Elgol is a village on the shores of Loch Scavaig towards the end of the Strathaird

Strathaird

Strathaird is a peninsula on the island of Skye, Scotland, situated between Loch Slapin and Loch Scavaig on the south coast.Skye's shape defies description and W. H. Murray said that "Skye is sixty miles long, but what might be its breadth is beyond the ingenuity of man to state". Strathaird is...

 peninsula in the Isle of Skye, in 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...

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Name

According to tradition, its name derives from a battle fought with five ships by Aella, a follower of Vortigern

Vortigern

Vortigern , also spelled Vortiger and Vortigen, was a 5th-century warlord in Britain, a leading ruler among the Britons. His existence is considered likely, though information about him is shrouded in legend. He is said to have invited the Saxons to settle in Kent as mercenaries to aid him in...

, against the Picts and Scots (“Aella-gol”).

History

The Strathaird peninsula was historically a heartland of the Mackinnons

Clan MacKinnon

Clan Mackinnon or Clan Fingon is a Highland Scottish clan associated with the islands of Mull and Skye, in the Inner Hebrides.Popular tradition gives the clan a Dalriadic Gaelic origin. The 19th century historian W. F. Skene named the clan as one of the seven clans of Siol Alpin - who according to...

, a robustly Jacobite

Jacobitism

Jacobitism was the political movement in Britain dedicated to the restoration of the Stuart kings to the thrones of England, Scotland, later the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the Kingdom of Ireland...

 clan. On 4 July 1746, the Young Pretender

Charles Edward Stuart

Prince Charles Edward Louis John Casimir Sylvester Severino Maria Stuart commonly known as Bonnie Prince Charlie or The Young Pretender was the second Jacobite pretender to the thrones of Great Britain , and Ireland...

 found sanctuary at Elgol in the course of his wanderings under the protection of Mackinnon of Mackinnon and Captain John Mackinnon of Elgol. The cave where he is said to have waited for a boat to the mainland (“Prince Charlie’s cave”, or “Uamh Phrionnsa”) can still be visited today, a short walk to the south of the village.

Present day

The village had a considerably higher population prior to the 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...

. It now has a population of approximately 150, a significant proportion of whom are Gaelic speakers. Elgol's scenic attractions have drawn in many outsiders seeking holiday homes and a majority of the properties there are no longer occupied on a year-round basis.

The village is also a terminal for two privately owned boat trips to Loch Coruisk

Loch Coruisk

Loch Coruisk is an inland fresh-water loch, lying at the foot of the Black Cuillin in the Isle of Skye, in the Scottish Highlands.-Geography:...

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