1.
Argyll
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Argyll, archaically Argyle, is an ancient shire of western Scotland. At present, Argyll is one of the counties of Scotland. Argyll is of ancient origin, and corresponds to most of the ancient kingdom of Dál Riata, Argyll was also a medieval bishopric with its cathedral at Lismore, as well as an early modern earldom and dukedom, the Dukedom of Argyll. Between 1890 and 1975, Argyll was a county with a county council, there was an Argyllshire constituency of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1708 until 1983. The name derives from Old Gaelic airer Goídel, however, the word airer naturally carries the meaning of the word coast when applied to maritime regions, so the placename can also be translated as Coast of Gaels. The mainland area, renamed Airer Goídel, would have contrasted with the islands of Innse Gall. They were referred to this way because during the 9th to 12th centuries, the first record of Argyll as a shire dates from 1326, when a sheriff was appointed. At that time the shire covered a larger area than the later county. It included the islands which later formed Buteshire, which became a shire by 1388. It also included the area of Ross-shire, which was separated from Argyll by an act of 1503, between 1890 and 1975, Argyll had a county council. Argylls neighbouring counties were Inverness-shire, Perthshire, Dunbartonshire, Renfrewshire, Ayrshire, Renfrewshire and Ayrshire are on the other side of the Firth of Clyde. Bute is a county of islands in the firth, the county town of Argyll was historically Inveraray, which is still the seat of the Duke of Argyll. Lochgilphead later claimed to be the county town, as the seat of government for the county from the 19th century. Neither town was the largest settlement geographically, nor in terms of population, argylls largest towns were Oban, Dunoon and Campbeltown. The island of Egg or Eigg was already in Inverness-shire, the use of the County of Argyll for local government purposes ceased in 1975 with its area being split between Highland and Strathclyde Regions. A local government district called Argyll and Bute was formed in the Strathclyde region, including most of Argyll, the Ardnamurchan, Ardgour, Ballachulish, Duror, Glencoe, Kinlochleven and Morvern areas of Argyll were detached to become parts of Lochaber District, in Highland. They remained in Highland following the 1996 revision, in 1996 a new unitary council area of Argyll and Bute was created, with a change in boundaries to include part of the former Strathclyde district of Dumbarton. There was an Argyllshire constituency of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1708 to 1801, the Argyll and Bute constituency was created when the Argyll constituency was abolished
2.
Argyll and Bute
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Argyll and Bute is both one of 32 unitary authority council areas and a lieutenancy area in Scotland. The administrative centre for the area is in Lochgilphead. Argyll and Bute covers the second largest administrative area of any Scottish council, the council area adjoins those of Highland, Perth and Kinross, Stirling and West Dunbartonshire. Its border runs through Loch Lomond, the present council area was created in 1996, when it was carved out of the Strathclyde region, which was a two-tier local government region of 19 districts, created in 1975. Argyll and Bute merged the existing Argyll and Bute district and one ward of the Dumbarton district. The Dumbarton ward, called Helensburgh and Lomond, included the burgh of Helensburgh and consisted of an area to the west of Loch Lomond, north of the Firth of Clyde and mostly east of Loch Long. The council area can also be described by reference to divisions of the counties which were abolished in 1975, the council area includes most of the county of Argyll, part of the county of Bute and part of the county of Dunbartonshire. The later scenes of the 1963 James Bond film From Russia with Love were filmed around the lochs and hills of Argyll, the Colintraive in Cowal to Rhubodach on the Isle of Bute route, across the Kyles of Bute, is operated by Caledonian MacBrayne. The Portavadie in Cowal to Tarbert on the Kintyre Peninsula route, as a result of the investigation, a council employee was suspended for setting up fake social media accounts to monitor what was being said about the council. The councils own investigation later confirmed it had no evidence of any form of spying or covert surveillance having been carried out by any employee within the councils communication team. In June 2012, the council was criticised for banning a local primary student, Martha Payne. The blog, NeverSeconds, had been praised by the celebrity chef, on the day the story broke, the blog had raised over £40,000. After an initial statement from the defending the decision, the ban was subsequently overturned by council leader. In November 2012 a book written by David Payne, father of Neverseconds blogger Martha Payne, revealed the background to the attempt to censor. The book states about the council, My anger and frustration at Argyll, thinly veiled attacks on our parenting on national radio and an abusive phonecall stood out as examples of a public body sick to the very top. Complaints via the proper procedures and through elected councillors had no visible changes. Far from being contrite they seemed to take a pride in being untouchable, Argyll and Bute Council election,2012 Censorship in the United Kingdom List of places in Argyll and Bute Gaelic place names of Scotland Argyll and Bute Council Argyll and Bute at DMOZ
3.
Scotland
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Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and covers the northern third of the island of Great Britain. It shares a border with England to the south, and is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the North Sea to the east. In addition to the mainland, the country is made up of more than 790 islands, including the Northern Isles, the Kingdom of Scotland emerged as an independent sovereign state in the Early Middle Ages and continued to exist until 1707. By inheritance in 1603, James VI, King of Scots, became King of England and King of Ireland, Scotland subsequently entered into a political union with the Kingdom of England on 1 May 1707 to create the new Kingdom of Great Britain. The union also created a new Parliament of Great Britain, which succeeded both the Parliament of Scotland and the Parliament of England. Within Scotland, the monarchy of the United Kingdom has continued to use a variety of styles, titles, the legal system within Scotland has also remained separate from those of England and Wales and Northern Ireland, Scotland constitutes a distinct jurisdiction in both public and private law. Glasgow, Scotlands largest city, was one of the worlds leading industrial cities. Other major urban areas are Aberdeen and Dundee, Scottish waters consist of a large sector of the North Atlantic and the North Sea, containing the largest oil reserves in the European Union. This has given Aberdeen, the third-largest city in Scotland, the title of Europes oil capital, following a referendum in 1997, a Scottish Parliament was re-established, in the form of a devolved unicameral legislature comprising 129 members, having authority over many areas of domestic policy. Scotland is represented in the UK Parliament by 59 MPs and in the European Parliament by 6 MEPs, Scotland is also a member nation of the British–Irish Council, and the British–Irish Parliamentary Assembly. Scotland comes from Scoti, the Latin name for the Gaels, the Late Latin word Scotia was initially used to refer to Ireland. By the 11th century at the latest, Scotia was being used to refer to Scotland north of the River Forth, alongside Albania or Albany, the use of the words Scots and Scotland to encompass all of what is now Scotland became common in the Late Middle Ages. Repeated glaciations, which covered the land mass of modern Scotland. It is believed the first post-glacial groups of hunter-gatherers arrived in Scotland around 12,800 years ago, the groups of settlers began building the first known permanent houses on Scottish soil around 9,500 years ago, and the first villages around 6,000 years ago. The well-preserved village of Skara Brae on the mainland of Orkney dates from this period and it contains the remains of an early Bronze Age ruler laid out on white quartz pebbles and birch bark. It was also discovered for the first time that early Bronze Age people placed flowers in their graves, in the winter of 1850, a severe storm hit Scotland, causing widespread damage and over 200 deaths. In the Bay of Skaill, the storm stripped the earth from a large irregular knoll, when the storm cleared, local villagers found the outline of a village, consisting of a number of small houses without roofs. William Watt of Skaill, the laird, began an amateur excavation of the site, but after uncovering four houses
4.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
5.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
6.
Ramsar Convention
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The Ramsar Convention is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of wetlands. It is also known as the Convention on Wetlands and it is named after the city of Ramsar in Iran, where the Convention was signed in 1971. The most recent COP12 was held in Punta del Este, Uruguay, cOP13 will take place in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in 2018. The List of Wetlands of International Importance included 2,231 Ramsar Sites in March 2016 covering over 2.1 million square kilometres. The country with the highest number of Sites is the United Kingdom with 170, the Ramsar Sites Information Service is a searchable database which provides information on each Ramsar Site. As of 2016 there are 18 Transboundary Ramsar Sites, as of 2016 there are 15 Ramsar Regional Initiatives covering regions of the Mediterranean, Asia, Africa and South America. The Ramsar Convention works closely with six other known as International Organization Partners. The IOPs also participate regularly as observers in all meetings of the Conference of the Parties and as members of the Scientific. Conference of the Parties Conference of the Parties is the Conventions governing body consisting of all governments that have ratified the treaty and this ultimate authority reviews progress under the Convention, identifies new priorities, and sets work plans for members. The COP can also make amendments to the Convention, create expert advisory bodies, review progress reports by member nations, and collaborate with other international organizations and agreements. The Standing Committee The Standing Committee is the executive body which represents the COP between its triennial meetings, within the framework of the decisions made by the COP. The Contracting Parties that are members of the Standing Committee are elected by each meeting of the COP to serve for the three years until the next one, the Secretariat The Secretariat carries out the day-to-day coordination of the Convention’s activities. It is based at the headquarters of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature in Gland, Switzerland, the 2nd of February each year is World Wetlands Day, marking the date of the adoption of the Convention on Wetlands on 2 February 1971. Established to raise awareness about the value of wetlands for humanity, in 2015 World Wetlands Day was celebrated in 59 countries
7.
