NZ05b – Spinning Tales from Applecross

Stitchers:  Maggie Ferguson, Ian Ferguson & Christine Davidson – Edinburgh

On Scotland’s west coast is the remote peninsula of Applecross, A’ Chomraich (the Sanctuary). In the 1850s circumstances caused many to seek a new life far away, including Macleods. Several eventually settled in Waipu, New Zealand taking practical domestic skills such as spinning, to their new sanctuary. Christina Macleod Martin from Coille Ghillidh, believed to be the last Applecross crofter to produce wool for sale, had a spinning wheel which travelled with her great granddaughter to Piha, New Zealand. It was a Hebridean wheel with eighteen spokes, each corresponding to twenty degrees of the compass. In 2010, this spinning-wheel returned to Applecross, to the Heritage Centre.

NZ05B Sgeulachdan chuibhleachan snìomh

Air oir-thìr an iar na h-Alba tha leth-innis iomallach na Comraich. Anns na 1850an, bha suidheachadh mòran daoine ag adhbhrachadh dhaibh a dhol a shireadh beatha ùr fada air falbh, agus nam measg bha Clann ‘Ic Leòid. Thuinich cuid dhiubh aig deireadh gnothaich ann an Waipu ann an Sealainn Nuadh, a’ toirt sgilean dèanadach dachaigh leithid snìomh leotha chun na comraich ùr aca. Bha cuibhle shnìomh aig Cairistìona NicLeòid Mhàrtainn à Coille Ghillidh, an croitear mu dheireadh sa Chomraich a bha a’ toradh clòimhe airson a reic, thathar a’ creidsinn, a shiubhail còmhla ri a h-iar-ogha gu Piha ann an Sealainn Nuadh. B’ e cuibhle à Innse Gall a bh’ innte le ochd tarsannan deug, gach aon dhiubh a’ co-chòrdadh ri fichead puing den chombaist. Ann an 2010, chaidh a’ chuibhle shnìomh seo a thilleadh don Ionad Dualchais sa Chomraich.