Two historically interesting chanters dating, it is thought, back to the beginning of the 19th century have found their way back to Lismore after an absence of several decades. The intriguing story was told at an event in the Museum by Dugald Carmichael when he introduced members of the Comann Eachdraidh to Jack Lockhart of Stonehaven who inherited the chanters sometime in 1940s when his Grandfather was winding up the estate of his sister (Jack’s great aunt) Mrs Agnes Stewart of Balnagowan. Agnes’s husband was James who died in 1933.
After intensive investigation Dugald, in consultation with experts, has determined that the Stewart house was in the same family since before the Battle of Waterloo and it is possible that James’s grandfather was a John Stewart who would have been aged around 35 in 1815, and that the chanters may have been at the battle. However, records are still being searched to establish whether this is likely.
Several of those present at the presentation had known Mrs Agnes Stewart and Cathy Carmichael , Dugald’s mother, who stayed near Balnagown at Killandrist as a child, had heard the tale of the old man who, when he heard a piper approaching from a distance, was said to have remarked that if he didn’t know that his soldier son had been lost in the war he would say it was his son playing the pipes. The piper turned out to be his son.
On behalf of the Museum, Margaret MacDonald thanked Mr and Mrs and Mrs Lockhart and assured them the chanters would be very well cared for.