Jake King

Altimarlach Farm is a place in Caithness situated by a small watercourse now called in English the Burn of Altimarlach. Under the name Old ... Continue Reading about Altimarlach ~ Allt nam Mèirleach

Our earliest recorded mention of Iona comes from the Latin Vita Columbae, a book about the Life of St Columba, written round 700 AD. In that ... Continue Reading about Iona ~ Eilean Ì

This rock was an important strategic site in late antiquity and it is perhaps no surprise that it was mentioned for the first time as early ... Continue Reading about Dumbarton Rock ~ Ail Chluaidh / Creag Chluaidh

This name has a complicated history. The name of the current settlement takes its name from the watercourse that runs through it: Bannock ... Continue Reading about Bannockburn ~ Allt a’ Bhonnaich

This river, which flows through Buchan and enters the sea near Peterhead, rises as two separate watercourses, now known as the North Ugie ... Continue Reading about River Ugie ~ Uige

It is not only places in Scotland that have Gaelic names.  The town of Penrith in Cumbria has its own: Pìorait. In 1745 there was a ... Continue Reading about Penrith ~ Pìorait

This odd-looking Banffshire name has given rise to a number of fanciful derivations, such as it being named from a woman called ‘Maggie ... Continue Reading about Maggieknockater ~ Magh an Fhùcadair

For obvious reasons Culloden (Cullodyn in 1238) was a very well-known name in Gaelic, mentioned many times in prose and poem after the ... Continue Reading about Culloden ~ Cùil Lodair

There are two places with this name. The better-known one is in Gaelic Taigh an Droma ‘the house of the ridge’, sitting as it does at the ... Continue Reading about Tyndrum ~ Taigh an Droma

Càrn Eighe (as it appears on modern maps) is a mountain in Strathglass to the west of Inverness. Its name has a confusing history. ... Continue Reading about Càrn Eighe ~ Càrn Èite

Birnam (Brannan in 1345) most likely reflects braonan, ‘little wet place’. The same element also appears in Loch Bhraoin in Wester Ross - ... Continue Reading about Birnam ~ Braonan

The name of Lamlash (Helantmlaysche late 14th Century) on the Isle of Arran has a complex history. The settlement sits on the coast facing ... Continue Reading about Lamlash ~ Eilean MoLaise

The Irish Annals record a battle in 685 between the Picts and the Northumbrians at a place called Duin Nechtain, which in modern spelling ... Continue Reading about Dunnichen ~ Dùn Eachain

The habit of tying a piece of rag or cloth to a tree so that people might be cured was once a more commonplace practice in Scotland but has ... Continue Reading about Hill o’ Hirdie, the Clootie Well at Munlochy and Saint Curitan