Township: Balephetrish

Map Reference: Balephetrish 40

Name Type: shore

Meaning: See Crògain in Longships on the Sand.

Other Forms:

Related Places: There is a Crogan on Mull - see Alasdair Whyte in 'Round and About, Feb 2022

Information:The Gaelic Otherworld ed. Ronald Black, p75:

On the North shore of Tiree there is a beach of more than a mile in length called Cladach a’ Chrògain, well calculated to be the scene of strange terrors. The extensive plain (about 1,500 acres in extent) of which it forms the northern fringe is almost a dead level, and in instances of very high flood-tides, with north-west gales of wind, the sea has been known to overflow it and join the sea on the south side three miles away, dividing Tiree into two islands. The upper part of the beach consists of loose round stones, a little larger than a goose’s egg, which make – when the tide is in, and under the influence of the restless surf – a hoarse rumbling sound, sufficienty calculated, with the accompaniment of strange scenery, to awaken the imagination.

p371. Ronald Black writes in his notes:
Niall M Brownlie tells me that Baile nan Cràganach can only be today's Baile nan Crògan, a township in the village of Cornaigmore. If this is so, the name should also be linked with that of Cladach a' Chrògain, which is two miles east. MacLeod and Dewar give cràganach as 'an in-footed, intoed person,' and no doubt this is the word JGC had in mind - the vowel will be subject to the same variation as in cràg, cròg, 'a large and clumsy hand.' An Crògan in south-east Mull...is said by Gillies to be from cròg, a claw, 'given as fancifully indicative of the shape of the place,' and I believe that is roughly how we should understand crògan here - as a place nestling in the palm of an enormous cròg or hand. In this way we may see Baile nan Cràganach as the 'Township of the Crògan-Dwellers, and it is not surprising to find the name transferring itself to the alleged physical attributes of its inhabiatants.
Cladach a’ Chrògain is explained by MacDougall and Cameron as the 'Graip Shore,' referring presumably to the implement (usually gràpa or crogan) used for harvesting seaweed. I do not find this convincing.





Local Form:

Languages : Gaelic

Informants: multiple

Informant 2: OS - ONB p54