TRINITY TEMPLE, CARINISH, NORTH UIST

Its abiding influence in the realms of culture and romance TRINITY TEMPLE was not the earliest religious foundation in North Uist. There was an earlier Columbian foundation, and that being consecrated ground, Trinity Temple was built in 1263, on the same site when the former became a ruin, the founder was Bethag, daughter of Somerled, Lord of the Isles, the first prioress of Iona. It was rebuilt and repaired in 1350 or thereabouts, by Amie Nic Rhuari, a very pious woman, the discarded wife of John MacDonald of Islay, First Lord of the Isles, and reconstructed into its present form in the sixteenth century. Notwithstanding its name, we must not regard Trinity Temple as have been exclusively used as a place of worship. People worshipped there only on very special occasions, twice a year perhaps, at Christmas and Easter. It was a seminary, a college of learning, where young men from the Isles were trained for the priesthood. Through time, when this scholastic centre became famous, it attracted the attention of students from the Scottish mainland and of some from further south. There were similar institutions in the west of Scotland, much larger than Trinity Temple, if not quite as ancient, like those at Lismore, Ardchatten, Saddell, and Beauly, but in the Hebrides, Trinity Temple stood second in importance to that of Howmore in South Uist.

The importance of Howmore as an institution of advanced learning and training was peerless in ancient times. Although long since, its fame has been crassly underestimated and forgotten, part of the reason being that in popular fancy, priority over all early Scottish monastic establishments is given to Iona whose influence for promoting the advancement of piety and culture was supposed to eclipse them all. Great and celebrated as Iona was, and is in this respect, it would not hold a candle to Howmore.

Trinity Temple was connected with the Augustine Abbey of Inchaffrey, situated in the parish of Madderty, Perthshire, as was the Collegiate Church of Kilmun on the shores of the Holy Loch in Cowal, Argyll. The two writers on North Uist, the Reverend Ewan MacRury and the late Reverend Angus J. MacVicar agree that the progenitor of the Mac Vicars of North Uist came from the Collegiate Church of Kilmun to Trinity Temple for the purpose of teaching the youths that were studying for the priesthood there. Mr. MacVicar held the opinion that this medieval pioneer was probably succeeded by his sons, for there were succeeding generations of them. The office seems to have been hereditary. After doing some research into the matter, I have arrived at the conclusion that the Mac Vicars tenure of office as lecturers, or professors, as we would designate them today, covers the long period of three hundred years. The whole annals of church history can show very few parallels to so distinguished a service.

As we have already said, the Mac Vicars began as teachers and continued as teachers for many years. They were not ordained to administer the sacraments but in the course of time, as Mr. MacVicar points out, some of them must have studied for the priesthood, because the old people of the island used to refer to them as "Sliochd nan Sagart." The descendants of the priests.

As was often the case with monastic establishments everywhere, other institutions such as schools for music, embroidery, leatherwork and distillation of herbs, were built close to Trinity Temple, and also on the south side of the temple is a little chapel called "Teampull Chlann a Phiocair," the temple of the MacVicars. North Uist tradition says that twelve parsons of that name are buried there and that twenty-one are buried in Kilmuir in the North-west of the island.

For centuries the MacVicar teachers were allowed to carry on their great services for God and man in comparative peace, undisturbed and unaffected by world events, large and small, until the Reformation of 1560. Even then, the many changes brought about by the new religious order did not disturb the tranquility of the Outer Hebrides for twenty years or more, the people as a whole were quite satisfied with the old church and did not want a change, and when a change was being forced upon them it was met by stout opposition from the MacVicars', who were highly popular and exercised great influence over their followers.

Let the Reverend Angus tell the story of what transpired. "The reforming authorities on the mainland arrived at the conclusion that as long as the MacVicars were in power there was no chance of the Reformation making headway amongst the people of the Isles. So a plot was hatched to break their power and get rid of them. A tool was ready in the person of Hugh MacDonald, son of Archibald, the clerk of Sleat, a villain of the first order. He was bribed by a promise of money and lands by his uncle Donald Gorm of Sleat and by the head of Clan Campbell. Even the Privy Council in Edinburgh was involved, and it is said that Queen Elizabeth of England herself took an interest in the conspiracy, the aim of which was to murder the MacVicars. Donald, am Phiocair Mor, was invited to a conference in Edinburgh in the autumn of 1581. His wife, a MacDonald of the Isles, but not of Sleat, tried to persuade him not to go, saying that she had a presentiment that something ominous might happen. Donald said it was difficult to make up his mind but in the end he decided to go. Before he left he told his son Donald who lived with his wife and three children in a hunting hut in Carinish, to collect all the documents and papers pertaining to the Lords of the Isles and the Church at Carinish and hide them on Craonaval. When am Phiocair Mor was away, Hugh of Sleat seized his opportunity. He landed at Lochmaddy with a large force and before proceeding to Dun an Sticir in the north of the Island, made for Carinish and murdered Donald. He also set fire to all his houses and burned the valuable documents and papers. Then, by deceit and treachery and, worse still under the pretence of friendship, he lured the other brothers, Angus, Hector, and John, to his headquarters at Dun an Sticir. There, at a banquet, he put them to death in cold blood."

