;<>?3 ?3@@8393;@ 6; @53 6;;3> 530>623? 1/# *%%"&(%%- B6@5 ?=316/8 >343>3;13 @< @53 6?8/;2? <4 9A88! 1<88 /;2 @6>33 /OOG ># 7PJOSTPO / @JGSKS ?UDNKTTGF HPR TJG 2GIRGG PH =J2 CT TJG AOKVGRSKTY PH ?T# /OFRGWS &++& 4UMM NGTCFCTC HPR TJKS KTGN KS CVCKMCDMG KO >GSGCREJ.?T/OFRGWS,4UMM@GXT CT, JTTQ,$$RGSGCREJ"RGQPSKTPRY#ST"COFRGWS#CE#UL$ =MGCSG USG TJKS KFGOTKHKGR TP EKTG PR MKOL TP TJKS KTGN, JTTQ,$$JFM#JCOFMG#OGT$&%%'($'+)% @JKS KTGN KS QRPTGETGF DY PRKIKOCM EPQYRKIJT Norse settlement in the Inner Hebrides ca 800-1300 with special reference to the islands of Mull, Coll and Tiree A thesis presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Anne R Johnston Department of Mediaeval History University of St Andrews November 1990 IVDR E A" ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS None of this work would have been possible without the award of a studentship from the University of &Andrews. I am also grateful to the British Council for granting me a scholarship which enabled me to study at the Institute of History, University of Oslo and to the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for financing an additional 3 months fieldwork in the Sunnmore Islands. My sincere thanks also go to Prof Ragni Piene who employed me on a part time basis thereby allowing me to spend an additional year in Oslo when I was without funding. In Norway I would like to thank Dr P S Anderson who acted as my supervisor. Thanks are likewise due to Dr H Kongsrud of the Norwegian State Archives and to Dr T Scmidt of the Place Name Institute, both of whom were generous with their time. I would also like to thank David Olson for useful discussions on Hebridean settlement patterns and Heidi Christophersen and Harald Haneborg for the time they spent helping me to learn the intricacies of the Norwegian language. In Scotland I wish to thank Dr M Mackay of the School of Scottish Studies, University of Edinburgh for allowing me free access to material held in the Sound Archives of the School relating to the 'Tiree Project', and for help in planning fieldwork on Tiree. I also wish to thank Dr D Meek and Dr R Black of the Department of Celtic, University of Edinburgh for allowing me to attend, somewhat sporadically, their 1st Arts Gaelic classes. Special thanks must go the people of Tiree, Coll and Mull, too many to name individually, who answered numerous questions during the course of my fieldwork in the islands. I would particularly like to thank Flora MacPhail and her family, of Caolas Tiree, who introduced me to the island and rescued me from a flooded tent on more than one occasion. I am indebted to Mr J Crowe of St Andrew's University Computing Department for his immense patience and time spent in transferring the entire thesis from one computer system to another and for ironing out many 'user-unfriendly' issues which plagued me on the Apple-Macintosh. I would also like to thank Bruce Gordon for his help at the computing laboratory on several occasions. Special thanks go to my supervisor Dr B E Crawford for constant encouragement and advice through-out all the stages of thesis production and most particularly for painstakingly reading several computer-mangled 'final drafts'. Perhaps most of all I would like to thank fellow post-graduates Lindsay Macgregor, Lesley Ritchie, Christine McGladdery, Richard Oram, Isabel Moreira, Constanze Schummer and John Walker in St Johns House, and Eva Odegaard and Clothild Ducrocq in Norway for lively working environments and many useful thesis- related discussions. My warm thanks also go to Dr Jane Dawson for a great deal of support and encouragement in the latter stages of producing this thesis. ABSTRACT The thesis aims to elucidate the form, extent and chronological development of Norse colonial settlement in the Inner Hebridean islands of Mull, Coll, Thee and Lismore in the period ca 800-1300. Tiree, Coll and Lismore are studied in their entirety while an area from each of the parochial divisions on Mull is selected. Historically Mull, Coll and Tiree have an essential territorial unity in that they formed part of the territory of the cenel Loairn within the kingdom of Dalriada in the pre-Norse period. With the division of the Isles in 1156 all three islands fell into the hands of Somerled of Argyll and in the immediate post-Norse period remained as a unit in the possession of the MacDougals. Geographically the islands differ greatly from one another and show a wide range of geological structures, landforms, soil types and vegetation, and climatic conditions. They thus offer an opportunity