Roddy Maclean looks at the inland and coastal Scottish islands – beyond Loch Lomond – that carry the element ‘Innis’ rather than the more common ‘Eilean’.

Leugh ann an Gàidhlig / Read in Gaelic

In an earlier blog about the ‘Innis’ islands of Loch Lomond, I promised to examine this generic term in other locations. As this is my final blog (and thanks to all the readers who have supported my efforts over the years), I felt it important to fulfil my pledge.

Innis is an old Gaelic word for ‘island’ – considered archaic today in that context –and is likely to be related to the Latin insula (hence English ‘insular’). It has been semantically developed through the centuries and now only refers to an island (as in land surrounded by water) in place-names or in a historical context. In modern Scottish Gaelic, it carries the following meanings: a riverside meadow (called a haugh in Scots); a sheltered valley protected by a wood (and, this blogger would suggest, a clearing in a forest); a patch of arable land surrounded by uncultivable (usually boggy) land; and a grazing field, particularly for cattle, including (historically) a place for gathering cows for milking.

As the insular meaning of innis (generally anglicised insh or inch) was lost to the population, sometimes a modern translation would be added which affords us a slightly strange tautological toponymy. An example is Insh Island off the west coast of the isle of Seil in Argyll. Innseag is a diminutive of innis meaning ‘small island’. It is to be found in both anglicised form and a tautological combination with the later Gaelic word eilean for ‘island’ in Eilean Inshaig near Ardfern on the mainland of Argyll.

Following my earlier consideration of the innis islands of Loch Lomond, it is perhaps appropriate to look at another large and famous water body – Loch Awe in Argyll which is the third largest freshwater loch in Scotland. At the northern end of the loch is Innis Chonain (given as Inishchounan on Roy’s mid-18^th century military map). The Ordnance Survey suggested it was named for a one-time inhabitant called Conan and flag up the possibility that he was one of the warriors known as the Fianna (Fingalians). This would be unsurprising as the nearby Fraoch Eilean has been associated with the tale of the ancient hero Fraoch, who vanquishes a monster on the island but also meets his own demise.

Innis Chonain on Loch Awe, possibly named for a heroic figure of ancient times. Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland

Another large island at the northern end of Loch Awe is Inishail which contains the ruins of an old church and nunnery. Its name, in local tradition, is derived from Innis Phòil ‘the island of Paul’, recalling ‘Paul the treasurer of Scotland, or, as he is called in Gaelic, Paul an Sporain, the founder of the noble house of Argyll, who is said to have been buried here.’ Another local tradition names the island from Aillidh ‘the beautiful’, a daughter of the King of Denmark, who is also said to have been interred on the island.

Close to Inishail, on the other side of the loch is Inistrynich, a peninsula which was shown clearly as a wooded island ‘Inshdrenich’ on Roy’s military map of the mid-18^th century (the Ordnance Survey Name Book admits that a century later it would become an island during winter when the loch’s level rose to its maximum). The original Gaelic is Innis Droighnich ‘island bearing a thorny wood’ (probably referring to the blackthorn).

Moving south on Loch Awe we reach Innis Chonnell opposite the village of Dalavich (Dail Abhaich ‘haugh at the water place’). This is Innis Chonaill in Gaelic. The ruined castle on the island was a stronghold of the Campbells from the clan’s earliest days. The island’s name may come from the adjacent feature on the mainland – Ardchonnel/Àird Chonaill – the meaning of which is unclear, although the great place-name expert, William Watson (in Dwelly’s dictionary), suggested Àird na Coingheill, presumably for ‘promontory of the whirlpool’, which seems a trifle unlikely.

This brings us to one of the most remarkable toponyms on Loch Awe. Innis Errich, on which there is an ancient chapel and burial ground, is interpreted by Watson as Innis Searraich ‘foal island’. However, this is contradicted by the Ordnance Survey who give it as Innis Sèa-ràmhach ‘island of the six-oared galley’, a name which paints a vivid picture of three pairs of men rowing their craft on behalf of a clan chief in ancient times. The name survives in its Gaelic form on the nearby mainland shore in Sròn Sèa-ràmhach ‘steep point of the six-oared galley’. The boating theme is maintained in the southernmost innis island of Loch Awe – Innis Stiùire meaning ‘helm or rudder island’.

