Keose

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Historically, Keose, a Viking word meaning 'a deep, hollow place', was one of the principle tacks in the Parish of Lochs on the east coast of the Isle of Lewis. It sat on the peninsula between the two sea lochs of Loch Leurbost and Loch Erisort. It was an 18 farthing-land that encompassed four farms: Keose, Swordale, Miavaig and Croigarry, and was said to have contained the final remnant of the ancient woodland that covered the island before it was destroyed by the Vikings.

When the Parish of Lochs was re-created by the Established Church of Scotland in 1722, (during the period the Island of Lewis was under the management of trustees following its forfeiture after the 1715 Jacobite uprising) Keose was chosen as the location for the parish church.

This was because, it has been suggested, because the peninsula had perhaps been the location of an existing church (St Pharear in Kaerness) and, in those days of travel chiefly by boat, of its central location between the main centres of parish population.

The church itself was built on the offshore island of Tavay, and the tack itself became the glebe of the parish minister.

This meant that Keose grew in importance as a religious, political and administrative centre in relation to parish and island life.

The church, as well as its religious function, became the main location for commerce and news sharing locally until the Disruption in 1843, and the manse also accommodated visitors to the locality looking to hunt for deer and grouse, and to fish in the neighbouring Laxay river.

The first SPCK school outside Stornoway opened here in 1737, and the official parish school operated here between 1763 and 1878. The parish doctor operated here from 1878 to 1939, the Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages was also here, and the Parish Council met here until local government re-organisation in 1929.

Apparently, Sir James Matheson wished to build his castle on this peninsula in the 1840's, but could not get agreement with the Church authorities, so the castle was built in Stornoway instead.

There were 12 small tenants on the farm, who farmed 4 of the 18 farthings of land for themselves, and also provided labour for the tacksman (and later the minister). They appear to have moved and evicted a number of times, particularly in the early part of the 1800’s. In the first decade of that century there appears to have been two main clusters of houses – one fishing community (am Baile Muigh – the Village Outside) down by the sea-shore, and one (am baile stigh – the Village Inside) by the church manse, the people there engaged primarily in agriculture and animal husbandry.

Local tradition says that in around 1810 the tenants were evicted out to the peatlands to the west, where they had to rebuild their lives, and were forced by the minister to use the stones from their old homes to build and maintain the minsters boundary walls, other farm buildings, and the new parish school. It has been suggested that a village called Balnakil (or Streangal) with seven small tenants was created at the eastern end of the farm in 1823, but this seems to have come to an end following the death of the minister (Alexander Simson) in 1830.

There were further relocations over the next few decades as people continued to be pushed west, but a plan for 14 crofts were finally created in 1850 and established in 1851, and this is the general layout of the village of Keose that has continued to the present day.

The Church of Scotland, after decades of minimal membership, finally decided to close the church in 1929, and moved the parish to the island of Bernera, where it became the ‘Parish of Lochs in Bernera’ The farm or glebe was sold in 1931 to a local butcher, despite agitation from local people, desperate for land. The agitation and political pressure continued however, and in 1932 the Department of Agriculture for Scotland intervened and created a crofting township of 11 lots on the farm. Some of the families that settled there were said to have been descendents of those who had been evicted back in 1810. This became the village of Keose Glebe.

In 1942, during the World War 2, the old church (which had been converted into a holiday home) along with HMS Titania as Depot Ship became part of Port HXD – a small but top secret base tasked with the initial development of Manned Torpedoes (Chariots) and their transportation by seaplane to theatres of war;

The enterprise was supported by the vessels and crews of HMT Fort Ryan; HMT Barbara Robb; HMS L23; HMS ML 225; HMS Barsound; HMT Ocean Eddy; HMS Alecto; HMT Phrontis; HMT trawler Prudence; HMS Tuna (N94 Submarine); HMS Sealion (N72 Submarine); HMS White Bear; HMT Easter Rose, and others. The divers (or Charioteers) practiced operating the torpedoes and cutting through the anti-submarine nets that had been strung across Loch Erisort. Once the initial development was completed, the first teams them moved across the Minch to Loch Cairnbawn to train in deeper waters prior to operational duty.

Alginate Industries opened a Seaweed Processing Plant on Tavay Island in 1965 and this operated until 1980 when it closed before re-opening as a locally opened Co-operative the following year. Seaweed processing here ended in the 2000’s but the site is now a Salmon Farming Depot.

In 2016, the Keose Glebe land was purchased by the local community.

References

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