Western Isles

​Benbecula (Beinn na Faoghla)

 

Liniclate (Lionacleit)​

Liniclate is the birthplace of John Roy Macaulay (circa 1780–1845), the earliest Macaulay-Morrison ancestor we have confirmed. The location of his house is unknown, but, based on church records at Saint Michael the Archangel Catholic Church, he and his parents presumably lived nearby.

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While visiting Liniclate, Museum nam Eilean Lionacleit, or the Museum of the Islands Liniclate, is one destination worth your visit, a sister museum to the Museum of the Islands in Stornoway.

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Exhibitions change several times a year, with national travelling exhibitions, in-house shows, and community displays. There may even be a cèilidh! In 2025, you can see the Lewis Chessmen, an exhibit on Hebridean emigration, and a gallery of photographs of the people of the islands.

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Hacklet (Haclait)

Donald Roy “Red Donald” Macaulay (1821–1906) is recorded as being born at Hacklet in southern Benbecula. Hacklet can be accessed after arriving on Benbecula from the South Uist causeway by turning east (the same road that leads to Peter’s Port).

Hacklet is a small community. Rueval, the highest mountain on Benbecula, is not far. On a clear day, it makes a rewarding, if slightly boggy, hike.

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Peters Port (Port Pheadair)

According to Uncle Angus, Peters Port is where Marion Sarah “Morag” Campbell (1833–1898) lived before she married Donald Roy Macaulay in 1855.

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Uncle Angus recounts there was a seldom-used pier at Peters Port. Many small islands and a larger one, Wiay, obstructed the entrance to the pier. Most ships in the area would call in at Loch Carnan in South Uist, a more open and sheltered harbour which did not require a pier.

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Captain Angus Campbell used Peters Port as a home port. Once, he wrecked his own ship in the harbour. Uncle Angus is recorded as saying he did it deliberately to collect insurance!

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There is no wooden pier today, though Peter’s Port does have a bus stop and a small concrete ramp for deploying boats.

Other Campbells with a connection to Peters Port include Neil Campbell, who owned a store at the Peters Port pier, and Morag Ann Campbell, who live in the same area. According to Uncle Angus, she also stayed with his family, Neil Macaulay (1865–1922), Mary MacDonald (1874–1953), and children) in Glasgow during World War I.

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One other fact about the Campbells: Roderick Campbell, a relative of Marion Sarah Campbell, was a famous bard and poet, as was his nephew, also named Roderick Campbell. He was a deep-sea sailor and composed a Gaelic song about the S.S. Politician in 1941. Roderick Campbell’s songs are also available on Tobar an Dualchais / Kist o Riches, on online Scottish heritage resource dedicated to audio recordings.

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Nunton (Baile nan Cailleach)

George Macaulay, father of Pipe Major Angus Macaulay, was born in Nunton, Benbecula, site of the ruins of St. Mary’s Chapel.

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Strome

According to Uncle Angus, Morag Campbell (wife of Donald “Red Donald” Macaulay) had a brother, Duncan Campbell, who was a shoemaker with a shop in Strome, Benebecula. The Strom 

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South Uist

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Lochcarnan (Loch a’ Charnain)

Our branch of the Macaulay family is known as the Macaulays of Lochcarnan in the genealogy written by Uncle Angus Macaulay (1906–2002). Lochcarnan is a scattered settlement located around Loch Carnan, a seawater loch in northern South Uist. Donald Macaulay (1821–1906) and Mary Campbell (1833–1898) lived at Loch Carnan in a croft house on the Rughashinish peninsula close to Loch Carnan. As far as we know, it is the derelict croft house pictured below although further research may complicate that story. 

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Donald and Mary would have raised a family in that house consisting of many of our grandfathers and grandmothers (or great-grandfathers and great-grandmothers). They were: 

• Mary Macaulay 1856–1935

• Angus Macaulay 1858–December 29, 1870

• John Macaulay 1860–December 29, 1870

• Alasdair Macaulay 1863

• Neil Macaulay (1865–1922) 

• Mary Ann Macaulay (1867)

• Angus John Macaulay (December 31, 1870–1939)

• Catherine Macaulay (b. 1873)

• Angus Macaulay (b.1875)

• Colin Macaulay (1876–1949), who married Ann MacDonald (circa 1882–1966) who was herself from Loch Carnan.

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Loch Carnan itself, Uncle Angus relates, was the setting of a tragic story. Angus and John Macaulay drowned in Loch Carnan as boys while looking for shinty sticks on the ice around Christmastime in 1870. They were twelve and ten years old. Two days later, before the year was out, Mary, their pregnant mother, gave birth, and she named the child John Angus to carry on the names of the two boys.

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When visiting South Uist, you can stay at the Orasay Inn, which is owned by Isobel and Allan Graham. Isobel is a descendant of Colin Macaulay (1876–1949). Isobel (née Macaulay) is the daughter of Donald Macaulay (1909–1956), the son of Colin Macaulay above (1876–1949), and Catherine Mary Macinnes (1922–2010) both of whom remained in Loch Carnan.