Ballygrant () is a small village on the
Inner Hebrides
The Inner Hebrides (; Scottish Gaelic: ''Na h-Eileanan a-staigh'', "the inner isles") is an archipelago off the west coast of mainland Scotland, to the south east of the Outer Hebrides. Together these two island chains form the Hebrides, whic ...
island of
Islay of the western coast of
Scotland. The village is within the parish of Killarow and Kilmeny.
Ballygrant (Baile a' Ghràna) is the longest established village on Islay, pre-dating the
clearance and distillery villages on the coast, and nearby place names suggest connections to
Viking times.
In the early 1870s, Kirkman Finlay, the new owner of the
Dunlossit Estate pulled down the old thatched huts and built new cottages for his tenants which he let at nominal rents. He also re-opened the Lead Mines in the village under the superintendence of Mr Vircoe, a cornish mining engineer.
Ballygrant means 'the town of the grain'
and the water-powered mill, now demolished, was turning oats into meal until the early 20th century. Later the water wheel powered a sawmill until electricity took over in the late 1960s.The oldest part of the village, where Craigard House stands, is at the junction of the
A846 road
The A846 road is one of the two principal roads of Islay in the Inner Hebrides off the west coast of mainland Scotland and the only 'A' road on the neighbouring island of Jura.
A ferry connects the two islands across the Sound of Islay.
It c ...
, connecting
Port Askaig
Port Askaig ( gd, Port Asgaig) is a port village on the east coast of the island of Islay, in Scotland. The village lies on the Sound of Islay (Caol Ìle) across from Jura.
Economy
Port Askaig has a hotel, a petrol station and shop next to the ...
and
Port Ellen, and the Glen road.
References
External links
Canmore - Islay, Ballygrant Mill site recordCanmore - Islay, Ballygrant, Kilmeny Parish Church site record
Villages in Islay
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