Whilst 1788 was a memorable
year in the history of Ullapool, representing the beginning
of the creation of the village as we know it in its present
layout and pattern, there was life in the area long before
the "British Society for Extending the Fisheries and
Improving the Sea Coasts of This Kingdom of Great Britian"
(Yes that was the proper name of the British Fishery Society!)
decided that Ullapool would be one of their fishing stations
and that a village would be laid out in the grid pattern we
know so well today.
The deed which recorded
title of the land at Ullapool to the Society is dated 15th
September 1804 and was conveyed by John Lord MacLeod, the
heir to the third Earl of Cromartie, on 25th February 1788.
He came into the owner ship of Coigeach (which included most
of Lochbroom and of course Ullapool) by Act of Parliament
on 18th August 1784, which restored the estates, which had
been forfeited by his family after the 1745 Rebellion.
The Cromartie Estates
(amongst others) were permanently annexed to the Crown by
an Act of Parliament of 1752. Cromartie had been a prominent
Jacobite and spent some years in the Tower of London; indeed
as he had raised troops for Prince Charlie from Coigeach soon
after Culloden "a squadron of the King's vessels, under
the command of Ferguson appeared off the Lochbroom coast and
dropped anchor" (Ardmair Bay). " A strong party
landed there and proceeded up the Strath as far as the residence
of Mr. Mackenzie of Langwell, who was married to a near relative
of Earl George of Cromartie. Mr Mackenzie got out of the way;
but the lady was obliged to attend some of her children who
were confined by smallpox. The house was ransacked, a trunk
containing valuable papers and amongst them a wadset** of
Langwell and Inchvannie, from the Earl of Cromartie, was burned
before her eyes; and about fifty head of black cattle were
mangled by their swords and driven away to the ships".
(The New Statistical Account Volume 14).
As far back as 1698 Sir
George Mackenzie of Tarbat, "in association with Sir
William Binning, set in motion a prototype fishing station
at Ullapool with the intention of developing the export of
salt herring from Wester Ross to Stockholm, London and France.
The effort was renewed a dozen years later. In 1712 he expressed
his frustrations pointing out that herring were so abundant
in Lochbroom that the people were using them for manure, yet
hardly a Scottish boat was to be seen. Capital, transport
and salt tax were the great impediments to development. In
fact it was not until the growth of Glasgow as a port, and
as a exporter of salt and dried fish across the Atlantic for
the slave trade, that the commercial fishing of the remote
north west coast became feasible." (Richards and Clough:
Cromartie, 1989)
But how did Coigeach,
Lochbroom and Ullapool come into the hands of Cromartie Estate?
Again we find Richards and Clough giving an Answer "Coigeach
had changed hands with the changing fortunes of Highland nobility
through the Middle Ages, belonging in turn to MacLeod, Mackay
of Strathnaver, the Earl of Ross and again to Macleod of Lewis.
It was disputed territory until the early seventeenth century;
the claims of the MacLeods and the Mackenzies for both Coigeach
and Lewis remained unsettled until a key marriage resolved
the issue (and indeed the armed conflict) and Coigeach became
the westernmost extremity of the Mackenzie estates. The formal
contract for the wedding of Sir Rorie Mackenzie with Margaret
Macleod was made in Dingwall in May 1605 and the Coigeach
Charter was confirmed by the Crown in 1609 and was then held
in the family for the next four centuries…." Well,
not quite but we are now back in 1605 and still peering in
to the mists beyond.
Jean Dunlop's book on
The British Fisheries Society has a plate of a survey of 1775
by William Morrison of Ullapool farm. Ullapool is spelt "Ullapooll"
and there seems to be evidence of houses or buildings in groups
and some strung out. They appear to be about twenty two buildings
and a road round where West Argyle Street and West Terrace
presently are; the pier did not exist but off shore is written
"In this Bay Ships frequently Anchor in 5,6 and 7 fathoms".
Twenty-two buildings (and three in Morefield), a mill at the
river and roads in 1775 appear to indicate a reasonably substantial
settlement: obviously the fishing settlement established by
Tarbet still functioning at a fairly low key.
Can we go further back
than 1698 as far as Ullapool is concerned? Well, if we examine
Atlas Novus, published in 1654 by Joannem Blaeu, there are
49 maps of Scotland. His book is a compilation of maps and
of interest are two, one of which can definitely be ascribed
to Timothy Pont and is entitled " Aebudae Insulae Sive
Hebrides: "The Western Isles of Scotland". Part
of the main land is shown and although the detail is sketchy
there is clearly shown "Ullabil" on "loch Breyn",
"Ardmery" on "Loch Caneyn", Innerlael,
and Glastullich; the area is clearly marked "Coygach".
Timothy Pont travelled
over most of Scotland compiling his maps between 1583 and
1596. So Ullapool was in existence in 1596 at the latest,
according to Pont's maps. Just what it consisted of then is
difficult to tell, but his pattern was to mark places where
people lived so evidently a settlement was in existence when
the notes for his maps were made - he visited each place personally.
In 1563 the General Assembly of the very new Church of Scotland
appointed Donald Munro "Commissioner of Ross" and
by "1574 ten ministers and twenty five readers were labouring
in Ross-shire. The county was divided in to ten districts
each combining several charges". (The Day of the Fathers,
Kennedy). It is likely that Lochbroom/Coigeach was one of
the districts but evidence is lacking.
A minute of Presbytery
dated " Kenlochewe 9th September 1656" notes that
"Mourie has his monuments and rememberances in several
parochins within the Presbyterie, but more particularly in
the parochins of Lochcarron, Lochalsh, Kintail, Containe,
Foddertie, and Lochbroome". Who was Mourie? This is where
we take the largest leap back in history. He was a Celtic
saint, "Maelruba", later Maolrubha, corrupted in
to Mourie and Maree. He came form Ireland in 671 and in 673
he founded The Church of Applecross, from which "as centre
he evangelised the whole of the western districts between
Lochcarron and Lochbroom……." (Skene).
In 722 Saint Maelrubha
is said to have been murdered by Norwegians at Urquhart (Ferintosh)
in Ross, (Origines Parochiales. Maelrubha was following in
the footsteps of St. Martin of Isle Martin fits into the jigsaw.
He may have been a colleague of Maelrubha, or earlier or later.
St Martin's Cross at Iona is unlikely to be directly related
to him; it is more likely to be named after St. Martin of
Tours, created Bishop of Tours in 372 whose teaching later
influenced Columba.
But with Maelrubha we
are back around 700AD on the shores of Lochbroom before any
Norseman called Ullap or anything else came plundering. If
Maelrubha was evangelising obviously there were sufficient
people around to make his journey worth while and monuments
seem to have been erected to his memory and survived as late
as 1563. This alone is a powerful pointer to settlements on
Lochbroom in the seventh and eighth centuries.
** Wadset n: An obsolete
Scottish form of Mortgage
