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I had been asked to photograph the interior and exterior of The Manse, a Georgian building in the village of Poolewe now owned by Inveran Estate and let to holidaymakers.The holidaymakers can also obtain rights from the estate for salmon and sea trout fishing. This estate is in Wester Ross on the North-west Scottish Highlands.
The interior I did on a rather dull day and left the exterior for a day more suited to the kind of photograph needed to be attractive to potential holidaymakers. When that day arrived I took some shots of the landscapes surrounding The Manse, including the River Ewe upon which banks The Manse is located.
It was a beautiful spring day with white fluffy clouds in a deep blue sky, ideal for this kind of photography, added to which the gorse bushes were at the peak of their bloom. This view of the river, looking south-east to its eventual source at Loch Maree was taken from a part of the river known to anglers as the 'T' Pool, beyond which are the the 'Lower Narrows', and finally in this view the 'Middle Narrows'
The river's source at Loch Maree is just over another kilometre beyond the furthest point we can see in this view. To the left of the river the huge bulk of Beinn Airigh Charr rises to 791 metres, and to the right the two small tree-clad hills are called Torr a' Mhuillir (An Torr) and Aird na Ban-fhaidhe.
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.
Aird na Ban-fhaidhe; Gaelic; Height of the white seer. I am indebted to Kenneth MacKenzie's book ‘Place Names in and around Poolewe’ for the meaning of this name. I have not been able to trace any accounts as to why this hill was given this name.
An Torr; My source for this is Kenneth C MacKenzies book ‘Place Names in and around Poolewe. Its full Gaelic name is Torr a’ Mhuillir, meaning ‘the millers’ tower. Does this imply that in the past there was a Mill situated on this part of the River Ewe?
Beinn Airigh Charr; Gaelic. Listed by Watson as Binn Airigh a’ Charr and explained as ‘hill of the shieling of the projecting rock or shelf’. Listed in Dixon’s ‘Gairloch & Guide to Loch Maree’ as Beinn Aridh Charr its meaning is given as ‘the mountain of the rough shieling’ from the following roots; Beinn, ‘mountain’, aridh (accepted spelling is àirigh), ‘a shieling’, charr, a corruption of garbh, ‘rough’.
Inveran; In Gaelic it is Inbhirean, meaning the ‘little’ estuary where the waters of Loch Kernsary fall into the northern end of Loch Maree.
Loch Maree; Gaelic Loch-Ma-rui(bh), Loch of St Maelrubha, an Irish monk who came to Scotland in 671A.D founding a church in Applecross before coming to Loch Maree where he founded another church on the island now known as Isle Maree. Professor Watson writes in his ‘Place names of Ross & Cromarty’ on page 230 “That Loch Maree was formerly called Loch Ewe is clear from the fact that the River Ewe issues from it, that Kinlochewe (meaning ‘Head of Loch Ewe’) stands at its upper end, and Letterewe on its north side”.
Poolewe; Gaelic Poll-iù, ‘the pool on the Ewe river’; Professor Watson states that the village was called by the natives in his time Abhainn Iù, Ewe River. He also said that Ewe, Gaelic iu, he had taken, with hesitation, from Irish eo, ‘Yew Tree’, but concedes that it may in fact be a Pictish name.
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