Clan MacDougall visitors July 2024
Members of the Clan MacDougall International Gathering at Dunollie, were given an enthusiastic welcome when they visited Lismore in 2 groups on 31 July and 1 August 2024.
Explore Lismore, who run the island’s very popular land rover tours – were at Achnacroish to meet 20 visitors on day 1 and 36 on day 2, and take them to the Heritage Centre where Lismore café served refreshments on arrival, and later a buffet lunch in a Gathering Marquee.
Although the drop-in Genealogy in the Library had no bookings, due to the fact that the visitors had or didn’t think they had any connection to Lismore, the curators had made sure all birth, death and marriage registers, plus other documents, were available as well as a selection of books relating to the MacDougall Clan and books by Lismore authors. This was popular and visitors studied them for possible connections .
Information Boards featuring MacDougalls were also displayed and the chair of the Comann Eachdraidh Lios Mor – Jennifer Baker – welcomed the groups with an introductory talk in the Museum room.
Looking after the visitors and fielding enquiries in the shop, library and the Museum were Ailsa, Dave and Archie Clarke. Dave Clarke also ran the object handling session, offering objects not all specific to Lismore.
The itinerary for each day was varied but covered many of Lismore’s historical MacDougall connections.
The day 1 Walk to Castle Coeffin was guided by Iris Smith from Explore Lismore and Day 2 by Dave Clarke..
Sebastian Tombs and Robert Hay both gave guided walks to the Lismore parish church , once the Cathedral Church of St Moluag erected by the MacDougall’s in the 15th century. They told of the archaeological digs which had revealed that Clachan was now a site of national ecclesiastical importance after more than 1500 significant finds were unearthed. They also spoke of the imminent sale by the Church of Scotland and how urgently the island needed funding to be able to save it for the Lismore people.
Arthur Cross gave one of his popular shepherding demonstrations with his collies, and the group then explored the lost village of Port a Charrain, a weavers’ village cleared in the 18th century.
Thanks are due to those pictured as well as to Barbara Loftus, Fionn Cook, Emma Walker and Jenny MacDougall from the Lismore Café and Memory McDonald, Jennifer Baker, and Robert Hay from the Museum.