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Staffin () is a township with the Gaelic name ''An Taobh Sear'', which translates as "the East Side", on the northeast coast of the Trotternish peninsula on the
Isle of Skye
The Isle of Skye, or simply Skye, is the largest and northernmost of the major islands in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The island's peninsulas radiate from a mountainous hub dominated by the Cuillin, the rocky slopes of which provide some of ...
. It is located on the A855 road about north of Portree and is overlooked by the Trotternish Ridge (including the Quiraing). The township forms part of a parish comprising 23 townships. From south to north: Rigg, Tote, Lealt, Lonfearn, Grealin, Breackry, Culnancnoc, Valtos, Raiseburgh, Ellishadder, Garafad, Clachan, Garros, Marishader, Maligar, Stenscholl, Brogaig, Sartle, Glasphein, Digg, Dunans, Flodigarry and Greap.
Geography and natural history
The Kilmartin River flows northwards through the village and outflows as the Stenscholl River at Stenscholl. To the east at ''An Corran'' a seasonally exposed rippled wave cut platform contains at least 18 dinosaur footprints, measuring up to 50 cm in length, attributed to a large theropod akin to ''Megalosaurus
''Megalosaurus'' (meaning "great lizard", from Ancient Greek, Greek , ', meaning 'big', 'tall' or 'great' and , ', meaning 'lizard') is an extinct genus of large carnivorous theropod dinosaurs of the Middle Jurassic Epoch (Bathonian stage, 166 ...
.'' The footprints date to the Middle Jurassic
The Middle Jurassic is the second Epoch (geology), epoch of the Jurassic Period (geology), Period. It lasted from about 174.1 to 161.5 million years ago. Fossils of land-dwelling animals, such as dinosaurs, from the Middle Jurassic are relativel ...
(approximately 170 million years ago) and occur above an igneous platform - with natural cracks often mistaken for dinosaur footprints. ''An Corran'' was also a Mesolithic
The Mesolithic (Ancient Greek language, Greek: μέσος, ''mesos'' 'middle' + λίθος, ''lithos'' 'stone') or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic i ...
hunter-gatherer site dating to the 7th millennium BC - one of the oldest archaeological sites in Scotland. Its occupation is probably linked to that of the rock shelter at Sand, Applecross on the coast of Wester Ross.
Community
Today, Staffin and its surrounding townships retain a strong Gaelic identity, with 61 per cent of the local population recorded as speaking the language in 2001.Mac an Tàilleir, Iain (2004) (PowerPoint) Linguae Celticae. Retrieved 1 June 2008. In September 2010, Comunn na Gàidhlig named Staffin as their "Gaelic Community of the Year", in the first year this competition has run. Also in September 2010, Highland Council announced the launch of a consultation into a plan to convert the localprimary
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Work ...
into a Gaelic medium school. This would be the second such conversion in Scotland, after Bun-sgoil Shlèite. Only 5 out of the school's thirty pupils have English as their only language, with the remainder being bilingual English and Gaelic speakers.
In 2011, Staffin Island is one of the last in Scotland where the old tradition of having cattle swim between grazings is still carried out. Crofter
A croft is a traditional Scottish term for a fenced or enclosed area of land, usually small and arable, and usually, but not always, with a crofter's dwelling thereon. A crofter is one who has tenure and use of the land, typically as a ten ...
Iain MacDonald, who used to swim with the animals, used a boat to encourage them to swim from Staffin Island to Skye in early spring and back again in October.
In December 2013, Staffin Community Trust (SCT) was awarded a grant by the Heritage Lottery for the Skye Ecomuseum - also known as the Druim nan Linntean (Ridge of Ages). The Skye Ecomuseum is an outdoor museum set in the Trotternish landscape spanning between Loch Langaig (Flodigarry) and An Stòrr ( Old Man of Storr) aiming to engage visitors with local natural history and heritage through the improvement of local paths/infrastructure (including a viewing platform at Lealt Gorge) and establishment of informative signage.
Currently, the SCT are improving the infrastructure at Staffin Harbour and building the Crofters' Memorial, Sùil nam Brà, at Kilt Rock.
See also Druim nan Linntean - Skye Ecomuseum
References