Saturday 28th August 1819
Saturday Augt 28th We started at 6 o’clock in a boat for Ulva the effect of several little islands by which we were generally surrounded was very pretty some often covered by sea birds & having a most desolate appearance, we first landed at Towart Castle 9 miles from Oban and it was some time ago used as a barracks to prevent smuggling but is now a ruin; on another island are the remains of Ardtornish Castle previously the seat of the Lord of the Isles. we next landed at Aross in the Isle of Mull, a distance of 32 miles we then rode 3 miles across the island and embarked for Ulva 17 miles where we arrived to a late dinner we received the most miserable accommodation that can be conceive to; the island bears a most desolate appearance.
OBSERVATIONS & COMMENTS:
Ulva has been inhabited since prehistoric times.
2004: Ulva, Scotland by Deus Ex at English Wikipedia and released into the public domain by the author. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ulva.jpg Ulva, from Mull - the island in in the centre
The Clan MacQuarrie held it from Norse times for over 1000 years till the mid-19th century and Lachlan Macquarie, born there 1762, is sometimes referred to as "Father of Australia". Historians acknowledge his crucial influence on the transition of New South Wales from a penal colony to a free settlement, thereby playing a major role in the shaping of Australian society in the early nineteenth century. The Livingstone family (of David connection) also derive from the island.
Lucy would have known nothing of the clearances, which took place later. Francis William Clark bought the island in 1835 and began a clearance of two-thirds of the inhabitants within a few years. Sometimes those who were to be evicted were given no warning, and had the thatch of their houses set on fire by the factor.The Clark family owned the island well into the 20th century. F. W. Clark also bought, and cleared, the islands of Gometra and Little Colonsay. In 1837, there were sixteen villages/townships, with shoe makers, wrights, boat builders, merchants, carpenters, tailors, weavers and blacksmiths. In 1841, the population of Ulva and Gometra was 859, but by 1848 this had plummeted to 150 thanks to a combination of the Highland potato famine and Clark's evictions. By 1889, the population of the two islands had fallen further to 83, with 53 on Ulva by itself.
2007: Ormaig Remains of the village. Bac Mor is visible in the distance.Isle of Ulva, Inner Hebrides, by Chris McLean. This image was taken from the Geograph project collection. The copyright on this image is owned by Chris McLean and is licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 license. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ormaig.jpg
Ormaig, above, was once the principal settlement on the island. It had been inhabited since prehistoric times, until it was cleared by Francis William Clark in the mid-19th century. Clark had a memorial built to himself, and his family on top of the Iron Age fort at Dùn Bhioramuill. A huge marble slab to F. W. Clark was "accidentally" lost in the mire, on its way to be placed here. Some say this was deliberate, but according to local folklore, this was due to the "weight of evil on it". The other parts of the memorial may still be seen.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulva
Duart Castle, the seat of Clan Maclean, has dominated the view to the Sound of Mull and Loch Linnhe with its huge curtain walls and solid keep for over 700 years. The first recorded mention of the Macleans of Duart is in a papal dispensation of 1367 which allowed their Chief Lachlan Lubanach Maclean to marry the daughter of the Lord of the Isles, Mary Macdonald, but only after her father had been kidnapped by Lachlan (an incident in which the Chief of the Mackinnons was killed) to secure his permission. The Macdonalds went on to give the Mackinnon lands as a dowry and thus the Macleans came to own much of Mull.
2010: Duart Castle, Isle of Mull by Philippe Giabbanelli. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Duart-Castle.jpg
Lachlan then built the keep that stands today though the great curtain walls were probably of the previous century. https://duartcastle.com/maclean-clan/history/
Ardtornish Castle was built in the late thirteenth century possibly by Clan Ruaidhrí. By the start of the fourteenth century it was in the hands of the MacDonalds and became one of their primary residences. After the fall of the MacDonalds, the Castle passed into the hands of the MacLeans until the 1690s after which it passed to the Campbells and was abandoned as a residence.
2007: Ardtornish Castle and the Sound of Mull in Morvern, by Jon Moorby. This image was taken from the Geograph project collection. The copyright on this image is owned by Jon Moorby and is licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 license. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ardtornish_Castle_and_the_Sound_of_Mull.jpg
The castle drifted into ruin until stabilised in 1873 but restoration work in the early twentieth century was done with scant regard to historical accuracy. http://www.castlesfortsbattles.co.uk/highland/ardtornish_castle.html
Aros is a small village on the Isle of Mull that sits east of Tobermory the main village on the island which has many tourist facilities and attractions. It is well-known for Aros Castle built c1200 on the north-side of the mouth of the Aros River, as part of a series of castles intended to defend both sides of the Sound of Mull. The ruins stand on a 50ft high rocky headland with dangerous sheer drops and unstable stonework.
2008: Aros Castle (Mull, Scotland) - exterior by Otter, the copyright holder, and published under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aros_Castle_-_exterior.jpg
The castle looks across the Sound of Mull sitting opposite Ardornish on the Argyll mainland. http://www.information-britain.co.uk/county103/townguideAros/
Isle of Mull has a rich history covering the warring clans for centuries. In 1773 the island was visited by Samuel Johnson and James Boswell during their famous Tour of the Western Islands. Tobermory was built by the British Fisheries Society in 1788, as a planned settlement to support the fishing industry.
2003: Tobermory, Isle of Mull. Taken by en:user:Deus Ex. and released into public domain.https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tobermory,_Isle_of_Mull.jpg
Following the Highland Clearances in the 18th and 19th centuries, and the Highland Potato Famine, the population fell from 10,000 to less than 3,000 and the island economy collapsed. By the early 20th century there were more sheep than people. Tobermory (above), with just over a thousand people (the largest settlement on Mull) is home to the only whisky distillery on the island. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isle_of_Mull
We have kindly been given a link by a reader to early postcard pictures of Mull that can be found at https://mullfamilies.co.uk/ On behalf of Mull Families, we have been generously sent these images of Tobermory, attributed to 1897 and looking onto Victoria Street.
https://mullfamilies.co.uk/
https://mullfamilies.co.uk/
The Most Miserable Accommodation: The Inn at Ulva was popular with visitors to Staffa. However, although it called itself a "temperance inn", its keeper was charged three times with breach of licence. It burnt down in 1880 - the buildings were thatched, and the guest book, which contained many famous signatures was destroyed with it. It reopened, but was finally closed in 1905. This is probably where the Coplands were miserably accommodated. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulva
The following Postcard of Ulva Inn, from the Mull Families Collection, may well have been taken around the time it was closed in 1905.
Can you help us?
Old Regency Prints, Pictures an Coaching maps: Do you have access to any prints or pictures showing what town and country would have looked like when Lucy travelled through? Any illustrations of what she would have seen in 1819 will enliven our research.
New Pictures: Do you have any modern pictures of the streets, buildings, gardens and views that would enable us to see the changes that two centuries have wrought?