Historic enemies unite to fight Hebridean wind farm

EDINBURGH - For centuries they were sworn enemies, two fearsome clans who raided each other's territories to pillage and murder on the Outer Hebridean island of Lewis.

But, some 350 years on, the Morrisons and the Macaulays are now united in the face of a common foe - a planned wind farm on the site of a historic battlefield where their forefathers fell.

A petition calling on Morrisons and Macaulays across the world to join the fight has been launched, with support garnered from as far afield as Canada, America, Australia and New Zealand.

Murdo Morrison, 70, a member of Clan Morrison, which legend has it can be traced back to the Norseman Olaf the Black (King of Mann and the Isle in 1226), said that, according to local lore, the last great battle between the clans was fought on the site in 1654.

Though no record of how many died exists, several are believed to have been buried on moorland at Druim nan Carnan - The Ridge of the Cairns - north of Barvas. The stone cairns that once marked their graves are no longer visible. But the proposal to place three turbines nearby has stirred protest.

"It's not about the wind turbines. It's about the desecration of what is probably a burial site," said Morrison, who is a member of the Hebridean Environment and Landscape Protection Society.

Local oral history tells how, in 1654, the Macaulays of Uig raided the cattle of the Morrisons of Ness, but made their escape only as far as Barvas, where the two sides fought a final, bloody battle.

But others believe the site is a red herring, pointing out that, if people thought there were graves, peat would not have been extracted for generations. The peat had been cut back "to the hard" in places and no remains had been found. And electricity poles had been erected without any allegation of "desecration".

Last year the Government refused permission for a wind farm on Lewis comprising 181 turbines after protests.

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