Coldbackie
Encyclopedia
Coldbackie is a crofting township
in Sutherland
and is in the Scottish
council area of Highland Scotland
.
. It sits under the Watch Hill, looking north over a spectacular beach to the Rabbit Islands
. It is one of a series of crofting townships
, running from Tongue
, through Coldbackie, StrathTongue, Dalharn, Blandy and Scullomie to the deserted township of Slettel that sit on the eastern fringes of the Kyle of Tongue. South of here lies the area known as Braetongue
.
Cnoc an Fhreiceadain
is modest in height at 1008 feet, but offers dramatic Old Red Sandstone
conglomorate cliffs, and impressive views along the north coast of Scotland
, from Durness
to Orkney.
There is a problem with this approach however, in that it clearly combines a Gaelic and Norse root to form a word. This is not impossible, as there is ample evidence of place names combining words from the two languages, with Dalharn mixing the Norse word dale for field, with the Gaelic word for stones or cairn. However it is important to remember that Dal in Gaelic is a borrow word from Norse, and is therefore part of the Gaelic language. The other key issue that the place name Coldbackie is not unique to the Kyle of Tongue, with there being two Coldbacks in Shetland (in Unst and Delting) and one in NW Iceland, there is also a Culleybackey in Aintrim, north of Belfast. As there is no evidence at all of any Gaelic influence in Shetland, or Iceland, (and a very strong Norse presence in Ulster) it makes a Gaelic Norse word combination very unlikely.
As the pattern of Norse colonisation of the Shetland, Orkney, Caithness, Sutherland, Faeroes and Iceland was from Norway, through Shetland and thence North to Faeroe and Iceland (and Greenland), and from Shetland south to Orkney, Caithness and Sutherland, i.e. through Shetland rather than direct from Norway, it would seem that there is an argument for the Sutherland Coldbackie to be the same word combination as those in Shetland and Iceland.
There are a number of possibilities as to its meaning. Two obvious possibilities occur in Old Norse, Kald - Cold (the same root word for English and Scots) or Kol - Charcoal, Coal or Peat. This could give us Cold Ridge, or Peaty Ridge, both accurate descriptions. There is a problem with using Kol for peat
, as there is no evidence that this Norse word was ever used in Scotland, with peat being called Turf - ON torf in Scotland. Omand, in The Sutherland book, translates Coldbackie as kula-bakki bank with the bump, whilst Stewart, in his seminal work Place names of Shetland says that Coldbacks is Cold Hill.
Township (Scotland)
In Scotland a crofting township is a group of agricultural smallholdings holding in common a substantial tract of unimproved upland grazing...
in Sutherland
Sutherland
Sutherland is a registration county, lieutenancy area and historic administrative county of Scotland. It is now within the Highland local government area. In Gaelic the area is referred to according to its traditional areas: Dùthaich 'IcAoidh , Asainte , and Cataibh...
and is in the Scottish
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
council area of Highland Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
.
Geography
Coldbackie lies at the head of the Kyle of Tongue, two miles north east of TongueTongue, Highland
Tongue is a coastal village in northwest Highland, Scotland, in the western part of the former county of Sutherland. It lies on the east shore above the base of the Kyle of Tongue and north of the mountains Ben Hope and Ben Loyal...
. It sits under the Watch Hill, looking north over a spectacular beach to the Rabbit Islands
Rabbit Islands, Scotland
The Rabbit Islands are a group of three uninhabited small islands off the north coast of Sutherland, Scotland in Tongue Bay. In Scottish Gaelic, and occasionally in English, they are known as Eileanan nan Gall, which is sometimes anglicised as "Eilean-na-Gaeil" or "Eilean nan Gaill".-Geography...
. It is one of a series of crofting townships
Township (Scotland)
In Scotland a crofting township is a group of agricultural smallholdings holding in common a substantial tract of unimproved upland grazing...
