Tong, Lewis

Last updated

Tong
Tong School - geograph.org.uk - 205097.jpg
Tong School
Outer Hebrides UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Tong
Location within the Outer Hebrides
Population527 (2001)
Language Scottish Gaelic
English
OS grid reference NB448365
Civil parish
Council area
Lieutenancy area
Country Scotland
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town ISLE OF LEWIS
Postcode district HS2
Dialling code 01851
Police Scotland
Fire Scottish
Ambulance Scottish
UK Parliament
Scottish Parliament
List of places
UK
Scotland
58°14′38″N6°20′56″W / 58.244°N 6.349°W / 58.244; -6.349

Tong (Scottish Gaelic : Tunga from Old Norse : Tunga) is a village on the Isle of Lewis, Scotland, 4 miles (6 kilometres) northeast of the main town of Stornoway on the B895 road to Back and Tolsta. [1] The population of the village is 527 (2001 census). Fishing forms part of the local economy. [2]

Contents

The mainland of Scotland is 40 nautical miles (75 kilometres) away via a two-hour ferry ride. [3]

History

Until the 13th century, Lewis – and Tong with it – was part of Norway. Fishing, farming and weaving made up Tong's economy by the 1800s. [3] Later in the century, landlords throughout much of Lewis ousted their tenants to install sheep farms and deer forests, industries which used huge swathes of land with few farmers. [4] Many families moved to Tong, causing "horrific overcrowding." [3] Scottish historian James Hunter quotes a mainland land manager's 1828 description: “It is worse than anything I ever saw in Donegal [in Ireland] where I always considered human wretchedness to have reached its very acme.” [3]

Between 1919 and 1921, Tong, along with nearby Coll and Gress, was the scene of several land raids. (See the Coll, Lewis article for more).

During the land raids, men raided estates with absentee landlords by planting crops and marking out farms on land used for sheep herding. Tong in particular was considered particularly radical; John Maclean, a Scottish socialist, who visited the area after World War I, "saw it as a "hotbed of insurrection" during a visit after World War I, and even through the 1990s, Tong’s residents were called "Bolshiveeks" by a Stornoway slang dictionary. [3]

Tong's economy struggled in the early 1900s – crops were failing, the herring industry lost its main clients due to American Prohibition and the Russian Revolution, the 1918 flu epidemic killed many, and World War I killed thousands more of Hebridean men and the government failed to keep its promises of land for the survivors, pulverizing the summer social seasons where young people found their future spouses over putting the sheep out to graze. Though emigration was long a trend on Lewis, all these factors increased the rate significantly. [3]

Circa 2016, Tong received much attention due to the candidacy of U.S. President Donald Trump, whose mother was born in Tong. The land nearby is described as flat and marshy with fields of peat, with fishing and sheep farming still parts of the local economy. [3]

Facilities

The village has a community centre with a football pitch and a primary school. Its religious establishments include a Free Church of Scotland mission house and a Scottish Episcopal Church meeting house.

Culture and sport

Every July the Lewis Highland Games and Western Isles Strongest man are held at the community centre with heavy events such as tossing the caber, Highland dancing, bagpipe competitions and other attractions taking place on the football pitch. The Lewis Highland Games have been held at Tong since 1977 and is the second oldest Games on the isle of Lewis. The local football club is Tong FC.

Notable people

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scottish Highlands</span> Cultural and historical region of Scotland

The Highlands is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots language replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands. The term is also used for the area north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault, although the exact boundaries are not clearly defined, particularly to the east. The Great Glen divides the Grampian Mountains to the southeast from the Northwest Highlands. The Scottish Gaelic name of A' Ghàidhealtachd literally means "the place of the Gaels" and traditionally, from a Gaelic-speaking point of view, includes both the Western Isles and the Highlands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Outer Hebrides</span> Archipelago and council area off the west coast of mainland Scotland

The Outer Hebrides or Western Isles, sometimes known as the Long Isle or Long Island, is an island chain off the west coast of mainland Scotland. The islands form part of the archipelago of the Hebrides, separated from the Scottish mainland and from the Inner Hebrides by the waters of the Minch, the Little Minch, and the Sea of the Hebrides. The Outer Hebrides are considered to be the traditional heartland of the Gaelic language. The islands form one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, which since 1998 has used only the Gaelic form of its name, including in English language contexts. The council area is called Na h-Eileanan an Iar and its council is Comhairle nan Eilean Siar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isle of Lewis</span> Region of Lewis and Harris island, Scotland

The Isle of Lewis or simply Lewis is the northern part of Lewis and Harris, the largest island of the Western Isles or Outer Hebrides archipelago in Scotland. The two parts are frequently referred to as if they were separate islands. The total area of Lewis is 683 square miles (1,770 km2).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ross and Cromarty</span> Historic county and registration county of Scotland

Ross and Cromarty, is an area in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. In modern usage, it is a registration county and a lieutenancy area. Between 1889 and 1975 it was a county.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scottish Agricultural Revolution</span>

