Yesterday was when a blog-reader discovered the entry for 31 December 2012 and commented on the location of the house at Mulhagery, in the Pairc, Lewis. There is no road access to this extensive tract of land. Consequently, when a Lockheed Hudson bomber crashed close by, at Fiar Chreag, in 1942, the wreckage was never recovered. 75 years have slipped by since the aircraft was flying; perhaps a 150 since life was flourishing in and immediately around the house?
Scottish Islands Explorer - reveals some historic aspects
Digital Edition: accesses satellite links
3 comments:
Getting my maps out now! I think there are more isolated spots on the Pairc than there are on the mainland! www.mark-mural.blogspot.com We're coming over to Outer Hebs in Sept. Best. Mark.
It's OS Landranger that's needed - or probably the larger-scale versions. When it comes to the Pairc, I have visited the old school at Seaforth Head, continued on the estate road to the complex of buildings at Eishken, where I had connections, before walking on to the head of Loch Shell. My dream is to go the other way by boat along the length of Loch Seaforth, past the settlement of Kenmore, up the mysterious Loch Claidh and then onto Valamus, into Loch Bhrollum, around to Mulhagary and end at the shieling at the head of Loch Shell. I am under the impression that there are no settlements, nor ruins of them, within the inland tracts of the Pairc. If I am wrong, please let me know. Any takers for that trip by boat?
Hearing the words Mulhagery and Lockheed Hudson rekindled memorories of a trip I made to the crash site of the bomber in May 2000 with two companions. I had been conducting research into the loss of this aircraft for volume two of `Lost to the Isles` book and needed to visit the site to get photographs. I contacted the estate manager at Eishken and he kindly offered to take us round Loch Sealg to the rocky shore at Mulhagery. After a bumpy ride in his fisheries speedboat we arrived at the little shore adjacent to the old croft and began our assent over rough ground to the crash site where wreckage littered the hillside on Fiar Creag. In later years I wrote the full account of the accident with biographies on each of the crew in volume 2. Lest we forget : F/O John Derek Brearly Rigby, P/O Frank Richard Hancock and Sgt Bernard Frederick Charles Rixon.
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