Coll
Encyclopedia
Island
An island or isle is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, cays or keys. An island in a river or lake may be called an eyot , or holm...
, west of Mull
Isle of Mull
The Isle of Mull or simply Mull is the second largest island of the Inner Hebrides, off the west coast of Scotland in the council area of Argyll and Bute....
in the Inner Hebrides
Inner Hebrides
The Inner Hebrides is an archipelago off the west coast of Scotland, to the south east of the Outer Hebrides. Together these two island chains form the Hebrides, which enjoy a mild oceanic climate. There are 36 inhabited islands and a further 43 uninhabited Inner Hebrides with an area greater than...
of Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. Coll is known for its sandy beach
Beach
A beach is a geological landform along the shoreline of an ocean, sea, lake or river. It usually consists of loose particles which are often composed of rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles or cobblestones...
es, which rise to form large sand dunes, for its corncrakes, and for Breachacha Castle.
Geography and geology
Coll is about 13 miles (20.9 km) long by 3 miles (4.8 km) wide and has a population of fewer than 200. Coll's sandy beachBeach
A beach is a geological landform along the shoreline of an ocean, sea, lake or river. It usually consists of loose particles which are often composed of rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles or cobblestones...
es rise to form large sand dunes. The highest point on Coll is Ben Hogh in the south west of the island, which rises to a height of 341 feet (104 m).
Settlements
- AchaAcha, Argyll and ButeAcha is a village on the Scottish island of Coll.-See also:*Dùn an Achaidh, a nearby dun...
. A crofting settlement located 3 miles (4.8 km) south-west of Arinagour. - Arileod . Located on the west coast; 4 miles (6.4 km) south-west of Arinagour.
- ArinagourArinagourArinagour is a village in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It is the main settlement on the Isle of Coll....
. The main settlement on the island; located at the head of Loch Eatharna, on the east coast. - Arnabost . Located 2 miles (3.2 km) miles north-west of Arinagour; it is the junction for travel between Sorisdale, Clabhach and Arinagour.
- Ballyhaugh . Located on the northern part of Hough Bay; 3 miles (4.8 km) west of Arinagour.
- Bousd . Located 4 miles (6.4 km) north-east of Arinagour.
- Clabhach . Located on the north-west coast; 3 miles (4.8 km) north-west of Arinagour.
- Crossapol . Located on the south-west coast.
- Totronald . Located on the west coast; 4 miles (6.4 km) southwest of Arinagour.
- Uig . Located 0.5 mile (0.80467 km) north-east of the head of Loch Breachacha.
Transportation
There are only two main roads on Coll. The main hub of the island is the island's largest settlement—Arinagour. About 1.5 km (1 mi) south of Arinagour is the Caledonian MacBrayneCaledonian 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...
ferry terminal. The ferry travels from Oban
Oban
Oban Oban Oban ( is a resort town within the Argyll and Bute council area of Scotland. It has a total resident population of 8,120. Despite its small size, it is the largest town between Helensburgh and Fort William and during the tourist season the town can be crowded by up to 25,000 people. Oban...
to Coll to Tiree
Tiree
-History:Tiree is known for the 1st century BC Dùn Mòr broch, for the prehistoric carved Ringing Stone and for the birds of the Ceann a' Mhara headland....
; and a return trip from Tiree, to Coll, to Oban. The ferry between Oban and Castlebay
Castlebay
Castlebay is the main village and a community council area on the island of Barra in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. It is located on the south coast of the island, and overlooks a bay in the Atlantic Ocean dominated by Kisimul Castle, as well as nearby islands such as Vatersay.- Church :The...
on Barra
Barra
The island of Barra is a predominantly Gaelic-speaking island, and apart from the adjacent island of Vatersay, to which it is connected by a causeway, is the southernmost inhabited island of the Outer Hebrides in Scotland.-Geography:The 2001 census showed that the resident population was 1,078...
goes via Coll and Tiree once a week.
The airport on the island, is located between Uig and Arileod. Highland Airways
Highland Airways
Highland Airways was an airline based in Inverness, Scotland. It ceased trading on 24 March 2010 after failing to secure new investment. The airline operated passenger and freight charters as well as scheduled services from its main base at Inverness Airport...
who originally operated the route to Oban went into administration in 2010, but a new operator, Hebridean Air Services now operates the route under a PSO with flights to Oban, Tiree and Colonsay. The aircraft used for the flights are a BN2 Islander (G-HEBS). Hebridean headquarters are at Cumbernauld Airport
Cumbernauld Airport
Cumbernauld Airport is located northeast of Glasgow at Cumbernauld in North Lanarkshire, Scotland. The airport is primarily used for the training of fixed wing and rotary wing pilots, it also boasts a helicopter charter company and a light aircraft charter operation along with aircraft...
, North Lanarkshire
North Lanarkshire
North Lanarkshire is one of 32 council areas in Scotland. It borders onto the northeast of the City of Glasgow and contains much of Glasgow's suburbs and commuter towns and villages. It also borders Stirling, Falkirk, East Dunbartonshire, West Lothian and South Lanarkshire...
.
