The name: The oldest known reference to Barra is in a manuscript of the eleventh century, which may mean that the name of Barra may be of Norse origin, replacing an older Celtic name.  However, according to ancient Celtic custom, any name of a saint containing the word 'barr' could have been shortened to "Barra."  An Irish founder saint  called Barrfhionn (second cousin of Columba) may have travelled to Barra.  The origin remains uncertain. 

"Strictly speaking, it is only now that Barra, in a sense, is emerging from pre-history.  Indeed she does not possess a prehistory as we understand that stage in the case of Persia, Babylon, Egypt, Alexandria or Greece, where surges of ambitious thought became manifest before their established history."  

Races who have been masterful at sea have always been conspicuous in history, and the Scandinavians have been venturesome mariners from very remote times.  In early history, sea enterprise was always identified with raiding, buccaneering, violence and conquest.  The Norse adventurers first directed their attention towards the Orkneys and Shetland and then towards Iceland and Greenland, and then the Hebrides from the opening of the ninth century.  There were numerous Viking raids to our islands during the reign of King Harald (9th century), and he himself is reported to have visited them.  Successive kings extended Viking influence until from 1113 to 1153 Olav Bitling was King of the Hebrides.

A daughter of this Olav married Sumarlide or Sorle of Argyll, who founded the ruling dynasty known through generations as the Lord of the Isles.  King Hacon Haconson invaded Scotland and fought her people at Largs in 1263.  The battle seems to have been decisive enough in Scotland's favour to persuade Hacon to retire to Kirkwall, where he died in that same year.  Peace was concluded with the Scots by Magnus, son of Hacon, in 1266, and the Hebrides as well as the Isle of Man was ceded to King Alexander.  The Hebrides continued to be ruled by the dynasty of Sumarlide, and the title of Lord of the Isles was first assumed by John MacDonald of the Isle of Islay.

By the eleventh century the trees in Barra had disappeared, and the black houses had  become a feature.  The people were mainly Norse, as the Norsemen would have killed or captured most of the population.  Many Norse names remain in Barra, and "Kisimul" means "Castle Island."  The Clan MacNeil began building the present castle in 1050, from the ruins of a stone fort.

The MacNeils remained in Barra despite royal charters which were given to various court favourites two or three hundred years later.  

Religion

The famous runic stone of Cille Bharra, the Celtic church built by the Clan MacNeil, bears evidence of their Christianisation of the island - it has a Celtic cross on one side, and Norse runic characters on the other.  Evidently Thorgeth, Steinar's daughter, to whom the stone was erected, was given a Christian burial.  The clan built chapels in several places and also the little castle in Loch Tangusdale around 1430.  This was in a background of decline of the Celtic Church.  Barra seems to have had no support from the Roman Catholic Church until 1651, when two priests were sent.  In 1670, Barra was included in the Protestant Church of Scotland island parishes, and in 1734 was given a minister. 

Government

In this Norse/Gaelic world the governmental systems ensured constant turbulence.  These territories were still in the tribal or clan state of development. The "clan" or family was a patriarchal government.  The clans were independent principalities, and the right of might prevailed.  A Council of the Isles was created by the King of Norway, consisting of the Hebridean chiefs, who were described as "Island Princes."

In the 13th century Alexander III, King of Scotland, attacked the Isles and King Haakon of Norway came to their defence.  He was defeated at the Battle of Largs in 1263, and the Hebrides were ceded to the Scottish Crown.  However, Clan Donald, the most powerful of all Scottish clans, proclaimed their chief Lord of the Isles.  This was consolidated by various treaties, grants and marriages.

In 1427 the lands of Barra and South Uist were granted to the chief of Clan MacNeil. The castle of Kisimul was to house and safeguard the clan chiefs for three more centuries.  It has been noted that in all its long history the castle was never lost to an enemy.

The constant turbulence which prevailed in the West Highlands and the Hebrides finally ended with the crushing of the second Jacobite Rebellion in1746.  In 1688 Roderick MacNeil (38th Chief) had received from King James II a charter of all the lands of Barra and its Isles, which were then erected into the Barony of Barra.  However, Roderick refused to take the oath of allegiance to the new king, William of Orange,  and took part in the Rebellion  in favour of James.  In the cruel aftermath of 1746, and in the Clearances which followed, vast numbers of clansfolk emigrated to the New Continent.

 In 1838 the Chief lost the Estate of Barra through bad investment, and it was bought by Colonel Gordon of Cluny, whose wife became owner upon his death in 1878.  Lady Gordon Cathcart planted trees in the north of Barra but they were soon used by the people for firewood.

During the mid-years of the 19th century a thriving fishing industry developed in Barra.  There were no less than forty fish-curing stations in Castlebay, and during the season there was an influx of hundreds of "gutting girls." It was said that there were so many fishing boats in the bay that "one could walk dryshod from Barra to Vatersay."  However, the 1940's saw the end of the last efforts of the last curing station in Barra.  In the 60's, with Government help, people began to buy boats and fish again.

The 19th century also saw the construction of the important buildings in Barra, the churches and large houses.  In 1938 the Clan MacNeil took possession once again of the estate, and the restoration of the Castle was undertaken.  As the Battle of Culloden in 1746 wholly ended the clans as governments or political units, the Scots clan loyalty became non-governmental and non-political. The clans are completely democratic: every clan member is held to be of the blood of princes, and there are no social distinctions. As circumstances forced the clans further afield, the stronger their links became.

In 1427 Alexander, Lord of the Isles, granted Barra to a favoured vassal, Gilleonan Roderici Murchardii MacNeill and his brother, as sons of Roderici MacNeill and the daughter of Ferquhard MacGilleon (MacLean). 

"The alliance with the daughter of a MacLean was probably largely the reason for this grant, for the meteoric rise of the MacLeans is one of the most striking features of the history of the Lordship of the Isles....."(The story of the Maclean's rise in fortunes follows)  

".....If the early part of this story does not entirely prove that might was right, it shows that right had little chance unless backed by might, and it is interesting in showing how largely the divisions of land, even in so powerful a Gaelic family as that of the Lord of the Isles, depended upon expediency and the personal equation, and were not governed by ancient Celtic tribal customs or systems of blood-relationship." (from The Lordship of the Isles by I.F.Grant.)