Loch Etive ( Scottish Gaelic, ''Loch Eite'') is a 30 km

sea loch ''Loch'' () is the Scottish Gaelic, Scots and Irish word for a lake or sea inlet. It is cognate with the Manx lough, Cornish logh, and one of the Welsh words for lake, llwch. In English English and Hiberno-English, the anglicised spelling ...

in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It reaches the sea at

Connel Connel ( Gaelic: ''A' Choingheal'') is a village in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It is situated on the southern shore of Loch Etive. The Lusragan Burn flows through the village and into the loch. The most noticeable feature in the village is Conne ...

, 5 km north of

Oban Oban ( ; ' in Scottish Gaelic meaning ''The Little Bay'') is a resort town within the Argyll and Bute council area of Scotland. Despite its small size, it is the largest town between Helensburgh and Fort William. During the tourist season, th ...

. It measures 31.6 km (19 miles) long and from 1.2 km ( mile) to wide. Its depth varies greatly, up to a maximum of . The name ''Etive'' is believed to mean "little fierce one" from the

Gaelic Gaelic is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". As a noun it refers to the group of languages spoken by the Gaels, or to any one of the languages individually. Gaelic languages are spoken in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and Ca ...

goddess A goddess is a female deity. In many known cultures, goddesses are often linked with literal or metaphorical pregnancy or imagined feminine roles associated with how women and girls are perceived or expected to behave. This includes themes of s ...

associated with the loch. It heads east for half its length alongside the

main road A "main road" may refer to: * A major road in a town or village, or in a country area. * A highway * A trunk road, especially in British English Main Road may refer to: * Main Road, Hobart, Australia * Main Road, Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh * Main R ...

and rail link to Oban, before heading northeast into mountainous terrain. A road along Glen Etive makes the head of the loch accessible from Glen Coe. The narrow mouth of the loch results in its most unusual feature, the Falls of Lora. Part of the north bank has been designated a Special Area of Conservation in particular due to old

sessile oak ''Quercus petraea'', commonly known as the sessile oak, Cornish oak, Irish Oak or durmast oak, is a species of oak tree native to most of Europe and into Anatolia and Iran. The sessile oak is the national tree of Ireland, and an unofficial embl ...

woods. A small colony of around 20 common seals is resident in Loch Etive. Just seaward of the mouth of the loch is Dunstaffnage Castle. This was a stronghold of the kingdom of Dál Riata until the 9th century, and possibly its centre at one time. It is believed to have held the Stone of Scone before its transfer to Scone Palace. The current ruins date from 1275. Cruises up Loch Etive followed by carriage trip to Glen Coe were started in 1881 as Oban developed as a fashionable resort.

Connel Bridge Connel Bridge is a cantilever bridge that spans Loch Etive at Connel in Scotland. The bridge takes the A828 road across the narrowest part of the loch, at the Falls of Lora. It is a category B listed structure. History The bridge was bu ...

, a cantilever bridge over the loch at the Falls of Lora, was built in 1903 for the Connel to Ballachulish railway. A

rail-bus A railbus is a lightweight passenger railcar that shares many aspects of its construction with a bus, typically having a bus (original or modified) body and four wheels on a fixed base, instead of on bogies. Originally designed and developed d ...

ferried foot passengers across from 1909 until 1914 when the bridge was converted to allow for rail, road, and passenger traffic (on the same track). Since the railway line closed in 1966, the bridge has been solely for road traffic. In the parish of

Ardchattan Ardchattan and Muckairn is a civil parish within Argyll and Bute in Scotland. It lies north of Oban, bordering Loch Etive and includes Glen Ure, Glen Creran, Barcaldine, Benderloch, Connel, Bonawe and Glen Etive. At the 2001 census, Ardchat ...

, on the north shore, stands the ruin of St. Modan's Priory, founded in the 13th century for

Cistercian The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint ...

monks of the

Valliscaulian Order The Valliscaulian Order was a religious order of the Catholic Church. It was named after ''Vallis Caulium'' or ''Val-des-Choux'', its first monastery, located in Burgundy. The order was founded at the end of the twelfth century and lasted until i ...

. It is said that Robert Bruce held within its walls the last parliament in which the Gaelic language was used.

Other usage

''Loch Etive'' was the name of an Iron Clipper Ship that

Joseph Conrad Joseph Conrad (born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, ; 3 December 1857 – 3 August 1924) was a Poles in the United Kingdom#19th century, Polish-British novelist and short story writer. He is regarded as one of the greatest writers in t ...

served aboard. In geology, ''Etive'' is also the name of a geological Formation of the North Sea

stratigraphy Stratigraphy is a branch of geology concerned with the study of rock (geology), rock layers (Stratum, strata) and layering (stratification). It is primarily used in the study of sedimentary rock, sedimentary and layered volcanic rocks. Stratigrap ...

, named after the Loch.

Gallery

Loch Etive (ship, 1877)
on Wikimedia Commons.

References

External links

Fishing-Argyll web site.

The Falls of Lora information website.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Etive Sea lochs of Scotland Lochs of Argyll and Bute