The Ferry Stores - 3

The Camerons – Lachlan, John Donald and Bella, all of whom lived in the Ferry House next door to the shop – ran The Ferry Stores from the time it was built in 1912 until soon after Lachlan died in 1949. In 1950 John Donald sold the shop to the Stewarts, who also worked the coalree and the shed which is now the store room. They, with their four children, were the first to live over the shop. It wasn’t an easy life; for example, water had to be brought in each day from a well in front of the Ferry House. Two of the Stewarts’ daughters, Catriona MacMillan and Fiona MacPhail, still live in the village. In 1958 the Stewarts sold the business to the Warners, who only kept it for 18 months before selling it to Margaret and Fred Burgess.

In 1971 John Donald sold Fred Burgess the land to the north of the road which included the coalree and shed. Very soon after acquiring the land, the Burgesses built the existing shop, a prefabricated ‘portal’ construction, on the site of the coalree. At the same time they bought land to the south which included the old petrol station and additional land upon which they erected a wooden structure, called the Wool Shop, from which they sold Hawick woolens and souvenir items. They also improved the house, converting the big room that had been the old shop into a sitting room, and adding a single-storey extension to the eastern end.

When John Donald died all his interests passed to his sister, Mary, who had married Neil MacDonald. Their son, Rev. Ian MacDonald, still owns the Ferry House and is a frequent visitor to the village.

The shopkeepers after the Burgesses were the Fennas and the Moffats. The Moffats built the existing gas compound. After Gill and Jon Haylett bought the shop in 1996 the old petrol station was condemned by Highland Council’s Protective Services Department as it was suspected that one of the underground petrol tanks was leaking. The wooden Wool Shop having already been sold, a new petrol station and office was built on the site.

In early 2006 the Hayletts sold the shop to the present owners, Suzanna and Jonathan Ball.

JH