Morvern, historically also spelt Morven, is a

peninsula A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on all ...

and traditional district in the

Highlands Highland is a broad term for areas of higher elevation, such as a mountain range or mountainous plateau. Highland, Highlands, or The Highlands, may also refer to: Places Albania * Dukagjin Highlands Armenia * Armenian Highlands Australia *Sou ...

, on the west coast 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 ...

. It lies south of the districts of

Ardgour Ardgour () (, meaning ''Height of the goats'') is an area of the Scottish Highlands on the western shore of Loch Linnhe. It lies north of the district of Morvern and east of the district of Sunart. Administratively it is now part of the wa ...

and

Sunart Sunart ( , Scottish Gaelic: ''Suaineart'') is a rural district and community in the south west of Lochaber in Highland, Scotland, on the shores of Loch Sunart, and part of the civil parish of Ardnamurchan. The main village is Strontian, at the head ...

, and is bounded on the north by

Loch Sunart Loch Sunart (Scottish Gaelic ) is a sea loch on the west coast of Scotland. Loch Sunart is bounded to the north by the Sunart district of Ardnamurchan and to the south by the Morvern district. At long, it is the longest sea loch in the Highland ...

and Glen Tarbert, on the south east by Loch Linnhe and on the south west by the

Sound of Mull The Sound of Mull is a sound between the Inner Hebridean island of Mull and mainland Scotland. It forms part of the Atlantic Ocean. The Sound of Mull Project is a Scottish Sustainable Marine Environment Initiative (SSMEI) spatial plan of Argyl ...

. The name is derived 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 ...

''A' Mhorbhairne'' (the Sea-Gap). The highest point is the summit of the

Corbett Corbett may refer to: * List of Corbetts (mountains), 222 mountains in Scotland between , with prominence over * Corbett, Oregon, a community in the United States * Corbett Award, US award for athletics administrators * Corbett (surname), people w ...

Creach Bheinn Creach Bheinn is a prominent mountain in the Morvern area in the west of Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, ...

which reaches in elevation. Administratively Morvern is now part of the ward management area of

Lochaber Lochaber ( ; gd, Loch Abar) is a name applied to a part of the Scottish Highlands. Historically, it was a provincial lordship consisting of the parishes of Kilmallie and Kilmonivaig, as they were before being reduced in extent by the creation ...

, in

Highland council area Highland ( gd, A' Ghàidhealtachd, ; sco, Hieland) is a council area in the Scottish Highlands and is the largest local government area in the United Kingdom. It was the 7th most populous council area in Scotland at the 2011 census. It share ...

. It forms part of the traditional

shire Shire is a traditional term for an administrative division of land in Great Britain and some other English-speaking countries such as Australia and New Zealand. It is generally synonymous with county. It was first used in Wessex from the beginn ...

and current

registration county A registration county was, in Great Britain and Ireland, a statistical unit used for the registration of births, deaths and marriages and for the output of census information. In Scotland registration counties are used for land registration purpose ...

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 ...

. Morvern is approximately in area, with a current population of about 320.

Prehistory and archaeology

In 2010, forestry planting by the then Forestry Commission Scotland let to the discovery of a Mesolithic stone tool scatter. Subsequent archaeology excavations also found evidence that people in the Bronze Age also use the same site.

History

Morvern was formerly known as Kinelvadon, which

William J. Watson William John Watson FRSE LLD (1865 – 9 March 1948) was a toponymist, one of the greatest Scottish scholars of the 20th century, and was the first scholar to place the study of Scottish place names on a firm linguistic basis. Life Watson ...

takes to be from ''Cineal Bhaodain'', that is that lands of the Cenél Báetáin, a division of the

Cenél Loairn The Cenél Loairn, the descendants of Loarn mac Eirc, controlled parts of northern Argyll around the Firth of Lorne, most probably centred in Lorne but perhaps including the islands of Mull and Colonsay, Morvern and Ardnamurchan. The boundary to ...

named after Báetán, a putative great-grandson of Loarn mac Eirc. The ''

Senchus fer n-Alban The ''Senchus fer n-Alban'' (''The History of the men of Scotland'') is an Old Irish medieval text believed to have been compiled in the 10th century. It provides genealogies for kings of Dál Riata and a census of the kingdoms which comprised Dá ...

'' states that "Baotan has twenty houses". The ruined Ardtornish Castle was in the possession of

Somerled Somerled (died 1164), known in Middle Irish as Somairle, Somhairle, and Somhairlidh, and in Old Norse as Sumarliði , was a mid-12th-century Norse-Gaelic lord who, through marital alliance and military conquest, rose in prominence to create the ...

in the 12th century and then the

Lords of the Isles The Lord of the Isles or King of the Isles ( gd, Triath nan Eilean or ) is a title of Scottish nobility with historical roots that go back beyond the Kingdom of Scotland. It began with Somerled in the 12th century and thereafter the title w ...

