Ulva Totally Explained

Everything about Ulva totally explained

Ulva (Scottish Gaelic: Ulbha) is an island in the Scottish Inner Hebrides, off the west coast of Mull.
There are several ruined settlements on the island, the most famous of which being Ormaig. It is currently owned by the Howard family from northern England. Some of the inhabitants are Gaelic speakers. The traditional name for someone from Ulva is an "Ulbhach" (plural "Ulbhaich").

Geography

Ulva is approximately oval in shape with an indented coastline. It is aligned east-west, being 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) long, and 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) wide. Viewed on a large scale, Ulva and its neighbouring island Gometra appear to be a peninsula of the Isle of Mull, as they're separated from one another by narrow straits. Caolas Ulbha (the Sound of Ulva) at the east of the island is a narrow channel a few hundred metres across to Ulva Ferry on Mull. To its west, it's separated from Gometra by Gometra Harbour. To the south are Mull's headlands of Ardmeanach and the Ross of Mull. To the north, Loch Tuath (Loch-a-Tuath) separates it from another headland of Mull, and to the south east is Loch na Keal (Loch nan Ceall), and the island of Eorsa. There are two main bays on the south coast, Port a' Bhàta, and Tràigh Bhàn. On the north coast, there's the horseshoe bay of Lòn Bhearnuis (Bearnus lagoon), Soriby Bay and a few minor inlets. Off Port a' Bhàta are Geasgill Beag & Geasgill Mòr, between Ulva and Inchkenneth. To the south west is Sgeir na Sgeireadh, and Màisgeir (sometimes written as "Mâisgeir" in some sources, but there's no circumflex in Gaelic), due south of Gometra. Off Baligortan is Eilean a' Choire.

Geology

Ulva's interior is moorland, while the spectacular geological formations of the south coast, have been somewhat overshadowed by those of its neighbour Staffa. Nonetheless, they're still renowned in their own right. The lava flows are known as the "Staffa Magma Type member" and can also be seen on Mull at Carsaig, Ardtum, and near Tobermory on its east coast. They are particularly rich in silica. These were formed when the cooling surface of the mass of hot lava cracked in a hexagonal pattern in a similar way to drying mud cracking as it shrinks, and these cracks gradually extended down into the mass of lava as it cooled and shrank to form the columns which were subsequently exposed by erosion.
   Much more recently, Ulva was subjected to glaciation, which dug out the fjords/sea lochs on its north and south east sides - Loch Tuath (meaning simply "north loch") and Loch na Keal, as well as softening some of its sharper edges.
   The Hebridean coastline has been subject to significant post-glacial changes in sea level and the area is rising up at about 2 millimetres per annum as isostatic equilibrium is regained. The relative drop in sea-level has left the highest raised sea cave in the British Isles on Ulva at A' Chrannag.
   Ulva doesn't have major peat deposits.
   At some point, Ulva was probably a west pointing headland of Mull, connected to Gometra and Eilean Dioghlum off the latter's west coast.

Etymology

The derivation of 'Ulva' isn't certain, but is probably from the Old Norse for 'wolf isle'. Samuel Johnson deduced that it was probably not Gaelic in origin:

"The name is supposed to be a depravation of some other; for the Earse language doesn't afford it any etymology.".

The English name 'Ulva' is from the Scottish Gaelic, Ulbha, but this may have been corruption of Old Norse. It is debatable whether the Norse root Ulfr refers to an individual's name, or to the animal itself (possibly because of the shape of the island). The island's official website and guide book claims - ť "A scout, sent ashore from the longboat is alleged to have reported, "Ullamhdha", Viking for 'Nobody Home'.
The Old Statistical Account of Scotland mentions an alternative folk etymology, namely that Ulva comes from ullamh-àth (pronounced 'ooliv ah') meaning 'ready ford' in Gaelic, that could refer either to the tidal stretch with Gometra, or the Sound of Ulva over which cattle were sometimes swum.

