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I was at a local craft fair a few years ago selling prints and greetings cards when I was approached by a couple with a request to do a commission for them. They had been endeavouring for quite some time to make their way through the statutory processes involved in acquiring common grazing land to build a house on.
This lengthy process culminated in a hearing before the crofting commission of all the parties involved. Common grazing land is just what it says it is, grazing land free for the use by the local crofting community's livestock. The couple had just been granted permission to build a house on a part of the common grazing land near Opinan.
Once the craft fair had finished they gave me a lift in their van and showed me the precise spot in Opinan where the house would be built. The wanted a photograph of the view from this spot that they could enjoy until such time as their house would be built. The scene before me was not promising, it was very overcast, wet, and misty.
A few days later I returned to this spot and in better weather was able to appreciate the view the couple were going to have from their house, it was a magnificent panorama stretching from An Teallach in the south to Suilven in the north including views of Gruinard Bay and the Summer Isles. In this particular view from Opinan I was looking towards the village of Mellon Udrigle and beyond to Gruinard Bay and the majestic An Teallach.
From the selection of images I took the couple chose two to be framed. Sadly, some time later the husband became ill and died and the project to build a house in this spot was abandoned by his wife.
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.
Gruinard Bay; possibly from the Norse grunnfjörðr meaning shallow firth.
Mellon Udrigle; A hybrid Gaelic/Norse name meaning ‘Udrigle's Hill’. Udrigle is possibly a Norse name, however Professor Watson suggests it may be derived from the Norse útargill, meaning outer cleft or gully.
Opinan; In Professor Watson’s Wester Ross Place Name book he gives the Gaelic name for this place as na h-Òbainean meaning ‘the little bays’; the Gaelic òb borrowed from the old Norse word for bay, hóp. Note that some other sources (such as Wikipedia) spell the Gaelic name differently; i.e. na h-Òbaidhnean, however both the Scottish Parliament and Professor Watson agree that the Gaelic spelling is na h-Òbainean.
Images; Copyright © Gordon C Harrison All Rights Reserved. No reproduction without permission.
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