Arisaig
Encyclopedia
- For the Canadian village, see Arisaig, Nova Scotia.
Arisaig is a village in Lochaber
Lochaber
District of Lochaber 1975 to 1996Highland council area shown as one of the council areas of ScotlandLochaber is one of the 16 ward management areas of the Highland Council of Scotland and one of eight former local government districts of the two-tier Highland region...
, Invernessshire, on the west coast of the Scottish Highlands
Scottish Highlands
The Highlands is an historic region of Scotland. The area is sometimes referred to as the "Scottish Highlands". It was culturally distinguishable from the Lowlands from the later Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands...
.
History
On 20 September 1746 Bonnie Prince Charlie left Scotland for France from a place near the village following the failure of the Jacobite RisingJacobite rising
The Jacobite Risings were a series of uprisings, rebellions, and wars in Great Britain and Ireland occurring between 1688 and 1746. The uprisings were aimed at returning James VII of Scotland and II of England, and later his descendants of the House of Stuart, to the throne after he was deposed by...
. The site of his departure is marked by the Prince's Cairn
Prince's Cairn
The Prince's Cairn is a cairn at Loch nan Uamh in Lochaber, Scotland.On 19 September 1746, Charles Edward Stuart arrived from "Cluny's Cage", that refuge on Ben Alder, accompanied by Donald Cameron of Lochiel, , and others. There they found L'Heureux, the French frigate that was to carry him to...
which is located at Loch nan Uamh to the east of Arisaig. In 1770 the Scottish Gaelic poet Alasdair Mac Mhaighstir Alasdair
Alasdair MacMhaighstir Alasdair
Alasdair mac Mhaighstir Alasdair was a Scottish poet, lexicographer, political writer and memoirist, respected as perhaps the finest Gaelic language poet of the 18th century...
died in Arisaig and was buried in the village's Roman Catholic cemetery. Emigrants from this area founded Arisaig, Nova Scotia, Canada in 1785.
During the Second World War the area was taken over by the Special Operations Executive
Special Operations Executive
The Special Operations Executive was a World War II organisation of the United Kingdom. It was officially formed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton on 22 July 1940, to conduct guerrilla warfare against the Axis powers and to instruct and aid local...
to train agents for missions in Occupied Europe. Arisaig House, along with many others, were used as training schools. The Land, Sea and Islands Centre in the village has a display on the connection between the SOE and Arisaig.
Arisaig is in the Scottish council area of Highland. Tourism
Tourism in Scotland
Scotland is a well-developed tourist destination, with tourism generally being responsible for sustaining 200,000 jobs mainly in the service sector, with tourist spending averaging at £4bn per year. Tourists from the United Kingdom make up the bulk of visitors to Scotland...
is the main industry in the Arisaig area due to the spectacular scenery and great beaches. Interestingly, several areas of England have Arisaig as the street names, such as in Ouston, County Durham
Ouston, County Durham
Ouston is a village in County Durham, approximately 5 miles to the south-west of the city of Newcastle upon Tyne in the north-east of England...
.
Amenities
Transport
Arisaig lies on the A830A830 road
The A830, sometimes known as the Road to the Isles , is a road in Lochaber, in the Highlands of Scotland, which connects the town of Fort William to the port of Mallaig....
which leads to Mallaig
Mallaig
Mallaig ; is a port in Lochaber, on the west coast of the Highlands of Scotland. The local railway station, Mallaig, is the terminus of the West Highland railway line , completed in 1901, and the town is linked to Fort William by the A830 road – the "Road to the Isles".The village of Mallaig...
to the north and Fort William to the east. The route, which is also known as the Road to the Isles, has been upgraded from a single track to double track carriageway. Work was completed in 2008.
The village is served by Arisaig railway station
Arisaig railway station
Arisaig railway station serves the village of Arisaig on the west coast of the Highland region of Scotland.This station is on the West Highland Line, west of Fort William on the way to .It is the westernmost station on the National Rail network....
on the West Highland Line
West Highland Line
The West Highland Line is considered the most scenic railway line in Britain, linking the ports of Mallaig and Oban on the west coast of Scotland to Glasgow. The line was voted the top rail journey in the world by readers of independent travel magazine Wanderlust in 2009, ahead of the iconic...
which connects the village to Mallaig
Mallaig
Mallaig ; is a port in Lochaber, on the west coast of the Highlands of Scotland. The local railway station, Mallaig, is the terminus of the West Highland railway line , completed in 1901, and the town is linked to Fort William by the A830 road – the "Road to the Isles".The village of Mallaig...
and Fort William
Fort William
Fort William may refer to:In Canada:*Fort William, Ontario, a Canadian city which, together with Port Arthur, became part of Thunder Bay in 1970**Fort William , a related Canadian federal electoral district...
. It is the most westerly station on the British mainland.
A small passenger ferry sails from Arisaig to the Small Isles
Small Isles
The Small Isles are a small archipelago of islands in the Inner Hebrides, off the west coast of Scotland. They lie south of Skye and north of Mull and Ardnamurchan – the most westerly point of mainland Scotland.The four main islands are Canna, Rùm, Eigg and Muck...
of Eigg
Eigg
Eigg is one of the Small Isles, in the Scottish Inner Hebrides. It lies to the south of the Skye and to the north of the Ardnamurchan peninsula. Eigg is long from north to south, and east to west. With an area of , it is the second largest of the Small Isles after Rùm.-Geography:The main...
, Muck
Muck, Scotland
Muck is the smallest of four main islands in the Small Isles, part of the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. It measures roughly 2.5 miles east to west and has a population of around 30, mostly living near the harbour at Port Mòr. The other settlement on the island is the farm at Gallanach...
and Rùm
Rùm
Rùm , a Scottish Gaelic name often anglicised to Rum) is one of the Small Isles of the Inner Hebrides, in the district of Lochaber, Scotland...
. The main CalMac
Caledonian MacBrayne
Caledonian MacBrayne is the major operator of passenger and vehicle ferries, and ferry services, between the mainland of Scotland and 22 of the major islands on Scotland's west coast...
service to the Small Isles operates from Mallaig.
Glenuig Bay moorings controversy
In 2008, the new owner of the Glenuig Inn applied for permission to the UK's Crown EstateCrown Estate
In the United Kingdom, the Crown Estate is a property portfolio owned by the Crown. Although still belonging to the monarch and inherent with the accession of the throne, it is no longer the private property of the reigning monarch and cannot be sold by him/her, nor do the revenues from it belong...
and the Scottish Executive
Scottish Executive
The Scottish Government is the executive arm of the devolved government of Scotland. It was established in 1999 as the Scottish Executive, from the extant Scottish Office, and the term Scottish Executive remains its legal name under the Scotland Act 1998...
to place 10 private moorings within Glenuig Bay to attract new business and provide facilities for visiting yachts. However local fishermen, who had used the bay for years to moor their boats free of charge, strongly opposed the plans. They feared it would mean the introduction of fees and eviction if they refused to pay. Despite having no official consent to moor boats in the bay, the local community said the development would stop them keeping their boats close to their homes and businesses. However the owner of the Glenuig Inn said it was a "wake-up call" to everyone enjoying free moorings in Scotland because "the seabed is owned by the Crown Estate".
Following a public meeting in Arisaig in October 2010, agreement was reached between the Crown Estate, representatives of Glenuig Inn and the local community on the location of the new commercial moorings in respect to areas designated for use by local boaters and fishermen.