Friends of Clachan Lochbroom

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Friends of Clachan Lochbroom

Community news and views supporting the restoration and updating of Clachan Church, Lochbroom to all Clachan church now belongs to our community.

We want to repair and update this building as a community asset - as a beautiful listed building, as a crossroads site of long-distance walking trails, and for its wealth of historic associations which attract interest from around the world and hence benefit the whole Lochbroom district. Where else has connections with Robert the Bruce, the '45 [including the Hanoverian minister of Clachan who res

cued his Jacobite parishioners from London prisons], the "Hector" emigration from this spot in 1773, the 1820 Clearance from Balblair and Inverlael, and the Forth Bridge? We invite your support and input to this historic community site.

11/06/2026

*** Following the Hector: High School pupils at Clachan ***

We had a good time sharing some details about the ship Hector emigrants with a party of Gaelic learners from the High School. These pupils are off shortly to Pictou and Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, following in the wake of Ship Hector's voyage from Loch Broom in 1773.

The emigrants took their last communion on home soil in the open air at Clachan before boarding the ship so the pupils were literally standing in the emigrants footsteps when they looked around the burial ground.

Clachan is not a museum, it is a community-use building, but our Hector descendant visitors have inspired us to learn quite a lot! And the detail about the emigrants - who, where from, why they went - comes from the passengers themselves: Lochbroom's William MacKenzie of Ballone [Inverbroom] and William MacKay from Beauly.

Between them, they named all the passengers and identified their county of origin. And William MacKenzie, with some very amusing anecdotes relating to whisky, described the constitutional politics post-1746 that drove Alexander Fraser and Roderick Mackay in particular to sever their roots - so we read out their stories in William Mackenzie's own words to the students. We think they will remember them!

We briefly described ship Hector's size and insurance rating [the very lowest, not suitable for ocean crossing], and the accommodation on board, but the students will see it for themselves very shortly in Pictou's Heritage Quay. What a brilliant school trip it will be. Turas math dhuibh!

Sources:
William Mackenzie's passenger list plus information, is in George Patterson's "A History of the County of Pictou, Nova Scotia" pp450-456, publ. 1877 - can view online.
William Mackay's passenger list can be seen in Donald Mackay's "Scotland Farewell. The People of the Hector", Appendix B.
Lucille H Campey "After the Hector: The Scottish Pioneers of Nova Scotia and Cape Breton 1773 - 1852".
Kenneth Macleod "Lochbroom Through the Centuries".

05/06/2026

"Scotland's gift to the world is her people"

These words were written in Clachan's Visitors Book by our most recent visitor, Mary MacKenzie Parker.

Mary and her husband Wayne came to see Clachan recently because Mary is descended from a Lochbroom couple, Colin MacKenzie [born 1721] and Isabel Robertson [born 1746], who emigrated to Pictou, Nova Scotia, on the ship "Hector" in 1773.

So far, Mary hasn't been able to find out more about Colin and Isabel's lives here in Lochbroom. Any information would be very welcome.

Colin and Isabella's son Duncan, a 2 year old, was with them on the Hector - Mary is Duncan's 4 x great-granddaughter i.e. the sixth generation after the Hector. Duncan lived to almost 100 years old, dying in 1871, the latest-living Hector passenger [see photo of gravestone].

The Highland families settled close together and remained a distinct community so it is not surprising that Mary's family tree includes another Hector passenger, Walter Murray from Rogart, Sutherland. His name is one that often crops up amongst the descendants who have come to Clachan.

We enjoyed a lengthy chat, not only sharing details of the Hector's voyage, the motivations of the emigrants, and their experiences on board [see photos of Hector accommodation, courtesy of Mary], and on arrival, but also exchanging information on all kinds of other matters.

We learned that New Brunswick [NB], where Mary and Wayne live, is "the potato capital of Canada" and producer of McCain's chips! Scotland would fit into NB but their population is only 800,000, and driving to the capital involves several hours in forest with no settlements at all. This sounds much like what the Highlanders found in 1773 when they arrived in Pictou.

The Hector passengers attended a communion service outside the church so we walked around the old burial ground with Mary and Wayne, looking at the same memorial stones that Colin and Isabel would have seen, and whose families they would have known. For Mary, this brought her closer to her Highland roots. Happily we had much better weather than the emigrants did - their service was in the rain!

Finally, en route to Ullapool Museum which had been helping Mary's research, we stopped at Ard na Long [the Point of the Ships, also known as Ard na Lough and Ruadh an Tuirc] where it is thought the emigrants camped until the Hector arrived. There is deep water for sizeable ships to moor safely and it is very close to Clachan church.

