Morvern ( ; "the sea-gap"), historically also spelt Morven, is a

peninsula A peninsula is a landform that extends from a mainland and is only connected to land on one side. Peninsulas exist on each continent. The largest peninsula in the world is the Arabian Peninsula. Etymology The word ''peninsula'' derives , . T ...

and traditional district in the Highlands, on the west coast of

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 lies south of the districts of Ardgour and Sunart, and is bounded on the north by Loch Sunart and Glen Tarbert, on the south east by

Loch Linnhe Loch Linnhe ( ) is a sea loch in the Highland Council area, in the west of Scotland. The part upstream of Corran is known in Gaelic as (the black pool, originally known as Loch Abar), and downstream as (the salty pool). The name ''Linnhe ...

and on the south west by the Sound of Mull. The highest point is the summit of the Corbett Creach Bheinn which reaches in elevation. Administratively Morvern is now part of the ward management area of

Lochaber Lochaber ( ; ) is a name applied to a part of the Scottish Highlands. Historically, it was a provincial lordship consisting of the parishes of Kilmallie and Kilmonivaig. Lochaber once extended from the Northern shore of Loch Leven, a distric ...

, in

Highland council area Highland (, ; ) is a council areas of Scotland, council area in the Scottish Highlands and is the largest local government area in both Scotland and the United Kingdom. It was the 7th most populous council area in Scotland at the United Kingdo ...

. It forms part of the traditional

shire Shire () is a traditional term for an administrative division of land in Great Britain and some other English-speaking countries. It is generally synonymous with county (such as Cheshire and Worcestershire). British counties are among the oldes ...

and current

registration county A registration county was, in Great Britain and Ireland, a statistical unit used for the registration of births, deaths and marriages and for the output of census information. In Scotland registration counties are used for land registration purpose ...

Argyll Argyll (; archaically Argyle; , ), sometimes called Argyllshire, is a Shires of Scotland, historic county and registration county of western Scotland. The county ceased to be used for local government purposes in 1975 and most of the area ...

. Morvern is approximately in area, with a current population of about 320.

Prehistory and archaeology

In 2010, forestry planting by the then Forestry Commission Scotland led to the discovery of a Mesolithic stone tool scatter. Subsequent archaeology excavations also found evidence that people in the Bronze Age also used the same site.

History

Morvern was formerly known as Kinelvadon, which William J. Watson takes to be from ''Cineal Bhaodain'', that is that lands of the Cenél Báetáin, a division of the

Cenél Loairn The Cenél Loairn, the descendants of Loarn mac Eirc, controlled parts of northern Argyll around the Firth of Lorne, most probably centred in Lorne but perhaps including the islands of Mull and Colonsay, Morvern and Ardnamurchan. The bounda ...

named after Báetán, a putative great-grandson of Loarn mac Eirc. The '' Senchus fer n-Alban'' states that "Baotan has twenty houses". The ruined Ardtornish Castle was in the possession of

Somerled Somerled (died 1164), known in Middle Irish as Somairle, Somhairle, and Somhairlidh, and in Old Norse as Sumarliði , was a mid-12th-century Norse-Gaelic lord who, through marital alliance and military conquest, rose in prominence to create the ...

in the 12th century and then the

Lords of the Isles Lord of the Isles or King of the Isles ( or ; ) is a title of nobility in the Baronage of Scotland with historical roots that go back beyond the Kingdom of Scotland. It began with Somerled in the 12th century and thereafter the title was ...

, whose ownership was recalled in a poem of the same name by

Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European literature, European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'' (18 ...

. Kinlochaline Castle was once the seat of the MacInnes clan. It was largely destroyed by the army of

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English statesman, politician and soldier, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in British history. He came to prominence during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, initially ...

and restored in 1890. Before the

Highland clearances The Highland Clearances ( , the "eviction of the Gaels") were the evictions of a significant number of tenants in the Scottish Highlands and Islands, mostly in two phases from 1750 to 1860. The first phase resulted from Scottish Agricultural R ...

the population of Morvern was about 2500. The history of the parish of Morvern in the 19th century has been detailed in Philip Gaskell's ''Morvern Transformed''. Some residents of St Kilda were relocated to Lochaline, the main village of Morvern, when the island was evacuated in 1930. On 19th- and early 20th-century

Ordnance Survey The Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see Artillery, ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of ...

maps, Morvern is spelled "Morven". From 1845 to 1975 most of the peninsula formed the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

of Morvern. The Kingairloch area in the east formed part of the civil parish of Ardgour. From 1930 to 1975 Morvern formed part of the landward district of Ardnamurchan in Argyll.

Present day

Ferries depart from Lochaline to 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 ...

. The Morvern Community Development Company (MCDC), the local

development trust Development trusts are organisations operating in the United Kingdom that are: *community based, owned and led *engaged in the economic, environmental and social regeneration of a defined area or community *independent but seek to work in partners ...

, was established in 1999. In 2010 it was announced that MCDC would receive support for a full-time development worker from Highlands and Islands Enterprise. The closure of the

silica Silicon dioxide, also known as silica, is an oxide of silicon with the chemical formula , commonly found in nature as quartz. In many parts of the world, silica is the major constituent of sand. Silica is one of the most complex and abundant f ...

mine at Lochaline was announced in December 2008, with the loss of 11 jobs. Lochaline Quartz Sand Ltd, a joint venture by Minerali Industriali and NSG Pilkington, reopened the mine in September 2012. The mine produces high quality silica sand which is used in the production of solar panels. Ardtornish, one of the largest estates in the area, received planning permission in 2010 for a new "township" of 20 houses at Achabeag, west of Lochaline. Nc’nean distillery is a Scotch whisky

distillery Distillation, also classical distillation, is the process of separating the component substances of a liquid mixture of two or more chemically discrete substances; the separation process is realized by way of the selective boiling of the mixt ...

in Drimnin on the Morvern peninsular.

Notable people

Duncan McNab, who was born at Achrinich in May 1820, was a Catholic missionary in

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

and the Kimberley region of Western Australia. Very Rev Norman Macleod (1838–1911),

Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland The moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland is the minister or elder chosen to moderate (chair) the annual General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, which is held for a week in Edinburgh every year. After chairing the Ass ...

in 1900, was born in the manse at Morvern.

Notes

References