Ossian Collection > Reliquiae Celticae > Volume 2

LECTURES. 575
Clachan, a derivative from clach (a stone), means a hamlet, and
also a burying-place.
Ballmichael is a town or townland of Michael.
Sroin-na-carraige (the nose, or point of the rock), now forms
part of the farm of Ballmichael.
Gortan Dubh (the black little field) is near Balmichael.
Sloe a' Mhadaidh (the pit or hole of the dog) is now part of
the farm of Balmichael.
Strath-na-Cliabh (the strath of the hurdles, or of the harrows ^).
On the Tormore side of the stream is Sliabh-nan-Carrachan (the
hill or moor of the standing-stones), the name having been taken
from the standing-stones.
On the same side isCnocan na-tubha(the little hill of the thatch),
where, I suppose, turf for thatching the houses used to be cut.
We come now to Daire-nan-each (the oak of the horses), or
rather Dair-nan-each (the grove of the horses).
Lag-an-Torra-Duibh (the hollow of the black hill) is the name
of the wood below Dar-na-eàch.
Tarr-na-Creige (the extremity or tail of the rock) is probably
for Torr-na-creige (the hill of the rock).
Glaistre is for Glas-doire (the gray or green grove). In old
documents the spelling is Glasdery.
Monyquil was formerly written Monycole, which means the
moss or bog of the hazel, from monadh (moss, bog), and col, gen.
coil (hazel).
The second part of Glenlaeg I cannot explain with any
certainty.
The glen through which the Shisken road passes is Gleann-an
t-suidhe (the glen of the seat), and the glen to the north of it is
Gleann an Easboig (the bishop's glen).
Shisken, from which the district which we have now traversed
takes its name, is in Gaelic, an sescenn, which means a boggy,
marshy, or sedgy place, which, no doubt, was a correct description
of the district when it received its name, although it has now a
many fertile fields.
[At this point Dr Cameron's paper on Arran Places Names, so
far as it was thrown into literary form, ends, leaving the south-
western corner of the island, from Blackwater Foot to Pladda
Isle, unfinished. Fortunately, he has left notes on the place-
names of the district, and they are here reproduced as he left
them, in order to complete his survey of Arran Place Names. The
notes begin at Shisken, whei'e he left off in the last section of his
paper : —
^ There is a place here called Cra-ldith, or something which sounds like
that.