The Congested Districts Board and the Isleornsay Pier, Isle of Skye, 1899–1906

Abstract

The development in the late eighteenth century of a successful herring fishing and curing industry based on Isleornsay on the Isle of Skye and its ultimate collapse one hundred years later is analysed. The start of this commercial venture coincided with the end of the tacksman system and the formation of crofts in the townships close by. The failure of the port is examined, focusing on a local petition for a grant from the Congested Districts Board to construct a deep-water pier to replace the inefficient tidal pier which dated from circa 1805.The petition is viewed in the context of the proposal to build a Light Railway from Isleornsay to Uig and Portree, thence by boat to the Outer Isles, a proposal that was little more than a pipe dream. The railway extensions to Kyle and Mallaig, both constructed to convey fish to the south and supported by Government funding, were expected to bring increased prosperity to the fishermen of the nearby localities but had a calamitous effect on the port of Isleornsay: local fishermen took their catches directly to the railhead and then the arrival of fish curers and trawlers from the East Coast, eager to profit from the new facilities, completed the ruin of a once profitable economy.