Beach Combing Code
Beach combings placed above high water line have already been “found’ having
been put there by the finder to be picked up at a later date. Whether it
be a fish box, baulk of timber or a few pieces of driftwood, this treasure
trove must not be touched as it already belongs to an earlier finder.
Gaelic & Place Names
Gaelic is spoken by many, though in-comers (like me) do not usually have the good fortune to be bi-lingual. Although Gaelic has been the language of Tiree for hundreds of years, the Norse occupation left its mark so that today we find a fascinating mixture of both Gaelic and Norse in the place-names. The prefix Baile means a town in Gaelic while pol or bol is the Norse equivalent. So we find:
- Balemartine - Town of Martin
- Baile-meadhonach - Middleton
- Balinoe - New-town
to quote some examples of Gaelic based names. But we also find the following examples of Norse derivations:
- Heylipol — Holy town
- Barapol - Town of the burial place
- Kirkapol - Church town
The Gaelic adjective Mor means big while Beag means little. hence we have Dun Mor Valla - big fort of Vaul and Dun Beag Valla - little fort of Vaul. Traigh is Gaelic for the sea-shore so we find Traigh Bhagh at Crossapol, Traigh nan Gilean to the north of Kenavara and Traigh Bhi (Travee) to the south of Kenavara. The huge sweep of Gott is often referred to as Trough Mhor. Scarinish, Tiree’s capital, has a pure Norse derivation coming from Skira - a seagull and Nes - a point.
Tiree Community Website
The Isle of Tiree community website www.IsleofTiree.com has a great deal of useful information for visitors to Tiree.
