With references to the 'mythological' literature of the Celts:

Truly a marvellous output of texts and translations, rivalling any in the whole range of our Gaelic literature. And the above catalogue does not by any means exhaust the list. The wonder is that the sage should be found in remote and outlying corners of the Highlands floating by oral tradition down to our own time. Fletcher got a version about 1750. Irvine took down part of the verse about 1801 from a fox-hunter on Tayside, Carmichael from an old Macneill in Barra in 1871. The story is of additional interest to us because it is laid partly in Ireland and partly in Scotland, among that beautiful scenery around Loch Etive so well known to native and tourist (p. 148).

Magnus Maclean (1998) [1902] The Literature of the Celts, Senate (originally Blackie and Sons).

With respect to families associated with the Lord of the Isles:

Other families became associated with particular crafts and skills. The Macintyres, descended from MacNeill the shipwright, were known as carpenters. The MacEacherns, originally from Kintyre, became hereditary swordsmiths in Islay and made the famous six-foot blades with the distinctive Islay tilt. Traces of their early forge remain behind the rock face of Creag Uinnsin, about three-quarters of a mile from Kilchoman Church. In Glenoe, the Fhleistear or MacPheidearin — sometimes simply called the Fletchers — were the arrow-makers. The wax for bow strings was furnished by Baill-na-Gail-Bhuin; the arrow shafts came from Esragoin in Lorne, and the bows themselves from the yew trees of Glenmure (pp. 216–217).

Ronald Williams (1997) The Lords of the Isles: The Clan Donald and the Early Kingdom of the Scots, House of Lochar: Colonsay.

Various references, particularly in relation to the MacGregors and Campbells:

Ian Grimble, Clans and Chiefs, Blond and Briggs.

An oral account by Lachlan MacIllEathain ranging across the townships of Glen Forsa, Mull — including the Fletchers of Bradhadail, their role as arrow-makers for the MacLeans of Duart, their charter, their eviction, and their burial ground in Gleann Cainneir. Recorded by Elizabeth Sinclair for the School of Scottish Studies. Translated from Scottish Gaelic:

Elizabeth Sinclair (ES): Yes, Ceann an Tùir.

Lachlan MacIllEathain (LM): Ceann an Tùir. There was always a story in the glen, it seems, among the townships, that a shoe — a high boot, I believe it was — had been buried at Ceann an Tùir here. It's about half a mile up Glen Forsa from... from Peighinn a' Ghobhainn. And there was also a story that up at another place, called Corrachaidh — that was a small township — another chest had been... a silver chest had been buried there.

And at a place they called Cnoc a' Bhuntàta, the story there is that it was the first place potatoes were brought to Mull; they were planted on this hill by the people who were in Corrachaidh. And I spoke... I myself spoke to a man — this may seem rather remarkable — I spoke to a man who had spoken to an old woman. She was living at another township, Tom Slèibhe, and she used to say that when she rose in the morning, as a girl, she could see sixty smoking chimneys, morning fires going, in Corrachaidh. The houses are still there, in a wood. The landlords — there was a certain Colonel Gardyne — and with all the old ruins that were there, he made them plant woodland there. The wood still covers half of Glen Forsa. And there were sixty houses... I myself counted sixty house-sites in that wood, and they were — this was quite late on — they were thatched houses. Most of the houses in the glens were built of earth, and there's no trace of them today, but these were houses...

ES: Thatched. Stone.

LM: Stone. Of stone. And well built. But that was Corrachaidh. But anyway, there was a story that these two things existed — that the shoe was at Ceann an Tùir and that the spotted chest was at Cnoc a' Bhuntàta and at Corrachaidh. And one day a herdsman, a cattle herdsman, was up at Cnoc a' Bhuntàta, and he came upon a chest, and he ran home up to Rhoail to tell the people he worked for that he had found this chest. They all came down and they saw the chest, and they sent the herdsman home to fetch a spade, and while the herdsman was away they lifted the chest out themselves and emptied it. When the young herdsman returned and found out that the chest was empty, he went home very downcast and told them that the chest was empty, and his mother, or an old woman who was there, said:

"Oh, don't you worry at all, my boy. The people who got the money — it will leave them as it came to them."

And those people spread across the whole of Mull, and they bought... the people who got the money, they acquired nearly every township worth taking throughout those glens, but before long... I saw some of them who grew old and it left them as it had come. There's nobody of them today, I don't think — their name is hardly known in Mull now. It isn't. But that's Corrachaidh for you. That was a township, and just about half a mile further on, on the other side of the river, there's a place called Gaoideal. This was... I'm following Glen Forsa throughout — here you have Gaoideal, and oh, there would have been forty or sixty houses in Gaoideal alone. And Gaoideal was famous for milk and butter. I know there was a song about it and they called it Gaoideal Gorm an Ime — Blue Gaoideal of the Butter.

