Applecross
Encyclopedia
The Applecross peninsula ( ‘The Sanctuary’) is a peninsula
in Wester Ross
, Highland
, on the west coast of Scotland
. The name Applecross is at least 1300 years old and is not used locally to refer to the 19th century village with the pub and post office, lying on the small Applecross Bay, facing the Inner Sound
, on the opposite side of which lies the Inner Hebridean
island of Raasay
.
, Culduie
, Camusterrach
, Milltown, Sand
, 'The Street', Lonbain and many others. Applecross is also the name of the local estate and the civil parish
, which includes Shieldaig
and Torridon
, and has a population of 544. The small River Applecross flows into the bay at Applecross.
Extremely isolated, Applecross was only accessible by boat until the early 20th century, and for many years after that the only road access was over one of Scotland's most notoriously treacherous roads, the (‘Pass of the Cattle’), which crosses the peninsula and reaches a maximum height of 2053 ft (626 m), below the 774 m high Sgùrr a' Chaorachain. The settlement is now connected via a winding coastal road which travels around the edge of the peninsula to Shieldaig
and Torridon
. The road skirts the shore of the Inner Sound and Loch Torridon
.
of the Pictish
name Aporcrosan, 'confluence of the [river] Crossan' ( in modern Gaelic). Historically, the settlement is linked with St. Máelrubai (Old Irish form) or Maelrubha, who came to Britain in 671 from the major Irish monastery of Bangor, County Down
. He founded Aporcrosan in 672 in what was then Pictish
territory, and was the monastery's first abbot, dying on 21 April 722 in his eightieth year. The deaths of several of his successors as abbot are recorded in the Irish Annals into the early ninth century. The early monastery was located around the site of the later parish church (present building erected 1817). A large, unfinished cross-slab standing in the churchyard and three extremely finely carved fragments of another (or more than one?) preserved within the church are evidence of the early monastery. The surrounding district is known as 'the sanctuary' in Gaelic. Its boundaries were once marked by crosses. The stub of one, destroyed in 1870, survives among farm buildings at Camusterrach.
There are many churches dedicated to Maelrubha on Skye and throughout northern Scotland
, the saint's name sometimes taking distorted forms (e.g. 'Rufus' at Keith
in Banffshire
). Loch Maree
and its holy island of Eilean Ma-Ruibhe (site of an early church and holy well) are both named after the saint.
The area around Applecross is believed to be one of the earliest settled parts of Scotland. The coastal settlement of Sand
, just to the north of Applecross, is the location of a major archaeological site.
In the second half of the 16th century, the lands of Applecross came into the possession of Alexander Mackenzie (died 1650), an illegitimate son of Colin Cam Mackenzie of Kintail
. With a brief interruption between 1715 and 1724 (a period of forfeiture caused by Applecross's part in the 1715 Uprising), the estate remained in the ownership of Mackenzie's heirs until the mid-19th century, when it was sold to the Duke of Leeds
.
In the early 1860s, the estate was sold to Lord Middleton
. Following the death of the 10th Baron Middleton in 1924, the estate was sold to the Wills family
.
The Estate is now owned by the Applecross Trust, a registered Scottish charity with the declared aim of preserving "the special character of the Applecross peninsula in a responsible and progressive manner whilst acknowledging its wilderness heritage and its importance as an area of outstanding natural beauty".
.
.
Peninsula
A peninsula is a piece of land that is bordered by water on three sides but connected to mainland. In many Germanic and Celtic languages and also in Baltic, Slavic and Hungarian, peninsulas are called "half-islands"....
in Wester Ross
Wester Ross
is a western area of Ross and Cromarty in Scotland, notably containing the villages on the west coast such as:* Lochcarron* Applecross* Shieldaig* Torridon* Kinlochewe * * * Aultbea* Laide* Ullapool* Achiltibuie...
, Highland
Scottish Highlands
The Highlands is an historic region of Scotland. The area is sometimes referred to as the "Scottish Highlands". It was culturally distinguishable from the Lowlands from the later Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands...
, on the west coast of Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. The name Applecross is at least 1300 years old and is not used locally to refer to the 19th century village with the pub and post office, lying on the small Applecross Bay, facing the Inner Sound
Inner Sound, Scotland
The Inner Sound is a strait separating the Inner Hebridean islands of Skye, Raasay and South Rona from the Applecross peninsula on the Scottish mainland....
