Early History
There is little in the way of documented history of Isle Martin prior to the late 18th Century, although the island must have been an important place for many years prior to that. It is probable that the island has been inhabited off and on for several thousand years, but no archaeological survey has been undertaken.
By the 18th century, there was an important and active trade in fish from the island, and a herring station and associated customs house were established by John Woodhouse. This closed in 1813 after successive years of falling catches. During this period there were probably around a hundred people living on the island.

Crofting and Agriculture
The island has probably been farmed since people first lived there, and agriculture and fishing must have been the mainstays of the island economy for most of its history. In 1831 the island was divided into crofts, and crofting continued until the 1960s when the island was taken out of crofting tenure. It would have been predominantly used for cattle and sheep grazing, with some limited arable the southern end near the main settlement.

Social History
Members of the Trust have worked hard to compile folders of information including:
Extracts from Inland Revenue field books 1910; Isle Martin Census Records for the years 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891, 1901; Records of Baptisms & Marriages from Lochbroom Parish register 1810 - 1855; Extracts from Valuation rolls 1868 - 1948.
Our booklet - "An Introductory History of Isle Martin" - is on sale at the Ceilidh Place Bookshop and the Ullapool Bookshop, Quay Street, Ullapool, or Ullapool Museum. Or by post - send a cheque for £1.50 made payable to Isle Martin Trust to the registered office: 26 Argyle Street, Ullapool, IV26 2UB.


TIMELINE

Early Christian Period
Isle Martin is thought to have been called after a priest of that name who was reputed to be a follower of St. Columba. Local tradition has it that Martin lived a part of his life and died here. There is an old graveyard on the island and the grave that is supposed to be that of Martin is marked by an ancient stone about four feet high, an unusual triple cross, belonging to the early Christian period, possibly around 300-400AD. It is probable that the island has been inhabited off and on for several thousand years, but no detailed archaeological survey has, as yet, been undertaken.

• 846 The people of Lochbroom are recorded as trading fish with the Dutch.

Post Reformation
At the graveyard there is a roofless stone building which seems to be of a post reformation date. It is thought that this was a meeting house.

