English / Map Form: Sandbank
Gaelic Form: An Oitir
Location: Cowal, Argyll
Post Town: DUNOON
County: Argyll & Bute
Local Authority: Argyll & Bute
English / Map Form: Sandbank
Gaelic Form: An Oitir
Language Notes
G fem. def. art an + G nom. sg. oitir, ‘bank or ridge in the sea’Element Meaning
oitir ~ bank or ridge in the sea
Sources
| Cladich House | 1751 Valuation Rolls for Argyllshire |
| Cladehouse | 1841 Census Dunoon & Kilmun SCT1841/510 |
| Sandbank | 1869 OS 6 inch 1st edn. |
| Sandbank | 1912 Bartholomew’s Map |
Additional Information
Mac an Tàilleir: “The Gaelic name of Sandbank in Argyll is the house by the shore. An older form of the English name was Claddyhouse, showing that the local Gaelic was probably Taigh a’ Chladaigh with the southern form of the genitive singular rather than the standard form given above.”
McLean p. 43 and p. 120 and Hill p. 58 say that Claddyhouse was the old name for Sandbank, but
neither support the claim. There is a house called Claddyhouse at NS161803, marked but not named
in 1868 1:2500 OS map.
The name Taigh a’ Chladaich exists in at least two other places in the relative vicinity with similar
topographies. One is at NN134079 in Cowal as Tighcladich (Tighe Cladaich 1874 OS) The other is
somewhere in Rhu Parish (Tayichladick 1756 Acts of Commisioners of Supply (Annals of Garelochside
p. 321) presumably on Garelochside. The 1869 OS 6 inch edn.map shows a sandpit on this site as
well as a place called Sandbank.
Although the forms of Claddyhouse might reflect Taigh a’ Chladaich there is no evidence for the use
of this applying to Sandbank as a whole. The proposed form is a semantic parallel with English.