History

Prehistory

Ulva's human history goes back thousands of years. Its standing stones have been dated to 1500 BC, and a shell midden in Livingston's Cave dates to c. 5650 BC; it includes remains of flint and a human infant, as well as fauna more appropriate to the Ice Age, such as lemming and Arctic Fox (Alopex lagopus). The cave was excavated between 1987 and 1990, by archaeologists from the University of Edinburgh. and during this period the old Gaelic language first came to be spoken here. Presumably the area formed part of the Pictish lands, but they left little evidence behind. This region was amongst the first in northern Scotland to become Christianised. This is commemorated in some of the local place names which contain the word "Cill" or "Ceall", which is frequently anglicised as "Kil-" for example "Loch na Keal" is Loch nan Ceall, meaning "loch of the culdee cells", and Cille Mhic Eoghainn, which means literally "Monk's cell of the son of Ewan/MacEwan", or less literally "MacEwan's Church".
The Senchus fer n-Alban lists three main kin groups in Dál Riata in Scotland, with a fourth being added later. The Cenél Loairn controlled parts of northern Argyll around the Firth of Lorne, most probably centred on Lorne but perhaps including the Isle of Mull, Morvern and Ardnamurchan, supposedly the descendants of Loarn mac Eirc. The chief place of the kingdom appears to have been at Dun Ollaigh, near Oban. The chief religious site may have been on Lismore, later the seat of the High Medieval bishop of Argyll.
Saint Columba (Colm Cille) visited Ulva in 563.

Ulva Brooch

The Ulva Brooch was found in a pool of water in a cave, in 1998. Its exact date of origin is unknown, but it's reckoned to be 16th or 17th century. The original is now in a museum in Dunoon, and a replica can be seen in Sheila's Cottage on the island. It is an engraved woman's brooch, for keeping a shawl tied together, and is believed to have been left in the cave after someone sheltered there.

Lachlan Macquarie

Lachlan Macquarie, was born on Ulva 31 January 1762 . He is sometimes referred to as "Father of Australia". He left when he was 14, and was Governor of New South Wales from 1809-21, the longest tenure of any Australian governor. However, after his long sojourn in India, Australia and elsewhere, Lachlan Macquarie returned to his home turf - his mausoleum may still be seen at Gruline on Loch na Keal, on the Isle of Mull, within sight of his home island. The mausoleum is possibly the only site in Scotland maintained by the National Trust of Australia.

Nonetheless, Macquarie came to be known as "Father of Australia" for some very simple reasons. He instituted penal reforms, improved relations with the natives, and set Australia on the road from being a remote British prison, to a modern state. Arguably this is what cost him his job.

Boswell and Johnson

Dr Johnson and Boswell visited The MacQuarrie on Ulva in October 1773, the year after Sir Joseph Banks brought Staffa to the English-speaking world's attention. Perhaps aware that Banks considered that the columnar basalt cliff formations on Ulva called "The Castles" rivalled Staffa's Johnson wrote:

When the islanders were reproached with their ignorance or insensibility of the wonders of Staffa, they hadn't much to reply. They had indeed considered it little, because they'd always seen it; and none but philosophers, nor they always, are struck with wonder otherwise than by novelty.

Both men left separate accounts of the visit, Johnson in A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland (18 January 1775) and Boswell in Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson, LL.D (1785). They arrived on Saturday, 16 October, and left the following day. Johnson wrote:

We resolved not to embarrass a family, in a time of so much sorrow, if any other expedient could he found; and as the Island of Ulva was over-against us, it was determined that we should pass the strait and have recourse to the Laird, who, like the other gentlemen of the Islands, was known to Col. We expected to find a ferry-boat, but when at last we came to the water, the boat was gone.
We were now again at a stop. It was the sixteenth of October, a time when it isn't convenient to sleep in the Hebrides without a cover, and there was no house within our reach, but that which we'd already declined.

Mercheta Mulierum

Mercheta Mulierum was an ancient custom persisting in the island, a relique of the punluan right:

Inquiring after the reliques of former manners, I found that in Ulva, and, I think, no where else, is continued the payment of the Mercheta Mulierum; a fine in old times due to the Laird at the marriage of a virgin. The original of this claim, as of our tenure of Borough English, is variously delivered. It is pleasant to find ancient customs in old families. This payment, like others, was, for want of money, made anciently in the produce of the land. Macquarry was used to demand a sheep, for which he now takes a crown, by that inattention to the uncertain proportion between the value and the denomination of money, which has brought much disorder into Europe. A sheep has always the same power of supplying human wants, but a crown will bring at one time more, at another less. (Johnson)

Boswell says "I suppose, Ulva is the only place where this custom remains.", and Sir William Blackstone says in his Commentaries, that "he can't find that ever this custom [BoroughEnglish] prevailed in England".
Walter Scott claims that mercheta mulierum persisted at the time of his visit.

