A' Chùli

A' Chùli

Scottish Gaelic name	A' Chùli
Meaning of name	The retreat[1]
View from the summit with Garbh Eilean at right and Mull in the distance
Location
A' Chùli A' Chùli shown within Argyll and Bute
OS grid reference	NM653111
Coordinates	56.234°N 5.787°W / 56.234; -5.787
Physical geography
Island group	Garvellachs
Area	20 ha (49 acres)
Highest elevation	45 m[2]
Administration
Council area	Argyll and Bute
Country	Scotland
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Demographics
Population	0[3]

A' Chùli is an uninhabited island in the Garvellachs in the Firth of Lorn, in the council area of Argyll and Bute, Scotland.[4] It is 20 ha (49 acres) in extent[5] and lies between Garbh Eileach and Eileach an Naoimh, the two largest islands of the archipelago. Grob nan Sgarbh, Sgeir Leth a' Chuain and Sgeir nam Marag are small skerries offshore to the southwest.[2]

A' Chùli from Garbh Eileach

An earlier name of the island was Cùil Bhrianainn meaning "Brendan's retreat"[6] and Brendan the Navigator is reputed to have built a chapel and been buried there.[1] However, no trace of the chapel is visible[7] and a similar fate appears to have befallen two unroofed buildings, thought to be shielings, recorded in 1881 by the Ordnance Survey.[8]

On 7 March 1981 a fishing boat foundered approximately 0.8 km (0.50 mi) northwest of the island.[9]

Footnotes

1. Haswell-Smith 2004, p. 69.
2. Ordnance Survey. OS Maps Online (Map). 1:25,000. Leisure.
3. National Records of Scotland (15 August 2013). "Appendix 2: Population and households on Scotland's Inhabited Islands" (PDF). Statistical Bulletin: 2011 Census: First Results on Population and Household Estimates for Scotland Release 1C (Part Two) (PDF) (Report). SG/2013/126. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
4. "Garvellachs". Gazetteer for Scotland. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
5. Rick Livingstone’s Tables of the Islands of Scotland (pdf) Argyll Yacht Charters. Retrieved 12 Dec 2011.
6. Watson 1926, pp. 81–82.
7. Historic Environment Scotland. "Garvellachs, Culbrandan, A' Chuli (22375)". Canmore. Retrieved 17 August 2024.
8. Historic Environment Scotland. "Garvellachs, A' Chuli (22378)". Canmore. Retrieved 17 August 2024.
9. Historic Environment Scotland. "Enterprise: Atlantic (294627)". Canmore. Retrieved 20 August 2024.

• Haswell-Smith, Hamish (2004). The Scottish Islands. Edinburgh: Canongate. ISBN 978-1-84195-454-7.
• Watson, William J. (1926). The History of the Celtic Place-Names of Scotland (2005 reprint by Birlinn ed.). Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood and Sons.

56°14′04″N 5°47′15″W