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Protest over windfarm on historic clan graves                           1/6/09

 

 

 

Campaigners warn that a community windfarm on Galson estate is being built by the site of a historic graveyard.

 

They say that bodies lie below the ground where three turbines are due to be erected.

 

Now a petition has been launched in an attempt to stop the digging up of graves and rival clans are being urged to support the cause.

 

Urras Oighreachd Ghabhsainn has been granted planning permission to build on the site - but protestors point out that local oral history record the area north of Barvas as the site of the last clan battle on Lewis.

 

Around  1654, the Macaulays of Uig raided the cattle of the Morrisons in Ness. They made their escape only as as far as Barvas. The two sides fought and many died on the moor. The burial site at Druim nan Carnan - Ridge of the Cairns is apparently named after the stone mounds originally erected to mark the graves .

 

Spokesman Murdo Morrison  said: “Those who were killed were laid to their eternal rest in this area, and the cairns marked where they were buried.

 

“The cairns are no longer visible, unfortunately, possibly having collapsed or - according to one local source - removed by workmen constructing the main road from Ness to Stornoway.

 

He added: The local authority, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (CnES) has consented this windfarm, despite stating that ...”Ground-disturbing excavations associated with the proposed development could have an adverse effect on any unrecorded buried archaeological remains present in the affected areas ... the CnES Archaeologist has indicated that the archaeological potential of the area is moderate to high.”

 

He said: “It is therefore now all important that there should be joint Clan opposition to the high probability of excavators ripping up the land, desecrating the area, and throwing out the bones of our forefathers.

 

“Behind this dreadful plan are people, islanders amongst them, who are putting aside any affinity with our genuine history - and their own as well.

 

“There is no need for such a development in this location. Everyone who accepts and respects history and tradition, be they Morrison or Macaulay, or indeed any sensitive person of Lewis ancestry, must surely register a strong protest against this awful scheme and fight once more, but together this time, against an all-too-real modern foe.

 

“Surely our joint Clans have no option other than to take action.

 

“Our ancestors, and our history, deserve our loyal support. Leaving this appeal to others is turning our backs on the story of our Clans.

 

“We can be proud of our present, as we are proud of our past, and our views must be listened to. http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/Druim?e