THE VILLAGES / NA BAILTEAN
History and information / Eachdraidh agus fiosrachadh
SOUTH GALSON / GABHSANN BHO DHEAS
South Galson is situated north of Melbost Borve. The village has an intriguing and exciting history that belies its calm and quiet present-day environment. The village was a crofting village until 1863, though not in the present location. The older village was near to the main road and almost parallel with it. At this time the area of North Galson, South Galson and Melbost Galson was cleared of its inhabitants in order to make way for a new farm. The land was rented to a tenant farmer living with his family in the farmhouse in South Galson which is still there, but other houses and croft buildings were pulled down or fell into ruin.
The farm was occupied by tenants until 1921 when crofters in neighbouring villages began to agitate for land reform. They had been promised land in return for fighting in the First World War but returned home to conditions of overcrowding and land poverty worse than when they left, so a number of ex-soldiers and others began to raid the Galson Farm and to campaign for the farm to be broken up into new crofts. In 1923, the government divided the farm into 53 crofts.
When the community of the area successfully managed to buy the land for community ownership, the formal handover of the land to Galson Estate Trust was signed in the farmhouse in January 2007 and a commemorative stone was revealed in the courtyard to mark this historic event. This was moved to outside the Urras Oighreachd Ghabhsainn Business Centre in South Galson after this was opened in November 2011.
In February 2019, a devastating fire destroyed the original Urras Oighreachd Ghabhsainn Business Centre. Plans to re-build the Centre began in late 2019 and the new Business Centre was officially opened in March 2022 by MSP Kate Forbes.
Galson Farm Guest House: http://www.galsonfarm.co.uk/
Memories of arriving in Galson, 1924: http://galsonestate.pbworks.com/w/page/5401125/memories%20of%20arriving%20in%20Galson%20in%201924
Formal land hand-over, 2007: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesm/sets/72157594475888524/
Tha eachdraidh spreòdach agus inntinneach aig Gabhsann bho Dheas nach eil follaiseach idir bhon àrainneachd làitheil sèimheach agus sàmhach a tha ann an-diugh. Gu ruige 1863, b’ e baile-croitearachd a bh’ ann ach cha b’ e air an làrach far a bheil am baile a-nis. Bha an t-seann-bhaile nas fhaisge air a’ phrìomh rathad agus cha mhòr nach robh e co-shìnte ris. Aig an àm seo, chaidh an sgìre a tha a’ gabhail a-steach Gabhsann bho Thuath, Gabhsann bho Dheas agus Mealabost Ghabhsainn fhalamhachadh gus fearann a sholarachadh airson tuathanas ùr. Fhuair tuathanach màil a bha a’ fuireach còmhla ris a theaghlach anns an taigh-fearainn ann an Gabhsann bho Dheas (‘Galson Farm Guest House’ a-nis) am fearann air mhàl agus bha dà thaigh-buachaille fhathast ann (Borgh agus Gabhsann bho Thuath) ach chaidh na taighean agus togalaichean-croite eile a mhilleadh no chaidh iad air faondradh.
Bha màladairean a’ gabhail còmhnaidh air an tuathanas gu 1921 nuair a thòisich croitearan anns na bailtean as fhaisge air Gabhsann bho Dheas a’ strì airson ath-leasachaidh lagh an fhearainn. Ghealladh fearann dhaibh air sgàth an seirbheis san arm tron Chiad Chogadh Mòr ach nuair a thill iad dhachaigh bha cor na beòshlainte na bu mhiosa na bha e nuair a dh’fhàg iad, le dòmhlachadh sluaigh agus bochdainn fearainn. Mar sin, thòisich grunn shaighdearan agus daoine eile a’ creachadh Tuathanas Ghabhsainn agus ag iomairt gun rachadh an tuathanas na chroitean ùra. Ann an 1923, roinn an riaghaltas an tuathanas ann an 53 croitean.
Nuair a bha muinntir na sgìre soirbheachail ann a bhith a’ ceannach an fhearainn airson seilbheadaireachd choimhearsnachd, chaidh làmh a chur ri tar-aiseag foirmeil an fhearainn gu Urras Oighreachd Ghabhsainn anns an taigh-fearainn anns a’ Ghearain 2007 agus dh’fhoillseachadh clach-chuimhne anns a’ chùirt-lios gus an tachartas eachdraidheil seo a chomharrachadh. Chaidh a’ chlach a thoirt don ionad gnìomhachais ann an Gabhsann bho Dheas an dèidh dha fhosgladh san t-Samhain 2011.
Anns a’ Ghearran 2019, rinn teine sgrios uabhasach air Ionad Gnìomhachais Urras Oighreachd Ghabhsainn. Thòisich planaichean aig deireadh na bliadhna sin fhèin gus an ionad ath-thogail agus chaidh an Ionad Gnìomhachais ùr fhosgladh gu h-oifigeil le BPA Ceit Fhoirbeis sa Mhàrt 2022.
Galson Farm Guest House: http://www.galsonfarm.co.uk/
Memories of arriving in Galson, 1924: http://galsonestate.pbworks.com/w/page/5401125/memories%20of%20arriving%20in%20Galson%20in%201924
Formal land hand-over, 2007: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesm/sets/72157594475888524/
New building hand-over, 2022:
https://www.galsontrust.com/significant-milestones-1
SOUTH GALSON - HISTORY / GABHSANN BHO DHEAS - EACHDRAIDH
Land raids
Vigorous, and sometimes violent, land raids occurred during the 1920s in several other parts of the islands. There was a period of considerable political unrest while the local families pulled down the boundary dry-stone walls of the farm and the British Government reciprocated by sending in the troops to quell the unrest (they were wary of ‘trouble' from the Celtic fringes of the UK in the wake of the revolution and ongoing unrest in Ireland).
In 1923 the government capitulated, divided the Galson Farm into 53 new crofts, and allocated these crofts by public lottery to local families. All the buildings that you see in Galson today (except for the farmhouse and its steadings) have been built by the crofting families of the villages in the period since 1923. Some of the walls are relics of the farm, but the clearing and working of the fields is as a result of the crofters' labours, which accounts for the fact that the crofts in Galson are generally bigger and the fields are more regular than most of the other villages in this region (crofts in the other villages have frequently been sub-divided over the years whereas Galson has a much more ‘modern' lay-out).
Memories of arriving in Galson, 1924.