A f itting farewell as Laird of Muck is taken to his f inal resting place ...by his own tractor

HE was the Laird of Muck, a legendary figure known for his hard work and humility, who bathed daily in cold water and in his prime had the strength to hoist a pony or cow into an open boat.

Yesterday, Lawrence MacEwen was given a fitting send-off, his coffin towed behind the tractor he used to tend the land for years, before he was laid to rest in the graveyard near his home.

His death last week, age 81, was felt not only in the Small Isles, where his family have owned two-mile-long Muck since 1896, but across the world.

A documentary, Prince Of Muck, by Dutch director Cindy Jansen, was filmed last year and he was also the subject of a book by author and naturalist Polly Pullar.

Lawrence was sent to elite Gordonstoun before returning to his Inner Hebridean island to don his overalls and tend the land, often working barefoot. Over the years he was the island’s coastguard, gravedigger, special constable and forester.

He was also a devoted husband, a proud father and grandfather, and is survived by wife Jenny and son Colin. Asked once why the island’s graveyard had never been fenced off, he said: ‘Well, you know how I love cows. I have spent my life here and hope I shall die here too – and I would like the cows to walk over my grave.’