This tragedy took place about 1581, twenty-one years after the Reformation. We are grateful to the venerable minister of South End for his authentic summing up of what must be the cruelest and dastardly episodes in history. Then followed the burning and complete dismantling of Trinity Temple, and the persecution of its teachers, who were reluctantly obliged to migrate to remote Heisigr, or Monarch Isles. Even there, the implacable foe soon put an end to their time-honored labors. Hugh MacDonald or Uisdean Mac Gilleasbuig Cleireach, was indeed what Mr. MacVicar called him, a villain of the first order. Even the worst of villains have been known to possess a saving grace of fidelity to someone, but Uisdean Mac Gilleasbuig Cleireach knew not that meaning of virtue. Treacherous alike to friend and foe, his inveterate duplicity finally led to his death under the most tragic circumstances. Being the next of kin of Donald Gorm, chief of Clan Donald, who at that time resided at Duntuilm Castle, Hugh coveted the chiefship and all the numerous estates which went with it, so to put his nefarious designs into execution he conspired with Iain Dubh MacLeod of Dunvegan, his own perfect match in every respect, and whom he knew to be awaiting his chance to wrench the MacLeod chiefship and lands from his fellow kinsman, true chief and legal owner. Hugh got busy, sat down and wrote a letter to Donald Gorm in which he avowed allegiance in very amicable terms assuring his chief full support in war or peace. The same hour he wrote to Iain Dubh MacLeod informing him of his plan to invade Duntuilm and put Donald Gorm to death. Macleod's help in the conspiracy was eagerly solicited for he knew that the latter was only too keen to seize such an opportunity. The letters were dispatched by two couriers, one proceeding to Duntuilm, and one to Dunvegan, but unfortunately for Mac Gilleasbuig Cleireach, the plan miscarried, the letter which should have gone to Dunvegan he gave to the messenger to Duntuilm and the Duntuilm letter to Dunvegan.

On discovering the plot Donald Gorm's wrath knew no bounds but he took his own quiet way to settle matters. Thanking Hugh for his loyal letter he invited his cousin to a banquet at Duntuilm. The feast began with a course of excessively salty meat. This having been devoured by Hugh, he was immediately arrested and thrown into the dark subterranean dungeon where he was allowed to die of an all consuming thirst. A pewter jug, ostensibly full of water was lowered on a cord but on finding it empty, Mac Gilleasbuig Cleireach in his fit of madness, chewed the vessel to fragments.

For ages Hugh's ghost was said to haunt Duntuilm Castle, a factor which Skye tradition avers ultimately compelled the MacDonald chief to quit Duntuilm for a new mansion which he built at Monkstad, Kilmuir.

For nearly a century, Mac Gilleasbuig Cleireachs giant arm bones and skull adorned the window sill of Kilmuir Church, to remind people of their mortality, no doubt.

The burning of all the invaluable writings and books belonging to Trinity Temple was indeed, and still is, a grievous loss to historians. Mr. MacVicar assures us of their existence when he further says two well known families in North Uist were associated with the MacVicars in their church activities and in their educational work, the MacLellans and the MacIsaacs. They were scholars who kept written records in the days of the Lords of the Isles and deposited them in Trinity Temple, Carinish. It is interesting and significant to observe that the MacLellan lair at Kilmuir is on the left of the MacVicar lair.

In life they labored together in the noble cause of religion, and in death they were not divided. That the loss of so many important documents should have been the inevitable concomitant of every large scale melee or melee en-masse seems to be an inexplicable enigma. During the Montrose and Mac Colla Ciotachs campaigns, large quantities of Gaelic manuscripts were smuggled out of the Highlands into Spain, in fear that they would fall into English hands, a fact which was discovered in more recent times by Irish scholars and priests engaged in research in Spanish colleges. This information has come to me from a reliable authority. Who knows what Celtic literary treasures lie hidden in the charter chests of Spanish castles where they were deposited for safe custody, some lost Mac Mhuirich poems, perhaps, and other earlier works. We can rest assured that among the lost Carinish manuscripts, there were registers which were kept of all the students who graduated and also recorded details of the spheres in which they toiled after having left Trinity Temple.

