Calgary
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.jpg) Tearoom near the road in Calgary | |
  Calgary Location withinArgyll and Bute | |
| OS grid reference | NM377516 |
| Civil parish | |
| Council area | |
| Lieutenancy area | |
| Country | Scotland |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | ISLE OF MULL |
| Postcode district | PA75 |
| Dialling code | 01688 |
| Police | Scotland |
| Fire | Scottish |
| Ambulance | Scottish |
| UK Parliament | |
| Scottish Parliament | |
| 56°34′59″N6°16′19″W / 56.583°N 6.272°W /56.583; -6.272 | |
Calgary is a hamlet on the northwest coast of theIsle of Mull, inArgyll and Bute,Scotland,United Kingdom. The hamlet is within the parish ofKilninian and Kilmore.[1] It was the origin of the name ofFort Calgary in Canada, which became the city ofCalgary,Alberta.[2]
Calgary is situated on the B8073[3] about 5 miles (8 kilometres) west ofDervaig, and 12 mi (19 km) from the island's capitalTobermory. The settlement is a small community of houses scattered near a hotel and the Calgary Farmhouse.
The hamlet is at the eastern end of Calgary Bay and is framed by low hills, partly wooded. A broad area ofmachair (a grassy meadow growing oncalcareous sand) lies between the land and the beach. As the tide falls a river meanders across the sands. The beach is served by a small car parking area and public toilets. It is not an official campsite but there is a designated area for short-stay wild camping in tents.Calgary Castle overlooks the bay.
The name comes from theGaelic,Cala ghearraidh, meaningBeach of the meadow (pasture).[citation needed] "Cala" is the word specifically used for a hard, sandy beach suitable for landing a boat, which relates plausibly to the location. However, the museum on the Isle of Mull explains thatkald andgart are similarOld Norse words, meaning "cold" and "garden", that were likely used when named by the Vikings who inhabited the Inner Hebrides. A small stone pier, originally built to allow "Clyde puffers" (small steam-driven cargo boats) to deliver coal to the Mornish Estate, was also used to take sheep to and from grazing on theTreshnish Isles and gives a further possible reason for the name of the bay.[2]
Just up the hill from the pier the deserted village of Inivea remains as roofless stone ruins, an atmospheric relic of theHighland clearances.David Tennant (the formerTenth Doctor onDoctor Who) traced his family back to here in the BBC programme,Who Do You Think You Are?[2] Around 24 buildings of the township can be seen, several of them still standing to wall head level. These included houses and barns, with enclosures probably formingkailyards. A flattish area to the north, higher than the houses, shows signs ofrig and furrow cultivation and a drying kiln.[4] A rocky knoll above the houses still has the remains of adun, though many of its stones were taken to build the houses.[5]
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On the East side of the bay Calgary House, now calledCalgary Castle, was built in 1817 extending an earlier Calgary Estatelaird's house.[6] ColonelJames Macleod, Commissioner of theNorth-West Mounted Police, was a summer guest here. In 1876, shortly after returning toCanada, he suggested its name forFort Calgary which gave rise to the city ofCalgary,Alberta,[2][7] a metropolis of 1,700,000.
The second verse ofSorley Maclean's poemTràighean (fromDàin do Eimhir) opens with a powerful invocation of the natural beauty of Calgary bay as symbolic of spending eternity with a loved one:[8]
Agus nan robh sinn cuideachd
air tràigh Chalgaraidh am Muile,
eadar Alba is Tiriodh,
eadar an saoghal 's a'bhiothbhuan,
dh'fhuirichinn an siud gu luan
a' tomhas gainmhich bruan air bhruan.
And if we were together
on Calgary shore in Mull,
between Scotland and Tiree,
between the world and eternity,
I would stay there till doom,
measuring sand, grain by grain.
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