Early years Evidence of settlements on Jura dating from the
Mesolithic period was first uncovered by the English
archaeologist John Mercer in the 1960s. There is a
Neolithic chambered cairn at Poll a' Cheo in the southwest of the island. Jura is closer to Ireland's northern province of
Ulster than it is to
Glasgow, so it should not be unexpected that Irish people crossed the
Straits of Moyle and established the
Gaelic kingdom of
Dál Riata. It was divided into a handful of regions, controlled by particular kin groups, of which the
Cenél nÓengusa controlled Jura and Islay. The kingdom thrived for a few centuries, and formed a springboard for
Christianisation of the mainland. It is believed that Jura may have been
Hinba, the island to which the 6th-century missionary,
Columba, retreated from the monastic community he founded on
Iona, when he wished for a more contemplative life.
Vikings Dál Riata was ultimately destroyed when Vikings invaded, and
established their own domain, spreading more extensively over the islands north and west of the mainland, including Jura. This became the
Kingdom of the Isles, but following the unification of
Norway, the islands were under tenuous Norwegian authority, somewhat resisted by local rulers, like
Godred Crovan. Following Godred's death, the local population resisted Norway's choice of replacement, causing
Magnus, the Norwegian king, to launch a military campaign to assert his authority. In 1098, under pressure from Magnus,
the king of Scotland quitclaimed to him all sovereign authority over the isles. To Norway, the islands became known as
Suðreyjar (Old Norse, traditionally anglicised as
Sodor), meaning
southern isles. The former territory of Dal Riata acquired the geographic description
Argyle (now
Argyll): the
Gaelic coast. Half a century later, however,
Somerled, the husband of Godred Crovan's granddaughter, led a successful revolt against Norway, transforming Suðreyjar into an independent kingdom. Somerled built the sea fortress of
Claig Castle on an island at the southern tip of Jura, establishing control of the Sound of Islay; on account of the Corryvreckan whirlpool, this essentially gave him control of the sea traffic between the Scottish mainland and the Hebrides. After his death, nominal Norwegian authority was re-established, but de facto authority was split between Somerled's sons and the
Crovan dynasty. Somerled's son
Dougall received the part of Jura north of Loch Tarbert (along with adjacent islands further north), while Dougal's nephew
Donald received the rest of Jura, as well as Islay, and lands to the east. It is unclear why Jura was split like this, but it may have been connected to a dispute with Donald's other uncle,
Angus, who Donald and
his brother had ultimately dispossessed. In the mid 13th century, increased tension between Norway and Scotland led to a series of battles, culminating in the
Battle of Largs, shortly after which
the Norwegian king died. In 1266, his more peaceable successor ceded his nominal authority over Suðreyjar to the Scottish king (
Alexander III) by the
Treaty of Perth, in return for a very large sum of money. Alexander generally acknowledged the semi-independent authority of Somerled's heirs.
Lords of the Isles At the end of the 13th century, king
John Balliol was challenged for the throne by
Robert de Bruys. By this point, Somerled's descendants had formed into three families: the heirs of Dougall (the
MacDougalls), those of Donald (the
MacDonalds), and those of Donald's brother (the
MacRory); the MacDougalls took John's side, while the MacDonalds and MacRory backed de Bruys. When de Bruys defeated John, he declared the MacDougall lands forfeit, and gave them to the MacDonalds.
John of Islay, the head of the MacDonald family married
the heir of the MacRory family, thereby acquiring the remaining share of Somerled's realm, and transforming it into the
Lordship of the Isles, which lasted for over a century. Throughout all this time, the descendants of the Cenél nÓengusa had retained their identity; they were now the
MacInnes (not to be confused with similarly named groups elsewhere in Scotland). Though the MacDougalls had had authority over part of Jura, the MacInnes had been left in unmolested possession of the land, as vassals. Now, however, with the MacDonalds in charge of the entire island, the situation changed. The head of the MacDonalds was unhappy to have tenants who had supported John Balliol and the MacDougalls, so, in 1358, he asked the chief of the
MacLean family to assassinate the MacInnes' leaders; so thorough was this carried out that to this day the MacInnes have had no-one to become their new chief, and consequently they dispersed throughout Scotland. In 1390, Donald Macdonald, Lord of the Isles, granted the MacLeans the lands of northern Jura (the lands which had belonged to the MacInnes). The MacLeans established a castle in
Glen Garrisdale, as a stronghold, which they named Aros Castle, like one of their castles elsewhere. Towards the end of the 15th century, the Lords of the Isles made increasing efforts to establish full independence.
