Reading the Gaelic Landscape. John Murray

after the Battle of Culloden. Various reasons have been advanced for the first period of decline in the Lowlands. The relocation of the Scottish capital of what was still a Gaelic-speaking kingdom from Perth and Dunfermline to the English-speaking Lothians; the introduction of feudalism to Scotland and its use of Norman French; and the growing dominance of English as the language of trade and commerce may all have contributed to a diminished use of Gaelic. After plantations of Scots were established in Ulster, compensating infusions of pan-Gaelic literary and bardic culture from Ireland would also have been severed.

      The second period of decline happened after the passing of the Education Act in 1872, when primary schooling was brought under the control of central Government and made compulsory. Previously, education had been organised by the Kirk and the SSPCK, which had by now come to encourage the use of Gaelic. Centralisation occurred just 9 years before the 1881 census. This was the first survey of its kind to pose questions about Gaelic. Whilst earlier church schools had sometimes allowed for some education in the language, the 1872 act completely ignored Gaelic. Thus ideas of advancement through learning were dissociated from the language and its culture. A wooden board (maide-crochaidh) was hung around the necks of pupils if they were caught speaking Gaelic. It became the language of the playground, if not the classroom.

      Consequences of this policy in action can be seen in a letter written by the Duke of Atholl to Lord Balfour, the Secretary of State for Scotland in 1901. The Duke had been trying to encourage the use of Gaelic amongst his estate workers. He complains about the attitude of the local schools inspector.

      I find that this Mr Thomson, who has inspected the schools in this neighbourhood ... does all he can to oppose and cry down the Gaelic ...

      (Ó Murchú 1989 56)

      In a memorandum to the Secretary of State from Sir Henry Craik, the Secretary for Education in Scotland, attempted to explain the situation.

      To encourage the children at the elementary school to waste time that might be better spent, on fantastic nonsense such as this, is about as pernicious a way of spending money as his Grace could devise.

      (ibid 56)

      The timing of the Act, can be examined in parallel with census data, which had begun to record information about Gaelic speakers from about the same point.

      Year of Census

      In 1881 and 1891, Gaelic was spoken throughout the Highlands. Only in Caithness and in towns bordering the Moray Firth, along the southeastern edge of the Grampians, in south Kintyre and on the east coasts of Arran and Bute, was there less than 50% of the population speaking the language. Nearly a quarter of a million Scots spoke Gaelic in Scotland in 1891, over 6% of the population. Between 1901 and 1931 the number of Gaelic speakers declined from 230,806 (4.5% of the population) to 136,135 (2.8%). By 1951, only in the Hebrides (excepting north and east Mull), Morar, Sunart and the western margins of mainland Inverness-shire, Ross and Sutherland did a majority of people speak the language. Less than 2% of the nation’s population were now Gaelic speakers. Of the four core counties in the Gàidhealtachd, Argyll and Sutherland proved the least resilient to linguistic erosion. Given the monoglot agenda of the education authorities, it is not surprising that parents did not think it worthwhile to pass on their language to their children. ‘Gaelic will get you no further than the ferry pier’ was a common admonition in the Hebrides.

      Figure 2: Gaelic Speakers in UK Census Data 1881 - 2011

      The rate of decline in Gaelic speakers appears to have decelerated in recent years. The 2001 census reported 58,652 people, having fallen by 11.1% from 65,597 in 1991. In 2011, the decline had slowed to 2.2% to 57,375. This represented 1.1% of the Scottish population recorded as having some ability in the language. Half of these lived in the Outer Hebrides, Highland Region or Argyll and Bute. Gaelic has continued to decline in these core indigenous areas, but this has been partly masked by an increase of speakers in the Lowlands. In 2001, nearly 50% of Gaelic speakers lived in the cities of the Central Belt. Kenneth MacKinnon termed the new distribution ‘a Gaelic archipelago in a Lowland sea’. The 2011 census also recorded the positive result that the number of speakers under twenty years in age had increased by 0.1% - presumably as a result of the growth in Gaelic medium education. In 2005, the language was officially recognised by the Scottish Government, but unlike Welsh, Gaelic is not recognised as an official language of the United Kingdom.

