Port Ellen ( gd, Port Ìlein) is a small

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

on the island of

Islay Islay ( ; gd, Ìle, sco, Ila) is the southernmost island of the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. Known as "The Queen of the Hebrides", it lies in Argyll just south west of Jura, Scotland, Jura and around north of the Northern Irish coast. The isl ...

, in

Argyll Argyll (; archaically Argyle, in modern Gaelic, ), sometimes called Argyllshire, is a historic county and registration county of western Scotland. Argyll is of ancient origin, and corresponds to most of the part of the ancient kingdom of ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. The town is named after the wife of its founder,

Walter Frederick Campbell Walter Frederick Campbell of Shawfield (sometimes given "of Islay") (1798–1855), was a Scottish politician. He served as the MP for Argyllshire, 1822–1832 and 1835–1841. Early life and political career He was born on 10 April 1798, th ...

. Its previous name, ''Leòdamas'', is derived from

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...

meaning "Leòd's Harbour". Port Ellen is built around Leodamais Bay, Islay's main deep water harbour. It is the largest town on Islay, only slightly larger than

Bowmore Bowmore ( gd, Bogh Mòr, 'Big Bend') is a small town on the Scottish island of Islay. It serves as administrative capital of the island, and gives its name to the noted Bowmore distillery producing Bowmore single malt scotch whisky. History ...

and provides the main

ferry A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi ...

connection between Islay and the mainland, at

Kennacraig Kennacraig () is a hamlet situated on West Loch Tarbert, a south west of Tarbert on the Kintyre peninsula, Argyll and Bute, in the west of Scotland. Ferry terminal Caledonian MacBrayne ferries sail from the terminal, on the rocky islet Eil ...

. The

Port Ellen Distillery Port Ellen distillery is located in Port Ellen on the isle of Islay, Scotland. It initially operated between 1825 and 1983 when production shut down. History Port Ellen was established as a malt mill in 1825, and then developed as a distillery u ...

was first established in the 1820s and ceased production of

Scotch whisky Scotch whisky (; sco, Scots whisky/whiskie, whusk(e)y; often simply called whisky or Scotch) is malt whisky or grain whisky (or a blend of the two), made in Scotland. All Scotch whisky was originally made from malted barley. Commercial distil ...

in 1983. The large

malt Malt is germinated cereal grain that has been dried in a process known as " malting". The grain is made to germinate by soaking in water and is then halted from germinating further by drying with hot air. Malted grain is used to make beer, wh ...

ing continues to produce for the majority of the distilleries on Islay.

History

The area around Port Ellen has a variety of archaeological sites covering the Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Age periods. There are standing stones at Kilbride, a fort at Borraichill Mor, several chambered cairns, and a chapel at Cill Tobar Lasrach. Nearby lie the ruined remains of the 14th-century

Dunyvaig Castle Dunyvaig Castle, ( gd, Dùn Naomhaig, Anglicised ''Fort of the galleys'', also known as ''Dunnyveg'') is located on the south side of Islay, in Argyll, Scotland, on the shore of Lagavulin Bay, from Port Ellen. The castle was once a naval bas ...

, once a fortress of the MacDonald Lords of the Isles.

Ferry Service

Notable people

George Robertson, Baron Robertson of Port Ellen George Islay MacNeill Robertson, Baron Robertson of Port Ellen, (born 12 April 1946), is a British politician of the Labour Party who was the 10th Secretary General of NATO from 1999 to 2003; he succeeded Javier Solana. He was Secretary of St ...

, Labour politician and former Secretary General of

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

was born in Port Ellen on 12 April 1946.

References

External links

Canmore - Islay, Port Ellen, General site record
Villages in Islay {{Argyll-geo-stub