Salen () is a settlement on the

Isle of Mull The Isle of Mull or simply Mull ( ) 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 Argyll and Bute. Covering , Mull is the fourth-lar ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. It is on the east coast of the island, on the Sound of Mull, approximately halfway between

Craignure Craignure (; ) is a village and the main ferry port on the Isle of Mull, Argyll and Bute, Scotland. The village is within the parish of Torosay. Geography The village is located around Craignure Bay, on Mull's east coast. It has a population of ...

and Tobermory at the narrowest part of the island. The full name of the settlement is 'Sàilean Dubh Chaluim Chille' (the little black bay of St Columba). In 1991 it had a population of 500.

History

Until the early 1800s, the site of today's village was no more than an unremarkable junction of tracks. The Laird of Gruline and Ulva, Lachlan Macquarie, decided that there was commercial advantage in establishing a village and harbour on the nearest point on the Sound of Mull to his estates: and so Salen came into being.

St Columba Columba () or Colmcille (7 December 521 – 9 June 597 AD) was an Irish abbot and missionary evangelist credited with spreading Christianity in what is today Scotland at the start of the Hiberno-Scottish mission. He founded the important abbey ...

visited Salen and preached from a rocky bluff behind the Salen Hotel. North across Salen Bay sits the ruins of the 13th century

Aros Castle Aros Castle, also known as ''Dounarwyse Castle'', is a ruined 13th-century castle near Salen on the Isle of Mull, Scotland. The castle overlooks the Sound of Mull. History The castle was probably built by one of the MacDougall lords of Lorn in ...

Transport

The mailboat service from Oban to Mull formerly called at Salen pier en route to Tobermory. From 1964 the new ferries required bigger piers and Craignure was established as the main ferry terminus on the island due to its central location for visitors to Tobermory and Iona. This meant the end for Salen as a mailboat destination. A minor road branches off here towards Gruline and various places on the west side of Mull. Salen - rotting hulks

The psychiatrist Angus MacNiven

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and Literature, letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". ...

(1900-1984) is buried in Salen churchyard.

References

External links

Canmore - Salen, Salen and Ulva Parish Church site recordCanmore - Mull, Salen, Salen Free Church site recordCanmore - Mull, Salen, Fort site record
Villages on the Isle of Mull {{Argyll-geo-stub