Isle of Mull

Scotland > West of Scotland > Argyll > Isle of Mull

Mull and its islands have been inhabited since Mesolithic times c. 4000 - 2000 BC. Neolithic farmers lived here, leaving behind burial cairns and stone axes. Bronze age 'Beaker' people lived on the island, their burial cairns, cists, standing stones, stone circles and corded beaker pottery have been discovered. In the Iron Age, forts, brochs, duns and crannogs were built on the island.

The early Christian period in the 5th century brought St Columba from Ireland. There were Vikings settlements in the isles. Castles such as Moy and Duart were built in the Middle Ages. The clans associated with the history of Mull were, Maclean, MacKinnon, Macquarrie, and MacDonald. The 17th - 19th centuries saw the clan chiefs and lairds built themselves 'grand' houses, while the ordinary islanders lived in tiny black houses and temporary shielings in the summer. In 1788 Tobermory was built as a planned model village.

In 1831 Mull's population was 10,630 but first the potato famine and then the Highland Clearances, when the people were cleared to make way for sheep, by the landowners and lairds, rapidly reduced this number. By the 1900 most of the population had been forced to emigrate and there were more sheep on Mull than people.

The west coast of the island is where you'll find the island's most stunning scenery. This challenging road winds its way anti-clockwise from Tobermory in a series of twists and turns, following the deeply indented coastline. The road surface deteriorates as the road progresses.

Climbing west from Tobermory the road then makes a dramatic descent, with countless hairpin bends, to Dervaig.

Five miles to the west of Dervaig is Calgary Bay, Mull's most beautiful beach with views across to the islands of Coll and Tiree. If you have the time, take a day out on Ulva ('wolf island' in Norse), just off the west coast.

The tiny island of Staffa, just off the west coast, is one of the most spectacular sights anywhere in the world. It consists of immense, hexagonal, basalt pillars which loom up out of the sea, like a giant pipe organ.

Staffa was formed 60 million years ago by the slow cooling of Tertiary basalt lavas. These have been carved by the pounding sea into huge cathedral-like caverns such as the famous Fingal's Cave.

Onwards, the road passes Dishig, then cuts through the Gribun cliffs, the tiny island of Inch Kenneth lying offshore. There are good views of Ulva, Staffa and the Treshnish Isles.

The road then turns south across the peninsula as it climbs over the pass to Loch Scridain, where it joins the A849 which runs through the beautiful and wild Glen More to Craignure.

The B8073 heads east along the shore of Loch na Keal where it enters a wide flat valley, the road forks east to Salen and west along the south shore of Loch na Keal. Here Mull is dominated by Ben More (3,170 ft), the island's highest mountain. This is a spectacular area of jutting mountains, deep glens, reaching west to the Ardmeanach Peninsula.