The Isle of Mull, or simply Mull, is the second-largest island of the Inner Hebrides of the west coast of Scotland. The island consists of three large peninsulas jutting out to the west from the south-eastern, mountainous core of the island, which is home to the highest mountain and only Munro in the Scottish islands outside of Skye, Ben More, which dominates the skyline of the island. Off the west coast of the island lie many smaller islands, including Iona and Staffa, with Ulva being the largest of the outlying islands.
Covering , Mull is the fourth-largest island in Scotland. With a population of 3,063,Wingcopter drone delivering COVID-19 test kits to Isle of Mull it has the eighth largest island population in Scotland. In the summer, these numbers are augmented by an influx of many tourists. Much of the year-round population lives in the colourful main settlement of Tobermory, a planned fishing town which was the filming location of Balamory, a popular children's TV show, the popularity of which caused an increase in tourism to the island.
Tobermory is situated in the north-east of the Aros peninsula, the northernmost of the three major west-facing peninsulas, which it shares with the village of Dervaig and the white sand beach of Calgary. Ardmeanach is the middle of these peninsulas, a sparsely populated and mountainous piece of land which is almost entirely cut off from the rest of the island by Ben More. The third of these peninsulas is the Ross of Mull, on which the villages of Bunessan and Fionnphort are located, the latter being where the ferry to Iona operates.
There are two distilleries on the island: the Tobermory distillery, formerly named Ledaig, produces single malt Scotch whisky,Tobermory Distillery tobermory.co.uk Retrieved 10 July 2010. and another, opened in 2019 and located in the vicinity of Tiroran, which produces Whitetail Gin. Mull is host to numerous sports competitions, notably the Highland Games competition, held annually in July, and the Mull Rally. The isle is home to four castles, including the towering castle of Duart and the keep of Moy Castle. On the south coast, a stone circle is located in the settlement of Lochbuie.
Geography
Mull has a coastline of , and its climate is moderated by the Gulf Stream. The island has a mountainous core; the highest peak on the island is Ben More, which reaches . Various peninsulas, which are predominantly moorland, radiate from the centre.
The Aros peninsula to the north includes the main town of Tobermory, which was a burgh until 1973 (when burghs were abolished). Other settlements include Salen, Dervaig and Calgary. The Ross of Mull lies to the southwest and includes the villages of Bunessan, Pennyghael, Uisken, and Fionnphort. To the east lie Lochbuie, Lochdon, and Craignure.
Numerous islands lie off the west coast of Mull, including Erraid, Inch Kenneth, Iona, Gometra, and Ulva. Smaller uninhabited islands include Eorsa, Little Colonsay, the Treshnish Isles, and Staffa (of Fingal's Cave fame). Calve Island is an uninhabited island in Tobermory Bay. Two outlying rock lighthouses are also visible from the southwest of Mull: Dubh Artach and Skerryvore.
The Torran Rocks are a large shoal of reefs, islets, and skerries, approximately in extent, to the southwest, between the Ross of Mull peninsula and Dubh Artach. Frank Lockwood's Island near Lochbuie is named after Frank Lockwood, the brother-in-law of the 21st MacLean of Lochbuie and Solicitor General from 1894 to 1895.Baird (1995) p. 142
Part of the indented west coast of Mull, and some of the offshore islands there, are part of the Loch Na Keal National Scenic Area."National Scenic Areas" . SNH. Retrieved 30 March 2011.
Settlements Places classified as settlements put the 1st part of the name into the "near" box by the Ordnance Survey include:
History Early history
The Isle of Mull has probably been inhabited since shortly after the end of the last Ice Age, around 11,000 years ago. This is evidenced by radiocarbon dating done in a Mesolithic hut at Crieth Dubh on the northwest coast of the island.Mithen, S., Wicks, K., Berg-Hansen, I.M. 2020 The Mesolithic coastal exploitation of western Scotland: The impacts of climate change and use of favoured locations. In: Schülke, A. (ed) Coastal Landscapes of the Mesolithic. Abingdon: Routledge Later, Bronze Age and Iron Age inhabitants built brochs at Dun Nan Gall and An Sean Chaisteal, and a stone circle at Lochbuie along with numerous burial cairns.Fisher, P., Farrelly, C. (1997), p.585 Two crannogs there have been dated to the Iron Age.Holley, M.W., Ralston, I.B.M. 1995. Radiocarbon dates for two crannogs on the Isle of Mull, Strathclyde Region, Scotland. Antiquity 69(264), 595–596
In the 6th century AD, Irish migrants invaded Mull and the surrounding coast and established the Gaelic kingdom of Dál Riata. The kingdom was divided into a number of regions, each controlled by a different kinship group. One of these, the Cenél Loairn, controlled Mull and the adjacent mainland to the east.
Dál Riata was a springboard for the Christianisation of the mainland; the pivotal point was in AD 563, when Columba, an Irish missionary, arrived on the island of Iona – just off the southwest point of Mull – and founded a monastery there from which to start evangelising the local population.
Norse period
In the 9th century, Viking invasions led to the destruction of Dál Riata and its replacement by the Norse Kingdom of the Isles, which became part of the kingdom of Norway following Norwegian unification around 872. The Kingdom of the Isles was much more extensive than Dál Riata, encompassing also the Outer Hebrides and Skye. The island kingdom became known as the Suðreyjar, meaning southern isles in Old Norse. The former lands of Dál Riata acquired the geographic description "Argyle" (now "Argyll"): the Gaelic coast.