What would we not give for this information now? As it is, I know of only two of Trinity Temples distinguished scholars and what they achieved in later years. Their names are - Duns Scotus, the brilliant philosopher and Donald Roy MacDonald of Baile Sear, or Donald Roy of Cnoc O, as he is called in Skye because of his long visits to his relatives, the MacDonald's of Cnoc O, Kilmuir, a cadet branch of the MacDonald's of Duntuilm and Sleat.

A friend of mine, one of the most distinguished of our modern Celtic scholars, visited the continent of Europe a few years ago, where, in an old Church in Bavaria, he found the tomb of Duns Scotus, and there carved on the stone he read that Duns Scotus had received his education in Trinity Temple, Carinish. John Duns Scotus was born in 1265 and died in 1308. He is said to have been a native of the village of Duns in Berwickshire, from which he received part of his surname Duns, and the latter half, Scotus, was given to him on the continent because of his Scottish nationality.

The popular identification of the words dunce and blockhead which were sanctioned by Alexander Pope's satirical poem, signifies the age-old contempt in which an ignorant posterity has held the man who was probably the ablest philosopher of his day. Although he was so famous and successful as a professor at Oxford that the numerous foreign students could not be accommodated in the town, and although he taught in Paris with even greater success, his name was disparaged by his opponents who, after his premature death at the age of 43, publicly burned his books and distorted the meaning of his doctrine. For Duns Scotus had dared to criticize Augustine and Thomas Aquinas and had attempted to destroy their notions of matter, from and potency, the indispensable resources of Peripatetic philosophers. Victorious Thomism did not pardon this challenge, and imposed its prejudice against Dun Scotus on its opponents, namely, enlightenment's but since Charles S. Pierce adopted Duns Scotus realism, more and more historians have become convinced that duns Scotus is to be ranked among the great constructive thinkers.

In the Middle Ages, Duns Scotus the inveterate antagonist of Aquinas was called Doctor. Now he is acknowledged to be not only subtle, but very much alive. His insistence on demonstrative proof led him to a demarcation between rationalism and empiricism that has followers among recent philosophers. Instead of matter and form, he established the extremely modern concept of or principle of individualism, which is explained as ontological independence, singularity, or the indefinable quality ultimate reality, anticipating ways of Gestalt psychology, Gegenstands theory and existentialism. Duns Scotus admitted that there is no science of the singular, but he maintained that this indicates only a limit of the human intellect, not of reality. His psychology is essentially voluntaristic. In several of his views Duns Scotus was inspired by Solomon ibn Gabriols Fons Vitae (Source of Life) which influenced many Franciscans, to whose order Duns Scotus belonged, however he shows strong originality in their elaboration.

After leaving Carinish, Duns Scotus joined the Franciscans at Dumfries circa 1280, studied and later taught, at Oxford and Paris, and died while teaching at Cologne. Tradition says he was buried alive. His principal works are two commentaries on the Sentences of Peter Lombard; and the brief disquisition de Primo Principia. He stressed above all, the formal distinction between the structure of thought and the structure of fact, and the univocation of being; and asserted a certain primacy to the will over the intellect. From this brief summary of the philosophy of Duns Scotus it is clear that to him belongs the distinction of being the first existentialist and formulator of the philosophy called existentialism, which in modern times has been further developed by such able exponents as the French writer Jean-Paul Sartre, Danish theologian Soren Kierkegaard and the great Russian philosopher Berdyaev. Like every other system of philosophy from that of Socrates to that of today, existentialism has been of late severely criticized. One critic called it a cult which rests on a false basis. In my view this is much too sweeping a judgment, especially when applied to the sane reasoning of its founder Duns Scotus. It may be quite appropriate when one applies it to a certain modern form of existentialism which has gone to ridiculous lengths. But any philosophy, or for that matter theological tenet, can be carried too far until it at last ends in utter absurdity.

Consider for instance the hyper-Calvinism which had such a vogue in our pulpits of our land a century to a century and a half ago, when doctrines preached in the name of Calvin which would be enough to make Calvin turn in his grave. Or consider the earlier Puritan era in England, when in the name of Christianity, a poor woman who had the misfortune to be extremely ugly, or with an exceptionally long, crooked nose, an upturned chin almost touching it, thus forming the capital letter O as her physiognomy was viewed in profile, all this was often enough to engender the idea in the minds of hyper-Calvinistic cranks and fanatics that the crone was a witch, in league with the devil and all his imps, so they got no peace until the often demented wretch was burned at the stake.