Scottish Gaelic
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Scottish Gaelic or Scots Gaelic, sometimes also referred to as Gaelic, is a Celtic language native to Scotland. A member of the Goidelic branch of the Celtic languages, Scottish Gaelic, like Modern Irish and Manx, developed out of Middle Irish. The 2011 census of Scotland showed that a total of 57,375 people in Scotland could speak Gaelic at that time, the census results indicate a decline of 1,275 Gaelic speakers from 2001. A total of 87,056 people in 2011 reported having some facility with Gaelic compared to 93,282 people in 2001, only about half of speakers were fully literate in the language. Nevertheless, revival efforts exist and the number of speakers of the language under age 20 has increased, Scottish Gaelic is neither an official language of the European Union nor the United Kingdom. Outside Scotland, a group of dialects collectively known as Canadian Gaelic are spoken in parts of Atlantic Canada, mainly Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. In the 2011 census, there were 7,195 total speakers of Gaelic languages in Canada, with 1,365 in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island where the responses mainly refer to Scottish Gaelic. About 2,320 Canadians in 2011 also claimed Gaelic languages as their mother tongue, with over 300 in Nova Scotia, aside from Scottish Gaelic, the language may also be referred to simply as Gaelic. In Scotland, the word Gaelic in reference to Scottish Gaelic specifically is pronounced, outside Ireland and Great Britain, Gaelic may refer to the Irish language. Scottish Gaelic should not be confused with Scots, the Middle English-derived language varieties which had come to be spoken in most of the Lowlands of Scotland by the modern era. Prior to the 15th century, these dialects were known as Inglis by its own speakers, from the late 15th century, however, it became increasingly common for such speakers to refer to Scottish Gaelic as Erse and the Lowland vernacular as Scottis. Today, Scottish Gaelic is recognised as a language from Irish. Gaelic in Scotland was mostly confined to Dál Riata until the 8th century, when it began expanding into Pictish areas north of the Firth of Forth, by 900, Pictish appears to have become extinct, completely replaced by Gaelic. An exception might be made for the Northern Isles, however, however, though the Pictish language did not disappear suddenly, a process of Gaelicisation was clearly underway during the reigns of Caustantín and his successors. By a certain point, probably during the 11th century, all the inhabitants of Alba had become fully Gaelicised Scots, by the 10th century, Gaelic had become the dominant language throughout northern and western Scotland, the Gaelo-Pictic Kingdom of Alba. Its spread to southern Scotland, was even and totalizing. Place name analysis suggests dense usage of Gaelic in Galloway and adjoining areas to the north and west as well as in West Lothian, less dense usage is suggested for north Ayrshire, Renfrewshire, the Clyde Valley and eastern Dumfriesshire. In south-eastern Scotland, there is no evidence that Gaelic was ever widely spoken, the area shifted from Cumbric to Old English during its long incorporation into the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Northumbria
8.
Peninsula
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A peninsula is a piece of land surrounded by water on the majority of its border, while being connected to a mainland from which it extends out. Examples include the upper and lower peninsulas of the state of Michigan, the surrounding water is usually understood to be continuous, though not necessarily named as a single body of water. Peninsulas are not always named as such, one can also be a headland, cape, island promontory, bill, point, a point is generally considered a tapering piece of land projecting into a body of water that is less prominent than a cape. A river which courses through a very tight meander is also said to form a peninsula within the loop of water. In English, the plural of peninsula is peninsulas or, less commonly, peninsulas can be found on coastlines and in smaller bodies of water throughout the world, ranging in scale from square meters to millions of square kilometers. Theres the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe, and in Southern Europe theres the Iberian Peninsula, the Italian Peninsula, south America has the Brunswick Peninsula, and Antarctica has the Antarctic Peninsula. In Africa, theres the Horn of Africa, and in Australia, asia has the 3 largest peninsulas in the world, the Arabian Peninsula, the Indian Peninsula, and the Indochinese Peninsula
9.
Mull of Kintyre
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The Mull of Kintyre is the southwesternmost tip of the Kintyre Peninsula in southwest Scotland. From here, the Antrim coast of Northern Ireland is visible on a calm and clear day, and a historic lighthouse, the area has been immortalised in popular culture by the 1977 hit song Mull of Kintyre by Kintyre resident Paul McCartneys band of the time, Wings. Animator Ross Angus spent his childhood at the family owl reservation on the peninsula. The name is an Anglicisation of the Gaelic Maol Chinn Tìre, in English, The rounded headland of Kintyre, the English variant Cantyre derives from the phrase ceann tìre /kʲeṉ, tʲʰiːɾʲə/ head land. The term mull derives from Scottish Gaelic, maol bald, bare, the geographical reference is to a land formation bare of trees, such as a rounded hill, summit, mountain, promontory or headland. The Mull is at the southwestern tip of the Kintyre peninsula, approximately 10 miles from Campbeltown in Argyll and Bute. It is about 8 miles beyond the southernmost village of the peninsula, Southend, Ailsa Craig and the County Antrim coast of Ulster and Rathlin Island are all clearly visible from the Mull. On clearer days it is possible to make out Malin Head in Inishowen in County Donegal in the west of Ulster. Other islands in the Firth of Clyde are also visible when looking east, the Straits of Moyle allow sea passage from the Irish Sea to the Atlantic Ocean. Notoriously strong currents plague the tip of the Kintyre Peninsula creating a hazard to unmotorised craft, at its closest point, mainland Ulster is 12 mi from the Mull. Owing to the low elevation of Rathlin Island and the elevation of the Mull of Kintyre it is also possible to see over the top of Rathlin Island to the Antrim coastal town of Ballycastle. Individual houses on the Antrim coast and cars travelling along the coast road can sometimes be seen without the aid of binoculars, the Mull has been an important landbridge throughout history. It is thought that it was used by humans in their travels from continental Europe to Ireland via Britain. In more recent times it was used again by the Scotti when they travelled from Ireland to establish the kingdom of Dál Riata in modern-day Argyll. The steep cliffs and hills rising out of the sea on all sides and it has been the site of numerous air crashes throughout aviation history, and the remains of some of those crashed aircraft still litter the area. A notable recent air disaster on the Mull was the RAF Chinook helicopter crash on 2 June 1994, the Mull of Kintyre Lighthouse was the second lighthouse commissioned in Scotland by the Commissioners of the Northern Lights. It was designed and built by Thomas Smith and completed in 1788, Smith had previously designed the light at Kinnaird Head, but Mull of Kintyre was a far more substantial project, in a far more remote location. The lighthouse was rebuilt in the 1820s, the light was fixed until 1906, when it was converted to flashing, and its power increased from 8,000 to 281,000 candela
10.
East Loch Tarbert, Argyll
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East Loch Tarbert, Argyll is a small sea loch on the eastern side of the Kintyre peninsula in Scotland. It is a part of the much larger Loch Fyne, the village of Tarbert lies along the shores of the loch, which is separated from West Loch Tarbert by an isthmus only 1.5 kilometres long. According to Snorri Sturlusons Heimskringla, Magnus Barefoot, King of Norway, had his longship dragged across this isthmus as part of a campaign to increase his possessions in the Hebrides. He made an arrangement with King Malcolm III of Scotland that he could take possession of land on the west coast around which a ship could sail. More than two centuries later Robert the Bruce completed a feat during the Scottish Wars of Independence in order to impress the clan chieftains of Argyll. He used tree trunks as rollers, james Watt surveyed the area and decided that it was feasible to construct a canal between the two lochs. Some 60 years later it was estimated that the cost for a cut without locks would be £90,000 but delays in implementation and the construction of the Crinan canal in 1801 rendered the plan redundant. In the modern era the Tarbert Harbour Commissioners control the loch, there are various quays and slipways in the inner harbour and 80 pontoon berths for yachts and other leisure craft. The Companion Guide to the West Highlands of Scotland, hollander, Lee M. Heimskringla, History of the Kings of Norway
11.
Knapdale
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Knapdale forms a rural district of Argyll and Bute in the Scottish Highlands, adjoining Kintyre to the south, and divided from the rest of Argyll to the north by the Crinan Canal. It includes two parishes, North Knapdale and South Knapdale, Knapdale Forest, planted in the 1930s, covers much of the region. During the 1930s, the Ministry of Labour supplied the men from among the unemployed, many coming from the crisis-hit mining and heavy industry communities of the Central Belt. They were housed in one of a number of Instructional Centres created by the Ministry, most of them on Forestry Commission property, by 1938, the camp was used to hold enemy prisoners during the Second World War. The hutted camp in Knapdale was located at Cairnbaan, just south of the Crinan Canal, local attractions include the Chapel of Keills. A grave-slab in the chapel has a carving of a similar to the Queen Mary Harp currently at the Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. West Highland grave slabs from the Argyll area suggest that Knapdale is where this harp originated, the village also has the thirteenth-century Kilmory Chapel and the late twelfth-century Castle Sween. A 173-acre estate in the area belongs to former executive of Network Rail. Named Iainland, the property was purchased by Coucher in 2010 following his departure from the company. Census figures for the 19th and 20th centuries show a continuing and steady decline of population in North Knapdale, Knapdale has a designation as a National Scenic Area. In 2005, the Scottish Government turned down an application for unfenced reintroduction of the Eurasian beaver in Knapdale. However, in late 2007 a successful application was made for a release project, the trial was to be run over five years by the Scottish Wildlife Trust and the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, with Scottish Natural Heritage monitoring the project. The first beavers were released in May 2009 and this initial release into the wild of 11 animals received a setback during the first year with the disappearance of two animals and the unproven allegation of the illegal shooting of a third. However, the population was increased in 2010 by further releases. Field, J. Learning Through Labour, Training, unemployment, - Information on the Knapdale Beaver Trial Introduction. - Visitor information for Inveraray, Tarbert, Knapdale, Crinan and Lochgilphead
12.
Kilbrannan Sound
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Kilbrannan Sound is a marine water body that separates the Kintyre Peninsula of Scotland from the island of Arran. Kilbrannan Sound is the arm of the Firth of Clyde. Dippen Bay Kildonald Bay Francis Hindes Groome, ordnance gazetteer of Scotland, a survey of Scottish topography
13.