In the late 11th century, Magnus Barefoot, the Norwegian king, launched a military campaign which in 1098 led the king of Scotland to quitclaim to Magnus all claim of sovereign authority over the territory of the Kingdom of the Isles.Ó Corráin, D. 2008. The Vikings and Ireland. In Brink, S. (ed) The Viking World. Abingdon: Routledge. However, a coup some 60 years later, led by a Norse-Gael named Somerled, detached the whole of the Suðreyjar from Norway and transformed it into an independent kingdom. After Somerled's death in 1164, nominal Norwegian authority was established, but practical control of the realm was divided between Somerled's sons and the heirs of Somerled's brother-in-law, the Crovan dynasty. His son Dougall received the former territory of the Cenél Loairn, now known as Lorn, of which Mull formed part.Sellar, W., Hamilton, D. 2000. Hebridean sea kings: The successors of Somerled, 1164–1316. In Cowan, E.J., McDonald, R.A. (eds.) Alba: Celtic Scotland in the middle ages. Tuckwell Press.
Meanwhile, the Crovan dynasty had retained the title "king of the Isles" and control of Lewis, Harris, and the Isle of Man. After a few decades, they acknowledged the English kings as their overlords, so Dougall's heirs (the MacDougalls) complained to Haakon, the Norwegian king, and in 1237 were rewarded by the kingship being split; rule of the Hebrides was transferred to the MacDougall line, and they were made the "kings of the Hebrides". They established the twin castles of Aros (in Mull) and Ardtornish (on the mainland, opposite), which together controlled the Sound of Mull.
Throughout the early 13th century, the king of Scots, Alexander II, had aggressively tried to expand his realm into the Suðreyjar, despite Edgar's earlier quitclaim. This led to hostility between Norway and Scotland, which continued under Alexander III. King Haakon IV of Norway died shortly after the indecisive Battle of Largs. In 1266, his more peaceable successor ceded his nominal authority over the Suðreyjar to Alexander III by the Treaty of Perth in return for a very large sum of money. Alexander generally acknowledged the semi-independent authority of Somerled's heirs; the former Suðreyjar had become Scottish crown dependencies rather than parts of Scotland.
Lords of the Isles
At the end of the 13th century, a violent dispute arose over the Scottish kingship between King John Balliol and Robert de Bruys. By then, Somerled's descendants had formed into three families: as well as Dougall's heirs (the MacDougalls), there were also the heirs of his nephew Donald (the MacDonalds) and those of Donald's brother (the MacRory or MacRuairi); the MacDougalls backed Balliol, while the MacDonalds and MacRory backed de Bruys. When Robert I defeated his Scots enemies, including the Comyns and MacDougalls, he declared their lands forfeit, dividing them between his friend, Angus Og Macdonald, Lord of the Isles, and Christina MacRory, King Robert's kinswoman. The latter acquired Lorn and some of the smaller Isles, but Angus Og, who fought beside King Robert at Bannockburn, was given the lion's share: The Isles of Islay, Jura, Gigha, Colonsay and Mull, and the mainland territories of Duror, Glencoe, Ardnamurchan, Lochaber, Morvern and Kintyre. After Bannockburn, Alexander Macdonald, Angus Og's eldest son, then still alive, was granted Mull and Tiree. Angus Og's younger son John of Islay, became Lord of the Isles after his father's and his elder brother's deaths. He first married Amy MacRuairi of Garmoran, the heiress of the MacRory family, thereby consolidating the remains of Somerled's realm.
In 1354, though in exile and without control of his ancestral lands, John, the MacDougall heir, quitclaimed any rights he had over Mull to the Lord of the Isles. When Robert's son David II became king, he spent some time in English captivity; after his release, in 1357, he restored MacDougall authority over Lorn, effectively cancelling Robert's grant to the MacRory. The 1354 quitclaim, which seems to have been an attempt to ensure peace in just such an eventuality, took automatic effect, splitting Mull from Lorn and making it subject to the Lordship of the Isles.
In 1437, the Lordship was substantially expanded when Alexander, the Lord of the Isles, inherited the rule of Ross maternally. The expansion led the MacDonalds to move their centre of power from Islay to the twin castles of Aros and Ardtornish.
In 1462, the most ambitious of the Lords of the Isles, John MacDonald, struck an alliance with Edward IV of England to conquer Scotland. Civil war in England prevented this from taking effect and from being discovered until 1475, when the English court voluntarily revealed its existence. Calls for forfeiture of the Lordship naturally followed, but they were calmed when John quitclaimed most of his mainland territories. However, John's nephew launched a severe raid on Ross, but it ultimately failed. Within two years of the raid, in 1493, James IV of Scotland declared the Lordship of the Isles forfeit, transforming the realm into an intrinsic part of Scotland rather than a dependency.
MacLeans
Throughout this time, the descendants of the Cenél Loairn retained their identity; they were now the MacLeans. Now that John MacDonald was exiled, James IV restored the authority of the MacLeans over Mull. An earlier chief of the MacLeans had married the daughter of the first Lord of the Isles and received Duart Castle as the dowry; this now became the stronghold of MacLean control of Mull. The cadet branch of the family constructed a tower house at Moy on the southern side of Mull, while the senior branch retained Duart Castle.