SPACE AND TIME Cill Chuimen (Fort Augustus) is a place of history, legend and mystery. Here we find stories that are documented fact and stories that pull on mythology. Many of these things are written in the surrounding landscape. With imagination one can stand in the moment and breathe in the experiences of the past.

FURY AND BIRTH A Cailleach is an old woman who in days past was revered for her age and wisdom. The Cailleach in question here refers to the legend of the Cailleach Bheara, a nature Goddess who created our landscape. She took residence on top of Ben Nevis to keep watch over her domain. The maid was the unfortunate servant to the Cailleach who created Loch Ness by leaving the slab off that covered a well and allowed the water to run free. She was condemned to live in the River Ness, only to be seen once a year when she rises out of the water. Those who have been lucky enough to see her have testified the wonder of her beauty. We are lucky today to enjoy the environment such that these two women created.

THE DANCE OF THE ÙRUISK Allt na Criche is a burn that tumbles down the hillside about a mile outside of Fort Augustus. Its name means the border river. But why would it be named such? Perhaps it is because it lies on or marks a boundary. Or perhaps there is another reason. The pools at the foot of its waterfalls are the perfect habitat of the Ùruisk. He is half human half goat making his mere appearance horrifying. Ùruisks have the unfortunate habit of terrorising people by following them into dark and lonely places. An Ùruisk would certainly keep people away from the Allt na Criche thus causing it to be a boundary. Although, this is a pity because he can be quite useful to humans and help with tasks about the croft. He is not at all evil.

CHUIMEIN Cill Chuimein was named after Saint Chuimein who was the seventh abbot of Iona in 699AD. He was the nephew of a previous abbot of Iona, Ségéne who had a blood link to Saint Columba. Chuimein had followed in the footsteps of his predecessor, St. Columba, to the South end of Loch Ness. Here Cuimein set up a chapel which is thought to have been in the area of the Burial Ground of what is now Fort Augustsus. The last likely evidence of this church was removed by the Dowager Lady Lovat in 1559 when she took the ancient chapel bell to place it in the Lovat church in Glen Conveth near Beauly. The bell was lost overboard during a storm as she passed down Loch Ness. The bell no doubt still lies at the foot of the loch.

Carn na Saobhaidhe is a hill that looks down on Fort Augustus and Loch Ness from the South East. It’s name can be translated from Gaelic to English in two ways. It can mean fox’s den, which actually is the most likely of the two, but it can also mean the lair of the wild beast. Who is to decide which it is? Not I!

The Corrieyairack pass heads south east from Fort Augustus and was an old drove road before it was made into a military road by General Wade. At a certain point the traveller crosses the Allt Lagan a Bhainne where they will be aware of a fertile green glade. This is the river of the dell of milk and there used to be a sheiling here where the people of the village, mainly the young, would bring livestock to feed on the high pasture. Here they would churn milk for butter and cheese. If our traveler looks to his left there is a hill once named Cnoc nan Sìthean, the hill of fairies. It is inconceivable that the inhabitants of this enchanted little hill would not have made mischief with the butter churn at least once or twice.

Creannaig Eilean Mhuireach is better known as Cherry Island named thus by the troops of Oliver Cromwell. It is the only island on Loch Ness in Inchnacaradoch Bay and has had a varied history. It began as a man made structure from Neolithic times on which people could live in relative safety from their enemies and marauding animals and was connected to the shore by a causeway. Later is served as a fort built by the Clan Fraser. A murder was to take place due a forbidden love affair which resulted in a MacDonald from a rival clan being stabbed to death. It is the mystery of the earlier years and the crannog dwellers that inform the music here.

Corrie was one Alexander MacDonald whose profession was stealing sheep and cattle. But his true fame came from a failed attempt on the life of the Duke of Cumberland shorty after the Battle of Culloden in 1745. Cumberland was marching with his troops on the Inverness Road near the River Tarf when the failed attempt took place. Corrie fled, pursued by troops and he hid in what is now known as Corrie’s cave which lies above the shores of Loch Ness on a flank of Murligan Hill. He lived there in hiding until his death. Provisions were supplied by friends and family and whilst in his dying hours was brought down to Fort Augustus for his final moments.

What was it like when Christianity met Paganism for the first time?