I had planned to write about something else tonight but somehow time was not on my side today, hence this short(ish) post. Images of days gone by will always fascinate a lot of people including myself. There are various sources where you can see them, in several books, at the Islay museum and online too. The most eyecatching books with old Islay images are the ones from Gilbert Carmichael called Old Islay, a book called "looking back" published by the Islay Museum and Mark Unsworths book called Islay Past and Present.

Besides books there are several websites that contain old images and today I want to point out section with very old images on the Bruichladdich website. I'm not sure if I have seen this page before but certain is that this section of images is interesting enough to write about. There is one image in particular that has my interest. It's the one of the peat cutters. The comment next to the image is as follows: "This wonderful image must surely have been posed by the photographer. The men are so immaculately dressed - they look as if they have simply taken their jackets and ties off on their way back from the kirk and stepped onto the moss in their best shoes. They may have been proud of their looks and wished to look smart for their photo, but there is nothing fake about that peat bank. Cutting peat like that is a real skill, and fearsome hard work." Posed or not, there are twelve! people working on this peat bank. Looking at this picture I wonder how many people were involved on Islay in total in the old days with cutting peat to heat their homes and to use in the distilleries. Make sure to check out the other images on the Bruichladdich website.

Tag: history photography bruichladdich peat cutting peat