Calum MacLeod (1911 – 1988) grew up on the Isle of Raasay in Scotland and lived on the island all his life, at the very tip of the archipelago. He tended the local lighthouse, worked his farm and, gradually, saw his neighbours leave the island for lives in other more prosperous places with more amenities. It worried him that so many people were uprooted from the beautiful island their families had lived in for generations. It distressed him that his daughter had to go to boarding school on Skye and couldn’t come home at weekends, because there was no road to bring her to the croft. And so, in the mid-1960s, he set about doing something to stop the exodus, as he was the only man left living in northern Raasay. He built a road.
The inhabitants who lived north of Brochel simply had to walk if they needed to go places. Calum had campaigned and applied for grants, but nothing succeeded and finally, he decided he would have to build the road himself, in the hopes that it would attract residents back to the island. Over a period of about ten years, he constructed a road, using wheelbarrows, pickaxes and shovels. Some initial blasting work was funded, but everything else was done by Calum who purchased a useful book on road-making and used that. He cleared and cut the terrain, planned the route with its switchback and ups and downs and, with incredible determination, he was out in all types of weather, creating his road. It’s a work of art, superbly sited and built. It will be there for a long time to come.
Today there is a cairn beside the road near Brochel Castle which commemorates his achievement. Several years after he completed the road, the local authorities accepted its existence and paved it over, so that all vehicles could use it. He was awarded a British Empire Medal for his achievement, and the road has been commemorated in songs, documentary film, a dance and plays.
Calum MacLeod was a writer, as well as a crofter and road-builder. He wrote in Gaelic and had several articles and local history pieces published in Gaelic periodicals.
I loved reading Roger Hutchinson’s book telling of this one man’s fight against officialdom and then his decision to fix the problem himself. This Hebridean story was moving and well told. Today people come from around the world to see Calum’s Road. I’d love to walk its length (less than two miles) and take a pilgrimage in memory of one remarkable man, who wanted to save his community and his way of life.
You can watch Calum at work and hear from Roger Hutchinson in this 5 minute film:
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