Category Archives: South Uist

Our Lady of The Isles

Our-Lady-of-the-Isles Morning all

 

raining cats and dogs here again and it looks like it’s set in for the week! British summer at its best hey?

Today’s image is Our Lady of the Isles, a sculpture of the Virgin Mary, on South Uist in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. The statue is situated on the western slopes of Ruabhal, a hill near the northern end of South Uist. It’s a bit of a walk up from the main road, well the only road and this sculpture dominates the area predominately inhabited by sheep.

The statue was commissioned following proposals from the Ministry of Defence for a large missile testing range. This would have covered much of Uist, and involved construction of a military town as well as facilities for building missiles. This caused concern it would destroy much of the island’s way of life, culture and language. Resistance to the proposals was led by Canon John Morrison, the local parish priest. He commissioned and raised funds for the construction of the statue. The statue was completed in 1957, and dedicated in 1958.

The statue was designed by Hew Lorimer, and sculpted from granite. In 2007 the statue was listed as a Category B listed building.

Our-Lady-of-The-Isles-Portrait-BackView from behind looking out to sea.

Our-Lady-of-The-Isles-Portrat-FrontAnd from the front, had to remove a telegraph pole and fence post processing on this to make it look half decent.

Adrian