Torr Mor
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Torr Mor is a hill peak landform on the coastal east side of the Kintyre Peninsula in Scotland. The peak offers views over the Kilbrannan Sound, the Forestry Commission maintain a footpath over the hill. Kildonald Bay Sir Archibald Geikie, Benjamin Nieve Peach, Alfred Harker, the geology of North Arran, South Bute, and the Cumbraes,200 pages
14.
Settler
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A settler is a person who has migrated to an area and established a permanent residence there, often to colonize the area. Settlers are generally from a culture, as opposed to nomads who share. Settlements are often built on land already claimed or owned by another group, many times settlers are backed by governments or large countries. One can witness how settlers very often occupied land previously home to long-established peoples, the word settler was not originally usually used in relation to free labour immigrants, such as slaves, indentured labourers, or convicts. In United States history it refers to people who helped to settle new lands. In this usage, pioneers are usually among the first to an area, whereas settlers can arrive after first settlement and this correlates with the work of military pioneers who were tasked with construction of camps before the main body of troops would arrive at the designated campsite. In Imperial Russia, the government invited Russians or foreign nationals to settle in sparsely populated lands, see, e. g. articles Slavo-Serbia, Volga German, Volhynia, Russians in Kazakhstan. In the Middle East, there are a number of references to various squatter, among those, Iraq – the Arabization program of the Baath Party in the late 1970s in North Iraq, which aimed at settling Arab populations instead of Kurds following the Second Iraqi-Kurdish War. Israel – Israelis who moved to areas captured during the Six-Day War in 1967 are termed Israeli settlers, in recent Israeli settlers have been settling in Palestinian territory such as the Gaza Strip and West Bank. However, this has caused political unrest and many settlers are forcibly removed from their settlements by the Israeli government, Syria – In recent times, Arab settlers have also moved in large numbers to ethnic minority areas, such as northeast Syria. Women and children experience violence in these highly dangerous ares because of the conflict, many natives face displacement when new settlements are established. During 1948 Palestine war, in which Israel was created, over 750,000 Palestinians were displaced from their homes, oftentimes fences or walls are built preventing the natives from traveling back onto the land. Settlements make it difficult for native people to continue their work. For example, if the settlers take part of the land which the trees grow on then the natives no longer have access to those olive trees. Many are met with violence when they try to get the things they need from the land, settlers in hypothetical societies, such as on other planets, often feature in science fiction or fantasy fiction and/or video games. Mascot for Texas Womans University, more specifically called the Pioneer. The colony concerned is sometimes controlled by the government of a home country
15.
Ulster
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Ulster is a province in the north of the island of Ireland. In ancient Ireland, it was one of the fifths ruled by a rí ruirech, the definition of the province was fluid from early to medieval times. It took a shape in the reign of King James I of England when all the counties of Ireland were eventually shired. This process of evolving conquest had been under way since the Norman invasion of Ireland, particularly as advanced by the Cambro-Norman magnates Hugh de Lacy, Ulster was a central topic role in the parliamentary debates that eventually resulted in the Government of Ireland Act 1920. Under the terms of the Act, Ireland was divided into two territories, Southern Ireland and Northern Ireland, with the passing through the province. While these six counties and two boroughs were all in the province of Ulster, three other counties of the province – Cavan, Donegal and Monaghan – were assigned to the Irish Free State. Ulster has no function for local government purposes in either country. However, for the purposes of ISO-3166-2, Ulster is used to refer to the three counties of Cavan, Donegal and Monaghan only, which are given country sub-division code IE-U. It has also suggested to have derived from Uladh plus the Norse suffix ster. The Irish name, Cúige Uladh, means the province of the Ulaid, the Ulaidh were a group of tribes who dwelt in the region. Ulaidh has historically been anglicised as Ulagh or Ullagh and Latinised as Ulidia or Ultonia, the latter two have yielded the terms Ulidian and Ultonian. Words that have used in English are Ullish and Ulsterman/Ulsterwoman. Northern Ireland is often referred to as Ulster, despite including only six of Ulsters nine counties and this usage is most common amongst people in Northern Ireland who are unionist, although it is also used by the media throughout the United Kingdom. Most Irish nationalists object to the use of Ulster in this context, Ulster has a population of just over 2 million people and an area of 21,552 square kilometres. About 62% of the area of Ulster is in the UK while the remaining 38% is in the Republic of Ireland. Ulsters biggest city, Belfast, has an population of over half a million inhabitants, making it the second-largest city on the island of Ireland. Three Ulster counties – Cavan, Donegal and Monaghan – form part of the Republic of Ireland, about half of Ulsters population lives in counties Antrim and Down. 8% to 42. 7%. While the traditional counties continue to demarcate areas of government in the Republic of Ireland
16.
Vikings
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The term is also commonly extended in modern English and other vernaculars to the inhabitants of Viking home communities during what has become known as the Viking Age. Facilitated by advanced seafaring skills, and characterised by the longship, Viking activities at times also extended into the Mediterranean littoral, North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia. A romanticized picture of Vikings as noble savages began to emerge in the 18th century, current popular representations of the Vikings are typically based on cultural clichés and stereotypes, complicating modern appreciation of the Viking legacy. One etymology derives víking from the feminine vík, meaning creek, inlet, various theories have been offered that the word viking may be derived from the name of the historical Norwegian district of Viken, meaning a person from Viken. According to this theory, the word simply described persons from this area, however, there are a few major problems with this theory. People from the Viken area were not called Viking in Old Norse manuscripts, in addition, that explanation could only explain the masculine and ignore the feminine, which is a serious problem because the masculine is easily derived from the feminine but hardly vice versa. The form also occurs as a name on some Swedish rune stones. There is little indication of any negative connotation in the term before the end of the Viking Age and this is found in the Proto-Nordic verb *wikan, ‘to turn’, similar to Old Icelandic víkja ‘to move, to turn’, with well-attested nautical usages. In that case, the idea behind it seems to be that the rower moves aside for the rested rower on the thwart when he relieves him. A víkingr would then originally have been a participant on a sea journey characterized by the shifting of rowers, in that case, the word Viking was not originally connected to Scandinavian seafarers but assumed this meaning when the Scandinavians begun to dominate the seas. In Old English, the word wicing appears first in the Anglo-Saxon poem, Widsith, in Old English, and in the history of the archbishops of Hamburg-Bremen written by Adam of Bremen in about 1070, the term generally referred to Scandinavian pirates or raiders. As in the Old Norse usages, the term is not employed as a name for any people or culture in general, the word does not occur in any preserved Middle English texts. The Vikings were known as Ascomanni ashmen by the Germans for the ash wood of their boats, Lochlannach by the Gaels, the modern day name for Sweden in several neighbouring countries is possibly derived from rōþs-, Ruotsi in Finnish and Rootsi in Estonian. The Slavs and the Byzantines also called them Varangians, Scandinavian bodyguards of the Byzantine emperors were known as the Varangian Guard. The Franks normally called them Northmen or Danes, while for the English they were known as Danes or heathen. It is used in distinction from Anglo-Saxon, similar terms exist for other areas, such as Hiberno-Norse for Ireland and Scotland. The period from the earliest recorded raids in the 790s until the Norman conquest of England in 1066 is commonly known as the Viking Age of Scandinavian history, Vikings used the Norwegian Sea and Baltic Sea for sea routes to the south. The Normans were descended from Vikings who were given feudal overlordship of areas in northern France—the Duchy of Normandy—in the 10th century, in that respect, descendants of the Vikings continued to have an influence in northern Europe
17.
Norsemen
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Norsemen are the group of people who spoke what is now called the Old Norse language between the 8th and 11th centuries. The language belongs to the North Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages, Norseman means man from the North and applied primarily to Old Norse-speaking tribes living in southern and central Scandinavia. In history, Norse or Norseman could be any person from Scandinavia, even though Norway, Denmark, in some other historical references, the term may also refer to the East Norse, meaning mainly Danes and Swedes, for instance, Cnuts Empire and Swedes adventures East. In the early Medieval period, as today, Vikings was a term for attacking Norsemen, especially in connection with raids and monastic plundering by Norsemen in the British Isles. The Norse were also known as Ascomanni, ashmen, by the Germans, Lochlanach by the Gaels, the Gaelic terms Finn-Gall, Dubh-Gall and Gall Goidel were used for the people of Norse descent in Ireland and Scotland, who assimilated into the Gaelic culture. Dubliners called them Ostmen, or East-people, and the name Oxmanstown comes from one of their settlements, they were known as Lochlannaigh. However, British conceptions of the Vikings origins were not quite correct and those who plundered Britain lived in what is today Denmark, Scania, the western coast of Sweden and Norway and along the Swedish Baltic coast up to around the 60th latitude and Lake Mälaren. They also settled on the island of Gotland, the border between the Norsemen and more southerly Germanic tribes, the Danevirke, today is located about 50 kilometres south of the Danish-German border. The southernmost living Vikings lived no further north than Newcastle upon Tyne, archaeologists and historians of today believe that these Scandinavian settlements in the Slavic lands formed the names of the countries of Russia and Belarus. The Slavs and the Byzantines also called them Varangians, and the Scandinavian bodyguards of the Byzantine emperors were known as the Varangian Guard. In the Old Norse language, the term norrœnir menn, was used correspondingly to the modern English name Norsemen, referring to Swedes, Danes, Norwegians, Faroe Islanders, Icelanders, etc. The modern people of Norway, Sweden and Denmark never identify themselves as skandinaver, as they are Norwegians, Swedes, the Vikings were simply people partaking in the raid. On occasions Finland is also mentioned as a Scandinavian country, Iceland, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands are also geographically separate from the Scandinavian peninsula. The term Nordic countries is used to encompass the Scandinavian countries, Iceland, Greenland
18.
