Scourie | donncountry

Scourie Rob Donn and Eddrachillis

Scourie in the Highland Council Car Park close to the community bird hide

The parish of Eddrachillis (between the kyles) was home to George MacKay of Handa (now a bird sanctuary) and to Christine Brodie, daughter of the minister at Badcall, who was courted by Iain mac Eachainn’s son Hugh before he left to seek his fortune in Jamaica. Rob Donn composed love songs in the voices of both, including these words from Christine:

Tha mi ’g athchuing’ ort bhi tigh’nn,

Mu ’n dean a’ ghrian milleadh ort,

Mu ’m faigh thu biadh ni tinneas duit,

’S mu ’m faic thu òigh nì mire riut.

I am praying that you will come back

Before the sun harms you,

Before you take food that makes you ill,

And before you see a girl who flirts with you.

Hugh did not return until many years later, and Christine married another; her grandson Rev. Mackintosh Mackay edited the first collection of Rob Donn’s poems in 1829.