A Tour of Black Isle Place Names — Revealing the people, languages, values and changes over time

Sheila Currie

Victoria Hall, Cromarty

As we go about the Black Isle, do we ever wonder where our place-names come from and what they mean? This talk will take the form of a tour around the Black Isle, stopping to peer at some of the roadsigns we pass by without a thought; teasing out what these place‐names can tell us about the histories of the people who have lived here since these names were first written down. What do the names we give tell us about what was important to the people at that time? Which languages did they speak and how did the languages change? How did that change the placenames over time? Hopefully, you will come away with a flavour of the deep history of the places we whizz past in our car or vaguely notice out the bus window and may be inspired to do your own examining of the many hundreds of local placenames that I won't be able to mention in this talk.

After spells working in Archaeology, Geology, various factories, the Oil Industry, Nature Conservation and Environmental Management, being retired allowed Sheila to follow her nose and be entranced by what’s around her, including (very) amateur history research into this part of the world, where she has lived for 32 years now. She is fascinated by the people who have lived hereabouts since the glaciers receded some 12,000 years ago and what is revealed by the traces they have left.

Cromarty History Society now meets on the third Tuesday of each month, September‐April and occasionally during the summer