John MacDonald, the then Lord, launched a severe
raid on Ross, in pursuance of this aim. Within 2 years of the raid, in 1493, the Lordship of the Isles was declared forfeit, and his realm became part of Scotland, rather than a dependency of the Scottish crown. John was exiled from his former lands, and his former subjects now considered themselves to have no superior except the king. A charter was soon sent from
the Scottish King confirming this state of affairs; the charter declares that Skye and the Outer Hebrides are to be considered independent from the rest of the former Lordship, leaving only Islay and Jura remaining.
Campbells Initially, the
MacDonalds of Dunnyveg remained landlords of the southern part of Jura. Following John MacDonald's death, his grandson and heir,
Black Donald, was being kept a prisoner at
Innes Chonnel Castle (a stronghold of the
Campbells). In 1501, Donald escaped, triggering an insurrection in his favour in parts of the former Lordship of the Isles. When Donald was recaptured, in 1506,
the king took the precaution of transferring the property of the MacDonald family to the Campbells; in Jura, the
Campbells of Craignish were the beneficiaries. The Campbells established a base for themselves at Ardfin, at the south of Jura, to replace the nearby MacDonald stronghold of Claig Castle. After a century of intermittent violence between the families, in 1607 the Campbells purchased from the MacDonalds a quitclaim of any rights the latter might have on Jura. Following the
Scottish reformation, the MacLeans (opponents) and Campbells (supporters) came into dispute; to a certain extent, the Campbells also saw it as an opportunity for territorial expansion. Having complained for several years about harassment from the MacLeans, in 1647 the Campbells launched a surprise attack on Aros Castle, and killed many MacLeans; for many years in the 20th century, a human skull stood on a ledge in a nearby cave, and it was traditionally said to have been the remains of a Maclean who had been killed in this battle. The skull is no longer there, but the latest editions of
Ordnance Survey maps still mark the location as 'Maclean's Skull Cave'. The north of the island, however, remained in
MacLean hands until 1737, when it was sold to
Donald MacNeil of Colonsay. The remainder of the island was ruled and largely owned by the Campbells for a total of three centuries, by 11 successive Campbell lairds. Under Campbell influence,
shrieval authority was established under the
sheriff of Argyll. With inherited Campbell control of the sheriffdom,
comital authority was superfluous, and the provincial identity (medieval Latin:
provincia) of Islay-Jura faded away. In the mid 18th century, The
Heritable Jurisdictions Act abolished both, leaving only the shrieval unit, and without Campbell control. According to a local legend, in the early 1700s, the Campbells of Jura evicted a man who prophesied that the last Campbell to leave the island would be one-eyed with his belongings carried in a cart drawn by a lone white horse. In 1938 Charles Campbell, blind in one eye from a war injury, fell on hard times and led his white horse to the old pier for the last time.
Emigration Beginning in the later 18th century, long before the notorious
Highland Clearances of the following century, there were several waves of emigration from Jura. In 1767, fifty people left for
Canada, and from then the population fluctuated, rising to a peak of 1,312 in 1831, before gradually shrinking to its 20th century level of just a few hundred. Mercer notes that although relatively few forced clearances on Jura were recorded, the emigrations were due to factors such as hunger and spiralling rents.
Recent history Census records show that Jura's population peaked at 1,312 in 1831, During the decade from 2001 to 2011
Scottish island populations as a whole grew by 4% to 103,702. Alongside the long-term decline in Jura's population has been a decline in the number of
Gaelic speakers. The 1881 census reported that 86.6% of 946 inhabitants spoke Gaelic. In 1961, for the first time less than half (46.9%) spoke the language and by 2001, this figure had dropped to 10.6%. in the distance. In 1838, the old Campbell mansion at Ardfin was remodelled and extended by the architect
William Burn for the laird Colin Campbell and renamed Jura House. During the first half of the 20th century, the Campbells gradually sold the island as a number of separate estates, beginning with the disposal in 1920 of the northern two-thirds of the island, from the
Paps of Jura and the Corran River all the way to the
Corryvreckan. The purchaser was the American-born English politician
Waldorf Astor, whose wife
Nancy Astor had recently become the first female MP to sit in the
House of Commons. The most southerly part of that acquisition, the Tarbert Estate, remains in the hands of the Astor family to this day, and in recent years the latest generation of Astors have restored the remote Glenbatrick Lodge, which stands on Jura's uninhabited west coast, on the shore of Loch Tarbert. The connection between the Campbell family of landowners and lairds and Jura ended in 1938 with the sale of Jura House and its surrounding land,
Ardfin Estate. == George Orwell on Jura ==