Buies of Jura and Norse Ancestry

Alasdair Macdonald from Currie Midlothian, sent me some interesting stuff about genealogy research. Alasdair runs the Scottish DNA Project on behalf of the University of Strathclyde and he is also co-admin of the project which is focusing on the Norse Viking group. They are always looking for new recruits to their projects which are hosted by Family Tree DNA the world leader in genetic genealogy. New research into the ancestral origins of some though probably not all of the Buies from Jura, has shown that they have Norse Viking ancestry. They also have kinship with the MacNeils of Barra and a group of MacDonalds from the Northern Highlands. New results have come in that show that some of the Carmichaels from the Isle of Lismore also match the Buies from Jura. Now I myself am not into genealogy at all but I’d like to help out anyone who does. Below is more information I received from Alasdair and links to projects where some Buies participants can be found:

Both the Scottish DNA Project and the L165 (also known as S68) project are keen to recruit new participants especially those who know their ancestors came from the Inner Hebrides. Some of the Buies from Jura are now confirmed as carrying a marker indicative of Norse Viking ancestry. S68 is mentioned in Alastair Moffat and Dr James F Wilson’s new book, The Scots: A Genetic Journey. Anyone interested in finding out about how Y-DNA can help with their family history can contact Alasdair at scottishdna@strath.ac.uk

Posted on July 18 2011

Genealogy Comments Off

Ardlussa House Garden Weekend Openings

Ardlussa House at the north end of the Isle of Jura will be opening its garden and woodland walks for a couple of weekends in June to raise money for Small Isles Primary School on Jura.

Last weekend the garden was open for the first time and it will be open again on Saturday 25th & Sunday 26th June from 1-4pm. The house has just over an acre of walled garden cultivated by three generations, an orchard and several atmospheric woodland walks looking out to sea. Cream teas will be served dependent on weather and donations will be asked for on the day.

Posted on June 15 2011

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Update on Jura House Garden

Jura House GardensLet me start by saying that I know just as little as most people do about Jura House Gardens but recently I found out from people I met on Jura and Islay that they weren’t aware of the situation with the gardens at all. Fact is that the Jura House Gardens have been closed “until further notice”. So far I found out that this “further notice” means that the gardens will remain closed for the remainder of 2011. But what about next year? Let me try to explain what the situation is using information from an article in the Scotsman. The 12,000-acre Ardfin Estate, which includes Jura House Garden, was bought last November by London-based Australian hedge fund manager Greg Coffey. Not long after his purchase the Jura House Garden was closed. You can see how beautiful the gardens are in the Jura House Gardens Image Gallery

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Posted on June 4 2011

Estates 11 Comments

New Jura Video – Corran Sands and Paps of Jura

When I was on Jura early May we spent quite some time at the Corran Sands. There are several ways to access this beautiful beach and I always like the stretch of beach near the airstrip the best. The views from this part of the beach to Craighouse, the Small Isles Bay and the Paps are breathtaking. You can access this part of the beach when you drive on the main road and head north from Craighouse until you reach the arched bridge. Just over the bridge you can turn right to Knockrome and after half a mile or so there is a wee track on your right that takes you to the airstrip and beach.


I’ve created this video using my Android phone to show you how peaceful it can be. The last part of the video is shot from the track of “Evan’s Walk” that leads to the Paps. The views from there include Lowlandman’s Bay and the Small Isles Bay. Enjoy!

Posted on June 3 2011

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Jura Passenger Ferry Saved

Jura Fast Ferry Service awarded ‘one off’ funding from Argyll and Bute Council.

Argyll and Bute Council has agreed to give the Jura Development Trust £24,000 to keep the passenger ferry service between Jura and Tayvallich operational for summer 2011. The money is a one off until the findings of the Scottish Ferries Review are known.

It has been agreed at a meeting today (June 2nd) there will be support for the Jura Development Trust from the Business Gateway team with the development of a business model. The council is fully supportive of the case the trust is putting to the Scottish Government for sustainable government funding of the Jura to Tayvallich fast ferry service through the Scottish Ferries Review.

