Isle of Lewis

Understand

During the 19th century Lewis, like much of the Scottish Highlands, became impoverished and depopulated. This reflected eviction of tenant farmers by the landowners (the "Highland Clearances"), harsh living conditions, famine in some years, and hopes of a better life in the Lowlands or America. Those left behind dwelt in squalour, alongside empty arable acres given over to sheep, deer-stalking or grouse-shooting. Eventually the government sought to reverse these trends by providing land for small farm settlements, allotments or crofts. Violent agitation for land reform broke out, and on Lewis the farm of Coll was seized by land raiders in 1888. Agitation faded when the Highland economy recovered from its 1880s slump and when optimism grew about government action. But progress was very slow, and halted by the outbreak of war in 1914. After the war, there was high public expectation, and demand to deliver on the political promise that returning servicemen should enjoy “a land fit for heroes to live in” with priority for resettlement. Expectation turned to anger at official delay, and land raids resumed. From 1917 the whole of Lewis was owned by Lord Leverhulme the soap tycoon. He had ambitious plans for it and was investing heavily, but as an industrialist, his vision of the island’s future was industrial — fisheries, tweed manufacture and the like. He even drafted the timetable for the railway he was planning! But he utterly opposed land re-settlement, seeing this as perpetuating an outmoded way of life, and so in March 1919 the farms of Tong, Coll and Gress were raided. By autumn the raiders were persuaded to leave, but in January 1920 they made new raids on Coll and Gress, and began to build houses there. Leverhulme’s response was to stop all his development work, a severe blow to the island economy that caused uproar. He claimed that Coll and Gress were needed as dairy farms to supply Stornoway, but as a compromise he offered land on the west coast, and the raider

Getting there

By boat Calmac ferries sail to Stornoway from Ullapool on the mainland, taking 2 hr 30 min. There are two sailings year-round M-Sa, and on Sunday two Apr-Oct and just one Nov-Mar. See Stornoway#Get in for fares. In summer these ferries sell out, so even foot passengers should book ahead. There is also a ferry from Uig on Skye to Tarbert on Harris, from where you can drive up to Lewis. It's also possible to sail to Lochmaddy on North Uist, or to South Uist or Barra, then work your way north by road and ferry. It's not the obvious route to Stornoway but could be part of a grand tour of the Hebrides.

By plane Stornoway Airport (SYY IATA), 2 miles east of town, has daily flights by Loganair from Glasgow, Edinburgh, Inverness and Benbecula. See Stornoway#Get in for airport practicalities.

By bus There are 3 or 4 buses M-Sa between Harris and Lewis.

A bus / ferry service runs up the Western Isles through Barra, the Uists and Harris and across Lewis to Stornoway, so M-Sa it's possible to go the whole way in one day. There are half-a-dozen services part-route, but for the full route you need to set off from Castlebay Barra at 6:20AM, Lochboisedale South Uist at 9AM, Benbecula at 11:10AM, Lochmaddy North Uist at 11:30AM and Tarbert Harris at 4:20PM, to reach Stornoway by 5:30PM. Going south, you leave Stornoway 9:30AM to reach Tarbert at 10:45AM, Lochmaddy at 1:45PM, Benbecula at 2:25PM, Lochboisdale at 3:25PM and Castlebay at 5:35PM.

Getting around

By bus Routes across Lewis all converge on Stornoway. Buses are sparse M-Sa with nothing on Sunday. Bus W1 runs to the north tip of the island, via the hospital, Barvas, Borve, Galson, Lionel and Port of Ness; about 8 M-Sa. Bus W2 runs to the west coast in a loop via the hospital, Barvas, Arnol, Bragar, Shawbost, Carloway, Callanish and back to Stornoway. There are about five each way round the loop M-Sa. Bus W3 runs to Great Bernera, via Lochganvich and Garynahine then across the bridge to Barraglom, Breaclete and Croir; about 6-7 M-Sa. Bus W4 runs to the western corner, via Garynahine, Enaclete, Miavaig, Valtos, Timsgarry, Mangersta and Brenish; 5 M-Sa. Bus W5 runs east along A866 to the airport, Melbost, Garrabost, Bayble, Shulishader and Aird out on The Point. About a dozen M-F and five Saturday. This bus continues north along B895 up the east coast past the hospital to Tong, Coll, Back, Gress and Tolsta. Bus W8 runs to the North Lochs (north of Loch Eireasort) via Leurbost, Crossbost and Ranish every couple of hours M-Sa. Bus W9 runs to the South Lochs via Balallan, Kershader, Gravir and Orinsay every couple of hours M-Sa. Bus W10 connects Lewis and Harris, running from Stornoway via Balallan and over the hills to Tarbert, then Luskentyre, Borve, Leverburgh and Rodel.

It's part of the bus-and-ferry spine route all the way south to the Uists and Barra, see Lewis#Get in. There are five between Stornoway and Tarbert M-Sa but only one connection full-route to Castlebay Barra.

Car hire See Stornoway, they're all based there.

See

North The district of Back has some of the best farmland on Lewis, and was the scene of several land raids. B895 runs along the coast from Stornoway through a string of small places: Tong, Coll, Gress and Tolsta. Tong was the birthplace of Mary Macleod (1912-2000), mother of 45th US president Donald Trump: this background must have profoundly influenced his philosophy, and a monument seems overdue. 1 Gress Monument, looking like a megalithic pop-up toaster, commemorates the land raids of the 1920s. Gress corn mill half a mile north is 19th century but fell derelict in the 20th. 2 Carn a Mharc on the hillside above is the scrappy remains of a chambered burial cairn. Tolsta has a fine beach, popular with surfers and horse-riders. 3 Bridge to Nowhere or Garry Bridge was built in the 1920s to extend the road north from Tolsta to Ness at the north tip of Lewis. You can drive over it, but half a mile later the road comes to an abrupt stop against the bleak moorland, symbolic of Leverhulme's unfulfilled plans for the island.

East The Point (An Rubha or Eye Peninsula) juts out beyond the airport, as if giving a thumbs up to the Scottish mainland. A866 connects it to Stornoway across an isthmus. Aignish cairn east end of the isthmus commemorates land raids here in 1888: two tapered opposing stone jaws. 4 Ui church or St Columba's near the cairn is a medieval ruin. Many chiefs of Clan MacLeod lie in the graveyard, which has been partly lost to coastal erosion. 5 Clach Ghlas meaning "grey stone" is a triangular megalith. The smaller stones might once have formed a circle but more likely were part of a burial chamber. It might be Bronze Age. 6 Tiumpan Head marks the northern bound of The Minch, the channel between Inner and Outer Hebrides. The lighthouse, first lit in 1900, was designed by David and Charles Stevenson, and was as much to watch out for illegal trawling as to aid navigation. When a new foghorn was installed in 1956, the 7-year-old Prince Charl