Lochaline
| |
|---|---|
 Lochaline | |
  Lochaline Location within theLochaber area | |
| OS grid reference | NM6744 |
| Civil parish | |
| Council area | |
| Lieutenancy area | |
| Country | Scotland |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | OBAN |
| Postcode district | PA80 |
| Dialling code | 01967 |
| Police | Scotland |
| Fire | Scottish |
| Ambulance | Scottish |
| UK Parliament | |
| Scottish Parliament | |
| 56°32′20″N5°46′44″W / 56.539°N 5.779°W /56.539; -5.779 | |
Lochaline (Scottish Gaelic:Loch Àlainn) is the main village in theMorvern area ofHighland,Scotland. Historian ‘Philip Gaskell’[1] records that, at the time of theHighland Clearances, in about 1830,John Sinclair of Lochaline founded Lochaline village.[2]
The coastal village is situated at the mouth ofLoch Aline, on the northern shore ofthe Sound of Mull. A ferry operates regularly over toFishnish on theIsle of Mull.
The current population[3] of Lochaline is around 200 people.
In 1930, some Gaelic-speaking residents of the archipelago of St Kilda were evacuated byWilliamina Barclay and relocated to Lochaline. Many of them lived and settled in Lochaline, although with some difficulty.[4]
A regular ferry operated byCaledonian MacBrayne runs over toFishnish on theIsle of Mull. The ferry takes only about 20 minutes, runs multiple times a day,[5] and day trips from Lochaline are possible.
There is also an infrequent bus service, 507, operated by Shiel Buses – this runs Tuesdays and Thursdays toFort William in the morning, returning mid-afternoon. Additional journeys are run as far as Ardnamurchan High School on schooldays only.
The village's facilities include a grocery shop, post office, petrol station, hotel, restaurant, social club, marina, snack bar and public conveniences.
The Lochaline hotel, with its beach, has views of theSound of Mull and the ruins of the oldArdtornish castle.
The village is popular withdivers,[citation needed] as it is close to the wrecks of theSound of Mull, with several charter boats available locally.[citation needed]
Set in trees overlooking theSound of Mull, Kiel Church with a graveyard is one mile away from Lochaline. The interior of the 19th-century church is plain with a braced timber roof. More than 17 medieval carved gravestones[6] are displayed in the church. They are a reminder of the late medieval flowering ofGaelic culture associated with theLordship of the Isles.[citation needed] Designs include swords, ships and hunting scenes.
Other fragments of medieval stones lay in the graveyard, including a six-hundred-year-old cross.
Kiel takes its name from Cille Choluimchille, the religious cell or monastery ofSt Columba 'Of the Church' who travelled through Northern Scotland in the 6th-century A.D. with news of the Christian gospel and who built the first church here, as the tradition has it.
Ardtornish Estate spreads out around the bay ofLoch Aline. The gardens of Ardtornish House are open to the public and include native and exotic plants and trees.[citation needed]
The castle was one of the principal seats of the high chiefs ofClan Donald from the early 14th to late 15th century, but Somerled had a fortress here in the mid-12th century. Ardtornish was the hub of strategic sea lanes vital to him. Later, it was at Ardtornish Castle thatJohn of Islay, Lord of the Isles, 6th chief of Clan Donald died in the 1380s and from where his funeral procession sailed through the Sound of Mull to the island ofIona.
The castle was probably abandoned around the end of the seventeenth century, by which time the CampbellEarls of Argyll had captured Ardtornish and the other Morvern estates of the MacLeans.
The area around the village contains a number of walking paths. These include the coastal walks (the Kinlochaline Low Road and Ardtornish Castle Walk) along the shores ofLoch Aline, a small salt water loch, home to fish and birds.Loch is the Scottish Gaelic word for a fresh water body or a sea inlet.
Asilicasandmine has been in Lochaline since 1940, when it was opened to replace sources of silica lost because of World War II.[7] A source was needed for the manufacture ofoptical quality glass. In November 2008, the announcement was made about closing the mine.[8]
In September 2012, the mine re-opened under a new company Lochaline Quartz Sand Ltd, a joint venture between the Italian mining company Minerali Industriali and glass manufacturer NSG.
The silica quartz and other minerals came from the erosion of the Scottish landmass. They were deposited on the shore of a tropical sea onJurassic shales and limestones in the middle of theCretaceous period, 93 million years ago, at the same time, the chalkcliffs of Dover were forming. Frequent changes to sea level reworked the sandy sediment. Natural winnowing processes sorted the quartz from other minerals, separating grains of similar size. For 60 million years, this was protected from erosion by a basalt covering from the Mull volcano.
Near the loch shoreline, today are fossil oysters, orGryphaea, that lived on the shoreline of a tropical sea here 200 million years ago.[9] The rocks in this layer are the same age as theJurassic Coast in Dorset.
