This is the story of a remarkably determined man called Calum MacLeod, who got tired of waiting for the government to build a road 1.75 miles long from Brochel in northern Raasay to his village of Arnish, and decided to built it himself in his spare time. It took him over a decade and he did almost all the work himself with a wheelbarrow, pickaxe, shovel, crowbar, sledgehammer and a secondhand book on road making and maintenance, which was published in 1900. He had some help from the Royal Engineers with the surveying and some rock blasting. Calum ran a croft, worked as postman and a boatman for the lighthousekeepers on Rona. Later he was also an assistant keeper at Rona Lighthouse, so he didn't have that much spare time, which makes his achievement all the more incredible.
The story of Calum's Road has to be seen in the light of the last 2 centuries of history on Raasay. In the mid 19th century the people of Raasay were cleared from the more fertile areas in the south of the island to make way for a sheep farm and sporting estate. Many people emigrated and the remainder were banished to eke out a living in the wilder and less fertile north end of the island and on the tidal islands of Fladda and Eilean Tigh or on the rocky island of Rona, which lies to the north of Raasay. George Rainy, who owned Raasay from 1846-63 had a 6 foot high dry stone wall constructed across the island at its narrowest point to separate his game animals from the remaining islanders, who were not permitted to live on the south side of it or to graze their animals there.
In 1921 desperate crofters from Rona settled illegally on the south east side of Raasay and reclaimed land from which their ancestors had been evicted 70 years earlier. They became known as the Raasay Raiders. After a court case and a short prison sentence, the matter was finally resolved in 1923 when the island was sold to the Scottish Rural Workers Approved Society. They leased the island to the Board of Agriculture who created new crofts.
In 1931 the inhabitants of the settlements in North Raasay petitioned their local council for 3 miles of road to be built from Brochel Castle to Fladda via Arnish. Beyond Brochel Castle the only access was a narrow footpath. Their petition was rejected.
From 1949 to 1952 Calum and his brother Charles built a track from Torran to the tidal island of Fladda. In the 1920s the inhabitants of Fladda had asked the local council to build a footbridge from Raasay to Fladda, so that the children on the island could travel to and from school at all states of the tide. The council refused to build the bridge but they did build and staff a small school on Fladda in 1936. In 1962 Calum asked the council to build a causeway to Fladda but the council said the cost was too high. In 1961 the population of Fladda was 12 but by 1965 the last three families on the island had all given up waiting for a road and footbridge to be built and for running water and electricity to be laid on and they all left the island.
Gradually the population in the north of the island dropped, as families moved away, mainly because of the lack road access and by 1967 Calum and his wife were the only residents left in North Raasay. Calum hoped that this decline would be reversed if a road was built.
Calum's Road was finished by 1974 but it was only accessible to tractors and 4 wheel drive vehicles. After much discussion and procrastination the road was finally tarmacked by the local council in 1982. Calum died suddenly in 1988.
This book is more than just the story of the construction of a road. It is about what one individual can achieve if they are determined enough. It is a shame that there are no photographs in the book.
7/10
Islands covered - Raasay, Fladda, Eilean Tighe, Rona
Calum's Memorial at Brochel
The start of Calum's Road at Brochel
Calum's Road