As we understand it today, existentialism is a form of modern materialism, its philosophy is based on the theory that man is nothing but the sum of his experiences, that all experience is inexplicable and tragic, and that to be free a man must act, otherwise he is nothing.

That to be free a man must act, is sound dogma, cogent reasoning which cannot be controverter, but man, mechanistically defined as being the mere sum of his experiences, et nihil praeterea, is a concept which Duns Scotus would never endorse. Though fully aware of the importance and significance of experiences he knew their limits. Experiences, being partly products of the mind, come infinitely short of explaining away the minds greatness, how it functions or what causes it to function.

Every philosophy aims at giving a true interpretation of life and the universe. But what is truth? is a question which has been asked of old, and is still being asked daily? Truth may be likened to a gigantic diamond of a thousand facets with each facet giving out its own scintillating ray of light. Every system of philosophy, whose aim is to discover truth, is such a facet. It is impossible that any of these facets should reflect in itself the full light of truth, or the glory of the whole thousand. So with each of the many philosophies from that of the Greek Tales downwards. Every philosophy contributes its own facet of light and can never be condemned as wrong because it cannot reflect the full refulgent light. It takes all the facets on the gigantic diamond globe to do that.

As a philosopher, Duns Scotus was more than seven hundred years ahead of his time. No wonder his advanced views aroused bitter opposition to them and earned from him much obloquy from the Aristotelian and Platonic schools of thought represented by his contemporary opponent, Thomas Aquinas. Duns Scotus has been the inspiration of the most enlightened institutions and academic circle of Europe from medieval time to the twentieth century. Some part of this credit must go to Carinish.

Donald Roy MacDonald was the last student who was trained in Trinity Temple. He was only in his early twenties when Prince Charles Edward Stuart made the brave but foolhardy attempt to succeed to the throne of his ancestors. Donald Roy gallantly espoused his prince's cause and if Charles had accepted his advice on the evening before Culloden, he would undoubtedly emerge victorious. Instead of trusting Donald's native acumen for military strategy on a Highland battlefield, he allowed himself to be led astray by Murray, who, of course did not possess Donald's tactical ability and knowledge of the surrounding country.

MacDonald was a scion of the House of the Isles, being the third son of Ronald MacDonald, the Laird of Baile Sear, and North Uist. This Ronald was a natural son of Sir James MacDonald of Sleat, the acknowledged chief of his clan. Bailesear was born in 1660 in Kilmuir, Skye, where he was raised. On coming of age, Ronald obtained the tack, or island of Baile Sear where he remained for the rest of his life and was for a considerable number of years employed as factor of the North Uist estates, which belonged to his close relative Sir Donald MacDonald.

In 1609 the statutes of Icolmkill made it obligatory for every yeoman or gentleman to send his eldest son (or daughter if he had no sons) to school in the Lowlands where he was to remain till he could speak, read and write English. There was no need for Donald to go as far as the Lowlands in search of education, for Skye had a first rate grammar school in Orborst, near Dunvegan. It was here that he received his early education.

The schoolmaster, John MacPherson, a renowned classics teacher, was the son of the Reverend Dougall MacPherson, M.A., minister of Durinish parish. These MacPhersons were for many generations in Skye and formed on of Skyes Leviticus families. They were all first rate Latin and Greek scholars, for one of them, the Reverend John MacPherson, minister of Sleat, greatly impressed Doctor Johnson when he was on his tour. Eluding to a certain Latin poem which Reverend MacPherson had composed, Doctor Johnson said to Boswell, it does him credit, surely a glowing tribute from the most pedantic of pundits! Both Reverend Dougall and his son John studied at Trinity Temple, thus when the time came for Donald Roy to enter the Carinish college, he was well prepared. He must have been an apt pupil, for the time he quitted his studies Donald proved him self to be master of both Greek and Latin, and he took special delight in composing verses in the latter tongue.

The hero of our tale happened to be the guest of his close friend Sir Alexander MacDonald, of Monkstad, Kilmuir, when the thrilling news of the Princes landing on Eriskay reached them. Donald's first reaction was to leave immediately to enlist in the Jacobite army, but Alexander's persuasive argument made him desist for the moment. However, nothing that kith or kin could say or do could restrain Donald Roy from joining Charles Edward when he received tidings of the latter's victory at Prestonpans. Dashing off for the mainland, young MacDonald in a few days overtook near Crieff a detachment of MacKinnon's from Strath, Skye, who were also on the same errand.

