Excerpts from issue 53/03 15 November 2025
For the birds
It will not have escaped the attention of motorists driving along Uiskentuie Strand, that, almost overnight, fencing has appeared the full length of the shoreside stretch.
Perhaps not unnaturally, this has given rise to concern amongst those who have long been in the habit of taking a weekend or weekday walk, with or without a dog. However, the reality is nowhere near as worrying as many folks had thought.
A spokesperson for Islay Estates, who own the ground, told the Ileach, "We are managing a Scottish Government scheme to restore the numbers of chough along the Uiskentuie strand. To succeed, the area needs to be grazed by livestock, which provide a vital source of food for choughs and many other wading birds. Grazing has not been possible due to safety reasons: the proximity of the road could result in collisions between livestock and drivers. The fence will act as a safety barrier for the livestock and, most importantly of all, for drivers, along this busy stretch of road. Pedestrian access gates will be included in the fenced area, and parking will also be provided to allow the community to enjoy this area as they did before".
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Amongst the best of the best
Midst some of Europe's more exotic and interesting of locations such as Brussels, Crete, Frankfurt and Milan, it cannot be denied that it came as a bit of a pleasant suprise to find mention of Islay as one of the Best Places to Go in Europe in 2026 (notwithstanding the fact that Britain is technically no longer part of Europe).
While advising that Saint-Gervais-les-Bains in France, should be visited for "sustainable train travel and sweeping Haute-Savoie views", and that Seville is best for "new food entrepreneurs and luxury hotel openings", Islay's unique selling point is noted as "whisky, whisky, whisky".
This is all according to the online magazine Condé Nast Traveller, a British travel magazine aimed at readers interested in travel, with an emphasis on high-end and independent experiences.
The article describes the recently opened Ardbeg House as 'somewhere to eat, drink, and unplug, with kaleidoscopic textiles, richly detailed furnishings, and design that's pushing the limits of luxury on the island. No one in the world of whisky has seen anything like it in years.'
Laggan Bay, and Portintruan distilleries are also given prominence as adding to the ten distilleries already attracting many visitors to the island.
According to Condé Nast, '2026 brings a raft of exciting spots for lovers of the 'water of life'. [...] worthy of your precious annual leave and hard-earned spending money.'
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In this week's issue:
Port Ellen Playing Fields Pavilion opens, Death in Port Charlotte, Fencing Uiskentuie, CalMac CEO’s response to island sports groups, Islay's the place to be in 2026, Gartbreck Landfill ban delayed, Còisir Ghàidlig Ìle post Mòd concert, Lifeboat rescue, Orwellian visit, Islay Sea Adventures win, Islay Rum awards, Inver Estate solar array, Controversial changes at 2026 National Mòd, Hallowe'en characters at Peatzeria, Blythswood shoe boxes, Rocks at Bowmore Pier, Book Review - Lady Charlotte Bury by Margaret Storrie, Music Review - Alone Together: Louis Stewart + Brian Dunning, Keills Primary Gold Award, This Is Islay - the podcast, Islay Dental Practice, Sunderlands at Bowmore
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Book review
Lady Charlotte Bury: Notorious Diarist, Renowned Novelist and Celebrated Beauty. Margaret Storrie Pen & Sword Hardback 424pp illus. £29.99
Though Lady Charlotte Bury inspired her son to name the 'showy' village of Port Charlotte after her, author, Margaret Storrie, states that it was not this which led her to follow the career of Lady Charlotte, but “the lively 9-year-old girl and her dog in John Opie's portrait hanging in Inverarary Castle". That portrait appears on the front cover of the book.
Charlotte Susan Maria was born to the Duke and Duchess of Argyll in Argyll House, London on 28 January 1775. Considered one of the country's and Europe’s beauties (even by the age of nine), her portrait is reckoned to have been committed to canvas, paper and etchings over fifty times during her lifetime.
Her parents spent much of the 1780s creating their 'chateau' on the banks of the River Aray in Inveraray, where the path through the daffodils and bluebells is still referred to as 'Lady Charlotte’s Walk'.
At the age of 21, she married her cousin, John Campbell of Shawfield, a marriage that was not necessarily looked upon with favour by members of her family. Known as 'Jack of the Guards' John Campbell was a military man, rising to the rank of captain in the Scots Guards.
Though the couple produced nine children in almost as many years, it was not a happy marriage, with John's persistent drinking and an uncanny ability to incur often substantial debt. However, as son of Walter Campbell of Shawfield, he had expected to inherit the estates of Woodhall and Islay on the occasion of his marriage, but that turned out to be a forlorn hope.
He died in March 1809, leaving his widow with considerable debt. She took gainful employment with the Princess of Wales, a position that would later bring her to the centre of intrigue on the publication of the notorious 'Diary illustrative of the Times of George the Fourth'.
In 1817, she opted to travel extensively in Europe as a more economic alternative to remaining in London, "being the only place to live in Britain", but in which she proclaimed herself "too poor to live."
Accompanying them on their European travels was the Reverend Edward Bury, tutor to Charlotte's son, Walter Frederick, the eventual inheritor of the Shawfield and Islay estates. Meeting Rev. Bury was ultimately to give her further grief, when she subsequently married him in Florence. He was 27, she was 43.
During this period, Lady Charlotte expanded upon her earlier writing abilities, producing several volumes of both fiction and non-fiction, skills on which she would become more reliant when her second husband passed away in 1832 at the age of 42.
But if Lady Charlotte left any lasting impression on British history, it was as the 'unidentified' writer of the aforementioned Diary. Despite contentions that the Diary's author could have been Rev. Bury, it was also surmised that publisher, John Galt didn't quite escape suspicion.
However, seemingly based predominantly on her association with the Princess of Wales, Lady Charlotte was presumed by many to be responsible, a presumption "repudiated" by its supposed author.
One reviewer stated. "We never met with a book more pernicious or more mean", containing, as it did, "allegedly scurrilous" tales of royal court. The Daily News, however, said, "...it helps one vividly to realise the almost absurd tragedy of one of the most unfortunate of English Queens."
Margaret Storrie opines in the chapter devoted to the Diary's publication that, "Reading it now, more than 175 years after the Diary first emerged, it is difficult to understand the degree of outrage."
Lady Charlotte died at the age of 86 in March 1861.
Margaret Storrie has compiled and written a highly comprehensive and thoroughly researched history of a woman significant, not only to the history of Islay and Argyll, but possibly that of aristocratic Britain in the 19th century.
The details surrounding Lady Charlotte and her family's extensive travels in Europe, show an aristocracy that was not always as financially well off as they might have you believe, yet still content to attend lavish balls, dinners, operas and other entertainments, with apparently scarce ambition to search for, or indulge in gainful and remunerative employment.
It is not an easy book to read, given its long list of characters and academic leanings, but it is ultimately rewarding if you persist to the end. The extensive bibliography and index at the back are of immense help.
bp
Copies of Lady Charlotte Bury can be purchased from the Celtic House, Bowmore
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