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Chaochal Calum ‘Steallag’ MacLeòid ann an 2019 aig 84 bliadhn’ a dh’aois. B’ e fear de na gobhaichean traidiseanta mu dheireadh ann an Alba agus duine aig an robh urram mòr ann an coimhearsnachd Leòdhais is Na Hearadh. Chuir Calum agus athair, Iain, fad iomadh bliadhna seachad a’ toirt taic air feadh na h-eileanan, do dhachaighean agus do chompanaidhean, a thaobh iasgach, croitearachd, obair thogail is an leithid. Cha robh mòran dhachaighean anns na h-eileanan thar an linn mu dheireadh far nach robh inneal air choireigin le comharradh sònraichte ‘Steallag’.

Ghabh Calum obair na ceardaich a-null nuair a chaochal athair ann an 1972. B’ e àite iongantach a bh’ ann an ceàrdach Steallaig ann an Steòrnabhagh, le seann innealan is pìosan meatailt anns gach oisean. Bhiodh an èadhar làn cheò is luaithre, is nuair a bha an teallach air a lasadh lìonar an t-àite le teas a bha brùideil. An seo, a-measg nan sradagan is mac-talla an t-ùird, bhiodh Calum a’ saothrachadh aig an innean, a’ toirt cumadh air pìos mheatailt dhearg-lasrach.
Bha a’ bhùth-obrach na thaigh-tasgaidh beò - cha b’ ann le toil ach le turchart. Bhiodh Calum, mar a bhiodh athair roimhe, a’ cleachdadh doras a’ bhùth-obraich gus dèanamh cinnteach gun robh na h-iarainn-loisgte mar bu mhiannar. Bha sàr-eòlas aig Calum air na croitearan agus na comharran aca. Chithear an doras, air a chòmhdach bho mhullach gu bhonn le comharran nan croitean, ann an Taigh-tasgaidh nan Eilean an-diugh.

B’ e an tairsgeir an t-inneal traidiseanta as ainmeil a bh’ aca; chaidh na mìltean dhiubh an dèanamh thairis air na bliadhnaichean. Air gach tairsgeir chithear trì dotagan anns an stàilinn rèidh aig mullach an iarainn – comharra a chuir dà ghinealach de theaghlach MhicLeòid air na tairsgeirean aca.

Calum 'Steallag' MacLeod passed away in 2019, aged 84. He was one of the last remaining traditional blacksmiths in Scotland. and a much respected and admired member of the Lewis & Harris community. For many years Calum, and his father John, supported many domestic and commercial interests of the islands: fishing, crofting, civil and building contractors. Over a 100-year period there would be very few homes that did not have some tool, or implement, that carried the distinctive ‘Steallag’ trademark.

Calum took over the running of the smithy after his father died in 1972. Steallag’s smithy in Stornoway was an extraordinary space, with old tools and pieces of metal in every corner. Ash and smoke pervaded the air and when the forge was lit the heat was intense with sparks flying and echoes of history ringing from the anvil, Calum himself bent over, hammer in hand, fashioning a red-hot strip of metal.

While his workshop was an accidental living museum, like his father before him, Calum would test each branding iron on the door of his workshop. It meant he had an encyclopaedic knowledge of crofters and their brands. The wooden door, covered from top to bottom in croft codes, nowadays forms part of the new collection at Museum Nan Eilean.

The peat cutting iron, known locally as a ‘tarasgeir’ was possibly their most distinctive traditional tool, with many thousands having been produced over the years. Each one was finished off with hammering three dots into the flat steel at the top of the blade - the distinguishing mark that two generations of Macleod’s had hammered into their peat cutters.

In Gaelic with English subtitles