On arriving at Edinburgh, our hero enlisted in the army of MacDonald of Keppoch. At the battle of Falkirk he acquitted himself so well that he was promoted to the rank of captain, in Clanranalds regiment, which Donald followed for the rest of his campaigns until he was badly wounded in the leg at the battle of Culloden. Lame as he was, Captain MacDonald managed to walk to Bunchrew, five miles away. Here he bought a horse which carried him to Kyle of Lochalsh. On crossing over to Kyleakin, Captain MacDonald made straight for the residence of Doctor John MacLean, surgeon, in Shulista, near Duntuilm, where the wounded leg received expert medical attention and Donald Roy was prevailed upon to stay for some weeks until the wound had healed sufficiently to enable him to return to Uist.

Here, the soldiers time was well occupied reading Homers epics in the original Greek, for Doctor MacLean, too, was one of the best classical scholars in the Highlands or Lowlands of the time. Here, also Captain MacDonald invoked the muse and composed a very good Latin poem to his wounded leg. This poem we still have, and it speaks for itself.

The MacLean's owned Shulista rent free, being hereditary physicians and surgeons to the MacDonald chiefs. Those doctors themselves were themselves of heroic blood, for they belonged to the MacLean's of Borreray, who were a cadet branch of the MacLean's of Ardgour and of the main stock of Duarte Mill. When Charles Edward, now a homeless fugitive with a high price on his head, reached Kilmuir, Donald Roy was there awaiting him, busy making ingenious plans for his protection and ultimate escape. This was accomplished early on Tuesday morning, the first of July, 1746, when Donald, on the shores of Portree Bay, delivered Charles to the safe custody of another ardent Jacobite follower Captain Malcolm MacLeod, of Raasay, who with his stalwart crew ferried him across the sound to Raasay House. The previous evening, Captain MacDonald and Flora MacDonald were both awaiting the arrival of the Prince in the Royal Hotel, Portree. Charles walked all the way from Kingsburgh to the appointed venue. Kingsburg's herd lad, Macqueen by name, led him over the intervening moors. All the way rain fell heavily, soaking Charles to the skin. On arrival at the inn he was able to change into dry clothes provided by the Captain, a MacDonald tartan kilt, etc., after which the Prince partook of an adequate lunch. It was in the Royal Hotel, and not on the seashore, as many writers and artists would have us believe, that Flora said farewell to Prince Charles. It was on the nearby beach that Donald Roy took leave of him. Through time, Donald returned to Uist and opened a fee paying school for the sons and daughters of local landowners and others of private means. But a meager and precarious salary would hardly suffice to afford the schoolmaster even a modicum of comfort, so before long, he accepted the large farm of Kyles Bernera which proved a better paying proposition.

From the foregoing remarks, we perceive how thorough the classical training was which the learned teachers of Trinity Temple imparted to students, both clerical, and non-clerical. Even the ordinary public, who could not read or write, profited by its good influence, for many of them, like John Mac Codrum the bard, who could neither read or write his name, had a nodding acquaintance with classical names and terms, although more than a century and a half separated him from Carinishs heyday. But then the people of the Hebrides possessed their own native culture, still inviolate, a culture which is second to none, no not even to that of Greece or Rome.

Our folklore, music and poetry are world famous. Take Carmina Gadelica, Campbell's West Highland Tales, our large collection of proverbs, Mac Mhaigh stir Alasdair Birlinn of Clanranald, Macintyre Ben Dorain, An Clarsail Dalls poignant, heart-rending song - Chaidh a Chuidhle Mun Cuairt, where he laments the Highland chiefs growing indifference to the greatness of their own heritage, and I would not exchange them for all that Shakespeare or the Greek dramatists such as Aeschylus, Euripides and Sophocles ever composed.

The old time ceilidh was the popular institution where all this precious knowledge was disseminated among an appreciative populace who never forgot song, tale or tradition. And let us not forget it, the children were not neglected. There were Gaelic games in plenty for them, and endless conundrums for mental discipline, which no arithmetic, algebra, or geometry could surpass for sharpening and developing adolescent minds.

Should anyone doubt this latter statement and think that I am making a wild, extravagant claim. I would respectfully refer him, or her, to a little Gaelic volume which is worth more than its weight in diamonds - the late Alexander Nicholson's Gaelic Riddles - the first collection of Gaelic riddles ever published. Mr. Nicolson, a writer of rare charm and power in both Gaelic and English, wrote A History of Skye , Modern Gaelic - A Basic Grammar , Oideas na Cloinne , etc., and was for many years Celtic lecturer in Jordan hill Training College, Glasgow. In an age like the present, so dissimilar in every respect to those under review, who can assess the tremendous importance for the advancement of civilization of the work so faithfully, carried on by Hebridean scholars like those of Carinish, who along with Latin and Greek used Gaelic as a medium of instruction. Nor did schools and seminaries spring up for the first time in the Western Isles in medieval days.

