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Ballachulish Community Council Website
Slate Monument Open Day!
Saturday 11th September 2010 2pm til 4pm
Small Marque
- Dr Roddy hosting an exhibition on Dr Lachlan Grant
- Exhibitions by local craft businesses
(Any local business wishing to have a table to exhibit there work
please contact Lorna MacAskill on 01855 811 197)
- Unveiling of the monument at 3pm
- BBQ / Teas & Coffees / Juice
The name Ballachulish (in Gaelic, Baile a' chaolais) means "settlement on the strait". The strait in question is Caolas Mag Phadraig - Peter or Patrick's narrows, at the mouth of Loch Leven. The principal industry is now tourism, although most visitors pass swiftly by the village itself.
Shinty is a popular local sport and the village is the traditional boundary of the North/South divide in shinty, with teams north of the village playing in the North district's competitions and those South playing in their respective competitions. Ballachulish's shinty team plays in the South Leagues. However, Ballachulish is still considerably far North in relation to most of Scotland. As there was no road to the head of Loch Leaven, until it was built in 1927, the Ballachulish ferry, established in 1733, and that at Caolas na Con were essential. The Ballachulish ferry closed in December 1975 when the Ballachulish Bridge finally opened.
The hamlet of Glenachulish (pronounced Glen - ah - hoolish) lies in Gleann a'Chaolais, the glen that runs down to the narrows. This is the subject of the beautiful Gaelic Song, Gleann Bhaile Chaoil. Gleann a'Chaolais is ringed by Beinn a'Bheithir (pronounced Ben Vair), a massif which contains two munros - Sgorr Dhearg and Sgorr Domhnuill. Glenachulish originally consisted of a row of forestry houses. In recent years a number of new houses have been built locally along with holiday chalets and an art gallery. In recent years the fields of Gleann a'Chaolias have been turned into a 9-hole golf course.
Overlooking the narrows is the monument to James of the Glen, "hanged on this spot for a crime of which he was not guilty". Robert Louis Stevenson based his novel Kidnapped around the story of the Appin Murder. Whoever did kill the Red Fox (Campbell of Glenure) is still not known, but the story is a reminder that a people subject to unjust occupation and persecution, as the Jacobite Highlanders were, will sometimes resort to violence and rebellion.