Portree
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Portree Scottish Gaelic Port Rìgh |
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| Coordinates | 57 ° 25 ′ N , 6 ° 12 ′ W | ||
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| Residents | 2318 2011 census | ||
| administration | |||
| Post town | PORTREE | ||
| ZIP code section | IV51 | ||
| prefix | 01478 | ||
| Part of the country | Scotland | ||
| Council area | Highland | ||
| British Parliament | Ross, Skye and Lochaber | ||
| Scottish Parliament | Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch | ||
Portree ( Scottish Gaelic : Port Rìgh , German: the king's port ) is the main town and the only city on the Isle of Skye , the largest island in the Inner Hebrides belonging to Scotland .
Location and name
The town's small harbor is protected between black cliffs and some hills: the Ben Tianavaig (413 m) in the south and the Suidh Fhinn or Fingal's Seat (312 m, Gaelic Aite suidhe Fhinn ) in the west. From there, the Celtic hero Fingal, according to the Ossian poem by James Macpherson , is said to have headed a legendary hunting party, in which 6000 game were shot with the help of 3000 hunting dogs. In the north rises the only 144 m high Ben Chrachaig . The island of Raasay can be seen to the east . Like the island of Rona to the north of it, it belongs to the Civil parish Portree. Contrary to what is often read in travel guides, the name of the place may not be derived from a visit by the Scottish King James V in 1540. Long before that, according to local experts, the village and its surroundings were called Portree or Portray. According to official information, the name is based on the Gaelic expression for a village on a hillside. The old name Kiltaraglen (Church of the Holy Talarican, after the Gaelic Cill Targhlain ) has been handed down for the time before the 16th century for the village . The port was known as Loch Choluim-cille .
population
At the last census in 2001 there were 2,318 people in Portree. Around 37.8% of the population speak the Gaelic language.
history
The Irish monk St. Columban is said to have preached in Portree in the early Middle Ages, which is why the bay was also called Eilean Choluimcille in ancient times . In 1263 the Norwegian King Håkon IV led a punitive expedition against the Scottish kings to Portree Bay. The properties around Portree and on the Trotternish peninsula were managed for centuries by the not very influential clan of the Nicolsons ( MacNicols or MacNicolls , also MacNeacail ).
In May 1540, the Scottish King James V sailed to the Hebrides to settle revolts and conflicts among the clans. The majestic fleet landed in the Bay of Portree, presumably on a stream that was therefore called Port-an-Rìgh at the time. The quarreling tribal elders swore allegiance and ceremonially submitted to them, but after Jacob V's death in 1542 disputes broke out again. On his departure the king might have given the insignificant hamlet of Kiltaraglen the ornate nickname Portree, but no royal privileges.
After the lost battle of Culloden , Charles Edward Stuart ( Bonnie Prince Charlie ) reached Portree in the early summer of 1746 after an adventurous escape, where he dined at Charles MacNab's inn. Not safe from the English pursuers in Portree, the prince was finally taken to the island of Raasay, where he spent three days in a makeshift shepherd's hut because almost all the other buildings had been burned down by the English. With the help of confidants, Charles Edward Stuart traveled several stations to the Scottish mainland to Knoydart and Borodale, from where he was able to sail to France in the strictest of secrecy.
The poet James Macpherson toured the Isle of Skye in August 1760 to collect Scottish sagas. For four days, the writer, who was inadequate in Gaelic orthography , was entertained in Portree by a connoisseur of the Fians or Fingalians , the blacksmith Alexander Macpherson, where he read poems and handed over an extensive Gaelic manuscript with epics. The material served Macpherson as a source of inspiration for his "ancient" Ossian epic , which, as it became clear much later, he had actually written himself.
For a long time Portree consisted of only a few houses and a small inn. Only with Sir James, the 16th clan chief of the MacDonalds, who died tragically in Rome in 1766 at the age of only 25, the place is said to have gained in importance. In 1800 his successors had a prison built in Portree. Emigrants have been embarking overseas in the natural harbor of Portree since the late 18th century. In 1773 the Scottish writer James Boswell saw the Nestor , one of the greatest sailors who carried emigrants, anchored. During the Napoleonic Wars a volunteer regiment was set up in Portree in 1803 to prevent a feared landing of the French. In November 1884, the gunboat HMS Forrester anchored at Portree to quell a revolt by small farmers who refused to pay rent because of their lack of resources. Sheriff William Ivory had requested reinforcements to get the rebellion under control, but ultimately failed due to passive resistance from the residents.