Centuries before the advent of Christianity, in 563 the law schools of Skye were so advanced, that Irish students after graduating at home, were sent across to finish their law studies in the Misty Isle, just as in pre- 1914 years the ablest British scholars after taking their degrees in Scottish and English Universities, finished off in Germany.

In the so-called Dark Ages, which were not as dark as they were painted, Ireland shared the honor with Spain of being the most enlightened country in the West. Yet Scotland boasted a highly placed functionary, who, sometime between the years 1595 and 1597 wrote - As for the Highlands, I shortly comprehend them all in two sorts of people: the one that dwelled in our mainland, that are barbarous for the most part and yet mixed with some show of civility; the other that dwelled in the Isles and are all utterly barbarous without any sort or show of civility.

With the inhabitants of the Western Isles of whom the same writer spoke scornfully as wolves and wild boars, he hoped to deal by planting colonies among them colonies of responsible Lowlanders that within short time may root them out and plant civility in their rooms. Surely the words of an idiot, or, an ignoramus, one is well justified in saying. The answer is - he was both, for the writer was King James VI and I, The Wisest Fool in Christendom, as his royal contemporary in France called him.

James scathing remarks about the Gaelic language are equally fatuous and I refrain from dishonoring my paper by quoting a few more sentences laden as they are with fragrant imbecilities. Christendom's wisest fool still has his supporters, whose lifelong policy is to denigrate Gaeldom and its national language. When ever I listen to their Philistine diatribes I merely shrug my shoulders and maintain a contemptuous silence for you cannot argue with ignorant people.

As it the case with many buildings with an illustrious past, Trinity Temple, though for centuries a ruin, still retains something of its primeval majesty. Yet the seeker for architectural embellishments will search in vain here. The designers of the building laid emphasis on plainness, not art. There was only one glyph that of three heads on a neck to represent the Trinity, carved out of sandstone on the eastern gable. Even now, the very walls seem to emanate the ardent psyche which animated those who toiled within, teachers and scholars, who above all else cherished learning and plain living, and whose utter dedication to such lofty pursuits led them here from afar, over pathless forests, mountain torrents and stormy seas. Within the same grey, austere precincts, one becomes immediately aware of this hyperphysical influence, of standing on holy ground and of a compulsion towards silent obeisance. A ruin, but not a battered one, the masonry is still in such a good state of preservation that it would not cost a fabulous sum to re-roof the whole Temple and turn it once more into an institution of learning. The dimensions given in the most excellent Ninth Report of the Royal Commission on Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland, (Edinburgh 1928) are as follows: On plan it is an oblong, measuring 21 feet 3 inches from north to south by 61'bd feet from east to west, within walls averaging 3 feet 8 inches thick which still stand to a height of 17 to 20 feet, save at the south-east angle which is breached. The walls are built of rubble in lime mortar, brought to course in the lateral walls, but the west gable, save at the uppermost courses which resemble those of the lateral walls, is built at random; if there is any significance in this difference in masonry, the lower part of the gable may therefore be earlier than the lateral walls. The walls are pierced by a series of beam holes, of which there are two tiers in the gable and a single tier on the sides; these are possibly wind vents.

The last job of repair to Trinity Temple was executed under the auspices of that veritable polytechnic, Doctor Alexander Macleod, better known throughout the Western Isles as An Dotair B'eon. Early in the nineteenth century, the western gable collapsed and to prevent further disintegration, Doctor MacLeod engaged workmen, who, under his personal supervision, carried out its timely restoration. This probably accounts for the difference in masonry alluded to in the foregoing report Alexander gave ample proof of his skill not only in his own profession, but in extraprofessional capacities as well, from which the natives of Skye, Uist North and South were grateful beneficiaries.

As a engineer, re-claimer of waste land (he initiated the very first successful project of draining Loch Scolpaig, in Kilmuir, North Uist, and Loch Chalum Chille in Kilmuir, Skye) maker of new roads etc., he was his fellow countrymen's tireless benefactor until death, under tragic circumstances, ended the chivalrous service of one of the noblest characters of his own, or any other age.

Doctor MacLeod was born in Kilpheadar, in North Uist, in 1788 but his forbears were proprietors of the farm of Rigg on the Scorrybeck east coast of Skye for many generations. This Rigg family was a cadet branch of the Macleod's of Raasay. An Dotair B'eon was descended directly from Alexander VII of Raasay and by his mother was a descendant of Roderick XIII of MacLeod by his second wife Catherine, eldest daughter of Lord MacDonald of Sleat. He received his early education in the school of his native parish, and his medical training in Edinburgh.

