FRAYED ATLANTIC EDGE EB

David Gange

• Publisher: William Collins
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9780008225148
• eBook ISBN: 9780008225124
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: Science & Technology Biographies
• Index: Biological Sciences

COLLECTIVE WINNER OF THE HIGHLAND BOOK PRIZE AND SHORTLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE

'This is the book that has been wanting to be written for decades: the ragged fringe of Britain as a laboratory for the human spirit' Adam Nicolson

Over the course of a year, leading historian and nature writer David Gange kayaked the weather-ravaged coasts of Atlantic Britain and Ireland from north to south: every cove, sound, inlet, island.

The idea was to travel slowly and close to the water: in touch with both the natural world and the histories of communities on Atlantic coastlines. The story of his journey is one of staggering adventure, range and beauty. For too long, Gange argues, the significance of coasts has been underestimated, and the potential of small boats as tools to make sense of these histories rarely explored. This book seeks to put that imbalance right.

Paddling alone in sun and storms, among dozens of whales and countless seabirds, Gange and his kayak travelled through a Shetland summer, Scottish winter and Irish spring before reaching Wales and Cornwall. Sitting low in the water, as did millions in eras when coasts were the main arteries of trade and communication, Gange describes, in captivating prose and loving detail, the experiences of kayaking, coastal living and historical discovery.

Drawing on the archives of islands and coastal towns, as well as their vast poetic literatures in many languages, he shows that the neglected histories of these stunning regions are of real importance in understanding both the past and future of the whole archipelago. It is a history of Britain and Ireland like no other.

INDEX

The page numbers in this index relate to the printed version of this book; they do not match the pages of your ebook. You can use your ebook reader’s search tool to find a specific word or passage.

Aberdaron, 299–300, 303, 310–11

Abersoch, 293

Aberystwyth, 293

Abrams, Lynn, 218

Acair (Stornoway press), 109

Achebe, Chinua, Things Fall Apart, 250

Achill, island of, 253–4

Adam, Seumas, 191–7, 345

Adomnan, 206

Aikerness Holm, 68–9

Aith (town of Shetland), 38

Alasdair mac Mhaighstir Alasdair, 128, 138, 171, 172, 173–4, 344

Alexandrine desert, 283, 285

Amargin (ancient Irish poet), 286

AMEC (energy consortium), 113

An Garbh-eilean, island of, 134

An Teallach (‘the Forge’, mountain), 3, 153, 155

An Tiaracht (mini-skellig), 277

Anderson, Andrew and Danny, 29–30

Anderson, Iain, 74

anemones, 279, 333

angler fish, 236

Anglican communion, 342

Apollo moon missions, 69

Applecross Peninsula, 165, 167, 168

Araidh na Suiridh (Skye), 94

Aran Islands (Oileáin Árann), 210, 254–7, 258, 261, 340; bounty from shipwrecks, 263; cliff-face place names, 263–4; Dún Aonghasa (clifftop fort), 261–2, 263; An Sunda Caoch (‘the Blind Sound’), 262–3; threat to fishing community, 264, 265

archaeological heritage, xi; absence of inscriptions on gneiss, 92; Barra Isles, 116–17; Erskine Beveridge, 111; Broch of Mousa on Havera, 44–5, 47; Callanish stone circle, 92; on early Admiralty maps, 239–40; early wooden tools as rare in Scotland, 168; and female scientists of the coast, 282; Gokstad ship, 26; Inner Sound and Skye, 167–71; intermingling of eras, 8–9, 45–6, 60, 79, 80; Jarlshof on Shetland, 50; microliths, 168; mysteries of Papay, 65; ‘papa’ sites, 63–6, 117–20; and role of sea in Mesolithic world, 168–70; Rousay coast, 77, 78–81; runic inscriptions at Maes Howe, 86; South Welsh history, 294; west coast of Ireland, 206, 211–12, 214; see also human history, traces/hints of

Arctic terns, 32, 38

Ardmore, 195–6

Argentina, 8

Argyll coastline, 198–204, 208

Arkle (mountain), 125–6, 134

Arnold, Matthew, ‘Dover Beach’ (1867), 298

Arran, Isle of, 295

Arranmore, island of, 210

Arthurian legend, 334

Asleifson, Sweyn, 66

Assynt, 124, 254, 317

Atlantic (film, 2016), 264–5

auks, 7, 17, 62–3, 98, 315

Avenius, Rufus (Roman poet), 209

Azoulay, Ariella, 226–7

Baleshare (Uist township), 111

Balfours (Orcadian laird family), 73

Balnakiel (near Cape Wrath), 123, 128–9, 172

Balor (Irish god of darkness), 213, 214, 225

Bardsey, island of (Ynys Enlli), 291, 294, 295–304; current island community, 304–10

