General view of the Harbour from North.

Description General view of the Harbour from North.

Date c. 1898

Collection Papers of Erskine Beveridge, antiquarian, Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland

Catalogue Number AG 1398

Category Photographs and Off-line Digital Images

Copies SC 740711

Scope and Content Arinagour, Coll, Argyll & Bute Arinagour, a tiny settlement of trim whitewashed cottages on the south-west tip of the inlet of Loch Eatharna, is the only village and harbour on the island of Coll. The village was photographed c.1898 by the Victorian photographer, Erskine Beveridge. The village, a line of early 19th-century harled or painted rubble cottages on boulder footings, is set against a bleak landscape of weathered rock outcrops. Most of the cottages were built by Maclean, laird of Coll, in an attempt to modernise the island. The rubble-built pier, constructed c.1843, served as a jetty for local fishing boats and a landing stage for small boats transferring goods, mail and passengers from steamers berthed offshore. In the late 19th century the main industries on the island were farming and fishing. The island raised Ayrshire dairy cattle and as a result produced the famous Coll cheese, a favourite on the menu of the House of Commons dining room at Westminster until the collapse of the dairy industry at the start of World War I. Most of the fish caught were ling, long marine fish that were salted and dried, and this was an important island industry until the stocks were depleted by fishing vessels. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

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