Campbeltown
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Campbeltown, is a town and former royal burgh in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It lies by Campbeltown Loch on the Kintyre peninsula, originally known as Kinlochkilkerran, it was renamed in the 17th century as Campbells Town after Archibald Campbell was granted the site in 1667. Campbeltown became an important centre for shipbuilding and Scotch whisky, Campbeltown is one of five areas in Scotland categorised as a distinct malt whisky producing region, and is home to the Campbeltown single malts. At one point it had over 30 distilleries and proclaimed itself the capital of the world. However, a focus on quantity rather than quality, and the combination of prohibition, today only three active distilleries remain in Campbeltown, Glen Scotia, Glengyle, and Springbank. The well known folk song titled Campbeltown Loch, I wish you were whisky is based on the history in this industry. There are several listed buildings in Category A in the town, Campbeltown boasts a museum and a heritage centre. The museum has a collection of items from Campbeltowns past. The 19th century building, by John James Burnet, also houses a library and has plaques or exhibits related to famous Kintyre people, for example, William McTaggart and these buildings are on the waterfront, as is a 14th-century Celtic cross that also served as a mercat cross. St Kieran lived in area before the town existed. A cave named after him can be visited at low tide, as can the cave on nearby Davaar Island where pilgrims and tourists go to see a 19th-century crucifixion painting. A recent addition has been the Kintyre Songwriters Festival, a low key annual gathering aimed at promoting the wealth. The festival is held during the last weekend of May and is open to anyone interested in performing, on Friday 16 June 2006, First Minister Jack McConnell flew to Campbeltown to officially open Campbeltowns new Aqualibrium Centre. The Kintyre Camanachd are a local shinty team that belongs to the Camanachd Association, the vulnerability index ranked 90 Scottish locations according to factors associated with economic and social change. Campbeltown Airport is near the town, and has a scheduled service to/from Glasgow International Airport on weekdays, the town is the westernmost town in the island of Great Britain. It has the population of a village, but lays claim to its town status based on its port. Its position near the end of a long peninsula makes for a road journey. However it is linked to the rest of Scotland by the A83, bus service is provided by West Coast Motors
19.
Whisky
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Whisky or whiskey is a type of distilled alcoholic beverage made from fermented grain mash. Various grains are used for different varieties, including barley, corn, rye, Whisky is typically aged in wooden casks, generally made of charred white oak. Whisky is a strictly regulated spirit worldwide with many classes and types, the typical unifying characteristics of the different classes and types are the fermentation of grains, distillation, and aging in wooden barrels. The word whiskey is an anglicisation of the Classical Gaelic word uisce meaning water, distilled alcohol was known in Latin as aqua vitae. This was translated to Classical Gaelic as uisce beatha, which became uisce beatha in Irish, early forms of the word in English included uskebeaghe, usquebaugh, usquebath, and usquebae. Much is made of the two spellings, whiskey and whisky. There are two schools of thought on the issue, there is general agreement that when quoting the proper name printed on a label, the spelling on the label should not be altered. Some writers refer to whisky or whisky/whiskey to acknowledge the variation, the spelling whiskey is common in Ireland and the United States, while whisky is used in all other whisky producing countries. In the US, the usage has not always been consistent, from the late eighteenth century to the mid twentieth century, American writers used both spellings interchangeably until the introduction of newspaper style guides. Since the 1960s, American writers have increasingly used whiskey as the spelling for aged grain spirits made in the US. Scotch is the internationally recognized term for Scotch whisky, the earliest certain chemical distillations were by Greeks in Alexandria in the 1st century AD, but these were not distillations of alcohol. The medieval Arabs adopted the technique of the Alexandrian Greeks, and written records in Arabic begin in the 9th century. Distilling technology passed from the medieval Arabs to the medieval Latins, the earliest records of the distillation of alcohol are in Italy in the 13th century, where alcohol was distilled from wine. An early description of the technique was given by Ramon Llull and its use spread through medieval monasteries, largely for medicinal purposes, such as the treatment of colic and smallpox. The art of distillation spread to Ireland and Scotland no later than the 15th century, the practice of medicinal distillation eventually passed from a monastic setting to the secular via professional medical practitioners of the time, The Guild of Barber Surgeons. The earliest Irish mention of whisky comes from the seventeenth-century Annals of Clonmacnoise, between 1536 and 1541, King Henry VIII of England dissolved the monasteries, sending their monks out into the general public. Whisky production moved out of a setting and into personal homes. The distillation process was still in its infancy, whisky itself was not allowed to age, renaissance-era whisky was also very potent and not diluted
20.
Campbeltown single malts
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Campbeltown single malts are single malt Scotch whiskies distilled in the burgh of Campbeltown, on the Kintyre peninsula in Scotland. Once a major producer of whisky with as many as 28 distilleries, most of the distilleries have gone out of business and little trace of them remains. By 2010 only three distilleries continue to produce whisky in Campbeltown, Springbank, Glengyle, and Glen Scotia, the Springbank distillery produces three distinct whiskies, Springbank, Hazelburn, and Longrow. As of 2016, Kilkerran has started bottling and selling a 12 year old spirit, Campbeltown is a protected locality for Scotch Whisky distilling under UK Government legislation. Glen Scotia Glengyle Springbank Stirk, David, the Distilleries of Campbeltown, The Rise and Fall of the Whisky Capital of the World. The Malt Whisky Guide, GW Publishing
21.
Springbank distillery
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Springbank distillery is one of the last surviving producers of Campbeltown Single Malts. The distillery, located on the southern Kintyre peninsula, produces three types of single malt Scotch whisky. Springbank Single Malt is the most popular variety and its standard bottling is a 10-year-old, distilled two and a half times, and is not chill-filtered, nor does it have colour added. This means that parts of the spirit have been through distillation twice. The spirit is aged in ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks, although Springbank is experimenting with rum casks as well. The standard 10-year-old bottling is available at 46% volume and they also produce a somewhat darker 15-year-old and an 18-year-old. A 21-year-old variety of Springbank exists, but is increasingly rare, longrow Single Malt is a highly peaty whisky. There is also an experimental tokaji-cask edition available, longrow won Best Campbeltown Single Malt at the 2013 World Whiskies Awards. Hazelburn Single Malt, the newest variety, was first distilled in 1997, in 2009 a 12-year-old variety was released. Hazelburn is a distilled, non-peated whisky, named for another now-defunct Campbeltown distillery. While a few others still maintain the first step in the process, Springbank is one of the few remaining family owned distilleries. Nearly all of its whisky is sold as a single malt, most blends are produced by larger conglomerates who tend to use the single malts from the distilleries that they own in their blends. Springbank produces two of its own blends,5 year old Campbeltown Loch, Scotch whisky List of distilleries in Scotland List of whisky brands Media related to Springbank distillery at Wikimedia Commons Official website
22.
Kintyre Pursuivant
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Kintyre Pursuivant of Arms was a Scottish pursuivant of arms of the Court of the Lord Lyon. The badge of office is Two dolphins hauriant addorsed Azure enfiled of a coronet of four fleurs-de-lys, John Charles Grossmith George, held the office of Kintyre Pursuivant from 1986 to 2000, before his retirement and subsequent appointment as Linlithgow Pursuivant Extraordinary. 1548, John Forsyth was created Kintyre Pursuivent for life, before 1568, Patrick Davidson, made Ross Herald in 1568. 1568, James Purdie, in February 1568 Regent Moray paid £20 for his coat of arms and blazon
23.
Officer of arms
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Traditionally in England, officers of arms are of three ranks, kings of arms, heralds of arms, and pursuivants of arms. Such appointments are also made in Scotland, where four private officers of arms exist. These appointments are all purely advisory, lord Lyon and the Lyon Clerk are appointed by the crown, and, with the Crowns authority, Lyon appoints the other Scottish officers. The officers of arms in ordinary who form the College of Arms in England are members of the royal household, the officers of arms in Scotland are also members of the royal household. In the Republic of Ireland, matters armorial and genealogical come within the authority of an officer designated the Chief Herald of Ireland, in the Netherlands, officers of arms do not exist as permanent functions. Private heraldry is not legislated, and state heraldry and the heraldry of the nobility is regulated by the High Council of Nobility, during the royal inauguration ceremony however, two Kings of Arms and two or four Heralds of Arms have figured. These were usually members of the High Council of Nobility, during the inaugurations of Wilhelmina and Juliana, the Kings of Arms wore nineteenth-century style court dress, whereas the Heralds wore tabards. All officers carried rods and wore chains of office, in the inauguration of Queen Beatrix in 1980, the ceremonial office was held by members of the resistance, Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema being the elder King of Arms. Like most other participants in the pageant the officers of arms were no longer wearing ceremonial dress, the senior King of Arms proclaims the King to be inaugurated after he or she has sworn allegiance to the constitution. The Heralds step outside the New Church in Amsterdam, where the ceremony is held
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Court of the Lord Lyon
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The Court of the Lord Lyon is a standing court of law which regulates heraldry in Scotland. The Lyon Court maintains the register of grants of arms, known as the Public Register of All Arms and Bearings in Scotland, the Lyon Court is a public body, and the fees for grants of arms are paid to HM Treasury. Its equivalent in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland is the College of Arms, in England and Wales the High Court of Chivalry has jurisdiction in English and Welsh law as a civil court. The Lyon Court is directly responsible for the establishment of the rights to arms and these can include the granting and regranting of armorial bearings by Letters Patent and various Birthbrieves, such as Diplomas of Nobility or of the Chiefship. All of these actions must begin with a petition to the Court. When sufficient evidence is attested to these rights, a judicial Interlocutor or warrant will be issued by the Lord Lyon and this power of the Lord Lyon is derived from the monarchs royal prerogatives, which has been delegated to the office by law. The fees on all of these procedures are payable to the Exchequer and this is in contrast to the College of Arms in London, which is an independent corporate body and not a government department, therefore all fees are reinvested into the corporation. The penal aspect of the Court is concerned with the protection of the rights of private individuals and of the Crown in Scottish armorial bearings. The Lord Lyon also has control over Messengers-at-arms, judicial officers responsible for serving documents, a coat of arms can only belong to one particular person at a time. Without such protection, a coat of arms would be useless as a form of identification, furthermore, a misappropriation or unauthorised use of a mans coat of arms is still considered a real injury under Scottish common law. Accordingly, an owner of a Scottish coat of arms may obtain an order in the Court against anybody using his arms. Individual coats of arms are considered legal evidence, which means that they could be used in legal cases concerning the establishment of succession or identity. The Lyon Court, like all Scottish courts has a prosecutor, styled Procurator Fiscal to Lyon Court. He raises proceedings, when necessary, against those who improperly usurp armorial bearings, the punishment for this offence is set out in several Scottish statutes acts. The court has the power to fine and to ensure items bearing the offending Arms are removed, destroyed or forfeited, accordingly, an armorial offender was viewed as sternly as any other evading national taxation. Historically the punishment for the usurpation of arms were severe, in Acts dated 1592 and 1672, the Court was given the full power to fine and imprison offenders. In 1669 the Court was given the power to issue letters of horning, as well as the full power, to erase unwarranted arms, to dash them furth of stained-glass windows and to break unwarranted seals. Where the cases involve forfeiture, the Court could grant a warrant for the seizure of movable goods, the only judge of the Lyon Court is the Lord Lyon King of Arms
25.
