• English
  • Gàidhlig
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • My Account
  • Checkout
  • Cart
  • Gàidhlig
Ainmean-Àite na h-Alba (AÀA)

  • Home
  • Database
    • Searchable Map
    • AZ List
  • OS Map
  • Resources
    • Place-name Lists
    • Maps
    • Reading List
    • Gaelic Place-Name Policy
    • Onomastic Abbreviations
    • Academic Papers
    • Links
  • Support
    • AÀA Supporter
  • Shop
    • Services
    • Corporate Memberships
    • Publications
  • News
  • Contact Us

The Cairnwell ~ An Càrn Bhalg

June 19, 2020, Jake King

Originally published in the Scotsman on 6 August 2016

Image courtesy of Walkhighlands

The Cairnwell (Carnavalage, mid 17th Century) is a prominent mountain in the Cairngorms, known in Gaelic as An Càrn Bhalg ‘the bag or bag shaped hill’. The English form may have been influenced by a nearby well known in Gaelic as Tobar a’ Chùirn ‘the well of the cairn or cairn-shaped hill’. Confusingly this spring is known in English as the Cairn Well. Queen Victoria is said to have drunk here.

To add to this confusion, on the other side of the Cairnwell, a burn falls down its slope, known simply in English as the Cairnwell Burn. This is in Gaelic Allt an Tobair, meaning ‘the burn of the well’. It is rather too far away to be named from the well Tobar a’ Chùirn mentioned above, and it is possible that Allt an Tobair is a back-translation from the English name Cairnwell as if relating to an actual well.

For further research please see our database: The Cairnwell

previous postnext post

Primary Sidebar

Database


Match phrase Match words




OS Map

Welcome to the Ordnance Survey (OS) open source digital map. This is a tool you can use to study ... Continue Reading about OS Map

Our Products

  • The Journal of Scottish Name Studies: Volume 3 £0.00
  • The Journal of Scottish Name Studies: Volume 2 £0.00

News

Dingwall ~ Inbhir Pheofharain

Footer

Gaelic Place-names of Scotland

Sabhal Mòr Ostaig
Sleat
Isle of Skye
IV44 8RQ

+44 (0) 1471 888 120
fios@ainmean-aite.scot

Useful links

  • About Ainmean-Àite na h-Alba
  • How to use the search
  • Commercial Information & Rates
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie policy
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Gàidhlig

Main Menu

  • Home
  • Database
    • Searchable Map
    • AZ List
  • OS Map
  • Resources
    • Place-name Lists
    • Maps
    • Reading List
    • Gaelic Place-Name Policy
    • Onomastic Abbreviations
    • Academic Papers
    • Links
  • Support
    • AÀA Supporter
  • Shop
    • Services
    • Corporate Memberships
    • Publications
  • News
  • Contact Us
  • Gàidhlig

Site Search

Follow Us

  • E-mail
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Copyright © 2021 Ainmean-Àite na h-Alba. All rights reserved. Website by Lumberjack Digital