History
Coll was home to a branch of the Clan MacleanClan MacLean
Clan Maclean is a Highland Scottish clan. They are one of the oldest clans in the Highlands and owned large tracts of land in Argyll as well as the Inner Hebrides. Many early MacLeans became famous for their honour, strength and courage in battle. They were involved in many clan skirmishes with...
for 500 years, not all of which were peaceful. In 1590 the Macleans of Duart invaded their cousins on Coll with the intention of taking the island for themselves. A battle was fought at Breachacha Castle where the Coll clan overwhelmed the Duarts, chopped off their heads and threw them in the stream, which is still known as "the stream of the heads". The Macleans of Coll retained their baronial fief and Castle of Breachacha until 1848 when Alexander Maclean of Coll emigrated to Natal
KwaZulu-Natal
KwaZulu-Natal is a province of South Africa. Prior to 1994, the territory now known as KwaZulu-Natal was made up of the province of Natal and the homeland of KwaZulu....
, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
where he died unmarried.
Coll, like other Hebridean islands, has several crannóg
Crannog
A crannog is typically a partially or entirely artificial island, usually built in lakes, rivers and estuarine waters of Scotland and Ireland. Crannogs were used as dwellings over five millennia from the European Neolithic Period, to as late as the 17th/early 18th century although in Scotland,...
s (artificial islands) located in some of its loch
Loch
Loch is the Irish and Scottish Gaelic word for a lake or a sea inlet. It has been anglicised as lough, although this is pronounced the same way as loch. Some lochs could also be called a firth, fjord, estuary, strait or bay...
s. One such crannog is Dun Anlaimh
Dùn Anlaimh
Dùn Anlaimh, also known as Dùn Amhlaidh, and Eilean nan Cinneachan, is a crannog , located within Loch nan Cinneachan on the Inner Hebridean island of Coll. Upon the crannog there are the remains of walls and several buildings...
, which is thought to date to at least the later Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
. Local tradition states that the dun
Dun
Dun is now used both as a generic term for a fort and also for a specific variety of Atlantic roundhouse...
was the fortress of a Norse chieftain who was defeated in battle by the Macleans.
Breachacha Castle on the south coast dates from the 15th century. It was restored by the Project Trust
Project Trust
Project Trust is one of the longest established Gap Year organizations in the UK. It is based at The Hebridean Centre on the island of Coll off the West coast of Scotland where prospective and returning volunteers are required to attend residential selection, training and de-briefing weeks...
, a gap year
Gap year
An expression or phrase that is associated with taking time out to travel in between life stages. It is also known as sabbatical, time off and time out that refers to a period of time in which students disengage from curricular education and undertake non curricular activities, such as travel or...
organisation that sends school leavers abroad for a year's voluntary work. They send 17-19 year olds on a whole year abroad, and have extensive selection and training weeks. An 18th century mansion
Mansion
A mansion is a very large dwelling house. U.S. real estate brokers define a mansion as a dwelling of over . A traditional European mansion was defined as a house which contained a ballroom and tens of bedrooms...
house stands nearby.
The population of Coll was much higher in the past. In the late 18th century there were about 1,000 people supported by agriculture and fishing. During the Highland Clearances
Highland Clearances
The Highland Clearances were forced displacements of the population of the Scottish Highlands during the 18th and 19th centuries. They led to mass emigration to the sea coast, the Scottish Lowlands, and the North American colonies...
of the 1830s and 1840s, half the population left, many of them moving to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
or South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
.
Project Trust
Project TrustProject Trust
Project Trust is one of the longest established Gap Year organizations in the UK. It is based at The Hebridean Centre on the island of Coll off the West coast of Scotland where prospective and returning volunteers are required to attend residential selection, training and de-briefing weeks...
, founded by Nicholas Maclean-Bristol and based on the island, has sent over 6,000 volunteers overseas, many of them gap year
Gap year
An expression or phrase that is associated with taking time out to travel in between life stages. It is also known as sabbatical, time off and time out that refers to a period of time in which students disengage from curricular education and undertake non curricular activities, such as travel or...
students. In 2008 this organisation, which brings over £370,000 per annum to Coll's economy, celebrated its 40th anniversary.
Wildlife
There is an extensive RSPB reserve towards the west end of the island. One of the main attractions is the rare corncrake. Traditional local farming practices have helped this once common British bird survive.In 2010, a colony of short-necked oil beetles
Meloe brevicollis
Meloe brevicollis is a European oil beetle. It is also known as the "short-necked oil beetle".It had been thought that the beetle had been extinct in the UK since the 1940s, due to intensive farming. However, in 2007 a small population was discovered in south of Devon.In 2010, 40 beetles were found...
was found on the island. The beetle, thought to be extinct in the UK, is now known only to occur in southern England and Coll. It is parasitic on ground-dwelling bees, and is also flightless, begging the question of how it arrived on the island. It does not appear to be found on neighbouring Tiree
Tiree
-History:Tiree is known for the 1st century BC Dùn Mòr broch, for the prehistoric carved Ringing Stone and for the birds of the Ceann a' Mhara headland....
, possibly because of a difference in terrain. Modern farming methods had partly caused its demise elsewhere.
Coll in fiction
Mairi HedderwickMairi Hedderwick
Mairi Hedderwick is a Scottish illustrator and author, best known for the Katie Morag series of children's picture books set on the Isle of Struay, a fictional counterpart of the real-life inner Hebridean island of Coll where Hedderwick has lived at various times for much of her life.She has also...
, the illustrator and author, lives on Coll and has used the island as the setting for her Katie Morag
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 for the feisty and independent character of Katie herself.The books are set on the...
series of children's books. In the books, Coll is known by the fictional name of the Isle of Struay.
See also
- Religion of the Yellow StickReligion of the Yellow StickThe religion of the yellow stick was a facetious name given to the forced "belief" of certain churchgoers in the Hebrides of Scotland. Such actions, however, were not unique to the Hebrides, but occurred in other parts of Scotland in sterner times....
- List of Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Mull, Coll and Tiree