Barker, George, 319

barley, 47, 219–20

Barmouth (Wales), 292, 293

barnacle geese, 174

Barra, 91–2, 109, 116, 209; lighthouse keeping on, 204

Barra Head (Beàrnaraigh), 116

Barrett, Josie, 244

Bateman, Meg, 345

BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, 83

HMS Beagle, 239

bearberry, 160

Beaufort, Francis, 207

Beinn Dearg Mòr (mountain), 155

Beinn Eighe nature reserve, 159–60

Belize, xi, 86, 87, 88

Belmullet (County Mayo), 245

Below, Will Ernst von, 244–5

Ben Loyal (mountain), 125

Ben Stac (mountain), 125, 137

Berger, John, 224, 329–30

Bernard van Leer Foundation, 105

Beveridge, Erskine, 111

biodiversity, 237

birlinns (boats), 171–2, 173–4, 244

Birmingham, University of, 10–12, 339

bladderwrack, 23

Blasket Islands (Na Blascaodaí), 271, 276–9, 340

bluethroats, 201

boatbuilding and boats: birlinns, 171–2, 173–4, 244; currachs, 208–9, 221, 255; Galway hooker sailboats, 254; Irish, 207, 208–9, 221; Irish small boat tradition, 210, 245–6, 247, 287–8; Norse design, 26, 27, 28, 134, 171–2; Sgoth Niseach (traditional Ness boat), 98, 108; on Shetland, 23, 26–8, 29–31; sixareens, 28, 29–31; symbolic ships, 172; transport of cattle, 150, 151, 152; in Wales, 292; on Western Isles, 98, 108; Zulu-class sailing boats, 221–2

Bonar, Patrick, The Story of the Cope (2009), 229

Brae of Moan (Rousay), 78

Brathwaite, Kamau, 87

Brazil, 191

Breen, Colin, 206

Brent Spar scandal, 248

Breton culture, 10, 295, 324, 334

British Empire: agents of in Western Isles, 100; anti-Gaelic propaganda, 103–4; boys’ adventure periodicals, 191–2; clearances, 8, 78, 80–1, 95, 96, 100–1, 102, 127, 136, 187, 188, 195–6; and elites of Victorian Scotland, 88; mapping of, 239–40, 241–2; and Skye, 178–9; and slavery, 88, 190

British Museum, 280–1

Britishness, 341–2

Broadford (Skye), 150

Bronze Age culture, 60, 78, 80, 262

Broo (deserted village on Shetland), 49, 92–3

Brook, Julie, 117

Brough Holm (Shetland skerry), 23

Brown, Peter, 294

the Bull and the Cow rocks, 198, 277, 287

Bullock, William, 62

Bunting, Basil, Briggflatts (1966), 321

Burma, 179

Burra Firth, 18–20

the Burren, 254–6

Bury, J.B., 146, 149

buttercups, 42, 93

butterworts, 37

Cairngorm range, 145

calcareous shell-sand, 93, 94, 95

Caldey (Pembrokeshire island), 291

Callanish stone circle, 92

Calve, island of (Tobermory Bay), 196–7

Calvin and Hobbes (cartoon strip), 189

Calvinism, 128, 304

Campbell, Anne, 113–14

Canna, isle of, 172, 189

Cannon, Moya, 259–60, 268

Cape Clear Island, 277, 287

Cape Wrath, 2, 123, 127, 134

Cara, isle of, 189

Carbost, Old Inn at, 181

Cardigan Bay (Bae Ceredigion), 291–2, 311

Caribbean, 86, 87, 88, 190

Carlyle, Thomas, 148

Carrigskeewaun (County Mayo), 254

Carrowteige, Connolly’s pub at, 245–7

Carson, Rachel, 18, 345

Cartesian philosophy, 343

Carthusian monks, 174–5

Carthy, Hugh, 169

cartography see maps

cathedral architecture, 32–3

Catholicism: and Act of Union...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• Introduction: A Journey in the Making
• Shetland (July)
• Orkney (August)
• The Western Isles (September/October)
• Sutherland and Assynt (November)
• A Mountain Passage (December)
• The Inner Sound and Skye (January)
• Argyll and Ulster (February/March)
• Connacht (April)
• Munster (May)
• Bardsey to the Bristol Channel (June)
• Cornwall (July)
• The View from the Sea
• Picture Section
• Notes
• Index
• Acknowledgements
• About the Author
• About the Publisher