Portree has an island history museum, The Aros Experience , which features details about Bonnie Prince Charlie and Flora MacDonald and which exhibits some of the gold records from the Scottish band Runrig .
The small village of Skeabost is very close by . Carn Liath is a mound of a Neolithic chamber tomb about 4 meters high near Kensaleyre at the tip of Loch Eyre. It belongs to a larger group of cairns and is easy to see from a distance because the stones from which it is built are covered with a white lichen. The grave was opened and there was a stone box ( English stone cist ) found. After the excavation it was closed again.
Portree as a type locality
The near and far of Portree is type locality for two minerals . These include the Gyrolith (from Greek γύρος for circle, top or rotation), discovered in 1851 on the well-known rock needle "The Old Man of Storr " , located about 15 km north of Portree below the 719 m high The Storr (or Storr ) and the Tacharanite (from Gaelic tacharan for changeling ) found in an outcrop about 1 km north of Portree in 1961 .
tourism
Portree is the tourist center of the Isle of Skye and is regularly crowded in summer. Especially during the Highland Games in August, the largest regional event, the accommodations in the entire area are fully booked. In 2017, this even led to official warnings that travelers should definitely reserve their overnight accommodation well in advance of their arrival, after tourists without accommodation turned to police stations for help.
One of the most popular doctors in the Hebrides, Alasdair Ban MacLeod ("Dr. Ban", 1788–1854), who also worked as an engineer and real estate developer, wanted to turn Portree into a seaside resort modeled on Oban in the 19th century . MacLeod was convinced of the health benefits of seafood and red algae and wanted to use them for tourism. In the few years that he spent in Portree, he made better roads, drained moors, built an (unfinished) observation tower and a museum to increase the attractiveness for potential spa guests. Nevertheless, Portree remained relatively little visited until the end of the 20th century.
Only recently has the modernization of the tourist infrastructure been discussed, for example widening the sometimes single-lane country roads and new hotels. Several films, some or all of which were shot on the Isle of Skye, contributed to the tourism boom, such as Macbeth , BFG - Big Friendly Giant , Der Sternwanderer , Prometheus - Dunklezeichen , King Arthur: Legend of the Sword and Transformers: The Last Knight . Singer Harry Styles shot the video for his hit Sign of the Times on Skye.
traffic
Portree is on the road , the main thoroughfare on the island, coming from the mainland over the Skye Bridge to the ferry terminal at Uig . The A855 branches off in Portree and opens up the Trotternish peninsula. The B885 connects to the west coast of Skye near Struan.
There are regular buses from the Somerled Square bus station to Glasgow and Inverness , as well as regional lines connecting the Isle of Skye. Sightseeing tours by bus and boat are also offered.
literature
- Ella Liley: Portree: Origins and Early History. Islands Book Trust, 2015, ISBN 978-1-907443-29-9 .
- Otta Swire: Skye: The Island and its Legends. Edinburgh 2006, ISBN 1-84158-479-7 .
Web links
- Museum: The Aros Experience (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Information of the Scottish Parliament (English)
- ↑ Alexander Cameron: The History and Traditions of the Isle of Skye. Inverness 1871, p. 6.
- ↑ Portree at isleofskye.com (English)
- ↑ Alexander Cameron: The History and Traditions of the Isle of Skye. Inverness 1871, p. 35.
- ↑ 2011 census
- ↑ Alexander Cameron: The History and Traditions of the Isle of Skye. Inverness 1871, p. 15.
- ↑ Alexander Cameron: The History and Traditions of the Isle of Skye. Inverness 1871, p. 35.
- ↑ Alexander Cameron: The History and Traditions of the Isle of Skye. Inverness 1871, p. 142.
- ↑ James Hunter: Skye: The Island. Edinburgh and London 1986, without page numbers.
- ^ Mineral Atlas - Portree
- ↑ Mindat - type locality Portree, Trotternish, Isle of Skye, North West Highlands (Inverness-shire), Scotland, UK (English)
- ^ William Mackenzie: Old Skye Tales: Traditions, Reflections and Memories. Edinburgh 2002.
- ↑ independent.co.uk