Published in Scotland Magazine Issue 31 on 16/02/2007.

This article is 19 months old and some information provided may be time sensitive. Please check all details of events, tours, opening times and other information before travelling or making arrangements.

Now who be ye, would cross Loch Gyle? (Ulva)

John Hannavy visits Ulva, a tiny island off the west coast of Mull

My title this time comes from a line in a traditional Scottish poem by Thomas Campbell entitled Lord Ullin’s Daughter, a story of forbidden love, and the tragic efforts of the girl’s father to part the young couple.

A Chieftain to the Highlands bound Cries ‘boatman, do not tarry!

And I’ll give thee a silver pound To row us o’er the ferry!’ ‘Now who be ye, would cross Loch Gyle, This dark and stormy water?’ ‘O I’m the Chief of Ulva’s isle, And this, Lord Ullin’s daughter.

Loch Gyle, or Loch na Keal, is the sea loch which separates Gribun on Mull from Ulva to the north. The ‘Chief of Ulva’s Isle’ would have been a member of the MacQuarie family, who were the lairds of Ulva for 900 years.

Both the chief and his young lover perished in the stormy waters of the sea-loch, and are buried on the island of Mull, although despite my many visits to this delightful corner of the Hebrides, I have never yet walked down the mile-long signposted track from Ulva Ferry to their grave. Lest you fear the same fate, their crossing from Gribun was across a wide stretch of notoriously turbulent water.

Today’s little ferry crossing is a lot shorter and a lot safer.

With its northern partner Gometra – to which it is connected by a small bridge – Ulva was once quite heavily populated.

With 16 small villages and a population of more than 600 a century and a half ago, it was once a centre for the production and processing of kelp ash (produced from the seaweed kelp), which found a variety of uses.....

To read the rest of this article you can buy this issue or subscribe to Scotland Magazine to have every issue delivered direct to your door.

By John Hannavy

Section : Scottish Islands

Page number : 18