Stone Age
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The Stone Age was a broad prehistoric period during which stone was widely used to make implements with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted roughly 3.4 million years, and ended between 8700 BCE and 2000 BCE with the advent of metalworking, bone tools were used during this period as well but are rarely preserved in the archaeological record. The Stone Age is further subdivided by the types of tools in use. According to the age and location of the current evidence, the cradle of the genus is the East African Rift System, especially toward the north in Ethiopia, where it is bordered by grasslands. The closest relative among the living primates, the genus Pan, represents a branch that continued on in the deep forest. The rift served as a conduit for movement into southern Africa and also north down the Nile into North Africa and through the continuation of the rift in the Levant to the vast grasslands of Asia. The oldest indirect evidence found of stone tool use is fossilised animal bones with tool marks, the oldest stone tools were excavated from the site of Lomekwi 3 in West Turkana, northwestern Kenya, and date to 3.3 million years old. Prior to the discovery of these Lomekwian tools, the oldest known stone tools had been found at sites at Gona, Ethiopia, on the sediments of the paleo-Awash River. All the tools come from the Busidama Formation, which lies above a disconformity, or missing layer, the oldest sites containing tools are dated to 2. 6–2.55 mya. One of the most striking circumstances about these sites is that they are from the Late Pliocene, excavators at the locality point out that. the earliest stone tool makers were skilled flintknappers. The possible reasons behind this seeming abrupt transition from the absence of tools to the presence thereof include. The species who made the Pliocene tools remains unknown, fragments of Australopithecus garhi, Australopithecus aethiopicus and Homo, possibly Homo habilis, have been found in sites near the age of the Gona tools. Innovation of the technique of smelting ore ended the Stone Age, the first most significant metal manufactured was bronze, an alloy of copper and tin, each of which was smelted separately. The Chalcolithic by convention is the period of the Bronze Age. The Bronze Age was followed by the Iron Age, the transition out of the Stone Age occurred between 6000 BCE and 2500 BCE for much of humanity living in North Africa and Eurasia. Note the Rudna Glava mine in Serbia, Ötzi the Iceman, a mummy from about 3300 BCE carried with him a copper axe and a flint knife. In regions such as Sub-Saharan Africa, the Stone Age was followed directly by the Iron Age, the Middle East and southeastern Asian regions progressed past Stone Age technology around 6000 BCE. Europe, and the rest of Asia became post–Stone Age societies by about 4000 BCE, the proto-Inca cultures of South America continued at a Stone Age level until around 2000 BCE, when gold, copper and silver made their entrance
26.
Ballochroy
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Ballochroy is a megalithic site in Kintyre on the Argyll peninsula in Scotland. It consists of three stones, side by side, aligned with various land features 7–19 miles away. These three stones are considered the most spectacular set of monuments that cluster around south Argyll. The three mica schist stones were measured at 11 ft 6 in,9 ft 10 in and 6 ft 7 in in height and it is possible that this last, smallest, stone may have been broken off at the top. The line of stones is orientated north-east to south-west, the flat face of the central stone indicates the mountain of Cora Bheinn, on the island of Jura, which is 19 miles away. The shortest stone also faces across the alignment, and points to Beinn a Chaolais, the sun setting here would have given warning of the approach of the solstice. As with many sites, the current theories concerning the exact use of the stones at Ballochroy are somewhat controversial. List of archaeoastronomical sites sorted by country Map sources for Ballochroy
27.
Megalith
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A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. The word megalithic describes structures made of large stones without the use of mortar or concrete. For later periods, the monolith, with an overlapping meaning, is more likely to be used. The word megalith comes from the Ancient Greek μέγας and λίθος, megalith also denotes an item consisting of rock hewn in definite shapes for special purposes. It has been used to describe buildings built by people from parts of the world living in many different periods. A variety of stones are seen as megaliths, with the most widely known megaliths not being sepulchral. The construction of these took place mainly in the Neolithic and continued into the Chalcolithic. At a number of sites in eastern Turkey, large ceremonial complexes from the 9th millennium BC have been discovered and they belong to the incipient phases of agriculture and animal husbandry. Large circular structures involving carved megalithic orthostats are a feature, e. g. at Nevalı Çori. Although these structures are the most ancient megalithic structures known so far, at Göbekli Tepe, four stone circles have been excavated from an estimated 20. Some measure up to 30 metres across, as well as human figures, the stones carry a variety of carved reliefs depicting boars, foxes, lions, birds, snakes and scorpions. Dolmens and standing stones have been found in areas of the Middle East starting at the Turkish border in the north of Syria close to Aleppo. They can be encountered in Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Israel, Jordan, the largest concentration can be found in southern Syria and along the Jordan Rift Valley, however they are being threatened with destruction. They date from the late Chalcolithic/Early Bronze Age, megaliths have also been found on Kharg Island and pirazmian in Iran, at Barda Balka in Iraq, and at Jaintapur in Bangladesh. A semicircular arrangement of megaliths was found in Israel at Atlit Yam and it is a very early example, dating from the 7th millennium BC. The most concentrated occurrence of dolmens in particular is in an area on both sides of the Jordan Rift Valley, with greater predominance on the eastern side. They occur first and foremost on the Golan Heights, the Hauran, and in Jordan, in Saudi Arabia, only very few dolmen have been identified so far in the Hejaz. They seem, however, to re-emerge in Yemen in small numbers, the standing stone has a very ancient tradition in the Middle East, dating back from Mesopotamian times
28.
Jura, Scotland
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Jura is an island in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland, adjacent to and to the north-east of Islay. Compared with its fertile and more populous neighbour, Jura is mountainous, bare and infertile, covered largely by vast areas of blanket bog, in a list of the islands of Scotland ranked by size, Jura comes eighth, whereas ranked by population it comes thirty-first. It is in the area of Argyll and Bute. Evidence of settlements on Jura dating from the Mesolithic period was first uncovered by the English archaeologist John Mercer in the 1960s, There is evidence of Neolithic settlement at Poll a Cheo in the southwest of the island. The modern name Jura dates from the Norse-Gael era and is from the Old Norse Dyrøy meaning beast island, the Viking occupation of the Hebrides began in the 9th century, and was formalised when sovereignty was secured in 1098. From this point, Norse rule continued until 1266, when the Hebrides, together with Kintyre, a key figure during the Norse period was the warlord Somerled, whose descendants, for around 150 years from the mid-14th century, styled themselves Lords of the Isles. The Lordship of the Isles was dominated by Clan Donald, whose seat was at Finlaggan on Islay, the Lordship came to an end in 1493, but Clan Donald continued to rule the southern part of Jura, through the MacDonalds of Dunnyveg. The north of the island, however, was owned by this time by Clan Maclean, in 1647, this was the site of a notable battle between the Macleans and the Campbells of Craignish. For many years in the 20th century, a human skull stood on a ledge in a nearby cave, the skull is no longer there, but the latest editions of Ordnance Survey maps still mark the location as Macleans Skull Cave. Despite this, the 16th century was a period of skirmishing between the clans, McDonalds, Campbells, MacLeans and others. Then in 1607 the Campbells finally bought the island from the MacDonalds and this was the beginning of some three hundred years during which the island was ruled and largely owned by eleven successive Campbell lairds. The north of the island, however, remained in MacLean hands until 1737, from the mid-18th century, long before the notorious Highland Clearances of the 19th century, there were a number of waves of emigration from Jura. In 1767, fifty people left Jura for Canada, and from that point the population shrank from over a thousand to its 20th century level of just a few hundred. Mercer notes that relatively few forced clearances on Jura were recorded, the emigrations were far from voluntary. There are now seven estates on Jura, all in separate ownership, with six of the seven held by absentees, Ardfin, Inver, Jura Forest, Tarbert, Ruantallain, Ardlussa, There is also a relatively small area owned by Forestry Commission Scotland. Barnhill was the home of British novelist George Orwell, who lived there intermittently from 1946 until his death in January 1950, despite its isolation, Barnhill has in recent years become something of a shrine for his readers. The Ardfin Estate is situated at the tip of the island. For some seventy years from 1938, Ardfin belonged to the Riley-Smith family, having also wound up the estates farm, Mr Coffey then submitted proposals for the construction of a private 18-hole golf course on the estate, which was due to be completed in 2016
29.
