Kilaulay (

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic (, ; Endonym and exonym, endonym: ), also known as Scots Gaelic or simply Gaelic, is a Celtic language native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a member of the Goidelic language, Goidelic branch of Celtic, Scottish Gaelic, alongs ...

: ''Cill Amhlaigh'' / ''Cill Amhlaidh'' ) is a crofting township on the island of

South Uist South Uist (, ; ) is the second-largest island of the Outer Hebrides in Scotland. At the 2011 census, it had a usually resident population of 1,754: a decrease of 64 since 2001. The island, in common with the rest of the Hebrides, is one of the ...

, in the

Outer Hebrides The Outer Hebrides ( ) or Western Isles ( , or ), sometimes known as the Long Isle or Long Island (), is an Archipelago, island chain off the west coast of mainland Scotland. It is the longest archipelago in the British Isles. The islan ...

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 ...

. Kilaulay is located on the north-west corner of the island, situated about west of Eochar. Kilaulay is also within the parish of South Uist.

Etymology

Kilaulay is an

Anglicised Anglicisation or anglicization is a form of cultural assimilation whereby something non-English becomes assimilated into or influenced by the culture of England. It can be sociocultural, in which a non-English place adopts the English language ...

form of the Scottish Gaelic ''Cill Amhlaigh'' (or ''Cill Amhlaidh''), meaning "''Amhlaighs church" (or "Amhlaidh's church"). There is however no Gaelic saint who bears this name. In some cases the

personal name A personal name, full name or prosoponym (from Ancient Greek ''prósōpon'' – person, and ''onoma'' –name) is the set of names by which an individual person or animal is known. When taken together as a word-group, they all relate to that on ...

''Amhlaigh''/Amhlaidh is a Gaelicisation of the

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

name ''Óláfr'', so Kilaulay could possibly be dedicated to a Norse "Olaf".

Chapel burial ground

The

RCAHMS The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS) was an executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government that was "sponsored" inanced and with oversightthrough Historic Scotland, an executive ...

lists Kilaulay as the site of where a chapel and burial ground once stood. In the 19th century publication ''Origines Parochiales Scotiae'', a chapel is said to have once stood at ''Kileulay'' ("Kilaulay"). The burial ground is supposedly that of a Danish princess named ''Aula'' or ''Olaff'', who drowned while being caught in a storm off

Uist Uist is a group of six islands that are part of the Outer Hebridean Archipelago, which is part of the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. North Uist and South Uist ( or ; ) are two of the islands and are linked by causeways running via the isles of Ben ...

. In May 1965, the site was visited and its location was confirmed by the tenant of Kilaulay farm. There was however no local knowledge of a church or chapel. At the time of the visit, the boundaries of the burial ground were no longer visible.

Supposed tradition of Kilaulay

According to an entry which appeared within the 19th century monthly periodical ''The Celtic Magazine'', a tradition relating to Kilaulay existed at the time.

Notes

References

External links