Calgary, Mull

2025-09-10T14:38:37Z

2604:3D09:1884:3800:B538:C84F:5AE2:8F4C: /* History */

{{Not to be confused with|Calgary}}{{Short description|Hamlet on the Isle of Mull, Scotland}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{Use British English|date=July 2025}}
{{Infobox UK place
| country = Scotland
| official_name = Calgary
| gaelic_name = Calgairidh
| label_position = left
| static_image_name = Tearoom near the road in Calgary (geograph 2000366).jpg
| static_image_caption = Tearoom near the road in Calgary
| os_grid_reference = NM377516
| coordinates = {{coord|56.583|-6.272|display=inline,title}}
| civil_parish = [[Kilninian and Kilmore]]
| unitary_scotland = [[Argyll and Bute]]
| lieutenancy_scotland = [[Argyll and Bute]]
| constituency_westminster = [[Argyll, Bute and South Lochaber (UK Parliament constituency)|Argyll, Bute and South Lochaber]]
| constituency_scottish_parliament = [[Argyll and Bute (Scottish Parliament constituency)|Argyll and Bute]]
| post_town = ISLE OF MULL
| postcode_district = PA75
| postcode_area = PA
| dial_code = 01688
}}

'''Calgary''' is a hamlet on the northwest coast of the [[Isle of Mull]], in [[Argyll and Bute]], [[Scotland]], [[United Kingdom]]. The hamlet is within the parish of [[Kilninian and Kilmore]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.scottish-places.info/towns/towndetails550.html|title=Details of Calgary|publisher=Scottish Places|accessdate=31 December 2014}}</ref> It was the origin of the name of [[Fort Calgary]] in Canada, which became the city of [[Calgary]], [[Alberta]].<ref name="eiomco">{{cite web|url=http://www.explore-isle-of-mull.co.uk/calgary.htm|title=Calgary|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120111112729/http://www.explore-isle-of-mull.co.uk/calgary.htm|archivedate=2012-01-11|accessdate=27 December 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Geography==
Calgary is situated on the B8073<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/wiki/index.php?title=B8073|title=B8073|publisher=Sabre|accessdate=31 December 2014}}</ref> about {{convert|5|mi|km|abbr=off|0}} west of [[Dervaig]], and {{convert|12|mi|km|abbr=on}} from the island's capital [[Tobermory, Mull|Tobermory]]. The settlement is a small community of houses scattered near a hotel and the Calgary Farmhouse.

The hamlet is at the eastern end of Calgary Bay and is framed by low hills, partly wooded. A broad area of [[machair]] (a grassy meadow growing on [[calcareous]] sand) lies between the land and the beach. As the tide falls a river meanders across the sands. The beach is served by a small car parking area and public toilets. It is not an official campsite but there is a designated area for short-stay wild camping in tents. [[Calgary Castle]] overlooks the bay.

==History==
[[Image:Calgary bay 01.jpg|Calgary Bay|left|thumb]]
The name comes from the [[Scottish Gaelic language|Gaelic]], ''Cala ghearraidh'', meaning ''Beach of the meadow (pasture)''.{{citation needed|date=September 2022}} "Cala" is the word specifically used for a hard, sandy beach suitable for landing a boat, which relates plausibly to the location. However, the museum on the Isle of Mull explains that ''kald'' and ''gart'' are similar [[Old Norse]] words, meaning "cold" and "garden", that were likely used when named by the Vikings who inhabited the Inner Hebrides. A small stone pier, originally built to allow "[[Clyde puffer]]s" (small steam-driven cargo boats) to deliver coal to the Mornish Estate, was also used to take sheep to and from grazing on the [[Treshnish Isles]] and gives a further possible reason for the name of the bay.<ref name="eiomco" />

Just up the hill from the pier the deserted village of Inivea remains as roofless stone ruins, an atmospheric relic of the [[Highland clearances]]. [[David Tennant]] (the former [[Tenth Doctor]] on [[Doctor Who]]) traced his family back to here in the BBC programme, ''[[Who Do You Think You Are? (UK TV series)|Who Do You Think You Are?]]''<ref name="eiomco" /> Around 24 buildings of the township can be seen, several of them still standing to wall head level. These included houses and barns, with enclosures probably forming [[Kitchen garden|kailyard]]s. A flattish area to the north, higher than the houses, shows signs of [[rig and furrow]] cultivation and a drying kiln.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.scotlandsplaces.gov.uk/record/rcahms/21842/mull-calgary-cruach-sleibhe/rcahms|title=Mull, Calgary, Cruach Sleibhe|publisher=ScotlandsPlaces|accessdate=31 December 2014}}</ref> A rocky knoll above the houses still has the remains of a [[dun (fortification)|dun]], though many of its stones were taken to build the houses.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.scotlandsplaces.gov.uk/record/rcahms/21834/mull-calgary-pier/rcahms|title=Mull, Calgary Pier|publisher=ScotlandsPlaces|accessdate=31 December 2014}}</ref>
[[File:Ropesculpturemull (2).jpg|alt=Rope sculpture at Calgary Bay|thumb|Rope sculpture at Calgary Bay]]
On the East side of the bay Calgary House, now called [[Calgary Castle]], was built in 1817 extending an earlier Calgary Estate [[Laird|laird's]] house.<ref name="canmore.rcahms.gov.uk">{{Historic Environment Scotland|cat=PLA |num=21841 |num2=NM35SE 25 |desc=Mull, Calgary House |access-date=2 July 2025}}</ref> Colonel [[James Macleod]], Commissioner of the [[North-West Mounted Police]], was a summer guest here. In 1876, shortly after returning to [[Canada]], he suggested its name for [[Fort Calgary]] which gave rise to the city of [[Calgary]], [[Alberta]],<ref name="eiomco" /><ref name="www.smo.uhi.ac.uk">{{Cite web | last = | first = | title = How Calgary got its name | url = http://www.smo.uhi.ac.uk/gaidhlig/aite/Canada/calgary.html | publisher = Sabhal Mòr Ostaig | date = | accessdate = 27 December 2011 }}</ref> a metropolis of 1,700,000.

==Literature==
The second verse of [[Sorley Maclean|Sorley Maclean's]] poem ''Tràighean'' (from [[Dàin do Eimhir]]) opens with a powerful invocation of the natural beauty of Calgary bay as symbolic of spending eternity with a loved one:<ref>{{citation|last=MacLean|first=Sorley|title=Caoir Gheal Leumraich (White Leaping Flame): Collected Poems|year=2011|publisher=Polygon|page=140}}</ref>

{{Verse translation
|lang1=gd
|Agus nan robh sinn cuideachd
air tràigh Chalgaraidh am Muile,
eadar Alba is Tiriodh,
eadar an saoghal 's a'bhiothbhuan,
dh'fhuirichinn an siud gu luan
a' tomhas gainmhich bruan air bhruan.
|lang2=en
|And if we were together
on Calgary shore in Mull,
between Scotland and Tiree,
between the world and eternity,
I would stay there till doom,
measuring sand, grain by grain.
}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Calgary, Isle of Mull|Calgary}}
{{Wikivoyage|Calgary (Scotland)|Calgary}}
*{{Historic Environment Scotland|cat=PLA |num=21840 |num2=NM35SE 24 |desc=Mull, Calgary Bay, Calgary Burial Ground}}
*{{Historic Environment Scotland|cat=PLA |num=21843 |num2=NM35SE 27 |desc=Mull, Calgary Jetty |fewer-links=yes}}

{{Mull}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Villages on the Isle of Mull]]

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Calgary, Mull