The restoration project

The West Side Historical Society have a web page dedicated to the story of the whalebone arch and the restoration project. You can read the historical society account here and view the picture gallery of the restoration project here. There are some great photographs of the enormously complex and delicate task it was to remove the whalebone and take it away to be restored.

Blue smoke and "bogey roll"

My father - Murdo Morrison - who was the village Post Master for many years had installed bench seats on the customer side of the Post Office /shop counter.
The Post Office was the destination for many people of the village for many reasons. The older men always wanted some "Murray's Irish Bogey Roll" which was similar to a length of narrow rope folded over in ounce weight quantities.
This tobacco gave off a very strong aroma and when two or three men were gathered there was a blue smoke. In summer time, with the door open, that could escape, in winter time there was a smog effect.
The Post Office was a central gathering point and a place where village information was exchanged long before the growth of telephones.
During WW2 the arrival and departure of the men and women serving in the armed forces added great interest to me. Most of them were in the Royal Navy and that must have sparked my very young interest. Some years later I did join the Royal Navy and in four years service the only time I went to sea was on the Loch Seaforth going home on leave to and from Stornoway.



MURDO MORRISON
WISHAW,
LANARKSHIRE

The story of the arch

Mary Macaulay, eldest daughter of former Bragar postmaster Murdo Morrison who created the whalebone arch, has kindly supplied "The Arch at Bragar" an account of how the arch came into being which she wrote in 1980. It is fascinating to read how the authorities were keen to preserve the whale, but were overcome by the elements, or indecision, or both and the whale was left effectively to rot until the villagers were forced to act due to the stench coming up from the bay.
http://www.bragarwhalebone.co.uk/marymacaulay.htm

First Post

The first, we hope, of many posts to the Bragar Whalebone blog (online diary/chat room).

If you have a Bragar connection, either with family roots or possibly just as an interested visitor, then don't hesitate to get in touch.