Spokesperson for Rural and Island Affairs, Housing and Gaelic, Councillor Robin Currie said “I am absolutely delighted that Argyll and Bute Council is financially supporting the Jura passenger Service this year as the continuation of this service is vitally important to the economy of the island. Myself and others have been determined that this service continues this year because if it were not to run, it would be extremely difficult to resurrect the service next year. The Council and Jura Development Trust both agree that the funding for ferry services should be the remit of Scottish Government, so jointly we will be campaigning for the Scottish Government to take over the funding of the service in future years.”

This press release was posted in the Facebook Group “Save the Jura Passenger Ferry“

Posted on June 3 2011

Ferry,Transport 1 Comment

Council doesn’t grant Funds for Jura Passenger Ferry

When I read the sad news about the Jura Passenger Ferry on Friday I Tweeted “Bugger… No funding for Jura Passenger Ferry”. The Jura Passenger Ferry service between Tayvallich and Craighouse, operated by the Isle of Jura Development Trust, won’t sail due to a loss of necessary funding. The funds to keep the service running were not awarded by the Argyll and Bute Council due to their ongoing budget cuts. The summer passenger ferry service between Jura and Tayvallich on the mainland will now not be able to run as a result of losing its £24,196 grant unless other resources can be found. Losing the ferry sets the island back four years and tourists and islanders will have to rely on the ferry to Islay again, which means a lengthy detour to reach the mainland. This was the situation before the pilot with the Passenger Ferry started in 2008. What it most likely means for the island is that less tourists will visit Jura, a daytrip from the mainland is now no longer possible. This will have a serious impact on the already fragile economy of the island. Islay councillor Robin Currie, the council’s spokesman for islands, said: “It is an extremely sad day when the council takes a decision not to grant funding for a ferry. Everyone knows that, if it stops just for one year, it will never start up again. “Jura is a very vulnerable island. Apart from Iona, it is the only island where you have got to go to another island to get to the mainland. “If the ferry doesn’t operate this summer there is a possibility that some businesses on Jura will fold.”

On a personal note I’ve often wondered why Jura had such a different position in the larger West of Scotland Calmac dominated ferry system. After all, Jura has a larger population than some other islands on the west coast of Scotland who do have their own, or indirect, Calmac Ferry such as Gigha, Rum, Coll and Lismore. One can argue that these islands have no alternative ferry route via another island but Jura wouldn’t need an alternative ferry link via Islay either if it would have a direct link with the mainland. In my humble opinion having a direct link to the mainland is the only way the island would be able to develop economically in the future. And that direct link could be a passenger ferry or a combined car/passenger ferry. We know already that money will be lost anyway, be it through a loss making Calmac Ferry service such as the one on Gigha or through a subsidised council ferry. Most ferry routes in the west of Scotland are already heavily subsidised by the Scottish Government anyway so why pull the the plug on Jura, doesn’t this island need a “lifeline ferryservice”? I think it’s a shame that a government, regional or national, takes away money from Jura for the passenger ferry and gives it back to the Western Isles in the form of Road Equivalent Tariff (RET). This way they benefit local businesses and accommodation providers in the western Isles over the backs of businesses in Argyll and in this case Jura in particular. I know you can’t really compare the two different schemes but in my opinion this is just not right!

So what about the future? I guess when the necessary funds can be found the service will run again but at this moment I understand it’s very uncertain if and when this will happen. All I can recommend now is to visit the Jura Passenger Ferry website for the latest information, to make a donation and to hope for the best!

