In his 1905 guide to Skye, MacCulloch describes Skeabost thus:
"A flat valley, unsheltered from the fierce winds of winter.....is watered by the winding Snizort River (famous for Salmon) and its tributaries. At its mouth, where it joins the Loch, here as narrow as the river itself, is the Island of St. Columba, with its ancient graveyard and ruined churches."
The ancient graveyard is still to be seen, as are the tumbledown buldings of the ancient church. Access may be had by a modern footbridge near the old Skeabost road bridge.
Skye legend has it that during the Napoleonic wars a French privateer was sighted and much silver and plate was hurriedly hidden in this graveyard. Presumably it was unearthed again when the privateer went away, so "treasure island" it is probably not.
It is said that St. Columba built the first Christian church in Skye on the island, but the history of the graveyard and the church is incomplete and enigmatic. The modern graveyard is nearby on a hill overlooking the Snizort valley. What the funeral arrangements were before the modern graveyard was opened I do not know. One thing is for sure. St. Columba's Isle is far to small to have served as a burial ground for even a small community for over 1000 years.
Derek Cooper, in his book "Skye" (first published in 1970 but well worth reading) advises us that at Skeabost:
"In 1539 a bloody battle took place between the Macleods and the MacDonalds and several heads cut off in the fray were later seen floating down the River Snizort."
Skeabost, on the shores of Loch Snizort is dominated by Skeabost House. According to Otta Swire, the house was built in the latter half of the nineteenth century by Lachlan Macdonald. Now it is a hotel.
The hotel owns a substantial length of the River Snizort, the premier salmon river on Skye. Unfortunately, given the general state of the decline in salmon fishing in the UK, that does not say very much.The rest of the river is owned privately.
That having been said, the salmon population is in decline world-wide and catches on the river are considerably less than they were. The reasons for this are unclear and I have heard blame laid at various doors including seals, the fish farming industry, the Forestry Commission and fishing at sea. I have not the necessary knowledge to comment upon whether these accusations are fair or not.
In the case of the Snizort, the decline in the fishery could, in part, be reversed by the removal of some of the artificial dams on the river which were put there by previous owners. This was supposed to improve the fishery, but there is a strong feeling amongst some of those who know the river well that it had the opposite effect and made it more difficult for the salmon to run.
We felt that the hotel had gone downhill under the stewardship of the Stuart and the McNab families.
They sold the hotel to Michael and Ann Heaney who obviously found making Skeabost House a viable business proposition to be a delicate balancing act, since they also have now sold the premises after a brief ownership. They had instituted a policy of "catch and return" in relation to salmon fishing, i.e. any fish caught had to be returned to the water. This offended some of the regular fishing guests who went elsewhere.
Since there are few fish to be caught in the river anyway, all this fishing policy did was to drive away would-be and established custom
It would have been much better to have kept the old fishing policy of allowing fly, spinner or worm and letting the anglers keep the fish. Since the chances of catching a salmon are slim anyway, I feel that little environmental damage would have been done, and at least the hotel would have continued to attract many of its old fishing guests.
The Skye people tell me that even the poachers are having little success with their nets on the Snizort. (It is odd how, on Skye, nobody actually is a poacher, but everyone seems to know somebody else who could probably get in touch with one!)
Under the Heaneys Skeabost house was a well run, but pricey hotel which (for those of us who like to eat the salmon we catch) offered no fishing.
If you want a well run hotel (also with no salmon fishing) in that part of the island, but with good food and possibly lower prices, you may consider the Cuillin Hills hotel in Portree to be preferable.
March 2006 update re fishing
I had an email from Mitchell Lee Partridge who informed me that the catch and return policy at Skeabost was not strictly enforced and sometimes guests were allowed to keep fish they caught.
I wonder how many guests the hotel lost as a result of this simple failure of communication between the reception staff and those responsible for fishing?
When we enquired at reception about fishing we were told that the policy was catch and return only. That is why we stopped staying there.
Mr Partridge is a Skye ghillie and offers his services, including fishing on the Snizort, to those who are interested.
His website is a mine of information on the current position on fishing on Skye and I commend you to take a look at it. He informs me that catches on the Snizort are rising again and that the poachers are active.
May 2006 update Derek Dowsett kindly contacted me and advises that he bought the lease of the River and also controls the salmon hatchery as part of a restocking programme.
His website is most informative.
2004 update: Skeabost has been sold by the Heaneys.
The new owners have obviously spent a lot of money on the hotel and are going for the luxury end of the market. We had afternoon tea there and we found it both good and substantial, but pricey.
The hotel bar has been revamped in an Afro-Carribean/jazz music theme. I understand that the new owners have connections with the music industry. I fear that this could be a terrible mistake.
Don't misunderstand me. I have nothing against Afro-Carribeans, or jazz; you should see my Basie/Ellington cd and vinyl collection. However, tourists, especially Americans, come to Skye and hope to find Hollywood's version of Scotland, which means that Skye Hotels, to succeed, have to be seriously politically incorrect; lots of guns littered about the place and dead animals hanging off the wall. The jazz music/wine bar style would work in London/Edinburgh/Manchester/Newcastle etc, but not on Skye and certainly not with the locals.
January 2006 update:
It seems that my comments in the previous two paragraphs were prophetic, since I notice that the hotel is now for sale again with Colliers Robert Barry & Co.
I also note that the majority of the fishing rights have been leased out elsewhere and that the hotel only retains two rods on the River Snizort. I feel that this is a desperate mistake since Skeabost's great strength was that it offered salmon fishing in Skye's major salmon river. Skeabost without the river makes Skeabost just another hotel on an island where many seem to be trying to get out of the hotel business.
It is sad to see just how many Skye Hotels are for sale with this agency as at January 26th 2006: Skeabost, the Duisdale Hotel, the Uig Hotel, The Duntulm Castle Hotel, and the MacKinnon Country House Hotel.
I think the problem with the hotel industry in general is that it is pricing itself out of existence when there is so much good self catering/bed and breakfast accommodation available on Skye.
I do not think that the current love affair with Masterchef/Haute Cuisine style cooking is doing the industry many favours either. There are many people, especially older people with dietary problems, who prefer good plain home cooking and do not want to be given indigestion by some exotic, spicy, saucy, arty-farty menu at an outrageous price.
Skeabost has changed hands so often recently that I wonder if there might be something in the proposition that the way to make a small fortune out of Skeabost is to start with a large one.
Any information as to further developments to gareth.boote@blueyonder.co.uk please.
September 2006 update:
Skeabost was bought by Swallow Hotel group which is now reported to be in financial difficulties and is in administration. For non-British readers "in administration" means that you are so deeply in the er..... "fertiliser" financially that you need a snorkel to breath through.
It would seem that Skea-bust hotel brings ruin to all who own it, which is a pity, because in the 1970's it was the finest hotel on Skye.
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A salmon is taken from pool 1. This area, on the left bank by the (now collapsed) bridge is completely flooded in the previous photo. These two dedicated regulars have not returned since the "fishless fishing" policy in relation to salmon was introduced. |
Copyright © Gareth F Boote 2000