Tiree Community Development Trust (Urras Thiriodh) has launched a new Gaelic History Trail which it hopes will encourage people to explore the island and learn about local history.
The Trust, which is engaged in development work on Tiree, has released a map and informational leaflets for the project. These leaflets are available in both Gaelic and English.
The Trail will take visitors to important places in Tiree’s history such as Teampall Phàraig ‘St Patricks
Temple’, the remains of a medieval chapel on the site of a 6th-century monastery, and the harbour, signal tower, workshops and lodgings at Hynish constructed in 1837 to support the building of Alan Stevenston’s Skerryvore Lighthouse, 11 miles off the coast of Tiree.
The Trail will also highlight the importance of RAF Tiree which played a vital role during the Second World War. Operating out from RAF Tiree was Handley Page Halifax aircraft of No. 518 (Meteorological) Squadron which conducted hazardous long-range flights out into the Atlantic to gather data including barometric pressure, temperature and humidity.
The weather observations they gathered helped Group Captain James Martin Stagg advise General Dwight D. Eisenhower to postpone the D-Day invasion of Normandy from 5 June to 6 June 1944. The Gaelic motto of No. 518 Squadron was: Tha An Iuchair Againn-Ne, ‘We hold the key’.
For the project, the Trust received support from An Iodhlann (Tiree’s Historical Society), Tobar an Dualchais, Lauren NicArtair, Colin Woodcock, Mabel NicArtair, Flòraidh NicPhàil, Mairi Anna NicUlraig and Professor Dòmhnall Meek.
The map and trail leaflets can be downloaded here.
