Our March presentation in the Friends seminar series 2024/25, will take place via zoom on Friday 14 March 2025 at 19:30 UK time when Kirsty MacFarlane will present ‘A Search for Campbell Connections on Coll’.

For nearly 150 years from the 1670's, the House of Argyll had a strong ownership presence on the isle of Coll and the Campbell name continued until 1949 with the death of the last of the local lairds, Colin Buchanan-Campbell. As landowners of both ends of the island at Cornaig and Caolas, plus of a number of other holdings scattered within the MacLean of Coll estate, the Campbells must have exerted some influence over the life of the island and of their properties in particular. And yet, it is almost impossible, in the amateur view of the presenter, to discover what investment or management took place under their direction during this time.

Based at Sorrisdale at the eastern tip of Cornaig, Kirsty MacFarlane has spent years trying to make sense of the many ruins, tracks, ditches and dykes that are all that remain in Sorrisdale to indicate how land management in particular may have been practised and directed by the Campbell landowners. A trip to the Inveraray Castle Archives seemed the logical next step in trying to fill in the gaps. Thanks to the wonderful records there available to researchers, the picture is now a little clearer in this part of Coll.

Kirsty was born into a Gaelic-speaking, Hebridean family, one half of which is from Coll. She went to school in Montreal for 10 years, obtained an Arts degree from Edinburgh University and, after a life of being a sea-going crofter’s daughter and a landowner's wife, became a Gaelic Medium primary teacher. She has always been interested - as an enthusiastic amateur - in genealogy, local history and land management. These interests, combined with a love of detective stories, prompted her to go to Inveraray to find clues to the history of the place where she lives. She hopes one day to publish her findings.

The seminar will be given on Zoom.
Attendance at the seminar is free to members of the Friends. Non-members are asked to make a £10 donation to the Friends at Donate to Friends of the Argyll Papers (enthuse.com).
All attendees should book their place by emailing Alison at: friendsoftheargyllpapers@gmail.com