Duirinish ( gd, Diùirinis) is a peninsula and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

on the island of

Skye The Isle of Skye, or simply Skye (; gd, An t-Eilean Sgitheanach or ; sco, Isle o Skye), is the largest and northernmost of the major islands in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The island's peninsulas radiate from a mountainous hub dominated ...

in Scotland. It is situated in the north west between Loch Dunvegan and Loch Bracadale.

Geography

Skye's shape defies description and

W. H. Murray William Hutchison Murray (18 March 1913 – 19 March 1996) was a Scottish mountaineer and writer, one of a group of active mountain climbers, mainly from Clydeside, before and just after World War II. Life Murray was born in Liverpool, the son ...

wrote that "Skye is long, but what might be its breadth is beyond the ingenuity of man to state".

Malcolm Slesser Malcolm Slesser (30 October 1926 – 26 June 2007) was a Scottish energy analyst, scientist and mountaineer. Biography Slesser was a graduate of the University of Edinburgh. He began mountain climbing when he was young. In the 1950s Slesser join ...

suggested that its shape "sticks out of the west coast of northern Scotland like a lobster's claw ready to snap at the fish bone of Harris and Lewis", which would make Duirinish one of the claws. The main peaks are Healabhal Mhòr and Healabhal Bheag, which reach and respectively, and are better known as MacLeod's Tables. They lie in the centre of the peninsula and their distinctive shapes are visible throughout much of north west Skye. Dunvegan Head marks the north end of the peninsula and Idrigill Point the south. The west coast is now uninhabited and offshore there are only a few small islets: An Dubh Sgeir, An Stac and MacLeod's Maidens. The latter are three stacks that resemble statues and were named after the drowning of a

MacLeod MacLeod, McLeod and Macleod ( ) which cited: are surnames in the English language. Generally, the names are considered to be Anglicised forms of the Scottish Gaelic ', meaning "son of '". One of the earliest occurrences of the surname is of Gi ...

chieftain's wife and two daughters. There are a number of small settlements principally along the west coast of Loch Dunvegan, including

Borreraig Borreraig ( gd, Boraraig) is a crofting settlement in Duirinish, Skye, Duirinish, north-west of Dunvegan on the Isle of Skye. The ancient and famous MacCrimmon (piping family), MacCrimmon Piping Heritage Centre is based in the village, where the c ...

(home of the piping MacCrimmons), Colbost with its Three Chimneys restaurant, Skinidin, Galtrigill and Totaig. Lephin and

Glendale Glendale is the anglicised version of the Gaelic Gleann Dail, which means ''valley of fertile, low-lying arable land''. It may refer to: Places Australia *Glendale, New South Wales ** Stockland Glendale, a shopping centre * Glendale, Queensland, ...

are further west. The latter is a substantial community-owned estate, and its "

martyrs A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external ...

" played an important part in the

Highland Clearances The Highland Clearances ( gd, Fuadaichean nan Gàidheal , the "eviction of the Gaels") were the evictions of a significant number of tenants in the Scottish Highlands and Islands, mostly in two phases from 1750 to 1860. The first phase result ...

. Orbost and Roag are further south on the shore of Loch Bracadale. Crofting remains a mainstay of the economy. The village of

Dunvegan Dunvegan ( gd, Dùn Bheagain) is a village on the Isle of Skye in Scotland. It is famous for Dunvegan Castle, seat of the chief of Clan MacLeod. Dunvegan is within the parish of Duirinish, and Duirinish Parish Church is at Dunvegan. In 2011 i ...

itself is the main settlement of the area and is located on the east shore of the loch just outside Duirinish. Nearby is

Dunvegan Castle , native_name_lang =Gaelic , alternate_name = , image = Dunvegan Castle.jpg , image_size = , alt = , caption = The south-west face of the castle , map = , map_type = Scotland Isle of Skye ...

, which has been the seat of

Clan MacLeod Clan MacLeod (; gd, Clann Mac Leòid ) is a Highland Scottish clan associated with the Isle of Skye. There are two main branches of the clan: the MacLeods of Harris and Dunvegan, whose chief is MacLeod of MacLeod, are known in Gaelic as ' ("se ...

since 1200.Haswell-Smith (2004) p. 176. Historically, Duirinish was also a

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...

in the county of

Inverness-shire Inverness-shire ( gd, Siorrachd Inbhir Nis) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. Covering much of the Highlands and Outer Hebrides, it is Scotland's largest county, though one of the smallest in popula ...

. The parish was larger than the peninsula and included Vaternish and

Edinbane Edinbane (Scottish Gaelic: ''An t-Aodann Bàn'' the fair hill-face) is a small village on the island of Skye, Scotland. Location Edinbane lies on the A850 road at the foot of the Waternish Peninsula on the Isle of Skye, Scotland, from Portree ...

. The Gaelic name ''Diùranais'' or ''Diùirinis'' means "deer headland" and is derived from the

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

''dyr'' (deer) and "ness" (headland). The peninsula is also known as ''dùthaich nam mogan'', meaning "land of the mogan shoes", and the inhabitants as ''moganaich''.

Notes

References

* * Murray, W.H. (1966) ''The Hebrides''. London; Heinemann. * Slesser, Malcolm (1970) ''The Island of Skye''. Edinburgh;

Scottish Mountaineering Club Established in 1889, the Scottish Mountaineering Club is the leading club for climbing and mountaineering in Scotland. History The Scottish Mountaineering Club (SMC) was formed in 1889 as Scotland’s national club and the initial membership of ...

. {{Scottish provinces, insular Peninsulas of Scotland Landforms of the Isle of Skye Landforms of Highland (council area) Civil parishes of Scotland

Geography

See also

Notes

References