Weem ~ Uaimh / Baile a’ Chlachain

First published in the Scotsman on 10 September 2016

The name of the Parish of Weem (Doilweme in the fourteenth century ‘Dull of Weem’) is now in Gaelic Uaimh, simply meaning ‘cave’.  The settlement of Weem itself was known in Scots as Kirktown of Weem and in Gaelic as Baile a’ Chlachain ‘the town of the graveyard’.

Overlooking Weem is Weem Rock or Creag Uaimhe. There is a local tradition of a cave in which the devil – in the form of a red-cloaked man – dwelt. The cave itself was known as Toll nan Trì Nigheanan ‘the cave of the three girls’, relating to a story in which three girls entered the cave, two of whom were never seen again. The cave was said to be connected to another cave several miles to the north-east. Elsewhere on Weem Rock is Creag an t-Seipeil ‘the rock of the chapel’ an overhanging rock where Saint Cuthbert was said to have lived.

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