Southend, Argyll
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Southend is the main settlement at the southern end of the Kintyre peninsula in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It lies 8 miles south of Campbeltown, the town in the area. The civil parish of Southend comprises the village and the land, used mainly for farming. The population of the parish is 497, the community has a website at http, //www. southendargyll. org. uk/ with links to the Community Council and a Facebook page. The village is located beside Dunaverty Bay, which at one end has a rocky promontory called Dunaverty Rock and it is reputed that during the Dunaverty Massacre the Catholic MacDonalds were burned alive in their stronghold at Dunaverty Castle. The village is reputed to be the location where Saint Columba first set foot in Scotland. On a rock near the village are two carved human footprints called Columbas Footprints where it is claimed he first preached on Scottish soil, the Antrim coast of Northern Ireland is only 12 miles away and is visible from Southend in clear weather. The main employment sources are farming, forestry and tourism-related business, sanda Island lies two miles south-east of Southend, and can be visited on boat trips from Campbeltown
30.
Iron Age
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The Iron Age is an archaeological era, referring to a period of time in the prehistory and protohistory of the Old World when the dominant toolmaking material was iron. It is commonly preceded by the Bronze Age in Europe and Asia with exceptions, meteoric iron has been used by humans since at least 3200 BC. Ancient iron production did not become widespread until the ability to smelt ore, remove impurities. The start of the Iron Age proper is considered by many to fall between around 1200 BC and 600 BC, depending on the region, the earliest known iron artifacts are nine small beads dated to 3200 BC, which were found in burials at Gerzeh, Lower Egypt. They have been identified as meteoric iron shaped by careful hammering, meteoric iron, a characteristic iron–nickel alloy, was used by various ancient peoples thousands of years before the Iron Age. Such iron, being in its metallic state, required no smelting of ores. Smelted iron appears sporadically in the record from the middle Bronze Age. While terrestrial iron is abundant, its high melting point of 1,538 °C placed it out of reach of common use until the end of the second millennium BC. Tins low melting point of 231, similarly, recent archaeological remains of iron working in the Ganges Valley in India have been tentatively dated to 1800 BC. By the Middle Bronze Age, increasing numbers of smelted iron objects appeared in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, African sites are turning up dates as early as 1200 BC. Modern archaeological evidence identifies the start of iron production in around 1200 BC. Between 1200 BC and 1000 BC, diffusion in the understanding of iron metallurgy and use of objects was fast. As evidence, many bronze implements were recycled into weapons during this time, more widespread use of iron led to improved steel-making technology at lower cost. Thus, even when tin became available again, iron was cheaper, stronger, and lighter, and forged iron implements superseded cast bronze tools permanently. Increasingly, the Iron Age in Europe is being seen as a part of the Bronze Age collapse in the ancient Near East, in ancient India, ancient Iran, and ancient Greece. In other regions of Europe, the Iron Age began in the 8th century BC in Central Europe, the Near Eastern Iron Age is divided into two subsections, Iron I and Iron II. Iron I illustrates both continuity and discontinuity with the previous Late Bronze Age, during the Iron Age, the best tools and weapons were made from steel, particularly alloys which were produced with a carbon content between approximately 0. 30% and 1. 2% by weight. Steel weapons and tools were nearly the same weight as those of bronze, however, steel was difficult to produce with the methods available, and alloys that were easier to make, such as wrought iron, were more common in lower-priced goods
31.
Dun
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Dun is a generic term for an ancient or medieval fort. It is mainly used in the British Isles to describe a kind of hillfort, the term comes from Irish dún or Scottish Gaelic dùn, and is cognate with Old Welsh din comes. In some areas duns were built on any suitable crag or hillock, particularly south of the Firth of Clyde, there are many duns on the west coast of Ireland and they feature in Irish mythology. For example, the tale of the Táin Bó Flidhais features Dún Chiortáin, duns seem to have arrived with the Celts in about the 7th century BC. Early duns had near vertical ramparts made of stone and timber, vitrified forts are the remains of duns that have been set on fire and where stones have been partly melted. Use of duns continued in some parts into the Middle Ages, duns are similar to brochs, but are smaller and probably would not have been capable of supporting a very tall structure. Good examples of this kind of dun can be found in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland and it is ultimately cognate to English town
32.
Picts
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The Picts were a tribal confederation of peoples who lived in what is today eastern and northern Scotland during the Late Iron Age and Early Medieval periods. They are thought to have been ethnolinguistically Celtic, where they lived and what their culture was like can be inferred from the geographical distribution of brochs, Brittonic place name elements, and Pictish stones. Picts are attested to in records from before the Roman conquest of Britain to the 10th century. Picts are assumed to have been the descendants of the Caledonii, Pictland, also called Pictavia by some sources, gradually merged with the Gaelic kingdom of Dál Riata to form the Kingdom of Alba. Alba then expanded, absorbing the Brittonic kingdom of Strathclyde and Northumbrian Lothian, Pictish society was typical of many Iron Age societies in northern Europe, having wide connections and parallels with neighbouring groups. Archaeology gives some impression of the society of the Picts, what the Picts called themselves is unknown. The Latin word Picti first occurs in a written by Eumenius in AD297 and is taken to mean painted or tattooed people. Their Old English name gave the modern Scots form Pechts and the Welsh word Fichti and it is generally accepted that this is derived from *Qritani, which is the Goidelic/Q-Celtic version of the Britonnic/P-Celtic *Pritani. From this came Britanni, the Roman name for those now called the Britons and it has been suggested that Cruthin referred to all Britons not conquered by the Romans—those who lived outside Roman Britannia, north of Hadrians Wall. A Pictish confederation was formed in Late Antiquity from a number of tribes—how, some scholars have speculated that it was partly in response to the growth of the Roman Empire. Pictland had previously described by Roman writers and geographers as the home of the Caledonii. These Romans also used names to refer to tribes living in that area, including Verturiones, Taexali. But they may have heard these other names only second- or third-hand, from speakers of Brittonic or Gaulish languages, Pictish recorded history begins in the Dark Ages. It appears that Picts were not the dominant power in Northern Britain for that entire period, the Gaels of Dál Riata controlled what is present day Argyll for a time, although they suffered a series of defeats in the first third of the 7th century. The Angles of Bernicia overwhelmed the adjacent British kingdoms, one of which, the Picts were probably tributary to Northumbria until the reign of Bridei mac Beli, when, in 685, the Anglians suffered a defeat at the Battle of Dun Nechtain that halted their northward expansion. The Northumbrians continued to dominate southern Scotland for the remainder of the Pictish period, a later Pictish king, Caustantín mac Fergusa, placed his son Domnall on the throne of Dál Riata. Pictish attempts to achieve a dominance over the Britons of Alt Clut were not successful. The Viking Age brought great changes in Britain and Ireland, no less in Scotland than elsewhere, in a major battle in 839, the Vikings killed the king of Fortriu, Eógan mac Óengusa, the king of Dál Riata Áed mac Boanta, and many others
33.
Saddell
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The name Saddell is derived from the Norse for sandy dale. Saddell is home to the ruins of a Cistercian Abbey and this was founded around 1160 by Somerled, and completed by his son, whose descendants became the Clan MacDonald and eventual Lords of the Isles. Stone carving was a speciality at Saddell and there are examples of carved medieval grave slabs displayed under cover in the grounds of the abbey. Relief carvings on the stones show warriors in their armour, clerics, ships, huntsmen with stags, large swords, most were carved at Saddell Abbey but some are more typical of the Iona school of stone-carving. Saddell Castle, a house a quarter of a mile to the southeast. When the Campbells took it over in the late 17th century, the family moved into a new house nearby around 1774, and the castle deteriorated over the years before being bought by the Landmark Trust. In 1976 the Landmark Trust contracted Mr Robert R Mauchline to restore the castle to its former glory, soon after its completion the castle appeared in Paul McCartneys Mull of Kintyre music video. Mr Mauchlines daughters Joanna and Hazel were also featured in the video, the Trust now owns both Saddell Castle and the newer Saddell House, and allows pedestrian access to the beach below at Saddell Bay. At the end of the bay is Pluck Wood and the remains of an Iron Age fort, dippen Bay Kildonald Bay Saddell Bay Norman S. Newton, Kintyre Saddell Cistercian history
34.
