On 23 May 1964, just off the main north-south road from Stornoway by the turning to Grimshader, the body of a young man was found by brothers John and Donald Macleod of Crossbost, Lewis, who were digging into a peat-bank. On the discovery, they later said “To put it mildly, we both got a bit of a shock”. The local police were alerted who established that this was not a recent death.
The style of his clothing suggested the body had been in the moor since the early 1700s. Forensic analysis in the 1960s revealed that the person was a young man, around 20 to 25 years old and 1.64m tall. A fracture to the back of his head led at the time to a suggestion that he had been murdered.
Questions remain unanswered over the man’s identity, and the reason for his death and burial. Several local oral traditions have grown up about the events, and the existence and fate of his possible assailant. Rev G Hutchinson in his ‘Reminiscences of the Lews‘ in 1873 wrote of two young men who skipped school to go egg hunting on the moor. An argument erupted between the two friends, with one striking a killing blow against the other. In his haste, he buried the body and fled the islands on a ship.
Who is to say the body that was found in the 1960s is the same young man who met his fate on the Arnish Moor at the hands of his friend, but it is fascinating to think that these stories were being told long before a body was found. It is just as likely he was a cattle drover or peddler, murdered and robbed for his wares.
The story of the Arnish Moor Man is now the subject of an exhibition here at the Kinloch Historical Society in partnership with National Museums Scotland. For the first time, the bonnet and personal belongings of the Arnish Moor Man will be on display on the Isle of Lewis. These items include: a wooden comb, a mended horn spoon, two quill pens, a block of oak wood, and his bonnet.
While we don’t know his identity, his clothing and possessions give us a few clues to the kind of person he was. His clothing is a mixture of good and poor quality, extensively patched, mended and altered, perhaps telling us that these items were handed down to him. The presence of a comb tells us he cared about his appearance. The quills suggest he was a learned man. The horn spoon with its evidence of repair tells us he cared about his possessions.
Whoever he was, whatever reason he had for being on the moor, one thing we know for certain: he was a young man at the start of a life cut tragically short.
images © National Museums Scotland