Portvoller
Encyclopedia
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...
on the north tip of the Eye Peninsula (also known as Point), on the Isle of Lewis in northwestern 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...
. It is 9 miles (14.5 km) from the Outer Hebrides
Outer Hebrides
The Outer Hebrides also known as the Western Isles and the Long Island, is an island chain off the west coast of Scotland. The islands are geographically contiguous with Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, one of the 32 unitary council areas of Scotland...
' only town, Stornoway.
About the village
Portvoller contains a butcherButcher
A butcher is a person who may slaughter animals, dress their flesh, sell their meat or any combination of these three tasks. They may prepare standard cuts of meat, poultry, fish and shellfish for sale in retail or wholesale food establishments...
and a nursery
Nursery (horticulture)
A nursery is a place where plants are propagated and grown to usable size. They include retail nurseries which sell to the general public, wholesale nurseries which sell only to businesses such as other nurseries and to commercial gardeners, and private nurseries which supply the needs of...
, but its most prominent feature is the Tiumpan Head
Tiumpan Head
Tiumpan Head is the end of the Eye peninsula on Lewis. A lighthouse has marked the western limit of The Minch since 1900.-Lighthouse:...
Lighthouse
Lighthouse
A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses or, in older times, from a fire, and used as an aid to navigation for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways....
, which is located at the northernmost tip of the village. The village also has two churches, one practicing the Free Church
Free Church
The proper noun Free Church may refer to:Europe-wide:* Evangelical Lutheran Free Churchin Germany:* Evangelical Lutheran Free Church * Independent Evangelical-Lutheran Churchin Iceland:*Reykjavík Free Churchin Norway:...
faith and the other Church of Scotland
Church of Scotland
The Church of Scotland, known informally by its Scots language name, the Kirk, is a Presbyterian church, decisively shaped by the Scottish Reformation....
(although the latter has now been decommissioned).
Portvoller is also near some of the Western Isles' best fishing
Fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....
waters, especially rock fishing
Rock fishing
Rock fishing is fishing from rocky outcrops into the sea. It is a popular pastime in Australia and New Zealand. It can be a dangerous pastime and claims many lives each year, although this may improve as more fisherman wear life jackets.-Dangers:...
or beach casting. The headlands that are most popular for these pursuits are known locally as Billy Mor and Foitelair. These two fishing hotspots are found about five minutes' walk from the now ruined Portvoller slipway
Slipway
A slipway, boat slip or just a slip, is a ramp on the shore by which ships or boats can be moved to and from the water. They are used for building and repairing ships and boats. They are also used for launching and retrieving small boats on trailers and flying boats on their undercarriage. The...
—a walk that can be a treacherous clamber after a squall
Squall
A squall is a sudden, sharp increase in wind speed which is usually associated with active weather, such as rain showers, thunderstorms, or heavy snow. Squalls refer to an increase in the sustained winds over a short time interval, as there may be higher gusts during a squall event...
or downpour
Downpour
Downpour may refer to:*Heavy rain*Downpour , a 1999 music album by Mannafest*"Downpour", a song from Unbreakable *A fictional superhero in the animated series Justice League Unlimited...
. The Portvoller slipway is also near to small and secluded Shinega beach.
There has been a recent influx of wealthy mainland Scots
Scottish people
The Scottish people , or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, incorporating neighbouring Britons to the south as well as invading Germanic peoples such as the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse.In modern use,...
and English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
incomers to the village, attracted by the stunning scenery, relatively low property prices, and very low crime rate. Sometimes those who were brought up on Lewis as children return to retire after they have made their fortune elsewhere.
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Etymology
The village name probably originates from the Old NorseOld Norse
Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....
word voller (the plural of vollen, still used in some dialects of Norwegian
Norwegian language
Norwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants .These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese language...
, which denotes a hill
Hill
A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. Hills often have a distinct summit, although in areas with scarp/dip topography a hill may refer to a particular section of flat terrain without a massive summit A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. Hills...
that slants upwards gradually). Indeed, this is a quite appropriate description of the village of Portvoller.
In the period from the ninth to the twelfth century, Viking
Viking
The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...
raids on the island would have been commonplace. When Norway occupied Lewis before the Treaty of Perth
Treaty of Perth
The Treaty of Perth, 1266, ended military conflict between Norway, under King Magnus VI of Norway, and Scotland, under King Alexander III, over the sovereignty of the Hebrides and the Isle of Man....
and the Battle of Largs
Battle of Largs
The Battle of Largs was an engagement fought between the armies of Norway and Scotland near the present-day town of Largs in North Ayrshire on the Firth of Clyde in Scotland on 2 October 1263. It was the most important military engagement of the Scottish-Norwegian War. The Norwegian forces were...
, Portvoller would have been a principal landing place for arrivals from Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
.
Surrounding villages
The village has several others surrounding it, including PortnaguranPortnaguran
Portnaguran in Point, Isle of Lewis is the township at the north-easternmost point of the peninsula. It lies one mile southwest of Tiumpan Head and just south of the headland called Geòdha 'ic Sheòrais or sometimes Small Head amongst locals.There is a small pier in the harbour, and the...
, Aird, Broker and Flesherin
Flesherin
Flesherin is a small village on the Point peninsula of the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides. Located near Portnaguran, the village has a population of around 100, and is home to the famous accordianists Tommy Darky and John 'Tonkan' Macdonald...
, all of which are served by the one post office, off-licence and shop. All the aforenamed villages are served by the Western Isles Council in terms of public transport and other services.