Bragar ( gd, Bràgar, ) is a village on the

west side West Side or Westside may refer to: Places Canada * West Side, a neighbourhood of Windsor, Ontario * West Side, a neighbourhood of Vancouver, British Columbia United Kingdom * West Side, Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Scotland * Westside, Birmingham E ...

of the

Isle of Lewis The Isle of Lewis ( gd, Eilean Leòdhais) or simply Lewis ( gd, Leòdhas, ) is the northern part of Lewis and Harris, the largest island of the Western Isles or Outer Hebrides archipelago in Scotland. The two parts are frequently referred to as ...

in the

Outer Hebrides The Outer Hebrides () or Western Isles ( gd, Na h-Eileanan Siar or or ("islands of the strangers"); sco, Waster Isles), sometimes known as the Long Isle/Long Island ( gd, An t-Eilean Fada, links=no), is an island chain off the west coast ...

, Scotland, from the island's only town,

Stornoway Stornoway (; gd, Steòrnabhagh; sco, Stornowa) is the main town of the Western Isles and the capital of Lewis and Harris in Scotland. The town's population is around 6,953, making it by far the largest town in the Outer Hebrides, as well a ...

. Bragar is within the parish of

Barvas Barvas (Scottish Gaelic: ''Barabhas'' or ''Barbhas'', ) is a settlement, community and civil parish on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland. It developed around a road junction. The A857 and A858 meet at the southern end of Barvas. North is the road ...

, and is situated on the A858 between

Carloway Carloway ( gd, Càrlabhagh, IPA: �kʰaːɾɫ̪ə.ɤː is a crofting township and a district on the west coast of the Isle of Lewis, in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland. The district has a population of around 500. Carloway township is within the pari ...

and Barvas. Residents are mainly

Gaelic Gaelic is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". As a noun it refers to the group of languages spoken by the Gaels, or to any one of the languages individually. Gaelic languages are spoken in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and Ca ...

speaking, and many work as

crofters A croft is a fenced or enclosed area of land, usually small and arable, and usually, but not always, with a crofter's dwelling thereon. A crofter is one who has tenure and use of the land, typically as a tenant farmer, especially in rural area ...

. The village's best-known landmark is a whalebone arch, made in 1921 from the jawbone of an

blue whale The blue whale (''Balaenoptera musculus'') is a marine mammal and a baleen whale. Reaching a maximum confirmed length of and weighing up to , it is the largest animal known to have ever existed. The blue whale's long and slender body can ...

which was beached on the shore the year before. The arch is located at the Lakeview residence, the home of Murdo Morrison (1867 - 1950). Bragar also has a post office, a war memorial, and a school.

History

A ruined

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

broch A broch is an Iron Age drystone hollow-walled structure found in Scotland. Brochs belong to the classification "complex Atlantic roundhouse" devised by Scottish archaeologists in the 1980s. Their origin is a matter of some controversy. Origin ...

, Dun Bragar, stands in Loch an Dùin in South Bragar, 80 metres from the road and connected to the lochside by a causeway. In the mid-20th century local people took away many of its stones, and the structure is no longer safe. The remains of a chapel, Teampall Eòin (the Temple of John the Baptist), built in the 15th century or earlier, lie inside a walled compound. This also contains a cemetery, now known as Cill Sgàire (Zechariah's cemetery) after Zechariah MacAulay who fell in a skirmish between the

MacAulays of Uig The Macaulay family of Uig in Lewis, known in Scottish Gaelic as ''Clann mhic Amhlaigh'', were a small family located around Uig on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. There is no connection between the Macaulays of Lewis and ...

and the

Morrisons of Ness Clan Morrison is a Scottish clan. The Highland Clan Morrison is traditionally associated with the Isle of Lewis and Harris (Leòdhas) around Ness (Nis), Dun Pabbay, and Barvas (Barabhas), lands in Sutherland around Durness, and in North Uist. ...

. It is estimated that 2000 people are buried within the graveyard.

Notable people

Roderick Morison Roderick Morison ( gd, Ruairidh MacMhuirich), known as An Clàrsair Dall (The Blind Harper), was a Scottish Gaelic poet and harpist. He was born around 1646 in Bragar, Lewis and educated in Inverness, but he also learned to play the clàrsach (Cel ...

, the retained harper to

Clan MacLeod Clan MacLeod (; gd, Clann Mac Leòid ) is a Highland Scottish clan associated with the Isle of Skye. There are two main branches of the clan: the MacLeods of Harris and Dunvegan, whose chief is MacLeod of MacLeod, are known in Gaelic as ' ("see ...

Dunvegan Castle , native_name_lang =Gaelic , alternate_name = , image = Dunvegan Castle.jpg , image_size = , alt = , caption = The south-west face of the castle , map = , map_type = Scotland Isle of Skye ...

, was born in Bragar in 1656.Chadwick, Simo
Rory Dall
Early Gaelic Harp Info. Retrieved 22 April 2018 He wrote Òran Mòr MhicLeòid.

References

External links

Canmore - Lewis, North Bragar site recordCanmore - Lewis, Bragar site record
Villages in the Isle of Lewis {{WesternIsles-geo-stub