Bàtaichean, Bàrdachd, Àirighean: Tòmas Pennant agus an t-Eilean

Diardaoin 19 Ògmhios 2025, 14:00 – 17:30
An Talla Mòr, Sabhal Mor Ostaig.

As t-samhradh 1772, thòisich an t-eòlaiche nàdair agus an t-àrsadair Tòmas Pennant (1726–98) air a chuairt timcheall nan eilean: A Voyage to the Hebrides. Dà bhliadhna as dèidh sin, chaidh an tuairisgeul aige fhoillseachadh, ’s e beòthail, làn fiosrachaidh. Bhiodh fèill mhòr air, agus thigeadh grunn dheasachaidhean dheth an clò ann an ùine ghoirid. Tha buaidh mhaireannach air a bhith aige air mar a bhiodh daoine a’ coimhead air—agus a’ tadhal air—Gàidhealtachd na h-Alba, agus lean iomadach duine ann an làraichean-coise Thòmais Phennant.

Ach cha robh Pennant leis fhèin air a’ chuairt. Bha sgioba còmhla ris: Gàidheil shàr-eòlach a bheireadh dha stiùireadh; luibh-eòlaichean barraichte; agus fear-ealain air leth. Tha doimhneachd de dh’ìrean anns an tuairisgeul aige far an cluinnear iomadach guth eadar-dhealaichte, guthan dùthchasach cho math ri guthan coigreachail.

An-dràsta, tha am pròiseact Curious Travellers, le maoineachadh bhon AHRC, ag ullachadh deasachadh ùr-nodha den teacs iongantach seo. An co-bhuinn le Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, tha sinn air feasgar a chur air dòigh le òraidean, còmhraidhean, agus òrain, a’ coimhead agus a’ dèanamh àrd-mholadh air cunntas Phennant mun àm a chuir e seachad anns an Eilean Sgitheanach ann an Iuchar agus ann an Lùnastal 1772. Am measg an luchd-labhairt bidh an t-Oll. Mary-Ann Constantine, an t-Ionad airson Shàr Sgrùdaidhean Cuimreach agus Ceilteach, Aberystwyth; an t-Oll. Mìcheal Given, Oilthigh Ghlaschu; an t-Oll. Nigel Leask, Oilthigh Ghlaschu; agus an Dr Domhnall Uilleam Stiùbhart, Sabhal Mòr Ostaig. Thèid crìoch a chur air an fheasgar le taisbeanadh de dh’òraid agus de dh’òrain leis an t-seinneadair chliùiteach Maighread Stiùbhart.

Prògram:

14:00 – Facal-tòisich: Curious Travellers aig Sabhal Mòr Ostaig
An t-Oll. Mary-Ann Constantine, an t-Ionad airson Shàr Sgrùdaidhean Cuimreach agus Ceilteach, agus Abigail Burnyeat, Sabhal Mòr Ostaig

14:15 – Editing Thomas Pennant’s Account of the Isle of Skye in Tour in Scotland and Voyage to the Hebrides, 1772.

An t-Oll. Nigel Leask, Oilthigh Ghlaschu
Thomas Pennant spent nine days touring the Isle of Skye between July 15-24 1772, accompanied by a party that included botanists, naturalists, linguists and his ‘artist servant’ Moses Griffith. His 29-page description of Skye, at the time of his visit suffering the effects of rack-renting, famine and emigration, is one of the high points of his Voyage to the Hebrides. However, his published account, which remained a standard source of information for many decades, is no ordinary travel narrative: it is in fact a collation of historical, geographical and sociological information derived from a wide range of sources, including correspondence with the Gaelic scholar Rev John Stuart of Luss (who accompanied him in 1772), and Kilmuir antiquarian Rev Donald MacQueen. My paper describes some of the challenges of editing this extraordinary and multifaceted text, and tracking down the sources of Pennant’s local information: in which material omitted from the sources often proves just as interesting as what is included. 

14:45 – Pennant and the Polycrisis: West Highland Tourism in an Environmental Disaster Zone, June to August, 1772

An Dr Domhnall Uilleam Stiùbhart, Sabhal Mòr Ostaig
Thomas Pennant’s voyage through the western Gàidhealtachd during summer 1772 coincided with some of the most severe and challenging weather experienced here for more than seven decades. The prolonged climate crisis, beginning in 1769, brought successive harvest failures, economic collapse, widespread subsistence crises, and a wave of epidemics. The catastrophe was intensified by the economic prosperity of the previous decade, during which rising cattle prices had encouraged landlords to impose substantial rent increases across the region. These circumstances led to a financial collapse, profound social tensions, and widespread disaffection, thus sparking mass transatlantic emigration.

In this brief paper I shall examine Thomas Pennant’s groundbreaking tour within the context of the ‘environmental polycrisis’ engulfing the western Highlands, drawing particularly upon contemporary Gaelic songs which reveal popular responses to the unprecedented catastrophe.

15:15 – Teatha

15:45 – Soil, weeds, grass, cows

An t-Oll. Mìcheal Given, Oilthigh Ghlaschu 
Soils, weeds, grass and cows have been central to rural life on Skye for centuries. By using a combined archaeological, historical and environmental approach, we can hear the stories they tell about past lives – and not just of the people.

16:15 – Not Curious Enough? The Shieling System: On the Periphery of the Travel Writer’s Gaze, but Preserved in Gaelic Song

Maighread Stiùbhart, Oilthigh Ghlaschu
While early travellers through the Highlands and Islands observed shieling life first hand, they rarely paused to truly understand or document its cultural and economic importance, often relegating it to passing mentions. In contrast, Gaelic songs composed by those who lived and worked on the summer pastures offer deeply textured narratives of animal husbandry, gender roles, labour, landscape, love and longing, place names and local knowledge. These songs not only preserve a way of life but quietly resist the silences of written travel accounts.

17:00 – Còmhradh is co-dhùnadh