Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Isle of Skye. On Skye - Dunvegan Castle; Flora MaDonald

Skye, Dunvegan Castle, Scotland

To get to the Isle of Skye - and its Castle Dunvegan - there is no longer a need to go "Over the Sea to Skye," although you can listen to part of it here: http://www.towerrecords.com/product.aspx?pfid=1182806&title=Over+The+Sea+To+Skye+-+Folk+Songs+From+Around+The+World. Go to the dot com home site, then use the rest only as needed to get to it.

No need to speed the bonny boat because there is a bridge now, to Skye.

Dunvegan.  Dunvegan is the castle (1549 or so) that is the stronghold of the MacLeods, and where Samuel Johnson visited in the 1770's. See http://www.dunvegancastle.com/

We were told that the castle used to be the staging point for kidnapping local people and taking them to the Caribbean as slaves. There are cells and underground passages leading to the water, where the rowboats would wait to be loaded. See also http://www.scotland.com/forums/history/26463-scotlands-hidden-involvement-slave-trade.html.  See specific reference to surnames at http://www.abdn.ac.uk/slavery/pdf/african-scottishfamilies.pdf/  It is a history that educational institutions avoid, see http://www.eastlothiancourier.com/articles/1/29862

Does that explain why there are so many Scots last names for people on the islands there. True? That slave trafficking was stopped at about the same time that the Crown stopped other slave trafficking.

Skye, Grave of Flora MacDonald who helped Bonnie Prince Charlie escape after his defeat at Culloden, 1746



Also on Skye:  The grave of Flora MacDonald, who helped Bonnie Prince Charlie escape. He fled in the disguise of her lady in waiting.See http://www.flodigarry.co.uk/flora_history.asp

Someone had left a fresh bouquet there when we visited. Heritage stories:  More on Flora MacDonald at http://www.tartans.com/articles/famscots/floramacdonald.html


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