Arisaig
- For the Canadian village, see Arisaig, Nova Scotia.
Arisaig /ˈærəsɪɡ/ (Scottish Gaelic: Àrasaig) is a village in Lochaber, Inverness-shire, on the west coast of the Scottish Highlands. The word Arisaig means "the safe place" in the Scottish Gaelic language.
History
On 20 September 1746 Bonnie Prince Charlie left Scotland for France from a place near the village following the failure of the Jacobite rising of 1745. The site of his departure is marked by the Prince's Cairn, located at Loch nan Uamh to the east of Arisaig. In 1770 the Scottish Gaelic poet Alasdair Mac Mhaighstir Alasdair died in Arisaig and was buried in the village's Roman Catholic cemetery. Emigrants from this area founded Arisaig, Nova Scotia, Canada, in 1785.
During the Second World War the area was taken over by the Special Operations Executive to train agents for missions in Occupied Europe. Arisaig House, along with many others, was used as a training school.[1] The Land, Sea and Islands Centre[2] in the village has a display on the connection between the SOE and Arisaig.[3]
On 11 November 2009 a memorial to Czech and Slovak soldiers, who trained as SOE agents between 1943 and 1945, was unveiled in Arisaig.[4]
Arisaig is in the Scottish council area of Highland. Tourism is the main industry in the Arisaig area. Several areas of England have Arisaig as a street name, such as Ouston, County Durham. A fictionalized Ardnish peninsula and Arisaig provide the setting for most of the "Ian and Sovra" series of children's novels by Elinor Lyon.
Amenities
Arisaig has a post office, general store, restaurant, cafe, hotel with bar, and marina.
Transport
Arisaig lies on the A830, which leads to Mallaig to the north and Fort William to the east. The route, which is also known as the Road to the Isles, has been upgraded from a single to a double-track carriageway. Work was completed in 2008.
The village is served by Arisaig railway station on the West Highland Line, which connects the village to Mallaig and Fort William. It is the most westerly station on the British mainland.
A small passenger ferry sails from Arisaig to the Small Isles of Eigg, Muck and Rùm. The main CalMac service to the Small Isles operates from Mallaig.
References
- ^ Commando Country, Stuart Allan, National Museums Scotland 2007, ISBN 978-1-905267-14-9
- ^ Land, Sea and Islands Centre
- ^ Special Operations Executive: Para-Military Training in Scotland during World War 2, David M Harrison, Land Sea and Islands Centre, Arisaig
- ^ "Memorial to Czechoslovak soldiers unveiled in Arisaig, Scotland". The Czech Embassy in London. Retrieved 9 July 2012.
External links
- Panorama of the Sound of Arisaig (QuickTime required)
- Sunday Mail, September 2009, reporting on moorings grab controversy