The principal object of the Group is to advance education for the public benefit in the heritage and history of the Isle of Luing and also, where appropriate, its adjacent, smaller and mainly uninhabited islands, including the Garvellachs, Scarba, Lunga, Torsa, Shuna, Fladda, Belnahua, Rubha Fiola and other small islets.

The Group collates and records historical, ethnological, archaeological, biological, geological and other related information.

More information about the Group's set up is available in the Rules of the History Group.

Publications

Kilchattan Kirkyard

A record of more than 680 burials in Kilchattan Kirkyard on the Isle of Luing, set in the context of the wider history of the island, its community and its rural and industrial past.
A4, 116 pages.
This book is the result of three years’ work by a team of islanders, who have collected the monumental inscriptions and researched the background. A grant from the Strathmartine Trust has been of great help in funding the final printing and publication of the book
Price £12 .

Order forms are available online as a Word document or as a PDF file openable Adobe Acrobat.

Memories of 1945

An A4, 42 page booklet which is mainly recollections of 1945 from residents and visitors on the Island of Luing during Summer 2005 when we marked the 60th anniversary of the outbreak of peace after World War II.

Price £5

Order forms are available online as a Word document or as a Rich Text File openable in any word processor.

Biodiversity - Life on and around the Isle of Luing

An A5, 12 page illustrated leaflet produced by the Luing History Group by volunteers and funding for publication from the Argyll & Bute Local Biodiversity Partnership.

Available free - send A5 SAE with postage stamps to the value of 27p (second class) or 36p (first class) to: Mrs J. Galbraith, 7 Toberonochy, Isle of Luing, Oban, Argyll, PA34 4UE.

Reviews of the Kilchattan Kirkyard Publication

From the Local Studies Librarian of the Argyll and Bute Library Service, Dunoon:

“Well done on a fantastic publication.  What an impressive piece of research – the amount of detail you have included is superb and yet the layout is still clear and informative.  I would love to take it round other societies to show them how it should be done.  If we could do this for all the graveyards in Argyll, it would be amazing!  I’m really pleased that you have been able to undertake such a project and it adds so much to the material we have in the Local Collection.

Please pass on my thanks and congratulations to the rest of the History Group.”

From the “Local Historian” Volume 37 No. 4 2007, of the British Association of Local History:

“The Isle of Luing lies off the coast 16 miles south of Oban; its burial ground contains fascinating material, including stones left by Alex. Campbell, the 18th century leader of a religious sect, and the graves of Latvian sailors shipwrecked in 1936.  This book is a model of how a graveyard survey should be done, with a full description and biographical details of those represented, and the geology of the gravestones.

From “Down to Earth” Issue No. 62, 2008: The ENI Geological Challenge Awards 2007

Not a prize winner but one of the next few:

“This interesting submission came from a hitherto unknown, at least to us, group and came in the form of an A4 116 page book, printed on this small Scottish island.  It is a detailed piece of research largely carried out by geologist Zoë Fleming, with Margaret King as the talented illustrator/photographer.  Naturally, the main geological content relates to the range of rock types found in the many gravestones in the Kirkyard.  Over 60% are slates, but there are also granites, gabbros, basalts, sandstone and marble.”

Genealogical Resources

Luing History Group will be pleased to search for your ancestors or make documents available by prior arrangement should you visit the island. Click here to see list of family history resources. If you wish to become a member of the Group or have any enquiries please contact us by email: fleming.a.z@btinternet.com or write to Julia Galbraith, 7 Toberonochy, Isle of Luing, Oban, Argyll. PA34 4UE.