for analysing settlement location, development and expansion within a relatively small geographical area and yet one which encompasses a variety of natural incentives and constraints. Lismore, lying to the north-west of the above group and strategically situated at the mouth of the Great Glen was important in the pre-Norse period as a major Celtic monastic centre. The island is included by way of contrast, for its site and situation and close proximity to mainland Scotland suggested that the Norse settlement of the island may have been of a different character to that found on Mull, Coll and Tiree. An area of the Norwegain 'homeland', the Sunnmore islands lying off the west coast of Norway is looked at for comparative purposes. This allows an investigation of the evolution of Norse settlement and the coining of names within a purely Norse environment. This helps clarify the process of settlement development and expansion and the accompanying naming practices in a colonial setting where, particularly on Mull and Lismore, a dense Gaelic overlay often obscures salient features of the Norse settlement pattern. The methodology employed is both inter-disciplinary and retrospective allowing successive layers of settlement to be 'peeled back' in order to expose the pattern of settlement as it may have existed in the Norse period. The thesis divides into two parts. The first analyses settlement by settlement, the islands in question. The second concentrates on the major issues pertinent to settlement evolution. Norse and Gaelic settlement names are discussed together with the administrative and ecclesiastical organisation of the Isles. This leads to the formulation of a 'model for Norse settlement' for the Inner Hebrides. iv CONTENTS Declarations i Acknowledgements ii Abstract ix Abbreviations x Chapter One Introduction 1.1 Aims of Thesis 1 1.2 Geographical Introduction 2 1.3 Sources 1.3.1 Literary Sources 4 1.3.2 Documentary Sources. Charters, retours and sasines 7 1.3.3 Rentals 8 1.3.4 Cartographic Material 8 1.3.5 Archaeology 10 1.3.6 Oral Tradition 12 1.3.7 Onomastic Sources 1.4 Historical Introduction 15 1.5 Methodology 22 1.5.1 Soil quality and arable extent 23 1.5.2 Harbour facilities and distance from the sea 23 1.5.3 Fiscal analysis 25 1.5.4 Geometrical method 25 1.5.5 Presence of ecclesiastical monuments 1.6 Previous research 26 PART ONE Chapter Two Norway. The Sunnmore Islands 2.1 Introduction 29 2.2.1 Island of Giske 34 2.2.2 Settlement analysis 34 2.3.1 Island of Godoya 38 2.3.2 Settlement analysis 38 2.4.1 Island of Valderoya 42 2.4.2 Settlement analysis 42 2.5.1 Island of Vigra 48 2.5.2 Settlement analysis 48 2.6.1 Island of Ellingsoya 54 2.6.2 Settlement analysis 54 2.7 Summary 69 V Chapter Three Mil 3.1 Introduction 73 3.2 Settlement analysis 76 3.3 Summary 108 Chapter Four Ca 4.1 Introduction 113 4.2 Settlement analysis 115 4.1 Summary 139 Chapter Five M.U.11 5.1 Introduction 145 5.2.1 Parish of Kilninian and Kilmore 148 5.2.2 The Morrenish and Treshnish headlands 148 5.2.3 Settlement analysis 150 5.2.4 Summary 166 5.3.1 Parish of Kilfmichen and Kilvicuen 172 5.3.2 Ross of Mull and Broloss 172 5.3.3 Settlement analysis 173 5.3.4 Summary 190 5.4.1 Parish of Torosay 195 5.4.2 Coastal Settlements, Salen to Loch Spelve; Glen Forsay 195 5.4.3 Settlement analysis 196 5.4.4 Summary 214 5.5 Summary 220 Chapter Six Lismore 6.1 Introduction 222 6.2 Settlement analysis 225 6.3 Summary 239 vi PART TWO Chapter Seven Administrative Systems 7.1 Ouncelands, pennylands and merklands 246 7.2 The influence of the church on the formation and consolidation of Norse settlement patterns 255 Chapter Eight Norse Settlement Names 8.1 Topographical settlement names 262 8.2 Habitative generics 267 8.3 Stadir 269 8.4 Setr 273 8.5 Bolstadr 277 8.6 Summary 282 Chapter Nine Gaelic Settlement Names 9.1 Topographical Settlement names 284 9.2 Achadh 280 9.3 Baile 293 9.4 Airidh 294 9.5 Cille 296 9.6 Peighinn 301 9.7 Summary 304 Chapter Ten Norse settlement in the Inner Hebrides 10.1 Models for settlement 305 10.2 Discussion 10.2.1 Norse settlement development and expansion 311 10.2.2 Ratio of Norse to Gaelic names 314 10.2.3 Relationship of Norse and native 317 10.2.4 Future Research 319 Bibliography 321 vii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Chapter One Location map. Study areas between pages 1 and 2 Chapter Two Location map. Norway showing Sunnmore. 29 and 30 Location map. Mid Suruuneire islands. 30 and 31 Giske Sketch map. Physical relief. II 34 and 35 Location of Iron Age and Viking Age archaeological sites.