We thoroughly enjoyed meeting another of Lochbroom's extended family and hope there will be more such occasions.

22/05/2026

Beautiful colours of bluebells and gorse at Clachan today.

05/05/2026

*** Scottish Wildlife Trust Drop-in Day at Clachan ***

The Scottish Wildlife Trust [SWT] is the new owner of Inverbroom estate, bordering Clachan. Last Tuesday, they invited our community to come and learn about the Trust's activities to date and their further plans, over tea and [very more-ish!] biscuits.

There were plenty of visitors wanting to speak to SWT's welcoming staff. And SWT, in their turn, wanted to learn from the community's experience of walking over, or living on, Inverbroom's ground.

We were able to help SWT through one of our members supplementing the current photo exhibition at Clachan with a great many photographs of life on the Inverbroom estate from the 1880's when the Forth Bridge engineer John Fowler's family lived there. These photos showed such details as the crops that were grown, and features that no longer exist, such as the mill pond that powered the flour mill.

Clachan was bought by our community to keep the building available for use by the community for many different occasions. We look forward to SWT coming again.

02/05/2026

*** Spring Recital fundraiser ***

Christy Okie produced another enjoyable afternoon of music in aid of Clachan. This time the Spring sunshine matched the occasion.

The audience appreciated the performances of Christy's pupils and other local musicians. We heard cello and piano pieces, and beautiful vocals for "The Sound of Silence" [Simon and Garfunkel]. It was absorbing.

There was plenty of conversation afterwards over tea and biscuits, making this a social occasion as well as a successful fundraiser. Clachan's committee are very grateful to Christy and all the musicians for their support, and hope they all enjoyed themselves as much as we did!

26/04/2026

*** SPRING CONCERT - FUNDRAISER - FRIDAY 1st MAY at 3.00 ***
*** Christy Okie and Pupils ***

Christy and her pupils are great patrons of Clachan. This is what the community saved the church for - to be of use and to encourage sociable occasions. We're looking forward to it!

23/04/2026

UPDATE: OWNER FOUND!

!!!!! EARRING FOUND IN CLACHAN !!!!!

This earring was found on the floor in Clachan old kirk on Friday 17th April. It may have been lost by someone who came to the photo exhibition this month, or attended the concert, or the wedding...? Please ask anyone else who you know has been to Clachan recently.

04/04/2026

*** Pictures of a Photo Exhibition! ***

It was a great afternoon today - plenty of visitors and all of them absorbed by the images of, and by, crofting families. Everyone arrived early and stayed until closing time!

There was such a lot to talk about - shared memories of the people in the photos, musings on the biggest historical events affecting the district e.g. the losses of men in the First World War, and thoughts provoked by the changes in the way of life since.

We look forward very much to the next conversation on Tuesday afternoon.

02/04/2026

*** PHOTO EXHIBITION at CLACHAN: CROFTER FAMILIES from LETTERS, ARDINDREAN, RHIROY, BLARNALEAROCH and LOGGIE 1880 - 1959 ***

OPEN: APRIL on TUESDAYS and SATURDAYS 2.00 - 4.00 p.m.

Photographs from the family albums of crofters living along the west shore of Loch Broom have, over many years, been shared with a Trust member. This exhibition gives a real sense of the people - their personalities, their warmth and humour. The 2 photos below are examples of the 100+ on display.

It also shows a self-sufficient way of life in tune with the environment. Materials, transport, food came from the croft, hill, and sea. It makes one think - have we progressed since 1959?

29/03/2026

*** Baroque and Early Music Concert ***

Heavy sleet showers and gale force gusts from the northwest did not deter the good number who came to enjoy the fundraising concert this afternoon.

Once inside the old kirk, it was warm and bright, with beautiful music led by Clachan's great friends Christy Okie [cello] and David Bastow [flute] with fellow local musicians Rachel Grant [cello] and Guillian Moyne [spinet]. We are so grateful to them all for donating their skills for Clachan's benefit.

The programme included pieces by Giovanni Gabrieli, William Williams, and J S Bach.

The Prelude to Bach's "Well-tempered Clavier" was played by Guillian on the spinet that David built. We were able to examine its construction after the concert, and learnt that it is very different, in construction and mechanism, from a piano, and hence the distinctive sound. Bach's piano music was actually written for spinets and harpsichord so he would be surprised by our piano versions! David also demonstrated the difference between the flute of Bach's time and the modern flute.

It was pleasing that everyone stayed afterwards to chat over tea and biscuits, and to see them poring over a new exhibition of photograph portraits from lochside family albums 1880's - 1950's. [More on this later.]

Address

Clachan, Lochbroom
Garve
IV232RZ

Website

http://clht.org.uk/

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