Old Travel Blog Photograph Coladoir River Isle of Mull Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of the Coladoir River on the Isle Of Mull, the second largest island of the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The river rises in Glen More and flows west to enter the head of Loch Scridain. In the 6th century, Irish migrants invaded Mull and the surrounding coast, establishing the Gaelic kingdom of Dál Riata. The kingdom was divided into a number of regions, each controlled by a kin group, of which 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 AD 563, when Columba, an Irish missionary, arrived at Iona, just off the south-west point of Mull, and founded a monastery, from which to start evangelising the local population. 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 crown of Norway following Norwegian unification. After the collapse of the Lordship in 1493 the island was taken over by the Clan MacLean, and in 1681 by the Clan Campbell. During the Highland Clearances in the 18th and 19th centuries, the population fell from 10,000 to less than 3,000. Of interest to folks with ancestry, genealogy or Scottish Family Roots in Scotland who may wish to visit one day.



All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

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