19th century

By the early 19th century, potatoes were a major staple of the island, and Ulva actually exported them.
The main remnants of Clan MacQuarrie's chiefs fell at the battles of Malda and Waterloo. Their mother Marie was given a medal by King George IV with the slogan Màthair nan Gaisgich - "mother of heroes" on it. Scott was struck by the contrast between Ulva and the nearby island of Inchkenneth:

"... a most beautiful islet of the most verdant green, while all the neighbouring shore of Greban, as well as the large islands of Colinsay and Ulva, are as black as heath can make them. But Ulva has a good anchorage, and Inchkenneth is surrounded by shoals."

By the time, Scott visited the "mean" house of Boswell's journal was gone, and replaced by one from a design by Robert Adam. This in turn has been destroyed, and the current Ulva House is on its site. He also notes that Neil's church on Ulva had given the following letter of recommendation of their parishioner, something no doubt David was proud of. ť "The bearer, Neil Livingstone, a married man in Ulva, part of the parish of Kilninian, has always maintained an unblemished moral character, and is known for a man of piety and religion. He has a family of four songs, the youngest of which is three years, and three daughters, of which the youngest is six years of age. As he proposes to offer his services at some of the cotton-spinning manufactories, he and his wife Mary Morrison, and their family of children is hereby recommended for suitable encouragement.

ť :"Given at Ulva, this eighth day of January, 1792, by

ť ::"Arch. McArthur, Minister

::"Lach. Mclean, Elder ť ::"R.S. Stewart JP, Elder"
Fletcher also claimed that Clark bullied the sick and the elderly:
"In another case, there was a very sick woman... Notwithstanding the critical condition of the woman, he [F.W. Clark] had the roof taken down to a small bit over the woman's bed." Occasional visitors (usually not breeding) include - house martins, Leach's Storm Petrel, corncrakes (which are extremely uncommon in the British Isles), Peregrine Falcons and Spotted Fly Catchers (Old World flycatcher/Muscicapidae). Whales occasionally get beached on the island, more recent examples including 1966 (pilot), 1987 (pilot) and 1991 (two sperm whales).

Lord Ullin's Daughter

The most famous commemoration of Ulva in literature is Thomas Campbell's poem, Lord Ullin's Daughter, written after the writer had visited the region. The opening two stanzas are as follows:
ť A CHIEFTAIN to the Highlands bound

   :Cries, "Boatman, don't tarry! ť And I'll give thee a silver pound

   :To row us o'er the ferry!" ť "Now who be ye would cross Lochgyle,

   :This dark and stormy water?" ť "O I'm the chief of Ulva's isle,

   :And this, Lord Ullin's daughter.

Walter Scott

After his visit, Walter Scott used Ulva as material for various works, for example, in his 1815 poem, Lord of the Isles (Canto 4) ť And Ulva dark, and Colonsay,

:And all the group of islets gay ť That guard famed Staffa round.

The Colonsay referred to here, is probably nearby Little Colonsay rather than Colonsay itself. In Tales of a Grandfather, Scott tells the story of "Alan-a-Sop" (an anglicisation of the Gaelic for "Alan of the straw", so called because he was born "on a heap of straw") who was born the illegitimate son of the MacLean of Duart in the 16th century. In his youth, Alan-a-Sop was treated badly by his stepfather, one Maclean of Torloisk. He grew up to be a pirate and eventually took a bloody revenge on Torloisk with the help of MacQuarrie of Ulva.

Moladh Ulbha

Moladh Ulbha (In Praise of Ulva) is a song written by the Ulbhach, Colin Fletcher (Cailean Mac an Fhleisdeir). He was the last minister on the island.

John MacCormick

John MacCormick (Scottish Gaelic: Iain MacCormaig; 1870-1947), the author of the first full length Scottish Gaelic novel, Dùn Aluinn (1912) Curiously, although the main characters of the book are a fox (tod) and a badger (brock), neither species can be found on Ulva.

Infrastructure and economy

None of the island's roads are tarmacked or numbered, due to the low population, and there are no less than six fords on the length of the souther road.
The island had a population of sixteen people at the time of the 2001 census. There are ruined school buildings still to be seen at Glac na Gallan and Fearann Àrd-àirigh.
Ulva's main industry now is tourism. Other industries on the island include sheep and cattle farming, and fish farming (salmon at Soriby Bay). near Ormaig has a more gruesome story attached to it. Cairistiona accused, probably falsely, her sister of stealing a large hunk of cheese, and tried to extract a confession from her, by lowering her off a cliff with a plaid tied round her neck. The plaid slipped, and ended up strangling her sister, which she'd never intended to do. Wracked with remorse, she confessed to the accident, but this wasn't enough for the islanders, who decided to drown her, by throwing her in a sack and laying her on the rock, which still bears her name.Further Information

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