Fàilte! (Welcome!)

Fàilte! (Welcome!)
This blog is the result of my ongoing research into the people, places and events that have shaped the Western Isles of Scotland and, in particular, the 'Siamese-twins' of Harris and Lewis.
My interest stems from the fact that my Grandfather was a Stornowegian and, until about four years ago, that was the sum total of my knowledge, both of him and of the land of his birth.
I cannot guarantee the accuracy of everything that I have written (not least because parts are, perhaps, pioneering) but I have done my best to check for any errors.
My family mainly lived along the shore of the Sound of Harris, from An-t-Ob and Srannda to Roghadal, but one family 'moved' to Direcleit in the Baighs...

©Copyright 2011 Peter Kerr All rights reserved

Thursday 29 July 2010

"tolsta Peats"...

...was the Address recorded for 62 people from 11 families on the the night of 31st March/ 1st April 1901.

This small group from Tolsta in the Parish of Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis represent about 9% of the settlement's population. They ranged in age from 63-year-old George Macelod down to the 3-month-olds Christina Macelod and Donald Macleod.
I presume this group were engaged on an extended excursion of communal peat-cutting and, if this proves correct, they are uniquely recorded in the census records whilst doing so.

Update: I've been contacted by the NTHS (see below) informing me that 'Peats' is an area in the village where some people built their houses and hence these 62 were not cutting peats at the time of the census!
I am extremely grateful to the gentleman who emailed with this clarification. What remains unusual about the entries is that the Enumerator put the addresses in quotation marks and with a lower-case 't' - "tolsta Peats".

The North Tolsta Historical Society has a site that includes these http://www.tolsta.info/quickfacts.htm

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