachulish. Now, trustees of Glencoe Museum have stepped
in and are awaiting a response from the vendors to a request that they
either sell or gift it to them so it can be held in trust and
maintained for the community. "Although there have been no burials
there since the 1970s many people locally have relatives buried there
or have used the island to scatter loved one's ashes," said museum
trustee, Arthur Smith. "They do not want to see the island fall into
outside hands and feel it should be treated like common grazing land
and brought into community ownership." Mr Smith added: "There has been
a lot of feeling about the sale and we took up the issue after some
people had offered to raise petitions to try and stop it going ahead."
It is being sold by agents for the late Mrs Black, who died over two
years ago, a great-great-granddaughter of the former Lord Strathcona,
one time Governor General of Canada, who once owned the mansion which
is now Glencoe Hospital. The sale also includes a derelict cottage, a
riverside building plot, fishing and netting rights on the River Coe
and more than 300 acres of grazing land. Paul Nicols, at the Oban
office of selling agents Bidwells, said agents were sympathetic to the
community's view, but so far had not responded to the trustees'
letter. He added: "There has been a lot of interest in the sale from
all over the place, but at this stage no closing date has been set for
offers." The island, which includes a derelict chapel, the area's only
place of worship up until the early 1700s, was used for burials by the
MacDonalds of Glencoe, the Stewarts of Ballachulish and the Camerons
of Callart. Each clan had its own landing port and, if weather
conditions were unsuitable, they had to return to the mainland and try
again. Nearby is the island, Eilean a' Chombraidh, or the Isle of
Discussion, where locals went to resolve disputes, and Eilean na
Bainne, the Isle of Covenant, where agreements were drawn up and
sealed. One grave, that of William Mackenzie, shows him taking a
Dragoon off his horse at Prestonpans, while three others, with ornate
Celtic carvings, are believed to date back to the 15th century. One of
several superstitions about Eilean Munde is that the last person
buried had to keep watch over the island and could not get free to
Paradise until the next person was buried. Another grave bears the
inscription: My glass has run, Yours is running, Be warned in time,
Your hour is coming.

-slàinte, sonas agus sìth
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
"Whenever you advise a ruler in the way of Tao,
Counsel him not to use force to conquer the universe.
For this would only cause resistance." - Lao Tzu 

"The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws!" --Tacitus (A.D. 55-130) 

"Whoever lays his hand on me to govern me
 is a usurper and a tyrant, and I declare him my enemy."
 --- Pierre Joseph Prouhon (1849)

"And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who 
could not hear the music."-Friedrich Nietzsche-

"He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would fully suffice." -Albert Einstein

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