The Agricultural Revolution in Scotland was a series of changes in agricultural practice that began in the 17th century and continued in the 19th century. They began with the improvement of Scottish Lowlands farmland and the beginning of a transformation of Scottish agriculture from one of the least modernised systems to what was to become the most modern and productive system in Europe. The traditional system of agriculture in Scotland generally used the runrig system of management, which had possibly originated in the Late Middle Ages. The basic pre-improvement farming unit was the baile and the fermetoun. In each, a small number of families worked open-field arable and shared grazing. Whilst run rig varied in its detail from place to place, the common defining detail was the sharing out by lot on a regular basis of individual parts ("rigs") of the arable land so that families had intermixed plots in different parts of the field.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coll</span> Island and parish in Scotland

Coll is an island located west of the Isle of Mull and northeast of Tiree in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. Coll is known for its sandy beaches, which rise to form large sand dunes, for its corncrakes, and for Breacachadh Castle. It is in the council area of Argyll and Bute. Arinagour is the main settlement on Coll. There is a ferry terminal on the island which connects it with the mainland of Scotland. Coll also has a small airport. The island is rural in nature and has been awarded Dark Sky status.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stornoway</span> Town on the Isle of Lewis, in Scotland

Stornoway is the main town, and by far the largest, of the Outer Hebrides, and the capital of Lewis and Harris in Scotland.

Tunga may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Castlebay</span> Village on Barra, Outer Hebrides, Scotland

Castlebay is the main village and a community council area on the island of Barra in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland. The village is located on the south coast of the island, and overlooks a bay in the Atlantic Ocean dominated by Kisimul Castle, as well as nearby islands such as Vatersay. Castlebay is also within the parish of Barra. The village is located on the A888, which serves as a circular road around Barra. In 1971, it had a population of 307.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Back, Lewis</span> Human settlement in Scotland

Back is a district and a village on the east coast of the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland, situated on a coastal area known as Loch a'Tuath, or Broad Bay. Back is within the parish of Stornoway, and is situated on the B895. The village/district utilises the motto "Tre Dhilseachd Buaidh" as seen on the crest of Back FC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crofting</span> Form of land tenure particular to the Scottish Highlands

Crofting is a form of land tenure and small-scale food production peculiar to the Scottish Highlands, the islands of Scotland, and formerly on the Isle of Man. Within the 19th-century townships, individual crofts were established on the better land, and a large area of poorer-quality hill ground was shared by all the crofters of the township for grazing of their livestock. In the 21st century, crofting is found predominantly in the rural Western and Northern Isles and in the coastal fringes of the western and northern Scottish mainland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Highland Potato Famine</span> Major agrarian crisis in the Scottish Highlands from 1846 to 1857

The Highland Potato Famine was a period of 19th-century Highland and Scottish history over which the agricultural communities of the Hebrides and the western Scottish Highlands saw their potato crop repeatedly devastated by potato blight. It was part of the wider food crisis facing Northern Europe caused by potato blight during the mid-1840s, whose most famous manifestation is the Great Irish Famine, but compared with its Irish counterpart, it was much less extensive and took many fewer lives as prompt and major charitable efforts by the rest of the United Kingdom ensured relatively little starvation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carloway</span> Human settlement in Scotland

Carloway is a crofting township and a district on the west coast of the Isle of Lewis, in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland. The district has a population of around 500. Carloway township is within the parish of Uig, and is situated on the A858.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Portvoller</span> Human settlement in Scotland

Portvoller is a small village on the north tip of the Eye Peninsula, on the Isle of Lewis in northwestern Scotland. It is 9 miles on the A866 from the Outer Hebrides' only town, Stornoway. Portvoller is within the parish of Stornoway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gress</span> Human settlement in Scotland

Gress, a hamlet on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland, is adjacent to the larger village of Back. Gress is within the parish of Stornoway. Between 1919 and 1921, Gress – along with nearby Coll and Tong – was the scene of several land raids.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brenish</span> Human settlement in Scotland

Brenish is a small village situated on the west coast of the Isle of Lewis, which is part of the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. Brenish is within the parish of Uig. The name of the village is sometimes spelt Breanish, however maps normally refer to Brenish.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lewis and Harris</span> Largest island in Scotland, part of the Outer Hebrides

Lewis and Harris, or Lewis with Harris, is a Scottish island in the Outer Hebrides, around 24 miles (39 km) from the Scottish mainland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Highland Clearances</span> Evictions in Scottish Highlands, 1750–1860

The Highland Clearances were the evictions of a significant number of tenants in the Scottish Highlands and Islands, mostly in two phases from 1750 to 1860.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coll, Lewis</span> Human settlement in Scotland

Coll is a farming settlement near Stornoway, on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland. Coll is situated on the B895, between Stornoway and New Tolsta, and is also within the parish of Stornoway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Anne MacLeod Trump</span> Mother of Donald Trump (1912–2000)

Mary Anne Trump was a Scottish-American socialite and philanthropist. She was the wife of the real-estate developer Fred Trump and the mother of Donald Trump, the president-elect of the United States, and the 45th president from 2017 to 2021.

References

  1. Maps (Map). Google Maps.
  2. Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons (1957). Parliamentary debates (Hansard).: House of Commons official report. H.M.S.O. Retrieved 20 May 2012.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Geoghegan, Peter (11 May 2016). "The Tiny Scottish Village That Spawned Trump". POLITICO Magazine. Retrieved 18 May 2023.
  4. Hunter, James (January 1972). "Sheep and deer: Highland sheep farming, 1850–1900". Northern Scotland. 1 (First Series (1): 199–222. doi:10.3366/nor.1972.0015. ISSN   0306-5278.