      The most noticeable indicator of a Gaelic revival is the erection of bilingual road and rail signs throughout much of the Highlands. To the place-name enthusiast this is manna from heaven! Many names have had their Gaelic origins revealed. What was obscure and meaningless is now accessible. Semantic revelations have strengthened a sense of place and cultural identity, which, though sourced from the past, embraces the entire Gàidhealtachd. If we did not know the Gaelic spelling of Acharacle, for example, which is Àth Tharracail, we might mistake a field (achadh) for a ford (àth), and misunderstand the reason for the siting of the settlement near the narrow outflow of Loch Shiel (Loch Seile) and the significance for settlement history that it remembers a Norseman called Torcuil.

      Most of the verification of the names on the bilingual signs has been undertaken by Ainmean-Àite na h-Alba (AÀA) - Gaelic Place-names of Scotland, the national advisory partnership for Gaelic place-names, based at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig (SMO) on the Isle of Skye (An t-Eilean Sgitheanach). SMO, now part of the University of the Highlands and Islands, was initiated in the humble setting of an old stone barn by Sir Iain Noble in 1973. He had bought the estate of Fearann Eilean Iarmain in Sleat (Slèite) from the impoverished Lord MacDonald. What started as a Further Education Establishment is now the Centre for Gaelic Language and Culture in Scotland. As Noble said at the time, this was the first new institution of its kind since Columba founded Iona Abbey.

      About the same time, Sir Iain provoked the beginnings of a bilingual policy on road signs. The then County of Invernesshire wished to carry out road improvements to the south of Portree, requiring the purchase of land from Fearann Eilean Iarmain. Sir Iain agreed, on condition that 3 bilingual signs were erected for Broadford, Portree and Viewfield Road. These were An t-Àth Leathann, Port Rìgh and Goirtean na Creige. The last means the arable enclosure of the rock. Its Gaelic name bears no resemblance to the English version. After a long struggle with the Council, signs were eventually erected. Upon local government reorganisation in the 1970s, Comhairle nan Eilean rapidly replaced anglicised road signs with Gaelic renderings - often with no translation supplied.

      The Duke of Atholl had attempted something similar on his estate in the early 20th century with partial success as shown by Baile-na-H-eiglas for Kirkton of Lude and Achgobhal for Achgoul (Ó Murchú 1989). Bilingual signs are now commonplace on roads in the Highlands, but less so at the time of writing in the Highland parts of the former Counties of Angus, Perth and Stirling. Where possible Gaelic station names have been introduced throughout the rail network of Scotland. The results of such policies have propelled the language into the mainstream world of maps and mapping.

      These patterns are mirrored elsewhere. Citing Mount Egmont, Mt McKinley and Mount Everest, known as Taranaki, Denali and Chomolungma in the native languages of New Zealand, Alaska and Nepal, Roddy MacLean (Ruairidh Macilleathain) argues that Ben Lomond, Ben Nevis, Braeriach, Cairn Toul and the Pap of Glen Coe (Gleann Comhann) should be shown on maps in their dual identities. These are Beinn Laomainn, Beinn Nibheis, Bràigh Riabhach, Càrn an t-Sabhail and Sgòrr na Ciche. The following table of famous Scottish mountains, adapted from MacIlleathain’s 2010 lecture to the Islands Books Trust, proves how correct renderings provide an informative resource for those trying to read the landscape through place-names.

      Table 1: Anglicisation of well-known Mountains and their Original Gaelic.

      True Gaelic spelling enables correct pronunciation. Cairn Toul - Càrn an t-Sabhail provides an interesting example. To the Lowland Scot, who pronounces dour as ‘doo-er’, it is tempting to pronounce -toul as ‘tool’. The Southern English speaker, who