But the one thing I ever saw in Gaoideal — there was an old man there and up through the glen... they call it Gleann Ghaoideil, that glen runs up a bit, and there was a place they called Achadh Àlainn — the Beautiful Field. And they used to say that was the place where the people of all these glens would gather for... well, for sport, you know... they would play there, and he always used to tell me that — they used to say it was the gathering place for all of them, whether it was for war or for peace, that Achadh Àlainn was where they would muster. And I remember one night, there was a terrible storm and heavy rain, and he came to where I was and said:

"Would you come down so you can see what I've found over here."

And there was a river, and it had carved away the riverbank, and there were three... four putting stones — you know, putting stones, the shot-put stones they used to have — there. Yes, of every size. There was a large one, and smaller ones down to a small one. There were three lying low and one sitting on top, and I said to him:

"Shall I lift them out and keep them?"

[Uncertain passage]

"Oh," he said, "it's far better to leave them where they are."

And he wouldn't let me go near them, and I'm sure now that they've been carried away by the current. But... I left them... he was the man... he's the one who taught me anything I know about those places. But that was Achadh Àlainn.

ES: And did you... had you ever seen that kind of putting stone before? Or were they... were they common to find?

LM: They weren't. I would say... oh, it may be... I don't know whether they were taken from the shoreline, but they were much rounder than stones you would find... it was rather like... the large one was rather like a cannonball, but it was from hard rock that it had been...

ES: But they had been made round?

LM: They had been made round and they were... oh, they were very smooth all over. There was... but each one was a different size and a different weight. The smallest one, you would say that was one for a boy. That was in Achadh Àlainn. That's the only thing I ever saw up there. But further up the glen there was... going further along... following Glen Forsa, on the other side of the river, there was another township, but [unclear]... I can't remember at all what the name of that place is. There was something ruadh — reddish-brown — in it. I don't know, ruadh... ruadh was in the name, but whether it was at the beginning or the end, I don't know where it was. But then going further up, about another half mile, there was another township, Tom Slèibhe. I don't know much about the history of that place, Tom Slèibhe. The only thing I know is that it features in a song, that there's a pleasant well at the foot of Tom Slèibhe. On the other side of the river from Tom Slèibhe, there was a township called Rhoail. And oh, there were so many ruins there. That's one of the places associated with Allan MacEachern, who I was telling you about — it was in this Rhoail — but how many people were there, I don't know, but I know there were many.

ES: And what did you say at the start about Tom Slèibhe, that it was the name for somewhere?

LM: They call it Beinn Tealladha today. Beinn Tealladha is what they call that place today, but Tom Slèibhe is its proper name. Then continuing through Glen Forsa, until you come to Gleann Mòr, there's a hill there called Ceann a' Chnocain. That's where a man they called Eòghann a' Chinn Bhig — Ewan of the Small Head — one of the MacLeans of Loch Buie, was killed. I believe that was the last battle ever fought in Mull, wasn't it?

Mr MacQuarrie (MM): Yes, in Mull.

LM: In Mull.

ES: And who killed him?

LM: He was... the Duart people. He was...

MM: His own kinsmen.

LM: His own kinsmen. I believe it was his father's people... he was... there's a small loch at... there's a castle... he was living in a small castle in a loch in the glen, Lochan...

The ruins of the castle are still in Loch Sguabain, but he was killed at Ceann a' Chnocain here. And there was a story that whenever misfortune or trouble of any kind came upon the MacLeans of Loch Buie, he would be seen... without a head... headless, riding a horse about the estate.

ES: And why would it be around the Loch Buie people that he would go?

LM: Well, this was the thing... it was in their family, he was one of the family's own people. He belonged to the Loch Buie family. I believe... where am I... I'm sorry... Iain Òg was the name they had for the Loch Buie man, for his father. And there were two brothers. There was another Iain, another Iain Òg, and Eòghann. It was Eòghann who built this castle in Loch Sguabain. And the date, fifteen thirty-eight, is when he was killed. And he is buried in Iona.

ES: Oh, is he?