, running from Tongue
Tongue, Highland
Tongue is a coastal village in northwest Highland, Scotland, in the western part of the former county of Sutherland. It lies on the east shore above the base of the Kyle of Tongue and north of the mountains Ben Hope and Ben Loyal...
, through Coldbackie, StrathTongue, Dalharn, Blandy and Scullomie to the deserted township of Slettel that sit on the eastern fringes of the Kyle of Tongue. South of here lies the area known as Braetongue
Braetongue
Braetongue is an area in northern Sutherland just north of the town of Tongue . Runrig mentions the "hills about Brae Tongue" in the song The Summer Walkers.-References:...
.
Cnoc an Fhreiceadain
Cnoc an Fhreiceadain
Cnoc an Fhreiceadain is a seaside mountain peak in northern Scotland. It is modest in height at 312 m , but both commands the township of Coldbackie and provides dramatic views across to Kyle of Tongue, to Orkney in the east, and Arkle in the West.Cnoc an Fhreiceadain is an Old Red Sandstone...
is modest in height at 1008 feet, but offers dramatic Old Red Sandstone
Old Red Sandstone
The Old Red Sandstone is a British rock formation of considerable importance to early paleontology. For convenience the short version of the term, 'ORS' is often used in literature on the subject.-Sedimentology:...
conglomorate cliffs, and impressive views along the north coast of Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, from Durness
Durness
Durness is a huge but remote parish in the northwestern Highlands of Scotland, encompassing all the land between the Moine to the East and the Gualin to the West...
to Orkney.
Etymology
Back, the old Norse (ON) word for a hill or ridge is a quite straightforward translation (Gaelic (G) bac a bank, ON Old Icelandic (OI) bakki a ridge, Danish (D), bakke Swedish (Sw) backe a hill, hillock). There is a Back in Lewis, and a Backie in East Sutherland near Golspie. The Cold in Coldbackie is somewhat more problematical. A number of Scottish place name commentators have translated it as the G coil or cuil, meaning a nook or corner. Cuille G a wood is also mentioned. This would give us the nook or corner under the ridge or woody ridge, both accurate and descriptive.There is a problem with this approach however, in that it clearly combines a Gaelic and Norse root to form a word. This is not impossible, as there is ample evidence of place names combining words from the two languages, with Dalharn mixing the Norse word dale for field, with the Gaelic word for stones or cairn. However it is important to remember that Dal in Gaelic is a borrow word from Norse, and is therefore part of the Gaelic language. The other key issue that the place name Coldbackie is not unique to the Kyle of Tongue, with there being two Coldbacks in Shetland (in Unst and Delting) and one in NW Iceland, there is also a Culleybackey in Aintrim, north of Belfast. As there is no evidence at all of any Gaelic influence in Shetland, or Iceland, (and a very strong Norse presence in Ulster) it makes a Gaelic Norse word combination very unlikely.
As the pattern of Norse colonisation of the Shetland, Orkney, Caithness, Sutherland, Faeroes and Iceland was from Norway, through Shetland and thence North to Faeroe and Iceland (and Greenland), and from Shetland south to Orkney, Caithness and Sutherland, i.e. through Shetland rather than direct from Norway, it would seem that there is an argument for the Sutherland Coldbackie to be the same word combination as those in Shetland and Iceland.
There are a number of possibilities as to its meaning. Two obvious possibilities occur in Old Norse, Kald - Cold (the same root word for English and Scots) or Kol - Charcoal, Coal or Peat. This could give us Cold Ridge, or Peaty Ridge, both accurate descriptions. There is a problem with using Kol for peat
Peat
Peat is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation matter or histosol. Peat forms in wetland bogs, moors, muskegs, pocosins, mires, and peat swamp forests. Peat is harvested as an important source of fuel in certain parts of the world...
, as there is no evidence that this Norse word was ever used in Scotland, with peat being called Turf - ON torf in Scotland. Omand, in The Sutherland book, translates Coldbackie as kula-bakki bank with the bump, whilst Stewart, in his seminal work Place names of Shetland says that Coldbacks is Cold Hill.