Catacol

Catacol Scottish Gaelic: Catagal
The Twelve Apostles at Catacol Bay
Catacol Location within North Ayrshire
OS grid reference	NR909496
Civil parish	Kilmory
Council area	North Ayrshire
Lieutenancy area	Ayrshire and Arran
Country	Scotland
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	ISLE OF ARRAN
Postcode district	KA27
Dialling code	01770
Police	Scotland
Fire	Scottish
Ambulance	Scottish
UK Parliament	North Ayrshire and Arran
Scottish Parliament	Cunninghame North

Catacol (Template:Lang-gd) is a small village on the Isle of Arran, Scotland. It is located on the north west side of the island, just a few miles along the coastal road from Lochranza at the foot of Glen Catacol, a steep-sided valley. It derives its name from Old Norse, referring to the 'gully of the cat'.

Catacol's main feature is the row of cottages called the 'Twelve Apostles'. They were built to house those people cleared from the surrounding countryside, when much of the interior of the island was set aside for deer. The theory was these former farmers would turn to fishing, and with this in mind, each of the twelve cottages had a differently shaped first floor window. This would allow the woman of the house to signal by placing a candle in the window to her husband out while he was out fishing in the Firth of Clyde. The husband would know who was being signalled by the shape of the window. In reality, most of the dispossessed moved away to other parts of the island in protest against their eviction.

The village also houses a hotel, the Catacol Bay Hotel, behind the shore opposite the peninsula of Kintyre.

See also

• Catacol Whitebeam: an extremely rare tree endemic to Catacol.

External links

• Image of the "Twelve Apostles" from the shore at Catacol