On 23 August 2002, after more than 15 years of campaigning by this Society, the newly restored Abbey was officially opened to the public. The carved stones had been cleaned and erected in a new shelter.

This Cistercian monastery is unusual in that it was the daughter house of the Irish monastery at Mellifont, and the architects, builders and the founder-monks may have come from there. All the other Cistercian establishments in Scotland came from bases in Europe, mainly France.

Somerled is credited with the founding of the Abbey in 1160, but as he was killed at the Battle of Renfrew in 1164, his son Reginald was responsible for the building after the ground was consecrated with soil from Rome.

Somerled had risen to become the most powerful leader in Argyll and the west of Scotland and is credited with having freed Argyll from Norse rule. His grandson Donald was the progenitor of the MacDonald clan.

The Abbey is situated in a sheltered spot on the south side of the mouth of Saddell Glen between Saddell River and Allt an Manach (Stream of the Monks). The ground is fertile and a short distance to the east is . Saddell Bay and the Kilbrannan Sound.

Cistercian monasteries followed a basic design - an aisle less church on the north side of a cloister which was enclosed by east, north and south ranges and a north and south transept.

The Cistercians lived a simple life as farmers and cattle-breeders. They were known as the 'Grey Monks' due to their plainly-woven white robes with black hoods.

The Abbey is ruinous owing to neglect and many stones having been removed for the buildings surrounding Saddell Castle, constructed for the Bishop of Argyll in 1508, and possibly for the 18th century Saddell House.

The carved stones were gathered by a previous laird from beside Sad dell River and lay within the walls of the Abbey for many years. About 30 years ago, the Kintyre Antiquarian and Natural History Society, with the help of Argyll & Bute Council and Dr Kenneth Steer of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland, moved the carved gravestones into a shelter near the entrance. This monstrosity became known as the 'Petrol Filling Station' and only served the purpose of eroding the stones further, as they were still exposed to all weathers.

Some of these medieval slabs had been carved locally, but others were of lona stone. Other fragments of carved stones lying in the grounds were taken to Campbeltown Museum, and the Abbey itself is surrounded by burials from the 18th century up to the present day.

Very little is known historically about Saddell Abbey, although over the years some papers have turned up in the Vatican, in which it is said the monks still pray for their brothers at Saddell. When King Haakon's fleet was anchored off Gigha, before the Battle of Largs in 1263, the Grey Monks came to Haakon to ask for protection, which was granted. Haakon's priest, Simon, took ill and died and the Grey Monks covered him with a silk cloth and buried him, presumably at Saddell.

Over the last 20 years, the Society had written to Historic Scotland complaining about the state of the walls of the Abbey and also the neglect in other chapels in Kintyre, namely Killean, Southend and Kilkivan.

We then tried the Adopt-a-Monument Scheme, started by CSA (Council for Scottish Archaeology) to secure funding to transfer the stones to a better shelter. For several years, various bodies took an interest. PHT Consultants did a feasibility study; the Countryside Trust, then CAKE (Campbeltown and Kintyre Enterprise) took over; but it wasn't until Brook Mullen Peden Architects were commissioned to prepare a management plan in 1995 that things slowly began to happen.

The Saddell Abbey Trust was formed, in January 2000, from various interested parties, including the Antiquarian Society, and with Heritage Lottery funding amounting to a massive £365,000, work finally started in 2001. A team of experts cleared, consolidated and re-mortared the remaining walls of the Abbey, finding another 14th century gravestone in the process. An archaeologist was appointed to oversee the work.

Graciela Ainsworth, a stone expert, removed all the carved stones to Edinburgh for cleaning while the new shelter was built and a small car-park formed at the 'entrance to the village, with interpretative plaques throughout. The stones will never again be seen in the condition that Captain White drew them over 100 years ago, but at least a small part of Kintyre's history has been preserved for the future. 18 September, 2002

THE WRECK OF THE BEN-MY-CHREE. The sale of this wreck took place on Wednesday at Peninver, under the direction of Mr. John Muir, Lloyd's agent. The entire wreck, including chains, anchors, etc., only realised a little over £48. Since the wreck the crew have been staying with Mr. Charles McConachy, Ardnacross, whose son first gave the alarm and assisted the rescue of the men. Courier, 24/2/1883.

APPRECIATIONS

VICTOR E CLARK JR was a warm and enthusiastic man, eager to learn all he could about his own family heritage, and to help others to pursue their own quests.

