Celebrating the centenary of William J. Watson’s The History of Celtic Place-names of Scotland at a special conference in Inverness.

It was on Saturday the 2^nd of May 2026 that the Scottish Place-name Society (SPNS) Spring Conference took place at An Cultarlann in Inverness. This was a special conference celebrating the centenary of William J. Watson’s The History of Celtic Place-names of Scotland.

Amongst the papers given at the conference, three presented talks linked to Watson. Roddy MacLean talked about Watson’s research on the place-names of Inverness and Nevis Hulme discussed Watson’s research around Gairloch place-names. Our senior researcher, Dr Jacob King, also gave a talk on his new book, Further Scottish Place‑Name Papers of William J. Watson, which aim to gather all of Watson’s previously unpulished work together. See the press release on the book here for futher detail.

The next day, as part of the conference, Roddy MacLean and I arranged a place-name walk around Inverness. From the Town House, more than twenty participants walked up to the Castle, down along the river side, over the Bught and up to Watson’s grave on the top of Tomnahurich. We had some great discussions about local place-names, including Clachnacuddin, Ballifeary, Loch na Sanais and Kinmylies.  

You can purchase a copy the new book through our website shop here.