Description of the Western Islands of Scotland, Circa 1695, A

It is three hundred years since Martin Martin's great journey around the Western Isles, Orkneys and Shetlands. The first and one of the greatest of all travellers in Scotland, Martin is also unique in being the only native Gaelic speaker amongst them. This gives his account a unique and authoritative resonance which makes it, even today, a mine of information on the history, customs, traditions and life of the Hebrides. It also casts light on the islands during a crucial period of history when the old structures of society still held sway before Jacobite rebellions altered society irrevocably.

Sir Donald Monro, High Dean of the Isles, wrote his Description of the Western Islands of Scotland in 1549. He presents a fascinating record of a pastoral visit to those islands still coping with the turbulent period after the fall of the Lords of the Isles.