, whose ownership was recalled in a poem of the same name by

Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy' ...

Kinlochaline Castle Kinlochaline Castle is a 15th-century Scottish tower house on the Ardtornish estate in Morvern in the Highland council area. It is also known as Caisteal an Ime (Scottish Gaelic for ''Castle of Butter'') because a Lady of Clan MacInnes, Dubh Ch ...

was once the seat of the MacInnes clan. It was largely destroyed by the army of

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three Ki ...

and restored in 1890. Before 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 resulte ...

the population of Morvern was about 2500. The history of the parish of Morvern in the 19th century has been detailed in Philip Gaskell's ''Morvern Transformed''. Some residents of St Kilda were relocated to

Lochaline Lochaline ( gd, Loch Àlainn) is the main village in the Morvern area of Highland, Scotland. The coastal village is situated at the mouth of Loch Aline, on the northern shore of the Sound of Mull. A ferry operates regularly over to Fishnish on ...

, the main village of Morvern, when the island was evacuated in 1930. On 19th- and early 20th-century

Ordnance Survey , nativename_a = , nativename_r = , logo = Ordnance Survey 2015 Logo.svg , logo_width = 240px , logo_caption = , seal = , seal_width = , seal_caption = , picture = , picture_width = , picture_caption = , formed = , preceding1 = , di ...

maps, Morvern is spelled "Morven". From 1845 to 1975 most of the peninsula formed the

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 authority ...

of Morvern. The Kingairloch area in the east formed part of the civil parish of Ardgour. From 1930 to 1975 Morvern formed part of the landward district of

Ardnamurchan Ardnamurchan (, gd, Àird nam Murchan: headland of the great seas) is a peninsula in the ward management area of Lochaber, Highland, Scotland, noted for being very unspoiled and undisturbed. Its remoteness is accentuated by the main access ...

in Argyll.

Present day

Ferries depart from Lochaline to the

Isle of Mull The Isle of Mull ( gd, An t-Eilean Muileach ) or just Mull (; gd, Muile, links=no ) is the second-largest island of the Inner Hebrides (after Skye) and lies off the west coast of Scotland in the Council areas of Scotland, council area of Arg ...

. The Morvern Community Development Company (MCDC), the local

development trust Development trusts are organisations operating in the United Kingdom that are: *community based, owned and led *engaged in the economic, environmental and social regeneration of a defined area or community *independent but seek to work in partners ...

, was established in 1999. In 2010 it was announced that MCDC would receive support for a full-time development worker from

Highlands and Islands Enterprise Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE; gd, Iomairt na Gàidhealtachd 's nan Eilean) is the development agency for the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. is an executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government. Its role is to "hel ...

. The closure of the

silica Silicon dioxide, also known as silica, is an oxide of silicon with the chemical formula , most commonly found in nature as quartz and in various living organisms. In many parts of the world, silica is the major constituent of sand. Silica is one ...

mine at Lochaline was announced in December 2008, with the loss of 11 jobs. Lochaline Quartz Sand Ltd, a joint venture by Minerali Industriali and NSG Pilkington, reopened the mine in September 2012. The mine produces high quality silica sand which is used in the production of solar panels.

Ardtornish Ardtornish ( gd, Àird Tòirinis) is a Highland estate in Scotland located in Morvern, Lochaber. Ardtornish House is famous for its gardens and the estate is the location of the ruined Ardtornish Castle and the still-inhabited Kinlochaline Cas ...

, one of the largest estates in the area, received planning permission in 2010 for a new "township" of 20 houses at Achabeag, west of Lochaline.

Nc’nean distillery Nc'nean distillery is a Scotch whisky distillery in Drimnin on the Morvern peninsula of the Highlands, Scotland. The distillery is beside the Sound of Mull, opposite the Isle of Mull. The distillery name Nc'nean, comes from "Neachneohain", a Ga ...

is a

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 ...

distillery Distillation, or classical distillation, is the process of separating the components or substances from a liquid mixture by using selective boiling and condensation, usually inside an apparatus known as a still. Dry distillation is the heati ...

in Drimnin on the Morvern peninsular.

Notable people

Duncan McNab, who was born at Achrinich in May 1820, was a Catholic missionary in

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

and the

Kimberley region of Western Australia The Kimberley is the northernmost of the nine regions of Western Australia. It is bordered on the west by the Indian Ocean, on the north by the Timor Sea, on the south by the Great Sandy and Tanami deserts in the region of the Pilbara, an ...

. Very Rev Norman Macleod (1838-1911),

Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland The Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland is the ministers and elders of the Church of Scotland, minister or elder chosen to moderate (chair) the annual General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, which is held for a week i ...

in 1900, was born in the manse at Morvern.

Notes

References