Townships
Gaelic, Norse, Brittonic? A look into the history and origins of place names in and around our area
By Silvia Muras
Baile in Scottish Gaelic means ‘settlement’, ‘farm’ or ‘town’. Baile- tends to be placed in good agricultural land while achadh- is a term applied to farms in less fertile, upland areas.
Balblair, from Baile a’ Bhlàir, means ‘the farm on the moor’, although some translate it as ‘town of the plain’ and ‘battlefield’, and since the Dornoch Firth was a boundary between Picts and Vikings, that might have been the case.
Balchraggan, on the Balblair Estate, is the ‘town of the rocky place’.
Bail’ an Fhraoich in Strathcarron near Soyal means ‘township of the heather’.
Balinoe, in Culrain, from Am Baile Nodha, means ‘the new farmstead’.
Bailenanalltan, East of Spinningdale, is the ‘township of the streams’.
Nearby there is also Bailenacroite, ‘township of the crofts’.
Balnagown in Ross & Cromarty means ‘the smith’s township’, and half a mile south of Edderton we find Balleig, from Baile an Lighe, ‘the doctor’s farm’.