After qualifying for practice in 1808, he succeeded his father, Doctor Murdoch Macleod of Kilpheadar, in the medical practice of North Uist. The Dotair B'eon was for a period chamberlain for Lord MacDonald in Skye, and afterwards for MacDonald of Clanranald, in South Uist. In his History of the Macleod's, Alexander Mackenzie, who so ably championed the crofters struggle in the eighteen eighties, has this to say: The Dotair B'eon was probably the most popular man who ever acted in that capacity for the Highlands. Doctor Macleod's sphere of labor comprised almost the whole of the inner and Outer Hebrides. His fame had spread so much that patients flocked to him from all the Islands, in consequence of which his residence in Kilpheadar resembled a hospital. About the year 1854, Doctor Macleod was prevailed upon by Lord MacDonald to accept the medical practice of Strath and Sleat in Skye along with Knoydart on the mainland.

His first visit to Knoydart was on the 12th of April, 1854 when he was urgently called to the bedside of a shepherd's wife whose home was situated in a remote, lonely area, access to which meant a long walk over a pathless moor. On his return journey, the worthy doctor was overtaken by night and being a stranger, lost his way, fell over a precipice sixty feet high and to all appearance died instantly. When two days afterwards the body was discovered, it was conveyed to North Uist and buried in Kilmuir. Needless to say, the unexpected tidings plunged the Hebrides into deep mourning which lasted for many a day.

Doctor Alasdair's father, Doctor Murdoch MacLeod served for some time as a surgeon in the army, and saw service in the American War of Independence. He married Mary, daughter of MacLean of Borreray.

There were five sons of that marriage, four of whom, including Alexander, were doctors: Murdoch MD practiced his profession in the West Indies; John served as surgeon in the English militia service and Donald was the doctor in Hawick, Scotland. One of An Dotair B'eons grandsons held a position in the Army Medical School, Netley, and another grandson, Colonel Kenneth Macleod, of the Indian Medical Service, was the professor of surgery in the Calcutta University. But to our main theme, from which I have digressed too far, I can only plead that the indefatigable bestower of munificence which even extended to Carinish Temple, merits honorable mention, verging if need be, on actual prolixity.

A prominent landmark from the Carinish highway and from the sea, Trinity Temple stands east to west on a grassy promontory, barely a quarter of a mile due east of the parish church. Although unroofed during the Reformation troubles, when its teachers were forced to abandon the site, they must have returned, restored the building and resumed teaching there, when peace and sanity prevailed, for according to a local tradition, scholars were trained within the trinity seminary a decade or so before the 1745 Jacobite rising.

Certainly the comparatively new appearance of the total structure, which, as already indicated, is astonishingly intact, goes far to corroborate this tradition. In other places, all that remain of ecclesiastical buildings ruined by Reformation vandalism and which were never reconstructed since those stormy times, now stand blackened with age, irreparably cleft and rent asunder. Not so Trinity Temple, as an old Gaelic song puts it: Youth on age, on the face of Corravaine, so it is Youth on age, on Teampull Na Trianaid. The one and only doorway faces north. Adjacent to Trinity, its whilom kailyard or vegetable yard can still be clearly traced. Nearby are three hillocks, rich in associations with Trinity - Cnoc nan Aingeal (Hill of Angels) where the seminaries priests, teachers and scholars, each day assembled to conduct divine worship; Cnoc na Croise Moire (Hill of the Large Cross) and Cnoc na Croise Bige (Hill of the Small Cross). As their names indicate, the summits of the latter two were early adorned with Celtic crosses. Alas, not a vestige of either remains. Blind religious fanaticism proved to be too thorough-going in its deleterious methods, here as elsewhere.

People may wonder why such an institution which was erected principally for academic purposes should have been called a temple, in the first place. The appellation temple was derived from the fact that the edifice was built of stone. Earlier religious houses, from Iona to Aberdeenshire, were made of wattles and of wood where trees were plentiful. Through time, as a primitive ecclesiastical foundation became a power in the land, acquired wealth and prestige, skilled architects were commissioned to raise more permanent stone structures whose dignity would be more in keeping with the sacred cause they represented. Hence the choices of a dignified name like the one in question. No account of Trinity Temple is complete without reference, however brief, to Clan MacDonald, its original patrons.

