Short Break in Lismore

Lismore is ten miles long and one and a half miles wide, with its highest point at about 400 feet. The main car ferry leaves from Oban and docks at Achnacroish on the east side. We took the passenger ferry from Port Appin for the short crossing, and arrived at the island’s north end.

The limestone rock accounts for the magnificent flora, and as we walked southwards I identified 52 species of plants in flower. The roadside was a veritable rock-garden, with glorious colour combinations such as thyme, yellow bedstraw, harebells, orchids and silverweed amongst the rocks, while fuschia hedges were in full flower.

Some areas are very stony which must have made tilling the land difficult in former times. The Old Statistical Account describes the labour involved in making peats to burn lime:‘The process of making them in Lismore is difficult beyond conception, as they are first tramped and wrought with men’s feet, and then formed by the women’s hands.’

Oats and barley were widely grown, and the island boasted three meal mills. The population once reached 1,700; today it is 140, tourism is a major occupation, while the farmers rear cattle and sheep.

One of the finest early monuments is a Pictish broch on a hill looking towards the craggy Eilan Dubh and the mainland beyond. The broch is seventeen feet high at its maximum and shows considerable evidence of a passageway between its two walls.

Christianity came to Lismore in the 6th century with St. Moluag, a contemporary of St. Columba. The race was on between the two to claim the island but, according to legend St. Moluag won by cutting off his little finger and throwing it ashore! He also took the faith to many on mainland Scotland and even reached Iceland.

The Vikings built a castle on the west side, while in the 13th century the Bishopric of Argyll was established, with a cathedral in Lismore’s centre which lasted until the Reformation. Part of the Choir, though much altered, became the present church. The Book of the Dean of Lismore, a remarkable collection of Gaelic poetry, was compiled by James MacGregor of Glenlyon, Dean in the early 16th century.

Like many islands the population grew dramatically in the 18th century and Lismore could not sustain the numbers. Three waves of emigration to North Carolina took place between 1775 and 1795, while Canada, Australia and New Zealand were favoured for settlement in the 19th century.

Lismore is a delight to visit for a day either as a walker or a cyclist. Bicycles can be hired on the mainland and transported free. Walking is easy and if it is fine you will be assured some of the West Coast’s most beautiful views. Later, over plates of delicious seafood in Port Appin, we looked seawards to a white blanket of cloud sitting on an almost white and utterly still sea.

As we watched, the shape of Lismore slowly emerged as if confirming its existence, and reminding us of its long and, at times, important history.