Morrison Ancestry Tour, Isle of Lewis, Scotland. 

This evening, I am posting a record of today's private tour on Isle of Lewis, Hebrides.

We flew in from Glasgow arriving Stornoway after 8.00am and proceeded to collect our rental car at the airport.

First we drove north and stopped at Ness Historical Society where a very helpful lady provided detailed information on Morrison history and some very welome refreshment. This facilty combines help with genealogy with a local museum.

At suggestion of Society personnel we next drove down some unsealed roads to the nearby cemetery which is very old and contains some Morrison burials. By this stage the weather had deteriorated with some rain in the air.

Next we headed to Dun Eistean, a small islet surrounded by rocky slopes on the N.E. of Lewis. This was the ancient stronghold of the Morrisons of Ness where,in the 16th century, the Morrisons made their last stand against the MacLeods. This site, of which there are few remains at surface level, was subject to an archaeological investigation by Glasgow University during 2004-5 the results of which are available on the web. The island is now owned by Clan Morrison Society. Unfortunately, our arrival coincided with a deterioration in the weather but nevertheless videos and images were obtained.

On the way back to the road we stopped for photos of some peat stacks and a stone circle.

Next we headed to the other end of the island stopping briefly at Carloway Iron-Age Broch and then our prime destination of Calanais Standing Stones, one of the country's top Neolithic sites.(See image below). Here we had a spot of lunch before driving to Tarbert to get a brief view of Harris-and some refreshment.

Finally, we drove back to our lodgings at Stornoway via some stunning Hebridean scenery.

This proved a good day, achieving our key objectives.

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