Hidden history uncovered as chip shop undergoes refurb
A hidden part of Oban history was revealed as Nories chip shop changed its sign at 86 George Street, writes Sandy Neil.
His curiosity piqued, an amateur sleuth at The Oban Times googled the unusual name Mairi Maclucas and the local area, only to be twice ‘googlewhacked’, where a search returns a single result.
One of the few hits tells of a bard Màiri NicLùcais, born near Ardtun, Ross of Mull. One of her few surviving songs,
Sìoman Donn / Brown Twist, about running out of tobacco, was recorded by folklorist Calum Maclean in 1953, and sung by Donald Morrison, a scion of the clan of storytellers to the Macleans of Duart.
Another notes a single signature of Mairi McLucas, on the death certificate of a seaman Roderick Macdonald, who died in 9 High Street, Oban, in 1913. Mairi McLucas, a postal assistant, describes herself as an ‘Intimate Friend’, living at Dana Villa, Oban. Perhaps now a second mark of her time on Earth has been found.
Pullars of Perth was a dyeworks founded by John Pullar in 1824, in Perth’s Little Pomarium district, and pioneered the first synthetic dyes. Pullar’s of Perth signs eventually appeared outside 7,552 agents across Britain.
The other half of Nories chip shop was a bootmakers, and Macdonald’s board residence, which returned no hits on a Google search. Photographs thanks to Julie Ruddock.