I first made his acquaintance some time in 1986, while he was preparing the first issues of Argyll Colony Plus. These were simple mimeographed pages, punched for insertion into a three-ring binder. He had seen one of my queries, concerning a Clark in South Carolina (not one of his relatives, by the way) and one discussion led to another. Before long I was typing and/or indexing almost everything that appeared in his magazine.

Vic lived in Dallas, Texas, at that time with his second wife, Bonnie. A veteran of World War II, his health had been precarious, and he had had a heart bypass at some time before I met him. However, his enthusiasm for searching out nuggets of information on the North Carolina Scots was his strongest drive. He made several long visits to North Carolina to visit friends and family, explore historic sites and acquire boxfuls of old papers. One of his greatest prizes was an unpublished manuscript of the history of the Scots in North Carolina, complete with the permission to put it into print.

Over the years the appearance and quality of the magazine improved, and it won a number of awards. During that period, Vic coaxed authors on both continents to submit for publication fine articles on the Kintyre Scots who settled in North Carolina, on their descendants and on their origins in Scotland. Vic also delighted in his participation in the annual Highland Gathering, bringing each year speakers and honorees who could further Americans' understanding of their Scottish heritage. He strongly encouraged descendants of the North Carolina Scots to visit Kintyre.

In 1993 Vic and Bonnie divorced and he moved to North Carolina to be near his relatives. Within a year or two, however, he moved again, to be near the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. In spite of his declining health, his enthusiasm for the underlying purpose of his magazine remained undiminished, even as he passed the editorship on to a younger man.

Lt Col Victor E Clark Jr died on October 29, 2001. He is survived by an uncountable number of Americans whose pride in their Kintyre origins has never been greater.

Louise Davis Curry, Snow, Oklahoma.

ANGUS MAC VICAR.

It was only in the last dozen or so years of his life that I came to know Angus MacVicar really well. I had always known of him, for his name appeared often in the local and national press. Also, I am old enough to remember The Lost Planet series and the stories of The Glens of Glendale. I had always known of the author, playwright, storyteller - legend in his own time in Kintyre and beyond. But when I was first attached to Southend Church, shortly after I started to train as Reader in the Church of Scotland, I came to know and to appreciate the sterling qualities of the man behind the name.

Although Angus was brought up with early 20th century ideas of the Presbyterian Church, he was very much a person of the late 20th century in that he accepted so-called innovations in the Kirk - like women in roles of ministry and the eldership. Although he looked away back to the ministry of St Columba, he yet accepted the different ministry offered to him in the late 20th century, and compared that ministry - sometimes favourably - with that of Columba. His greatest compliment at the church door after morning worship was to say, 'Columba could have preached a sermon like that.'

I appreciated his support of my ministry as a Reader in Southend. Many times, when I stood trembling and fearful at the church door before a service, he would put his hand on my shoulder and say in that deep voice with its wee impediment, 'It'll be all right, Agnes.'

Of course, he did not always agree with what I - or anyone else - said from the pulpit. Many times he said, 'It was a good enough sermon; but I don't agree with you.' But, then, it would be a dull world if we all agreed with one another all the time.

When, in the course of pastoral duties in the church, I visited him at Achnainara, he would say, once I had settled in a chair in his study, 'We'll have a wee dram now.' And out would come a bottle of very respectable malt whisky. Over the years, and over many 'wee drams', we came to a mutual respect and regard, though he could never understand my lack of interest in football.

I was more than grateful for Angus's support of my ministry in the two difficult years before the coming of Martin Forrest. I'm glad that Angus saw the start of Martin's ministry in Southend, for I believe that the fact that there was a new minister in the parish gave Angus the courage to relinquish his fragile hold on life.

And I like to think that as he stood trembling on the threshold of a greater life, a hand was laid on his shoulder, and a loving voice said: 'It'll be all right, Angus. Southend is safe. You can come home.'

Agnes Stewart, Campbeltown.

ARCHIE MCMILLAN (28 August 1923 - 11 November 2001)

With the death of Archie McMillan last year, Campbeltown lost not only an affable repository of local lore, but also a talented landscape painter.

