4. A Bit of History!

Now that we have the MacDonalds comfortably(?) installed in Drinishader, let's pop in something about the history of the islands and the clan. The islands have been inhabited for up to 15 000 years, and one tradition states that the very first settlers came up from Spain. There is a Celtic corner of Spain called Galicia. The jury is still out on that one, but the DNA has some evidence of it.

There is also the tradition that the Celts who inhabited Britain came from the great plains of Europe, and brought the horse with them. What we do know is that the Romans, who managed to conquer the Southern Celts, built a huge wall across the North of England and declared that civilisation ended there.

Meanwhile, our sunworshipping ancestors were erecting stone circles, and living on venison and seafood. Their pottery has been dug up near the Teampull at Northton. There are traces of neolithic(Stone Age) and Bronze Age  settlements, and of agriculture, but lots of work has to be done before we get the whole picture.

Some of our ancestors came from Munster, Cork and Kerry and added their bit. they also brought their brand of Christianity, along with St Columba. One of their tribes was the Scots.

Celts are we? As kids we all thought so. Round about 700CE the Vikings hit the Hebrides, massacring monks, stealing anything that glittered and basically taking over. They only left after Alexander III  Beat them at the Battle of Largs in 1263.  By then they had transferred their DNA to their descendants, so we are Scandinavian Celts.   And our chiefs are descended from Somerled and  from  Dalriadic Celts. that's why the place names are Norwegian and the language Gaelic.

View From Drinishader

But what are the Macdonalds doing in the tough, stony Bays instead of lovely Northton? 

And even pretty Stockinish with its colourful fishing boats is a bit of a shock when we all know Grandpa

was a crofter.