Catacol

Catacol
Scottish Gaelic: Catagal

The Twelve Apostles at Catacol Bay
Catacol
 Catacol shown within North Ayrshire
OS grid referenceNR909496
Civil parishKilmory
Council areaNorth Ayrshire
Lieutenancy areaAyrshire and Arran
CountryScotland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post town ISLE OF ARRAN
Postcode district KA27
Dialling code 01770
Police Scottish
Fire Scottish
Ambulance Scottish
EU Parliament Scotland
UK ParliamentNorth Ayrshire and Arran
Scottish ParliamentCunninghame North
List of places
UK
Scotland

Coordinates: 55°41′42″N 5°19′34″W / 55.695°N 5.326°W / 55.695; -5.326

Catacol (Scottish Gaelic: Catagal) is a small village on the Isle of Arran, Scotland. It is located on the north west side of the island, just a few miles along the coastal road from Lochranza at the foot of Glen Catacol, a steep-sided valley. It derives its name from Old Norse, referring to the 'gully of the cat'.

Catacol's main feature is the row of cottages called the 'Twelve Apostles'. They were built to house those people cleared from the surrounding countryside, when much of the interior of the island was set aside for deer. The theory was these former farmers would turn to fishing, and with this in mind, each of the twelve cottages had a differently shaped first floor window. This would allow the woman of the house to signal by placing a candle in the window to her husband out while he was out fishing in the Firth of Clyde. The husband would know who was being signalled by the shape of the window. In reality, most of the dispossessed moved away to other parts of the island in protest against their eviction.

The village also houses a hotel, the Catacol Bay Hotel, behind the shore opposite the peninsula of Kintyre.[1]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Welcome to Catacol Bay Hotel". Catacol Bay Hotel. Retrieved 3 August 2009.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Catacol.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 12/31/2014. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.