County Antrim
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County Antrim ) is one of six counties that form Northern Ireland and one of the nine counties of the province of Ulster, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of 3,046 square kilometres and has a population of about 618,000, County Antrim has a population density of 203 people per square kilometer /526 people per square mile. The majority of Belfast, the city of Northern Ireland, is in County Antrim. It is currently one of two counties of Ireland to have a majority of the population from a Protestant background, according to the 2001 census. The other is County Down to the south, a large portion of Antrim is hilly, especially in the east, where the highest elevations are attained. The range runs north and south, and, following this direction, the most remarkable cliffs are those formed of perpendicular basaltic columns, extending for many miles, and most strikingly displayed in Fair Head and the celebrated Giants Causeway. From the eastern coast the hills rise instantly but less abruptly, all are somewhat exposed to the easterly winds prevalent in spring. It is partially arable, and supports a small population, islandmagee is a peninsula separating Larne Lough from the North Channel. The valleys of the Bann and Lagan, with the shores of Lough Neagh. These two rivers, both rising in County Down, are the ones of importance. The latter flows to Belfast Lough, the former drains Lough Neagh, the fisheries of the Bann and of Lough Neagh are of value both commercially and to sportsmen, the small town of Toome, at the outflow of the river, being the centre. Immediately below this point lies Lough Beg, the Small Lake, County Antrim has a number of air, rail and sea links. Northern Irelands main airport, Belfast International Airport, at Aldergrove is in County Antrim, Belfast International shares its runways with the Royal Air Force base RAF Aldergrove, which otherwise has its own facilities. It is the fifth-largest regional air cargo centre in the UK, there are regular services to Great Britain, Europe and North America. The region is served by George Best Belfast City Airport, a mile east of Belfast city centre on the County Down side of the city. Two of Northern Irelands main ports are in County Antrim, Larne, ferries sail from Larne Harbour to destinations including Cairnryan and Troon in Scotland, and Fleetwood in England. The Port of Belfast is Northern Irelands principal maritime gateway, serving the Northern Ireland economy and it is a major centre of industry and commerce and has become established as the focus of logistics activity for Northern Ireland. Around two-thirds of Northern Irelands seaborne trade, and a quarter of that for Ireland as a whole, is handled at the port, the population of County Antrim was 615,384 according to recent census information, making it the most populous county in Northern Ireland
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Gaels
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The Gaels are an ethnolinguistic group native to northwestern Europe. They are associated with the Gaelic languages, a branch of the Celtic languages comprising Irish, Manx, historically, the ethnonyms Irish and Scots referred to the Gaels in general, but the scope of those nationalities is today more complex. Gaelic language and culture originated in Ireland, extending to Dál Riata in western Scotland, in antiquity the Gaels traded with the Roman Empire and also raided Roman Britain. In the Middle Ages, Gaelic culture became dominant throughout the rest of Scotland, there was also some Gaelic settlement in Wales and Cornwall. In the Viking Age, small numbers of Vikings raided and settled in Gaelic lands, in the 9th century, Dál Riata and Pictland merged to form the Gaelic Kingdom of Alba. Meanwhile, Gaelic Ireland was made up of several kingdoms, with a High King often claiming lordship over them, in the 12th century, Anglo-Normans conquered parts of Ireland, while parts of Scotland became Anglo-Normanized. However, Gaelic culture remained strong throughout Ireland, the Scottish Highlands, in the early 17th century, the last Gaelic kingdoms in Ireland fell under English control. In the following centuries most Gaels were gradually anglicized and Gaelic language mostly supplanted by English, however, it continues to be the main language in Irelands Gaeltacht and Scotlands Outer Hebrides. The modern descendants of the Gaels have spread throughout Britain, the Americas, Gaelic society traditionally centered around the clan, each with its own territory and chieftain, elected through tanistry. The Gaels were originally pagans who worshipped the Tuatha Dé Danann, venerated the ancestors and their four yearly festivals – Samhain, Imbolc, Beltane and Lughnasa – continued to be celebrated into modern times. The Gaels have an oral tradition, traditionally maintained by shanachies. Inscription in the Gaelic ogham alphabet began in the 1st century and their conversion to Christianity accompanied the introduction of writing, and Irish Gaelic has the oldest vernacular literature in western Europe. Irish mythology and Brehon law were preserved, albeit Christianized, Gaelic monasteries were renowned centres of learning and played a key role in developing Insular art, while Gaelic missionaries and scholars were highly influential in western Europe. In the Middle Ages, most Gaels lived in roundhouses and ringforts, the Gaels had their own style of dress, which became the belted plaid and kilt. They also have music, dance, and sports. Gaelic culture continues to be a component of Irish, Scottish. Throughout the centuries, Gaels and Gaelic-speakers have been known by a number of names, the most consistent of these have been Gael, Irish and Scots. The latter two have developed more ambiguous meanings, due to the modern concept of the nation state
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Loch Awe
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Loch Awe is a large body of freshwater in Argyll and Bute, Scottish Highlands. It has also given its name to a village on its banks, variously known as Loch Awe, there are islands within the loch such as Innis Chonnell and Inishail. It is the third largest freshwater loch in Scotland with an area of 38.5 square kilometres. It is the longest freshwater loch in Scotland, measuring 41 kilometres from end to end with a width of 1-kilometre. The loch runs approximately south-west to north-east, roughly parallel to the two sea lochs of Loch Etive and Loch Fyne, via the River Awe and Loch Etive it drains westward from its northern end and thus into the Atlantic Ocean. At the narrowest section of the loch are North Port and South Port, once used by cattle drovers, a ferry ran between these shores to facilitate crossing to markets beyond. The Transatlantic Cable, which runs through the village of Kilchrenan, was laid across at this point in 1955, Loch Awe is the site of two hydroelectric projects. The second project, known as Cruachan Dam from the name of the hill above, has a visitor centre, Loch Awe is renowned for its trout fishing. Salmon pass through the loch, coming past the barrage in the River Awe, saint Conans Kirk and Chapel of St Fyndoca are located in Loch Awe. This new challenge dubbed The 3 Lakes Challenge set to be the equivalent of the famous National Three Peaks Challenge. Furthermore, the relay swim along the length of Loch Awe on 3 July 2015 as part of the 3 Lakes Challenge is believed to be the first official relay crossing of Lake Awe under English Channel Rules. One of the oldest Argyll clans, the Macarthurs owned lands around Loch Awe which was populated in close proximity with MacGregors, Campbells, Clan Macarthur artefacts, including the four-poster state bed, are held at Inveraray Castle. It was from Loch Awe and surrounding area that Clan Campbell established itself as a powerful family, in 1308, Robert the Bruce defeated the Clan MacDougall at the Battle of the Pass of Brander downstream from the loch. The A85 road and the West Highland Line run along the bank of the loch. From there the single-track B840 runs for the distance to the head of the loch at Ford. Similarly, on the north-west side an unclassified road runs the full length from the A85 in Taynuilt to Ford. There is also the Tight Line Bar which used to be the coach-house for the hotel, a village has grown up around the hotel, essentially running along the single strip defined by the A85 road. A steamer service used to operate on the loch from the pier just below the hotel, stopping at Portsonachan, Taycreggan, Eredine, the village now includes St Conan’s Kirk, one of the most interesting pieces of Church architecture in Scotland
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Loch Fyne
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Loch Fyne, meaning Loch of the Vine or Wine, is a sea loch off the Firth of Clyde and forms part of the coast of the Cowal peninsula. Located on the west coast of Argyll and Bute, Scotland and it extends 65 kilometres inland from the Sound of Bute, making it the longest of the sea lochs. It is connected to the Sound of Jura by the Crinan Canal, although there is no evidence that grapes have grown there, the title is probably honorific, indicating that the river, Abhainn Fìne, was a well-respected river. In the north the terrain is mountainous, with the Arrochar Alps, Beinn Bhuidhe, Glen Shira, Glen Fyne, Glen Croe, Arrochar, Tyndrum and Loch Lomond nearby. It is overlooked by the Tinkers Heart, an old travelers monument Loch Fyne is an area for sport diving and fishing. It is also a popular tourist destination with such as Inveraray Castle. The village of Portavadie is on the east shore of the loch, a passenger ferry traverses the loch to Tarbert from the slipway at Portavadie. Dolphins, seals and otters inhabit the loch, and basking sharks can appear in its waters during the summer months, a Rosss gull was present at the loch in early 2007. The canal was built between 1794 and 1801 when the canal was opened, under the supervision of John Rennie, in 1816 Thomas Telford redisgned parts of the canal to remedy technical issues with water supplies for the canal. There are fifteen Locks along the nine mile length. Loch Fyne has a reputation for its fishery, and as a consequence. It is also notable for its industry, and hence the famous Loch Fyne Kipper. In the mid-19th century, Loch Fyne was the center of the battle between the traditional fishermen and the new trawl-net fishermen who sprang up around Tarbert and Campbeltown in 1833. Ardkinglas Railway Loch Fyne Restaurants Map sources for Loch Fyne Old Castle Lachlan - website Gaelic place names of Scotland - website Combined Operations Command - website
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River Aray
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This list of rivers in Scotland is organised geographically, taken anti-clockwise, from Berwick-upon-Tweed. Tributaries are listed down the page in an upstream direction, indicates a left-bank tributary and indicates a right-bank tributary whilst and indicate left and right forks where a named river is formed from two differently named rivers. For simplicity, they are divided here by the section in which the mouth of the river can be found. Those on Scottish islands can be found in a section at the end, for Scottish estuaries, please see under firths and sea lochs. The Scots have many words for watercourses, a Water is a smaller river, e. g. Ugie Water, Water of Leith etc. Many Scottish rivers incorporate the name Water traditionally, in Scotland examples include Coalburn, Bannockburn, Aultmore. Abhainn in Gaelic meaning river, which is anglicised as Avon, There is also a similar Brythonic cognate. This sometimes leads to curious double namings of rivers by Anglo-Saxon speakers, such as River Avon, rivers on Arran are found in the islands section. Most of the Scottish islands are too small to maintain watercourses of any length or size. However a disproportionate number of their watercourses bear the name river, the numerous small watercourses on Arran are listed anticlockwise from Brodick. They are listed anticlockwise from Port Askaig and they are listed anticlockwise from Feolin Ferry. Corran River Lussan River Shian River Glenbatrick River Mull There are numerous watercourses on Mull and they are listed anticlockwise from Kinloch. Kinloch River Kilmory River Abhainn Rangail Dibidil River Isle of Skye Listed anticlockwise around the coast from Kyleakin, many small watercourses, which would in other areas be named as burn or allt, bear the name river in Skye. 2,000 square miles River Tweed 1,500 square miles River Spey 1,097 square miles Note, Imperial figures from quoted source, a number of Scottish rivers have identical or very similar names which can be a source of confusion. These are some of the main ones
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Isle of Arran
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Arran or the Isle of Arran, at 432 square kilometres, is the largest island in the Firth of Clyde and the seventh largest Scottish island. It is in the council area of North Ayrshire. In the 2011 census it had a resident population of 4,629, though culturally and physically similar to the Hebrides, it is separated from them by the Kintyre peninsula. It is divided into highland and lowland areas by the Highland Boundary Fault and has described as a geologists paradise. Arran has been inhabited since the early Neolithic period. From the 6th century onwards, Goidelic-speaking peoples from Ireland colonised it and it became a centre of religious activity, during the troubled Viking Age, Arran became the property of the Norwegian crown, until formally absorbed by the kingdom of Scotland in the 13th century. The 19th century clearances led to significant depopulation and the end of the Gaelic language, the economy and population have recovered in recent years, the main industry being tourism. There is a diversity of wildlife, including three species of endemic to the area. Arran is therefore not unusual in that the derivation of the name is far from clear, mac an Tàilleir states that it is said to be unrelated to the name Aran in Ireland. Any other Brythonic place names that may have existed were later replaced on Arran as the Goidelic-speaking Gaels spread from Ireland via their adjacent kingdom of Dál Riata. During the Viking Age the island, along with the vast majority of the Scottish islands, became the property of the Norwegian crown, as a result of this Norse influence, many current place names on Arran are of Viking origin. The island lies in the Firth of Clyde between Ayr and Ardrossan, and Kintyre, the profile of the north Arran hills as seen from the Ayrshire coast is a well-known sight referred to as the Sleeping Warrior due to its resemblance to a resting human figure. The highest of these hills is Goat Fell at 873.5 metres, there are three other Corbetts, all in the north east, Caisteal Abhail, Cìr Mhòr and Beinn Tarsuinn. Beinn Bharrain is the highest peak in the north west at 721 metres, the largest valley on the island is Glen Iorsa to the west, whilst narrow Glen Sannox and Glen Rosa to the east surround Goat Fell. The terrain to the south is mountainous, although a considerable portion of the interior lies above 350 metres. There are two other Marilyns in the south, Tighvein and Beinn Bhreac, Arran is sometimes referred to as Scotland in miniature, as it is divided into Highland and Lowland areas by the Highland Boundary Fault which runs northeast to southwest across Scotland. Most of the interior of the half of the island is taken up by a large granite batholith that was created by substantial magmatic activity around 58 million years ago in the Paleogene period. This comprises a ring of coarse granite and an inner core of finer grained granite
40.
