Image Details
I had been commissioned to photograph both the interior and exterior of this former farm building, Mungasdale House, now let by Gruinard Estate as holiday accomodation. The day dawned that was scheduled for the shoot, it had to be done between one set of guests leaving and others arriving, and of course the caretaker had to get her work done to make to house ready to welcome the new guests.
Fortunately, for the exterior photography, it was a very fine spring day with lovely fluffy white clouds in a brilliant blue sky. The only thing that might have improved the scene would have been to be there about two weeks earlier when all the daffodils in the foreground lawn would have been in full bloom. However, it is the landscape photographer's lot in life not to complain, but to take pleasure in those delights that Nature presents to you at the time, and I certainly did, for the light on the old building was wonderful.
Mungasdale House is named after the tiny settlement within which it is located by the eastern shores of beautiful Gruinard Bay. The name Mungasdale derives from the Norse Múnks-dalr, meaning Monk's dale. I have tried to find some history concerning the connection of this settlement with a monastery without success so far, but research is ongoing and when more information becomes available it will be updated here.
Before photographing the house I was told that it was supposed to be haunted. I entertained the hope that during my time there the spectre might make an appearance which I would well equipped to record. I had no such luck, but I did have one slight hair raising moment. While photographing the large and comfortable sitting room I heard a repeated rustling noise coming from the direction of the kitchen. When it continued but nobody came through the door, thus providing an explanation for the noise I was hearing, I went to investigate with a certain amount of trepidation.
To my huge disappointment I was confronted with nothing more than a piece of paper! It was being blown around the kitchen floor by the wind coming through the open outside door which I had failed to close properly.
The unusual title of this image results from name of the ridge that the road descends as it makes it way down to Mungasdale from the heights above Little Loch Broom. In Gaelic the name of the ridge is Druim nam Fuath and its meaning is best explained by quoting an extract from the Transactions of The Gaelic Society of Inverness 1904-1907;
The ridge crossed by the public road between Little Loch Broom and Mungasdale, on Gruinard Bay, is named Druim nam Fuath, Ridge of the Hobgoblins, or "Bogles." The road, after crossing the watershed from the Loch Broom side close to the more easterly of Buillean Osgair, runs nearly level for a short distance. This part is called Cul (Back of) Druim nam Fuath. The reputation of the place is that horses have often taken fright there with no apparent cause, and people have felt, until they passed a little stream crossing the road, as if some one had laid hold of their clothes, and were trying to keep them back.
I hasten to add that despite the above rather spooky description I have never experienced anything of the sort on travelling down the Druim nan Fuath. In fact the views looking west from it are breathtaking at times and on clear days one can see all the way to Lewis and the hills of Harris across the Little Minch.
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.
Druim Nam Fuath; Gaelic; The ridge above Mungasdale. No complete authoritative reference to this name has been found but Watson notes for other names containing the fuath element that it is referring to spectres or goblins, thus it translates as ‘the ridge of the goblins (or spectres)’.
Gruinard Bay; possibly from the Norse grunnfjörðr meaning shallow firth.
Harris; In Gaelic it is called Na Hearradh. The name has two possible meanings, both derived from the Norse language. One possibility is that the name is derived from the Norse Haerri meaning ‘higher’ referring to the high hills of Harris compared to the lower ground of Lewis to the north. Alternatively it may have been derived from the Norse Hérað meaning an administrative district.
Lewis; Can also be written as Lews. In Gaelic it is Leòdhas or Leòdh’s and it appears in the Norse sagas as Ljóðhús and Ljóðus. There is some doubt about the true origin of this name but most toponymist’s have decided it is of Norse origin, derived from Ljóða-hús meaning ‘house of songs or lays’, in other words a céilidh house. According to Professor Watson some Lewis scholars favour it being derived from Ljót-hús, ‘Leod’s House.
Little Loch Broom; Gaelic an Loch Beag according to Watson, i.e. ‘the little loch’. He does not explain the origin of its anglicised name and I assume it is derived after its nearby 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).
The Little Minch; In Gaelic it is Cuan Canach where Cuan translates as sea but Canach translates as bog cotton or cotton grass which is obviously not a satisfactory answer. Research to date has yet to find a more satisfactory explanation.
Mungasdale; Recorded as Mungasdill in 1633 Gaelic Mungasdal; Norse Múnks-dalr, meaning Monk's dale. Faithir Mungas-dail, the shelving slope of Mungasdale., and Mealbhan Mungasdail, the links on the shore at the farm. Sron an Fhaithir Mhóir, ‘Point of the great shelving slope’ is on the coast further north. Faithir Mungasdail runs from Stattic Point nearly to Rudha na Mòine, ‘Moss Point’. [1]
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