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Returning home I had climbed to the high moorland plain known as the Fain to the east of Little Loch Broom on the Scottish west coast and was presented with this view of An Teallach. The Fain, a bleak moorland at about 340m feet above sea level, only a few kilometres inland from the coast can have quite different weather from the coastal communities nearby, especially in the winter, when travelling up from Dundonnell to the heights of the Fain can seem like entering another world.
For this photograph, I waited for some light to spill into the foreground. That, plus the silhouette of An Teallach and the dramatic clouds added much interest to what at other times would be a very desolate scene.
Running through this plain is a road called 'Destitution Road', built at the time of the potato famine in the mid nineteenth century. The potato famine spread from Ireland to Scotland and its effects on the population were devastating. A report in the 1840s stated:
"... those who are habitually and entirely fed on potatoes live upon the extreme verge of human subsistence, and when they are deprived of their accustomed food there is nothing cheaper to which they can resort. They have already reached the lowest point on the descending scale, and there is nothing beyond but starvation and beggary."
It was estimated that by the end of 1846 at least three-quarters of the population of the North-west Highlands had no food at all, and to compound this, a particularly severe winter ensued resulting in disease and death. The misery can hardly be imagined.
Eventually the authorities stepped in, not generously, to bring some relief to the situation. Organised in a way that enabled unscrupulous entrepreneurs to profit from the situation, it was not carried out with any great mercy. Ultimately relief was granted, meagrely, in return for hard labour carrying out public works. Thus many of Scotland's Highland roads came to be built, on the backs and misery of the starving population. I never travel over the 'Destitution Road' that crosses the Fain without a thought about the wretched condition of the lives of those who built it.
North-west Highland Place Names
The landscape of the North-west Highlands and the Gaelic language are intimately connected. Other languages have contributed to the richness of our place names, notably Norse, but the North-west Highlands have for centuries been a Gaelic landscape. In listing the meanings of place names I have relied on authoritative sources wherever possible. For further information about sources please refer to North-west Highland Place Names in the main menu.
An Teallach; Gaelic, ‘The Forge’, according to Wikipedia from its colour in certain lighting rather than its shape. From personal experience I can agree with this explanation. In the summer, during a good sunset, and when looking east over Gruinard Bay An Teallach can appear bright red with the reflected light from the sunset in the west. However Professor Watson says that the being called the forge is due either to its smoke like mists or from supposed resemblance to a forge. [1]
Dundonnell In Gaelic Acha dà Dòmhnaill means the 'Field of two Donalds'.
Fain; Gaelic na Fèithean meaning ‘the bog channels’.
Little Loch Broom; Named after its neighbour, Loch Broom, being small in comparison to it. The name Loch Broom is an anglicised version of its true Gaelic name which is Loch Bhraoin. Bhraoin means a 'drop of water or rain' and is named after the river that flows from Loch a' Bhraoin high in the Braemore (Am Braigh Mor).
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