The Story of Anna Macneil

Anna Macneil was started as a family business in the 1980s by Barbara Morrison when she moved to the Isle of Lewis to live. She had spent a lot of time on the island before living there, but had not previously experienced winters in the Outer Hebredies. She found that she needed a hat to keep her ears warm. As the most readily available fabric there is Harris Tweed, so she used some to experiment and came up with the style that she christened Anna (her middle name). A friend saw it and asked for one, and that led to requests for more... and so Anna Macneil was born (MacNeilage was her maiden name).

For many years Barbara continued to make hats but in the late 1990s she decided to reduce her Anna Macneil workload and her daughter, Ruth, stepped in to help keep up with the demand. In addition, with her sewing skills, Ruth brought her love of Celtic design and her embroidery experience, and this allowed for a dramatic expansion in the range of products that was make.

For a couple of decades, Ruth's daughter Mary also worked in the family business. Mary's daughters Rachel and Lauren have also helped out from time to time. All three of them feature throughout this website as willing models and when Ruth is extra busy, they would join in with the hand sewing at home in the evenings.

When Ruth took over the running of Anna Macneil from her mother on the Isle of Lewis in the late 1990s, she was living in St Michael's Rectory in Inverness where her husband, Len, was Rector of St Michael and All Angels Scottish Episcopal Church, a position he held from 1980 until 2011. It was a large Rectory with 6 bedrooms and 4 public room and in time, Anna Macneil spread to several of those rooms.