Martin

There are two different traditions concerning the origins of this clan. The first is that the original one came to Trotternish on account of the marriage of a daughter of the Irish Chief, O’ Cathan, to Angus, ‘Lord of Trotternish’ in the fifteenth century. Martin is said to have been one of the twenty men who were gifted as a dowry on the marriage of O’ Cathan’s daughter (Nighean Chathain). We might find this barbaric to be selling people, but in the year 2000 we buy and sell footballers.

The second tradition is that the Martins descend from Aonghas na Gaoithe (Angus of the storms), a noted sea reiver who settled at Marisiadar. Whoever their ‘father’ was, we know for certain that one of the most famous sons of the Marisiadar Martins was Martin Martin ‘Gentleman’ who published his Description of the Western Isles in the 1690s. He was a qualified doctor who does not seem to have practised, and it is known that for some years he was a tutor to the family of MacLeod of Dunvegan. One of the family from Marisiadar was Rev Donald Martin, who succeeded Rev Dr Donald MacQueen as parish minister of Kilmuir in 1785. William Mackenzie, author of the Old Skye Tales, tells us that in his own lifetime, the ruins of the original home of the Martins of Marisiadar were to be seen out on the moor near Dùn Raisborg. Not far from the original home is a place called Clachan ‘ille Mharatinn, the burying place of the Martins.

There is reference to Martins in Trotternish in the year 1507 - in a royal letter of protection.

The Marisiadar Martins are remembered as being quiet farmers. This family sent their children away to be educated. The Kilmartin Cemetery (Cladh Chille Mhartainn) is named after the Martins of Marisiadar, and their family tomb therein bears an inscription to that effect. Also named after the family is the Kilmartin River.

It was a Mariasadar Martin who built the first slated house in Trotternish. That was the old inn, which is situated at the road that turns off towards the Slip. It is without a roof in our times.

A John Martin - of Marisiadar - worked together with several brothers on the tea plantations in the Far East. The brothers accrued wealth there, and it was from this source that funds were procured towards a hospital for Stafainn. The original site was to be at Stoighseall - above the road - on the croft which is tenanted today by Iain MacDonald (The Herd). At one time, the Martins of Marisiadar owned that area of land in Stoighseall, as well as ‘the old inn’ and the surrounding land. However, the hospital never did come to pass in Stafainn. Instead it was built at Uig and bore the name the Martin Memorial hospital. The building served as a hospital until it became the Uig Youth Hostel.

A strain of the Marisiadar Martins occupied the lands of Bealach Lionacro and Duntulm. That family is known as Martain ‘ic Bhealaich. The Bealach referred to here is Bealach Ulisgard - or rather Bealach chual a sgairt - ‘the pass that heard the echo’, which is on the way to Uige. Another Bealach - Bealach Lionacro - had been settled by the Martins prior to their time in Bealach Ulisgard, and it seems the latter was a busy settlement. The Martins of Lionacro were more of an army fraternity: one or two reached the rank of General. On the death of ‘Martin of Bealach’ who lived during the second half of the eighteenth century, a lament was composed by Neil MacNab of Kilvaxter ...

There is another old song associated with the Martins of Bealach. It was composed by Beathag Mhor (Dhubh) of Uig for Martin Martin of Bealach (as opposed to Martin Martin ‘Gentleman’). Beathag had a son to Martin, but he did not take her as his wife. Instead he married a daughter of MacLeod of Raasay. The unfortunate woman had lost an eye by means of a goat’s horn. Because of this, her status as a marriage suitor was diminished. At their wedding, some ill-meaning person stood to make a toast ‘don ghobhair’ (to the goat). The song for Martin on behalf of the woman who bore him a son out of wedlock is said to have been composed sometime during the years 1740 to 1760, or possibly a bit later than that. Here it is:

(The Gaelic words and their English translation have been provided by Dr Alasdair Maclean (formerly of Raasay and Uist, and more recently of Bernisdale)