, on the opposite side of which lies the Inner Hebridean
Inner Hebrides
The Inner Hebrides is an archipelago off the west coast of Scotland, to the south east of the Outer Hebrides. Together these two island chains form the Hebrides, which enjoy a mild oceanic climate. There are 36 inhabited islands and a further 43 uninhabited Inner Hebrides with an area greater than...
island of Raasay
Raasay
Raasay is an island between the Isle of Skye and the mainland of Scotland. It is separated from Skye by the Sound of Raasay and from Applecross by the Inner Sound. It is most famous for being the birthplace of the poet Sorley MacLean, an important figure in the Scottish literary renaissance...
.
Geography
This row of houses which is often referred to as 'Applecross', and is marked as Applecross on some maps, is actually called 'Shore Street' and is referred to locally just as 'The Street'. The name Applecross applies to all the settlements around the peninsula, including ToscaigToscaig
Toscaig is a small, extremely remote, crofting, tourist and former fishing village, lying at the head of the south facing sea loch, Loch Toscaig, on the west coast of Ross-shire, Scottish Highlands and is in the Scottish council area of Highland....
, Culduie
Culduie
Culduie is a small hamlet on the road south of Applecross Village in Strathcarron, Ross-shire Scottish Highlands and is in the Scottish council area of Highland.Culduie looks over the bay of Pola-creadh towards the hamlet of Ard-dubh...
, Camusterrach
Camusterrach
Camusterrach is a remote hamlet, situated on the west coast of Scotland, 3 miles south of Applecross, in Strathcarron, west Ross-shire, Scottish Highlands and is in the Scottish council area of Highland....
, Milltown, Sand
Sand, Applecross
Sand on the Applecross Peninsula in Wester Ross, Scotland is a major archaeological site.Sand is the site of a major archaeological excavation on the Inner Sound coast of the Applecross Peninsula in Western Scotland, to the north of the small town of Applecross.A small number of shell middens were...
, 'The Street', Lonbain and many others. Applecross is also the name of the local estate and the civil parish
Civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...
, which includes Shieldaig
Shieldaig
Shieldaig is a village in Wester Ross in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland.The village was founded in 1800 with a view to training up seamen for war against Napoleon, but after his defeat and exile to Elba, the community found itself a new role as a fishing village; therefore, the small island...
and Torridon
Torridon
Torridon is a small village in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland. However the name is also applied to the area surrounding the village, particularly the Torridon Hills, mountains to the north of Glen Torridon. It lies on the shore of Loch Torridon.Torridon is on the west coast of Scotland, ...
, and has a population of 544. The small River Applecross flows into the bay at Applecross.
Extremely isolated, Applecross was only accessible by boat until the early 20th century, and for many years after that the only road access was over one of Scotland's most notoriously treacherous roads, the (‘Pass of the Cattle’), which crosses the peninsula and reaches a maximum height of 2053 ft (626 m), below the 774 m high Sgùrr a' Chaorachain. The settlement is now connected via a winding coastal road which travels around the edge of the peninsula to Shieldaig
Shieldaig
Shieldaig is a village in Wester Ross in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland.The village was founded in 1800 with a view to training up seamen for war against Napoleon, but after his defeat and exile to Elba, the community found itself a new role as a fishing village; therefore, the small island...
and Torridon
Torridon
Torridon is a small village in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland. However the name is also applied to the area surrounding the village, particularly the Torridon Hills, mountains to the north of Glen Torridon. It lies on the shore of Loch Torridon.Torridon is on the west coast of Scotland, ...
. The road skirts the shore of the Inner Sound and Loch Torridon
Loch Torridon
Loch Torridon is a sea loch on the west coast of Scotland in the Northwest Highlands. The loch was created by glacial processes and is in total around 15 miles long. It has two sections: Upper Loch Torridon to landward, east of Rubha na h-Airde Ghlaise, at which point it joins Loch Sheildaig;...
.
Early history
Applecross's name is an anglicisationAnglicisation
Anglicisation, or anglicization , is the process of converting verbal or written elements of any other language into a form that is more comprehensible to an English speaker, or, more generally, of altering something such that it becomes English in form or character.The term most often refers to...
of the Pictish
Pictish language
Pictish is a term used for the extinct language or languages thought to have been spoken by the Picts, the people of northern and central Scotland in the Early Middle Ages...
name Aporcrosan, 'confluence of the [river] Crossan' ( in modern Gaelic). Historically, the settlement is linked with St. Máelrubai (Old Irish form) or Maelrubha, who came to Britain in 671 from the major Irish monastery of Bangor, County Down
Bangor, County Down
Bangor is a large town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is a seaside resort on the southern side of Belfast Lough and within the Belfast Metropolitan Area. Bangor Marina is one of the largest in Ireland, and holds Blue Flag status...
