A gift to Scotland - the isle of Barra

AT 74, and after 35 years of tending to his croft land, Ian MacNeil has decided it is time to hand over to someone else.

Giving up the patch his family have owned for nearly 600 years is not easy, but he feels that it will benefit the wider community.

In this case, 9,000 acres, much of the island of Barra, is being given up by Mr MacNeil, or MacNeil of Barra, the 46th clan chief, as he is also known.

Nearly all his land on the island, including fishing and mineral rights, is being gifted to the Scottish Executive, with the intention of it eventually being handed over to the community free of charge.

The Executive already owns land on Barra, as well as the entire neighbouring island of Vatersay, meaning the deal will leave some 16,000 acres of land in public ownership. The islands have a population of 1,300 and have 440 crofts and two working quarries.

The agreement announced yesterday means Mr MacNeil will donate the property to Scottish ministers on the condition they pay for the cost of the land transfer.

The Executive’s environment and rural affairs department (SEERAD) will manage the property until the community decides to take it over.

The move, which could be completed in two to three months, was welcomed on the islands and by civic leaders. It could see another large part of the Western Isles pass into community hands without the need for a costly purchase.

The Stornoway Trust already owns 69,400 acres and a crofters’ trust owns 1,700 acres at Bhaltos on the west of Lewis. The 55,000-acre North Harris estate has been bought by the community with an English businessman, while there has been talk of a community take-over of the 93,000-acre South Uist estates - spread across Eriskay, South Uist, and most of Benbecula - although that is opposed by some crofters.

Mr MacNeil, a law professor from the United States who now lives in Edinburgh, said: "Active personal management of a crofting estate is both challenging and rewarding. But it is also demanding and time consuming.

"Having put in almost 35 years at this job, and beginning to slow down at 74, I decided that it was time to retire. Giving the crofting estate to SEERAD seems an excellent way to ensure continued good management in both the short and long term."

He and his family will continue to visit the island. "The crofting estate is just one of our many contacts there. Among others are our ongoing connections with Kisimul Castle [the family seat now run by Historic Scotland], our home in Garrygall and, above all, our friends and acquaintances on the island," he said.

Ross Finnie, the rural development minister, said the donation ensures the estate will continue to be managed for the benefit of the community.

He said: "We intend to manage this land with a view to its transfer, along with our own properties, to community ownership when the Barra and Vatersay islanders are ready to take control of the land management."

Mr MacNeil offered the land to the community more than 20 years ago, but the locals did not take up the offer. However, yesterday, Jessie MacNeil, a community development worker on the island, said that taking ownership of the land is being seen as an "exciting challenge".

She said: "MacNeil is entrusting ownership of the land to the Executive on condition that when we want it, and when we are ready, the estate will come to the islanders.

"We looked at it over 20 years ago, and again in the mid-Nineties. At the time there was no incentive as we had two good landlords.

"However, the worry is that if the estates are sold they will be sold over our heads, and who knows who the landlord would be or how good or bad he would be? It’s a great opportunity, as other crofting estates have changed hands for millions of pounds while the MacNeil is giving the estate, which says a lot for him as a landlord."

Donald Manford, Barra’s councillor, said he had mixed feelings about the move as the MacNeils are regarded as good landlords.

The clan MacNeil is said to have lived on Barra for nearly 1,000 years. The 21st chief, General Roderick MacNeil, was forced to sell the island in 1838, when he faced economic ruin. As he had no children, the chieftainship passed to a cousin whose line had emigrated to the United States.

In 1937, Kisimul Castle and most of Barra was brought back into the family by Robert Lister MacNeil, a descendant of the 22nd chief and father of the present landowner, who returned from the US.

BARRA BOYS MACNEIL CHIEF'S NOBLE LINEAGE

IAN Roderick MacNeil of Barra, the 46th clan chief, claims descent from Niall of the Nine Hostages, the king of Ireland from 379 to 405.

MacNeils are said to have lived in Barra for about a thousand years and James I granted the island to Gilleonan MacNeil in 1427.

It left the family’s ownership for nearly a century when General Roderick MacNeil sold it in 1840.

However, it was bought back by the current chief’s father in 1937 when he moved from the United States to buy the island and restore the ancestral seat, Kisimul Castle, between 1956-70.

At the time, Ian MacNeil spent a considerable period on the island and went to school in Castlebay. He has now run the crofting estate for nearly 35 years, splitting his time between the island, his native America, where he taught law at Northwestern University in Chicago, and Edinburgh where he has lived for the last 12 years.

He is an expert in contract law and is said to be very knowledgeable about crofting and crofting legislation.

He and his family used to live in Kisimul Castle when they visited Barra, but they have since renovated and extended a croft house.

The castle was recently leased to Historic Scotland for a thousand years for an annual rent of 1 and a bottle of whisky - presently Talisker, although Mr MacNeil has reserved the right to change the whisky.

The clan chief takes an active part in island life and this year joined islanders in a protest to fight for the future of the air service to Glasgow.

He is also a historian and makes regular contributions on clan history and other topics to the clan newsletter, The Galley, and attends Highland gatherings in North America. Last year, he presented a paper on the dating of Scottish galley castles to a major conference in Barra.

He said being relieved of the administration of running the estate will give him more time to participate in island life.

Both he and his son Rory work with Barra Community Council’s joint air-services committee which is seeking to secure the lifeline air service in future.

The next in line to become MacNeil chief presently lives in Hong Kong, and his first-born son is half Chinese.