Watching the waters

sentinel sites in the Inner Hebrides and western seaboard of Scotland

Abstract

The Inner Hebrides and western seaboard of Scotland has several place-names along its coasts that are suggestive of a network of observation points guarding maritime routes. The places are almost all elevated sites, primarily with Gaelic place-names containing the words teine (fire) and faire (watch/sentinel). These sites have hitherto elicited little comment in the scholarly literature and this paper rectifies that gap by mapping the sites and examining their applicability as coastal watch places. In addition, those on Mull, Lismore, Kerrera and the Morvern peninsula are assessed in de­tail for viewsheds and intervisibility. The combination of desk-based study and field visits to sites on Mull, Colonsay and Gigha demonstrates that the sites allowed for the observation of key waterways across long distances, enabling those manning the sites to warn their communities of an attack. Where a series of beacon or watch places occur close together in a logical sequence, it indicates a co-ordinated approach across an island or wider geographic area. As with many pre-modern place-names, providing precise dates for the names of the sites is difficult, and the paper includes a discussion of one likely context. A co-ordinated defence system implies a high level of resources and planning at least at the local or regional level, and this knowledge helps to date the sites. Further clues to dating are provided by examining the political and military context of the medieval era. It is determined that the sites could belong to multiple periods from the Viking Age on, and it is likely that many of them were used at various times over the centuries. The paper particularly focuses on the rule of Somerled/Sumarliði/Somhairle (d ad 1164, hereafter Somerled) and his descendants as a time that the system may have operated.