LM: Yes. He is buried in Iona, it seems. But that was Glen Forsa. And then, when you come back to Tom Slèibhe here again, another glen comes into Glen Forsa... into Gleann Cainneir. This glen comes into Gleann Cainneir, and at the other end of this glen, still on the Glen Forsa estate, there's another small township they call Bradhadail, and it was in Bradhadail that the Fletchers were — Clann an Fhlèisteir, isn't that what they're called. The story was that the Fletchers, or this Clann an Fhlèisteir... is it Fhlèisteir? I think it is Fhlèisteir. They used to make arrows — bows and arrows — for Duart. It seems that at one time... I believe it was the Argyll people who came to Duart to try to take over the place. Or was it MacDonald of the Isles, Lord of the Isles? I'm not entirely sure which, but anyway the Fletchers saved the day. They kept up a barrage of these arrows on the boats and nobody got ashore and the attackers had to be dragged back, and Duart gave them a piece of land over here, behind Beinn Tealladha, the place they call Bradhadail, and they got this land so that they would make bows and arrows for the MacLeans of Duart. And they got... what do you call it, a charter for this land, and that lasted, it seems, for hundreds of years, until... then the great guns came in, and then Duart understood that he was simply keeping this Fletcher clan here without much use for them. And it seems he moved to drive them out, and he told them he was done with them and didn't need... that they should bother him no more, and he told them... he said they should get out, and they said:

"Oh, you can't do that, because we have it in writing that we are entitled to this as long as there are Fletchers in Mull."

And he said: "Oh, it's not in writing."

"Oh, it is," they said.

"Well, go and show me the paper it's written on."

They went and brought him the paper, and he grabbed the paper and tore it in two and threw it in the fire, and he said to them:

"Well, you can go and graze on the Sàilean moor" — this is down at Sàilean — "or you can get a boat across."

And I don't know how many of them went there, but I know some of them were there until perhaps a hundred years ago. And that's their burial place — this Gleann Cainneir. The graveyard is still there, and there's at least one slab with I F... J F on it, or I F, that's what it is — Iain Fletcher — inscribed on the slab. A slate slab. But one family left and went to Sàilean, and they were in Sàilean for many years, until a year or two ago they left Sàilean, and some of them were in Tobermory, it seems. But there are two trees... there's one tree — I think there's only one left now of the old trees from which they used to take the arrow wood. But you can still see the house sites in Tom Slèibhe.

But going back down to Ceann a' Chnocain again, on the far side of the river from Ceann a' Chnocain, there's a place... the Little Church — a' Chill Bheag. There's a graveyard there. There was a graveyard, I should say — it's a sheep fank now, and both it and Gleann Cainneir, those are the two places where they built... where they put up sheep fanks on the burial grounds, on the graveyards, just to break the spirit of the people in the glen, so they could clear the glens for sheep.

ES: Did they do this before the people were put out, before the people were driven from the glen?

LM: They did it at the very same time. They intended this to simply finish them all off — or rather that it would reach... because the old customs were very deeply held in those places, that people should be buried where they belonged. It used to be — it's not so much the case now but it used to be — oh, they would travel miles to bury them in the... so that they would go to the old graveyard alongside their ancestors. But today there's... there aren't many Mull people left anyway. But they thought that if they did that, they would make sure they would leave, and the place in Gleann Cainneir was converted, part of the graveyard is still remaining. And I know that in a' Chill Bheag, when I first came to know it, the gates of the fank — they were built using the gravestones. You can see the gravestones in the gates. You can still see them at Baile na h-Aibhne where they were broken up. And the man who did this — it was the Craig Sellars, apparently. They were the experts; they had already carried out the Sutherland Clearances. They were brought down here to help, to finish off this work. That was up in Gleann Cainneir.

ES: And what did you say about a certain man who went...

LM: Oh yes. It was... it was Argyll's people the Sellars were working for. It was for Argyll I think — I believe I'm right — it was the Duke who owned all of this, and it was Campbells who would do the work for the Duke. He had a Campbell who was doing the stonework, and he built a' Chill Bheag and came to Gleann Cainneir. I believe that's right. And he was finishing off Gleann Cainneir and apparently an old woman passed him that day and said:

"You'll be proud of yourself today."

"Oh, I'm nearly finished," he said. "I only have two more gates to put on the fank."

"Oh well," she said, "I don't know, my boy, whether you'll see the end of it yet."

And it seems — he hung the second to last one and dropped down dead, and the very last gate, a stretcher was used to carry him home. But that was in... this is coming now into Gleann Cainneir. Perhaps I'm going too fast?

ES: Not at all. It's excellent. And are they still used as sheep fanks?

LM: They're used as sheep fanks to this day. Our boys were working in Gleann Cainneir today. But outside the fank, in Gleann Cainneir, they left a piece... they couldn't make the fank big enough. It was a large graveyard in Gleann Cainneir, and they couldn't use all the graveyard as a fank, and a piece of it is still left with the stones — I don't think I know whether I have a photograph somewhere...

Lachlan MacIllEathain, recorded by Elizabeth Sinclair for the School of Scottish Studies. Tobar an Dualchais / Kist o Riches, track 79207.