. He founded Aporcrosan in 672 in what was then Pictish
Picts
The Picts were a group of Late Iron Age and Early Mediaeval people living in what is now eastern and northern Scotland. There is an association with the distribution of brochs, place names beginning 'Pit-', for instance Pitlochry, and Pictish stones. They are recorded from before the Roman conquest...
territory, and was the monastery's first abbot, dying on 21 April 722 in his eightieth year. The deaths of several of his successors as abbot are recorded in the Irish Annals into the early ninth century. The early monastery was located around the site of the later parish church (present building erected 1817). A large, unfinished cross-slab standing in the churchyard and three extremely finely carved fragments of another (or more than one?) preserved within the church are evidence of the early monastery. The surrounding district is known as 'the sanctuary' in Gaelic. Its boundaries were once marked by crosses. The stub of one, destroyed in 1870, survives among farm buildings at Camusterrach.
There are many churches dedicated to Maelrubha on Skye and throughout northern Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, the saint's name sometimes taking distorted forms (e.g. 'Rufus' at Keith
Keith, Moray
Keith is a small town in the Moray council area in north east Scotland. It has a population of around 4,500....
in Banffshire
Banffshire
The County of Banff is a registration county for property, and Banffshire is a Lieutenancy area of Scotland.The County of Banff, also known as Banffshire, was a local government county of Scotland with its own county council between 1890 and 1975. The county town was Banff although the largest...
). Loch Maree
Loch Maree
Loch Maree is a loch in Wester Ross in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland. At long and with a maximum width of , it is the fourth largest freshwater loch in Scotland; it is the largest north of Loch Ness. Its surface area is ....
and its holy island of Eilean Ma-Ruibhe (site of an early church and holy well) are both named after the saint.
The area around Applecross is believed to be one of the earliest settled parts of Scotland. The coastal settlement of Sand
Sand, Applecross
Sand on the Applecross Peninsula in Wester Ross, Scotland is a major archaeological site.Sand is the site of a major archaeological excavation on the Inner Sound coast of the Applecross Peninsula in Western Scotland, to the north of the small town of Applecross.A small number of shell middens were...
, just to the north of Applecross, is the location of a major archaeological site.
Applecross estate
The Applecross estate extends to approximately 70000 acres (283.3 km²) and covers most of the peninsula.In the second half of the 16th century, the lands of Applecross came into the possession of Alexander Mackenzie (died 1650), an illegitimate son of Colin Cam Mackenzie of Kintail
Colin Cam Mackenzie of Kintail
Colin Mackenzie of Kintail , nicknamed “Cam” , was a Highland chief of the Scottish clan Mackenzie who greatly increased his ancestral estates through royal favour and a career of vigorous self-aggrandisement....
. With a brief interruption between 1715 and 1724 (a period of forfeiture caused by Applecross's part in the 1715 Uprising), the estate remained in the ownership of Mackenzie's heirs until the mid-19th century, when it was sold to the Duke of Leeds
Francis D'Arcy-Osborne, 7th Duke of Leeds
Francis George Godolphin D'Arcy D'Arcy-Osborne, 7th Duke of Leeds , styled Earl of Danby from birth until 1799 and Marquess of Carmarthen from 1799 until 1838, was a British peer and politician.-Background:...
.
In the early 1860s, the estate was sold to Lord Middleton
Henry Willoughby, 8th Baron Middleton
Henry Willoughby, 8th Baron Middleton was an English peer.He was born at Apsley Hall, Nottingham, the eldest son of Henry Willoughby and Charlotte Eyre and educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge...
. Following the death of the 10th Baron Middleton in 1924, the estate was sold to the Wills family
Baron Dulverton
Baron Dulverton, of Batsford in the County of Gloucester, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1929 for the businessman Sir Gilbert Wills, 2nd Baronet. He was President of the Imperial Tobacco Company and also sat as a Conservative Member of Parliament for Taunton and...
.
The Estate is now owned by the Applecross Trust, a registered Scottish charity with the declared aim of preserving "the special character of the Applecross peninsula in a responsible and progressive manner whilst acknowledging its wilderness heritage and its importance as an area of outstanding natural beauty".
Economy
In July 2010 a £40,000 investment enabled the opening of the UK's first unmanned petrol station, which uses a credit card reader to enable customers to serve themselves. The business was taken over by Applecross Community Company in 2008 in response to its possible closure. The only alternative involves a 36 miles (57.9 km) round trip to LochcarronLochcarron
Lochcarron is a village, community and civil parish in the Wester Ross area of Highland, Scotland. It has a population of 923.-Local Information:...
.
Media and the arts
In 2009 Applecross was featured in the television programme Monty Halls' Great EscapeMonty Halls' Great Escape
Monty Halls' Great Escape is a British television programme broadcast on BBC Two from 1 March 2009...
.