Posted on April 23 2011

Ferry,News,Transport Comments Off

A Winter Walk on the Paps of Jura

James Deane is from the neighbouring Isle of Islay and is a very talented photographer, although he started just a few years ago. You probably won’t believe me when you see the images here and on his website but it’s true. James visited the Isle of Jura early March and walked through miles of boggy terrain to the top of Beinn an Òir, the Mountain of Gold. Beinn an Òir is one of the Paps of Jura and is in fact the only Corbett on the island with 785m/2576 ft. A Corbett is a mountain in Scotland between 2500 and 3000 ft. Mountains above 3000ft are called Munros. Climbing one of the Paps is hard enough as it is with beautiful conditions in the summer but when the Paps have a layer of the white stuff and we’re talking March, late winter that is, it’s a whole different ball game. Especially if it’s quite hard to predict how thick the layer of snow on top is. The conditions were rather poor when James started as you can read below in his excellent travel report:

Never mind the forecast, the weather sucked. Not only did the morning suggest poor photography, but it also wasn’t the most pleasant conditions for a walk. Grey, gloomy and cold with a cloud base of around 400 metres, it certainly wasn’t the best. Still, I had decided on a walk up the Paps and I was keen to get on with it. In addition to the aforementioned biscuits, I was loaded with hot soup, chilli crisps, outdoor kit and of course lenses… Very heavy lenses! I should have rationalised my load here, but it was one of kitchen sink moments where I convinced myself of the apparent need for every focal length between 10mm and 400mm.”

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Posted on April 16 2011

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Jura Passenger Service Withdrawn

The Oban Times reports that the Award-winning Jura Passenger Ferry Service will not run this year because of a lack of support from the local authority and government, say the ferry operators. The three-year pilot project to run a passenger ferry service between Craighouse on the Isle of Jura and Tayvallich on the Argyll mainland, was voted a huge success, despite not becoming a profit-making enterprise. Jura Development Trust, which ran the project, said the island economy flourished with the extra traffic to the island; for every £1 spent on subsidy, £3 was generated within the community. However, the service needed a bail-out sum of more than £37,000 from the council in order to finish the 2010/2011 season. A statement from the trust said: ‘The inability to run the service has been caused by the unwillingness of public bodies to provide the necessary operating subsidy. Direct appeals to Argyll and Bute Council and to the Scottish Government have met with indifference.’

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Posted on April 1 2011

Transport 1 Comment

Jura Distillery Photo Competition

The Isle of Jura Distillery is running a photography competition with some very attractive prices, including a trip to Jura, Olympus camera’s and much more. All you have to do is upload your favourite Jura picture and add a wee bit of text. You shouldn’t wait too long, the competition closes tonight. I have uploaded an image as well and chose the view below, taken from the roadside between Ardlussa and Tarbert, which is one of my many favourite views on the island. If you want to join the competition click here


The view from the road between Ardlussa and Tarbert

Posted on January 21 2011

photography,Pictures,Whisky and Distillery Comments Off

Jura House Walled Garden Image Gallery

During our last trip to Jura, in May 2010, we had beautiful weather and on such lovely spring days a visit to Jura House Gardens on the Ardfin Estate is highly recommended. When the Campbells of Jura built Jura House and its adjacent walled garden, they picked a lovely spot on its south shore with beautiful views and shelter in mind. Also its south facing, sloping position favours a good growing climate. The garden was designed as a Victorian Kitchen garden with boxwood hedges, a rosegarden, vegetables and fruit trees against the walls, now one of few remaining, active walled gardens.

The walled garden next to Jura House is usually open although at this very moment the garden is closed. This has probably got something to do with the fact that the Ardfin Estate has recently been sold. A quote from the ForArgyll website: “The 12,000 acre Ardfin Estate on the Isle of Jura – on the market following the death of its owner Tony Riley-Smith, has been sold to Greg Coffeyy, a 39 year–old Australian hedge fund manager whose city performance has got him nicknamed The Wizard of Oz.” Let’s hope the new owner will keep the garden open and to show you how beautiful the garden is, I have created a new image gallery of the walled garden.

Click here to access the new gallery.

Posted on January 8 2011

Estates,News,photography,Pictures 1 Comment

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