Their origin, in direct descent from Mighty Somerled, is as follows: John, Lord of the Isles, who married Amie MacRuarie whom as we have previously stated he subsequently divorced in order to marry Margaret Stewart, daughter of King Robert II. There were three sons of each marriage. Amies sons were Gorrie; Ragnald; John. From Ragnald sprang the clan Ranald, Knoydart and Glengarry families. Margaret's sons were Donald of Harlaw, who married Margaret Leslie and so succeeded to the Earldom of Ross; John Mor: Alexander Carrach. John of Isla promoted the sons of Margaret over the elder boys who were disinherited.

From Margaret Stewart's three sons, Clan Hustein of Sleat and the present Lord MacDonald are descended from Donald, the eldest; the Keppoch and Lochaber septs from Carrach; and the Largie sept from Iain Mor.

When his father died, Donald was crowned at Finlaggan, the chiefs' council chamber in Islay, in 1380. Before long Donald Married the Ross-shire heiress; fought and lost the Battle of Harlaw and died in 1425. In the same year Alexander Carrach lost Lochaber to Marr and the Macintoshes.

Gorrie, the eldest of John's sons, could never become reconciled to the loss of the Kingdom of the Isles. When Ragnald died in 1388 Gorrie occupied the Uists, and Garmoran on the mainland, by force. When he died in 1401, Gorries son Angus became heir to the Uists until 1430 and Siol Gorrie continued as Lords of Uist with superiority over Garmoran and Clan Ranald. It was Gorrie, Lord of Uist, who gave a grant of Trinity Temple on the south-west corner of North Uist, to the Inchaffray Augustine's plus 4 marklands of Illera Island between Kirkibost and Carinish.

For some of the foregoing information about Siol Gorrie, I am indebted to the very full and factual typescript entitle. The Name Gorrie, by R. MacLagan Gorrie, D.Sc, and for his two references Inchaffray Chapters, 1190 to 1609; published by Scot. Hist. Soc. No. 56; and Clan Donald Vol. 1, p. 506 which contains Latin texts of charter. Page 8 of the same typescript contains the illuminating paragraph: Grant by Gorrie, Lord of Uist, dated 7th July, 1389 of a chapel of Holy Trinity in Uist and the land of Kerynche, to Sir Thomas, canon of Inchaffray.

This daughter priory of Augustine's is listed by Spottiswood in his account of the Religious Houses, but is shown wrongly as being in Lewis, there is in fact a Scarinch church of Lewis in honor of Saint Catan, but it was not Augustinian. Teampull Na Trianaid was originally the site of a Celtic bee-hive cell. This link between Carinish in North Uist and Inchaffray (which is close by in Logiealmond to the farm of Condacloich) may well provide the clue for the move of Gorries from the Outer Isles to Logiealmond. In another place (p. 2) he states; Doctor J. F. Grant considers it more plausible that the islanders' skills in archery and music are more likely reasons for a move organized by the monks. Reverend A. Matheson also favors the Augustine's as activators of the move. Gaelic is difficult to translate into English and still retain its true meaning.

This is more evident in poetry where the flow and feeling can be lost:

As the symbol of a people destined to be virtuous. TORMOD DOMHNALLACH. One can imagine the author of this poem standing within the ruined walls or immediately in the vicinity of Trinity Temple and addressing his lines of praise to it (the Temple) as if it were a person or an individual with human attributes. So,

1. He begins by reminding us that the Temple is indeed worthy of respect even if today it stands cold and empty, where once congregated worthy young men, who in their day surpassed any of their peers.
2. Even Dun Scotus, from Southern Scotland, sought within thy precincts the knowledge that solved or un-raveled the problems common to others e.g. in philosophy (moral) - So that in Oxford & in Europe, you had the pre-eminence or first step.
3. He instances Donald Roy MacDonald, the bard, as a prime example of the graduates taught by or at the temple- So that the historians (native) accorded him a primary place- with some reverence- among the leading worthies of our country, & that this recognition will be given to him by succeeding generations
4. He eulogizes about the personages & attainments of the clerical worthies of Durinish, the high academics', and also among the youth who were so inclined- maintaining that they, in their youth and formative years, received a formidably attractive & useful education
5. He concluded by attributing the native nobility & decorum of the inhabitants of the lands adjacent to the Temple to the influence & pervading sense of worth & value emanating from the Temple, and that they have cherished & maintained, without corruption, this great benefit as their people's badge, as a people they are naturally attractive.

Archibald MacVicar
Laureston House
High Street
DRUMLITHIE
Stonehaven, Scotland AB39 3YS

PS: My father Neil MacVicar was born on BALESHARE, North Uist. The photograph of the headstone is for his parents, my grandmother was the last MacVicar buried at the Temple, which was the burial ground for the MacVicars. I hope you find all this of interest; the Temple is a very important part of our heritage, it is a pity it is slowly disintegrating with the elements.