LOCH CILLE CHROISD

Loch Cille Chriosd is a small loch on the Elgol peninsula on the Isle of Skye. It was to this loch that the inhabitants of the villages of Boreraig and Suisnish would walk, 9 miles, to collect the reeds that grow there.  A precious source as reeds were used for roofing, bedding, flooring and many other purposes.  Both the reeds and the loch were held in reverence.  Both villages have lain in ruins since the Clearances.  Columns of the villagers were seen and heard wailing in grief as they passed the church of Cille Chriosd and the adjacent loch when they were moved off the land (c.1853).

Images from this series were exhibited in the ‘Telling in Full’ exhibition at the Peter Scott Gallery at Lancaster University 2017 – part of the Lancaster Words Festival.  They were linked with the poem ‘Hallaig’ by Sorley Maclean.

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