Arrived on Coll yesterday, an island located west of the Isle of Mull and northeast of Tiree in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. It belonged to the Lords of the Isles having been given to Angus Og by Robert the Bruce after Bannockburn. Coll had been held by the MacDougall family of Lorne at the end of the 13th century, but they backed the wrong side when Robert the Bruce was leading his rebellion. Once he attained power he gave Coll to the MacDonald Lords, who in turn granted it to one of their supporters, John Maclean, who thus became the first Maclean Laird of Coll early in the 15th century. The family was to hold Coll for 400 years. Historically, Coll was very much MacLean territory.

I have not had much time to explore as yet – walked around the settlement of Arinagour, the main “town” of the island. Coll has a population of about 170 inhabitants but when Samuel Johnson visited on his pilgrimage through the isles in 1773 there were about 800 inhabitants. The island’s population peaked in the 19th century before experiencing significant emigration during the 1830’s and 1840’s due to economic hardship with a prominent destination being Australia.  

This tiny island bears more research which I hope to work on during the week that I am here.