• 1596 The name Isle Martin appears on a map compiled by Timothy Pont
• 1745 Isle Martin belonged to the Cromartie Estate, but after the Jacobite Rebellion during which the Earl of Cromartie sided with Charles Edward Stuart, the estates were annexed and run by the Commissioners for Annexed Estates.
• 1755 A lease of the island was granted by the Commissioners to John Woodhouse of Liverpool who was to build a fishing station on the south east of the island where he set up a business curing herring. The site of it was just in front of the big house, now called "The Mill House". The fish were bought from local fishermen and after curing were shipped to Hull, London and Liverpool as well as to the Mediterranean and parts of Europe.
• 1772 Thomas Pennant in his book "A Tour in Scotland and Voyage to the Hebrides" writes: "Direct our course for Loch Broom, in the county of Ross. About eight o’clock in the morning of July 25 find ourselves near a considerable number of small isles, with a most dreary appearance miscalled the Summer Islands. Within is a great bay six miles broad and eight deep, bounded by vast and barren mountains, patched with snow. The wind chops about and blows very fresh, so that after many teasing tacks, about nine o’clock in the evening drop anchor under Isle Martin, in the bottom of the bay which is here called Loch Kinnaird. To the south is a hill which we landed on and ascended and saw on the other side great Loch Broom, or Braon, narrow, of a vast depth, and running many miles up the country. At its head receives a river frequented by salmon in April."
• 1773 "The Hector" was one of the early emigration ships - she sailed from Loch Broom on 8 July 1773 and was the beginning of the long Scottish migration to Canada which went on for more than 100 years. Famine and the clearing of the land by wealthy landowners to make way for sheep were the root causes of the migration. 33 families and 25 single men left from Lochbroom, although a lot travelled over from the east coast.
• 1775 Instrument of Sasine (title deeds) in favour of John Woodhouse drawn up on velum. (Now held in the Isle Martin registered office at 26 Argyle Street, Ullapool).
• 1776 Houses erected on Isle Martin ".... by merchants from the south for curing herring"
• 1788 "Proposed Regulations, Isle Martin in Loch Broom October 19th 1788" (Appendix)
• 1800 Extracts from Lochbroom Parish Records regarding Collector John Campbell of Customs, Isle Martin re: his immoral conduct. (Appendix)
• Early 1800s Stone from a quarry on Isle Martin transported as ballast to the Isle of Lewis. This stone was used to construct Martin’s Memorial Church and the Town Hall, both in Stornoway - the main town on the Isle of Lewis. Also, 4 Custom House Street, Ullapool.
• 1801 Emigrant ships left Isle Martin for America and Canada. A report noted that 3 emigrant ships left there in 1801 and1802. One ship which went from the island was the "Tweed" which was owned by an Ullapool merchant. She was chartered to carry emigrants with a crew of Lochbroom sailors. The emigrants boarded from Isle Martin and duly set sail for North America. On her return voyage she took the remarkably short time of twenty days as the wind was in her favour. The captain sailed her on the one tack, and on putting up in the wind at Isle Martin he noticed that the rigging on the weather side had slackened twelve inches with the strain.
• 1813 The herring station and associated customs house established by John Woodhouse closed after successive years of falling catches.
• 1831 Isle Martin was split into crofts (lotted) in 1831 during the period of the creation of a crofting system on the Cromartie Estates in the 1820s and 1830s.
• 1841 According to the 1841 census Isle Martin’s population was 45. There was a fish curer and 6 crofters and their families - all were born in the county of Ross-shire except one.
• 1851 The population was now 54 and included a fish curer/cooper and several fishermen. There were 10 houses. 51 were born in the parish, 2 in Contin and 1 in Elgin.
• 1861 Population was 55. There was a fish curer, tenants and fishermen. In one house lived John Imack, fishcurer, and two servants. Their house had 4 rooms with a window - all the other houses had only two rooms with a window.
• 1867 A report said that it was recognised that there were too many people on the island
• 1871 Population was 42.Crofters and fishermen and their families
• 1872 Following the Education Act of 1872 a school was set up on Isle Martin. The building is still there at the old settlement.
• 1881 Population still 42. Crofters, fishermen and a teacher. He was Hugh McNiven, 16 years old and born in Scoraig. He lodged with one of the crofters. All are recorded as speaking Gaelic, except Hugh!
• 1891 There were 8 inhabited houses on the island and the population was 47. Fishermen, crofters, a tailor and a teacher. The teacher was a 19 year old, James Stewart, from the parish. He lodged with crofters Alex McIntyre and his wife Jane and their two nieces. 8 people spoke only Gaelic, 36 spoke English and Gaelic and one spoke only English - she was born in Kinloss. Two baby girls aged 1 month and 3 months.
• 1901 The population was now 33
• 1922 The school which had been closed was now re-opened with Georgina Macleod as teacher
• 1925 The school closed again when the parents of the schoolchildren moved to Bonar Bridge
• 1937 The late Commander Vyner of Keanachuilish opened a flour mill on the island around this time. It closed for part of the war from 1942 and re-opened in 1945. It closed for good in 1947. It proved not to be an economic venture. The wheat for the mill came in on the Penola, a three-masted schooner and the flour was supplied to bakeries across the north. Most of the mill workforce were brought by ferry from Ardmair on a daily basis, although some lived on the island.
  One hardy employee, Ian Campbell, would cycle from his home in Blughasary (Strathcanaird) to Ardmair and then swim across to the island, do his full day’s work and then swim and cycle back...!! Ian died in Ullapool in 2001
• 1940 16 September: The school re-opened. There was a "new" school - the small corrugated iron school at Strathan (at the Rhue road end) was dismantled and taken to the island. The teacher was N. Mackenzie. Of the six children on the roll, three were between 4 and 5 years of age.
• 16 October: R. Ross takes up duty as the teacher
• 1942 22 September: Only 3 pupils on the roll - two have left as their parents moved from Isle Martin.
• 1943 15 March: Copy report by H.M. Inspector. "Four pupils, all of one family, make up the roll of this side school. At each stage the work is attractive in all respects, and speaks well both for the industry of the children, and for the skill and enthusiasm of the teacher."
• 1945 22 February: Five pupils now in the school - inoculated against diptheria
• April: Second diptheria inoculation. 2 pupils off with chickenpox
• May: The school log records.... "School closed on 8th and 9th May as those days were kept as a general holiday in celebration of the unconditional surrender of the Germans to Britain and her allies.
• 1948 April: Isobel Boa, post qualifying pupil, transferred to Ullapool School. One boy, aged 5, enrolled...
• December: E. Macdonald took up duties as head teacher.
• 1949 14 March: Roderick Boa transferred to Ullapool School.
• August: E. Macdonald resigns. The last family left the island and the school closed - for the final time. Roderick Boa is still living in Ullapool and is a member of the Isle Martin Trust Executive Board of Directors.
• 1960 The island was taken out of crofting tenure.
• 1969 Mrs. Monica Goldsmith was the last private owner who ran the island for mainly conservation purposes. Only invited guests were allowed to land on the island. Mrs. Goldsmith ceased further sheep grazing and a small herd of Highland cattle was maintained there until 1979.
• 1970 Mrs. Goldsmith gifted the island to the RSPB who maintained it as a nature reserve with a warden who lived in the Croft House. The Schoolhouse and the Boa House had tenants.
• 1989 Gaelic poet Sorley Maclean sat for a bronze portrait sculpture by local artist Evelyn Peffers in the Mill House on Isle Martin.
• 1999 The RSPB gifted the island to the local community, passing ownership to the recently formed Isle Martin Trust. Members of the public are now able to use the Isle Martin Trust ferry to land on and explore the island.
   

(Appendix) Some Boats registered at Isle Martin between 1797 and 1806
(Appendix) 1788 "Proposed Regulations, Isle Martin in Loch Broom October 19th 1788"
(Appendix) 1800 Extracts from Lochbroom Parish Records regarding Collector John Campbell of Customs, Isle Martin re: his immoral conduct.
(Appendix) Extracts from County Valuation Rolls 1868 - 1948
(Appendix) Extracts from Inland Revenue field books 1910
(Appendix) Isle Martin Census Records 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891
(Appendix) Isle Martin records of baptisms and marriages from Lochbroom Parish register 1810 - 1855