Tour Scotland travel video, with Scottish music, of Barra Head, also known as Berneray, Scottish Gaelic: Beàrnaraigh; Scots: Barra Heid, the southernmost islands on visit to the Outer Hebrides. The Barra Head Lighthouse, built by Robert Stevenson, has operated since 1833. From 1931 to 1980 Barra Head was inhabited only by the lighthouse keepers and their wives but the lighthouse is now automated and the island completely uninhabited. The rough seas that surround the island have been used to test prototype lifeboats. Within the Outer Hebrides, it forms part of the Barra Isles archipelago. Originally, Barra Head only referred to the southernmost headland of Berneray but is now a common name for the entire island. The highest point of the island is Sotan. The island's best known former resident is Peter Sinclair, aka Pàdraig Mòr or the " Barra Giant ". He was measured at six feet eight inches tall aged seventeen in 1866. He joined a travelling show, but disliked the publicity and returned to the islands to run a dairy in Castlebay in the summer and spend the winters at his home on Berneray.
Angus MacAskill, a Scottish born Canadian giant, was born in 1825 on the Isle of Berneray. His father was Norman MacAskill, who was 5 feet 9 inches tall, and his mother was Christina Campbell. He had twelve siblings, several of whom died young, and he was an ordinary sized baby. After several years in Stornoway, Outer Hebrides, the family settled in the fishing community of Englishtown, Cape Breton Island, Canada, around 1831. Young MacAskill was said to be of normal stature, but in entering his adolescence he began to grow rapidly and by his 20th year had attained 7 ft 4 inches, eventually reaching 7 ft 9 inches. He was known in his local community of St. Ann's as " Gille Mòr " meaning " Big Boy. ". He was also known to many as the " Cape Breton Giant " or simply " Giant MacAskill. " MacAskill was well known for feats of strength such as lifting a ship's anchor weighing 2,800 pounds to chest height, and an ability to carry barrels weighing over 350 pounds apiece under each arm or reputedly able to lift a hundredweight with two fingers and hold it at arm's length for ten minutes. In 1849 he entered show business and went to work for P.T. Barnum's circus, appearing next to General Tom Thumb. In 1853 he toured the West Indies and Cuba. Queen Victoria heard stories about MacAskill's great strength and invited him to appear before her to give a demonstration at Windsor Castle in England, after which she proclaimed him to be " the tallest, stoutest and strongest man to ever enter the palace ", and presented him with two gold rings in appreciation. After a show business career demonstrating his size and strength in Europe and North America, he returned to his home community of Englishtown and purchased a gristmill, a general store and several other properties. In the summer of 1863 MacAskill undertook a trip to the colonial capital at Halifax, where he had been planning to sell produce and purchase stock for his store that he would need for the winter season from the city's wholesalers. During the trip, he suddenly became seriously ill and was returned to St. Ann's, where his family moved him back to his parents' home. His original childhood bed was hastily lengthened and put up in their living room to provide for his care. The doctor's diagnosis was brain fever. After a week's illness, MacAskill died peacefully in his sleep on August 8, 1863
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
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