Tolsta Chaolais (also Tolastadh Chaolais, Tolstadh a' Chaolais) is a village on the

Isle of Lewis The Isle of Lewis ( gd, Eilean Leòdhais) or simply Lewis ( gd, Leòdhas, ) is the northern part of Lewis and Harris, the largest island of the Western Isles or Outer Hebrides archipelago in Scotland. The two parts are frequently referred to a ...

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 ...

. It consists of about forty houses, clustered around Loch a' Bhaile, about from the A858 road between

Callanish Callanish ( gd, Calanais) is a village (township) on the west side of the Isle of Lewis, in the Outer Hebrides (Western Isles), Scotland. Callanish is within the parish of Uig. A linear settlement with a jetty, it is on a headland jutting int ...

and

Carloway Carloway ( gd, Càrlabhagh, IPA: �kʰaːɾɫ̪ə.ɤː is a crofting township and a district on the west coast of the Isle of Lewis, in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland. The district has a population of around 500. Carloway township is within the par ...

. The name has a Norse element, ''Tolsta'', combined with a

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, an ...

element, ''Caolas'', and means "Farm by the Strait". Tolsta Chaolais is in the parish of Uig, and has a building as a place of worship for all denominations. In 1979 the village was photographed by Fay Godwin as part of a landscape photography project funded by the

Arts Council of Great Britain The Arts Council of Great Britain was a non-departmental public body dedicated to the promotion of the fine arts in Great Britain. It was divided in 1994 to form the Arts Council of England (now Arts Council England), the Scottish Arts Council ( ...

. One of Godwin's photographs of Tolsta Chaolais was published in her 1985 book of rural landscapes, ''Land''. In 2013, the village was the location of much of the filming for the

CBeebies CBeebies is a British free-to-air public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content for children aged 6 years and under. Its sister channel CBBC is aimed at older childr ...

children's television Children's television series (or children's television shows) are television programs designed for children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run during the early evenin ...

programme

Katie Morag Katie Morag is the title character of a series of children's picture books written and illustrated by Mairi Hedderwick. The gentle stories have been praised for their good humour, strong sense of place, and the feisty and independent (sometim ...

References

External links

Village websiteCanmore - Lewis, Tolsta Chaolais, War Memorial site recordCanmore - Lewis, Tolsta Chaolais, Horizontal Mill site record
Villages in the Isle of Lewis {{Scotland-geo-stub