The innis survivors on Loch Awe share their water body with around a dozen islets named with the common generic eilean. And, casting our eyes around Scotland’s ample water bodies and myriad islands, very few islands outside Loch Lomond and Loch Awe have retained their innis names into the modern era. Examples in a maritime setting are Innis Choinnich, anglicised Inch Kenneth (St Cainneach’s island) off the west coast of Mull, An Innis, an islet off Eilean nan Ròn, a coastal island in North Sutherland, and the Innis Mhòr ‘large island’ – a sand island at the southern side of the mouth of the Dornoch Firth in the eastern Highlands.

The Innis Mhòr ‘big island’ sits among the shifting sand shoals near Tain at the mouth of the Dornoch Firth. Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland

And mention must be made of a freshwater loch in the Highlands thought to derive its name from innis, referring to an island at its northern end. This is Loch Insh in Badenoch which in Gaelic is Loch Ìnnse ‘loch of [the] innis’, generally translated as ‘island loch’. However, Arrowsmith’s 1807 map throws this interpretation into doubt as he clearly (and accurately) labels the flat, wet area to the east of the loch in proximity to the island as ‘Inch’ which is surely An Innis ‘the water meadow’. ‘The Loch of Inch’ is probably the best translation.

Loch Inch (Loch Ìnnse) in Badenoch has often been interpreted as ‘loch of the island’ but Arrowsmith’s 1807 map of Scotland suggests that the innis is question is actually the water meadow (labelled ‘Inch’) on the eastern shore of the loch. The island in the loch is labelled on Ordnance Survey maps as Tom Dubh ‘black hillock’. Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland

Some significant ancient island names in innis have not survived into the modern era, examples mentioned in old chronicles being Innse Orc ‘islands of whales’ now Arcaibh (Orkney) and Innse Cat ‘islands of cats’, thought to probably mean Shetland, and referencing the animal totem (the wildcat) of the people who, in pre-Norse days, lived in the area from east Sutherland through Caithness and across the Northern Isles. The latter name survives in modified form in ‘Caithness’ and in Cataibh, the Gaelic for eastern Sutherland, now often applied to the whole county.

Islands are infrequent off the east coast of Scotland, so it is perhaps a little surprising that there is a knot of innis islands in the south-east of the country – in the Firth of Forth. The names appear to be Gaelic, although there was a cognate in word in Brythonic, represented by ynys in modern Welsh. If Gaelic, they date from many centuries ago when Gaelic was active in south-eastern Scotland and innis had not been replaced in the vernacular by eilean, which is considered to be of (later) Norse origin.

Inchgarvie sits adjacent to the Forth Road Bridge and boasts fortifications which once served as a prison. The name is thought to be Innis Gharbhaidh, meaning ‘island of the rough place’ or possibly ‘Garbhach’s island’ (whoever he might have been). It has been suggested that the Scots word garvie, loaned into Gaelic as garbhag and meaning ‘sprat’ (a small herring-type fish), was derived from the island’s name.

Moving down the Firth of Forth towards the sea we next come to Inchcolm, close to the Fife coast. This is Innis Choluim ‘St Columba’s isle’, a place with a long ecclesiastical history and which still boasts Inchcolm Abbey which was founded in the 12^th century. To its south-east is Inchmickery whose name also suggests an ecclesiastical connection. It is Innis nam Biocar ‘the isle of the vicars’, suggesting the possible presence of culdees, a medieval monastic order. The rocky island is dominated by wartime fortifications but is now important as a seabird sanctuary.

Three of the four ‘innis’ islands in the Firth of Forth – Inchcolm (Innis Choluim ‘Columba’s island’), Inchmickery (Innis nam Biocar ‘island of the vicars’) and Inchkeith (Innis Cheith ‘wood island’). The fourth island is Inchgarvie (Innis Gharbhaidh ‘island of the rough place’), adjacent to the Forth Road Bridge. Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland

Our journey has taken us across Scotland from west to east and we shall conclude in the estuary of the Forth on the isolated island of Inchkeith. This is thought to be Innis Cheith or Innis Chè which is generally interpreted as ‘island of the wood’, with the second element originating in the Brythonic language (and also found in the Gaelic name Inbhir Chèitinn, anglicised Inverkeithing, in nearby Fife).

This blog was written by Inverness-based writer, broadcaster and storyteller Roddy (Ruairidh) Maclean, whose work highlights the connections between the Gaelic language and Scotland’s environment.