His mother, Flora Logan, belonged to Imeraval, Port Ellen, and it was on Islay that Archie spent the first four years of his life, before arriving in Dalintober in 1927. Archie's father, Peter McMillan - of local 19th century Irish migrant stock - was a painter with Galbraith and Cochrane, and met Flora while working on the island. Gaelic was Archie's first language and he and his brother Donald had stones thrown at them in the streets of Campbeltown for speaking it. As Archie himself reasoned, Gaelic, to his persecutors, would be as much 'gibberish' as tinkers' cant. In time, Archie lost all fluency, though his speech to the last carried with it certain Gaelic indicators - 'stick', e.g., was always pronounced 'shtick'.

Peter McMillan's First World War experience with the Argyll and Bute Mountain Battery included the disastrous Gallipoli campaign of 1915, and Archie too saw active service during the Second World War. From 6 August 1942 until 17 October 1945, he was a wireless operator in the Royal Tank Regiment, first in North Africa and then in Italy. From tanks, he was transferred to the Queen's Bays and served as Post Corporal at Barnard Castle until demobilised on 6 June, 1947.

On 29 June, 1946, Archie had married Edna Martin in her home town of Snodland, Kent. Edna's father, a Royal Navy Reservist, was stationed in Campbeltown, and it was in the Mayfair Cafe, in 1942, that Edna and Archie first met. They had a daughter, Jean, and a son, Rodger, who gave them three grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

Most of Archie's working life - from 1957 to 1982, when he retired early through ill health - was spent as a postman, in which capacity he became a popular figure - cheery and helpful - not only in Campbeltown, but also in the rural communities to which he delivered by van.

Archie's mind ranged widely and his opinions were both deeply considered and tenaciously defended. His greatest passion, however, and the accomplishment by which he will best be remembered, was painting. He took it up about the time of his marriage and attended evening classes in Campbeltown. In 1963, for a harbour scene titled 'Messing about in Boats', Archie won the prestigious Mickleborough Trophy, awarded for the best painting at the annual exhibition of the Post Office Art Club of Great Britain.

His sensitive and impeccably-executed watercolours hang in many Kintyre homes, each one, I'm sure, cherished as the unique expression of one whose natural modesty belied a real artistic commitment.

Angus Martin, Campbeltown

ARCHIE MCMILLAN (cont.) Archie was a member of an evening class in the Old Grammar in the '50s. I remember he showed me what he had been doing himself at home - strong black-ink highly stylised cartoons. He was just full of enthusiasm to draw. But I think he very soon started landscapes.

I was little in touch with his painting until coming home again to Kintyre in '85, by which time, I think, he was 'concentrating on watercolour, gradually using less linear detail of fences, etc., to create depth, and using tone and light instead. He was an honest painter, lacking pretension or superficiality and relying on his own observation and handling of a difficult medium to create delicate studies of our local scene, particularly the calm atmosphere and soft light.

He was not complacent and was continuing to develop in his own way. One does not often find expression undeterred by outside influences. It is sometimes overwhelmed and lost if exposed to formal tuition. He was a very able painter, touching the observer gently with what he valued and enjoyed as he journeyed around Kintyre.

Lily Cregeen, Ballochgair ,Cottage.

MACHRIHANISH: WHAT'S ITS MEANING? I was recently asked for a translation of the place-name Machrihanish and consulted The Place Names of the Parish of Campbeltown (1943), which directs the reader to Professor W J Watson's great work The Celtic Place-Names of Scotland (1926), from which - PP 506-7 - I quote below. Ed.

'Machrihanish in Kintyre is for Machair Shanais, "plain of Sanas"; near it is Loch Sanish, on Blaeu's map "Loch Sannaish". An alternative name for it - perhaps the earlier name - was Magh Sanais: an elegy on "Niall Óg Mhachra Shanuis" contains the lines "sgaoil a fhréimh ó chi an fa Shanuis," "his root (ancestors) spread from of old about Sanas," and "chaochail Magh Sanuis gu mór," "the plain of Sanas has greatly changed." There was another Magh Sanais in Connaght. Sanas, mas. or fem., ordinarily means "a whisper, a hint, a secret, a warning," and it may mean so here, but in some instances it seems to denote some kind of plant: gass sanais is "a stalk of sanas"; in the tale of the Battle of Ventry it is said "we would form a druidical host around thee of the, stalklets of sanas" (do na geosadánaibh sanaisi). It is difficult to say whether the meaning here is "whispering stalks" or "stalks of a plant called sanas,' and I find nothing really decisive: Loch Sanais may mean "whispering loch," and the plain may have been named after the loch.'