Sanda Island
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Sanda is a small privately owned island in Argyll and Bute, Scotland, off the southern tip of the Kintyre peninsula, near Southend and Dunaverty Castle. On clear days Sanda can be seen from the tip of the Kintyre peninsula, from the Isle of Arran. It is known locally on Arran as Spoon Island because of its resemblance to a spoon when viewed from the South coast of the island. In the 2001 census, Sanda was one of four Scottish islands with a population of one person, however, since then there has been some development, and in 2008 the island had a population of 3. The island was sold to Swiss businessman Michi Meier for the reduced price of £2.5 million. The islands growth as a tourist destination may come to an end under the new owner who has stated that he wants the island for personal use, by the time of the 2011 census, it had no usual residents. The island is designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest for its importance for migrating and breeding birds. Sanda Bird Observatory was the first bird observatory to be set up on the west coast of Scotland, the island is currently treeless, however, Wood Hill in the north west provides a tantalising clue that this was not always the case. According to Haswell-Smith, the geology is lower old red sandstone in red and yellow varieties. Sanda lies in the Straits of Moyle between Scotland and Ireland and it is part of a mini-archipelago to the southeast of the Mull of Kintyre, at the far end of the Firth of Clyde. The other islands are Glunimore and Sheep Island, to the north east, located on the north shore of Sanda is the Oitir Buidhe, a pronounced area of sand exposed at low tide, that has two slipways. To the east there is also the notorious ship catcher, Patersons Reef, the island has cliffs on most sides. There are caves on the west coast, and also a couple of natural arches, there are two main hills, in the north west and south east. In between them is a valley which has the advantage of being sheltered from the prevailing winds. The island has connections with several well-known historical personages, including the Bruce family, Wallace and Saint Ninian, the island is known for the ruins of a chapel built by Saint Ninian, for its Celtic crosses and its reputed holy well. It is said that Ninian was buried here, and indeed and it is said that Ninians grave was marked by an alder tree, and that whoever stepped on it would die. It was known as Sandey by the Norse and this probably refers to the Oitir Buidhe which lies on the north shore of Sanda facing Sheep Island. Another name that appears to have attached itself to the island is Havoin, in the Middle Ages, there was some association with the Bruce family, notably, Robert the Bruce and his brother Edward
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Saint Ninian
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Saint Ninian is a Christian saint first mentioned in the 8th century as being an early missionary among the Pictish peoples of what is now Scotland. In Scotland, Ninian is also known as Ringan, and as Trynnian in Northern England, Ninians major shrine was at Whithorn in Galloway, where he is associated with the Candida Casa. Nothing is known about his teachings, and there is no unchallenged authority for information about his life. A link between the Ninian of tradition and a person who appears in the historical record is not yet confirmed. This article discusses the particulars and origins of what has come to be known as the stories of Saint Ninian. The Southern Picts, for whom Ninian is held to be the apostle, are the Picts south of the known as the Mounth. That they had once been Christian is known from a 5th-century mention of them by Saint Patrick in his Letter to Coroticus, where he refers to them as apostate Picts. Patrick could not have been referring to the Northern Picts who were converted by Saint Columba in the 6th century because they were not yet Christian, Northumbria had established a bishopric among the Southern Picts at Abercorn in 681, under Bishop Trumwine. This effort was abandoned shortly after the Picts defeated the Northumbrians at the Battle of Dun Nechtain in 685, christianity had flourished in Galloway in the 6th century. By the time of Bedes account in 731, the Northumbrians had enjoyed a relationship with Galloway for a century or longer. The full nature of the relationship is uncertain, also at this time, Northumbria was establishing bishoprics in its sphere of influence, to be subordinate to the Northumbrian Archbishop of York. One such bishopric was established at Whithorn in 731, and Bedes account serves to support the legitimacy of the new Northumbrian bishopric. The Bernician name hwit ærn is Old English for the Latin candida casa, or white house in modern English, there is as yet no unchallenged connection of the historical record to the person who was Bedes Ninian. James Henthorn Todd, in his 1855 publication of the Leabhar Imuinn, suggested that it was Finnian of Moville, the earliest mention of Ninian of Whithorn is in a short passage of The Ecclesiastical History of the English People by the Northumbrian monk Bede in ca. The 9th-century poem Miracula Nyniae Episcopi records some of the attributed to him. A Life of Saint Ninian was written around 1160 by Ailred of Rievaulx and these are the sources of information about Ninian of Whithorn, and all provide seemingly innocuous personal details about his life. However, there is no unchallenged historical evidence to support any of their stories, variations of the story add that he had actually met Saint Martin, that his father was a Christian king, and that he was buried in a stone sarcophagus near the altar of his church. Further variations assert that he left for Ireland, and died there in 432, dates for his birth are derived from the traditional mention of Saint Martin, who died in 397
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Columba
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Saint Columba was an Irish abbot and missionary credited with spreading Christianity in what is today Scotland at the start of the Hiberno-Scottish mission. He founded the important abbey on Iona, which became a dominant religious and he is the Patron Saint of Derry. He was highly regarded by both the Gaels of Dál Riata and the Picts, and is remembered today as a Christian saint, Columba studied under some of Irelands most prominent church figures and founded several monasteries in the country. He remained active in Irish politics, though he spent most of the remainder of his life in Scotland, three surviving early medieval Latin hymns may be attributed to him. Columba was born to Fedlimid and Eithne of the Cenel Conaill in Gartan, near Lough Gartan, in modern County Donegal, on his fathers side, he was great-great-grandson of Niall of the Nine Hostages, an Irish high king of the 5th century. He was baptised in Temple-Douglas, in the County Donegal parish of Conwal, by his teacher and foster-uncle Saint Crunathan. When sufficiently advanced in letters he entered the school of Movilla, at Newtownards. He was about twenty, and a deacon when, having completed his training at Movilla, he travelled southwards into Leinster, on leaving him, Columba entered the monastery of Clonard, governed at that time by Finnian, noted for sanctity and learning. Here he imbibed the traditions of the Welsh Church, for Finnian had been trained in the schools of St. David, in early Christian Ireland the druidic tradition collapsed due to the spread of the new Christian faith. The study of Latin learning and Christian theology in monasteries flourished, Columba became a pupil at the monastic school at Clonard Abbey, situated on the River Boyne in modern County Meath. During the sixth century, some of the most significant names in the history of Irish Christianity studied at the Clonard monastery and it is said that the average number of scholars under instruction at Clonard was 3,000. Columba was one of students of St. Finnian who became known as the Twelve Apostles of Ireland. He became a monk and eventually was ordained a priest, another preceptor of Columba was St. Mobhi, whose monastery at Glasnevin was frequented by such famous men as St. Canice, St. Comgall, and St. Ciaran. A pestilence which devastated Ireland in 544 caused the dispersion of Mobhis disciples, and Columba returned to Ulster and he was a striking figure of great stature and powerful build, with a loud, melodious voice which could be heard from one hilltop to another. The following years were marked by the foundation of important monasteries, Derry, County Londonderry, Durrow, County Offaly, Kells, County Meath. While at Derry it is said that he planned a pilgrimage to Rome and Jerusalem, thence he brought a copy of those gospels that had lain on the bosom of St. Martin for the space of 100 years. This relic was deposited in Derry, tradition asserts that, sometime around 560, he became involved in a quarrel with Saint Finnian of Movilla Abbey over a psalter. Columba copied the manuscript at the scriptorium under Saint Finnian, intending to keep the copy, Saint Finnian disputed his right to keep the copy
