Suidhe Bhreanain, Kilninver

Grid reference

NM 780 210 (general (1km))

Six-figure easting & northing

178000 721000

Latitude

56.32932549680625

Longitude

-5.591370850951012

County

Argyllshire

Nearby places

Claodh Bhreanain, Kilninver (0 miles)

Kilninver, former parish, K & Kilmelfort (2.88 miles)

St Bean's Church, Kilninver (& Kilmelfort) (2.88 miles)

Kilbrandon, former parish KBK (Seil) (2.93 miles)

Kilbrandon, eccles. KBK (Seil) (2.93 miles)

Object Classification

Relief

Is linear feature?

No

Notes

The name of this place is attested by Gillies (1902, ch. 4) but his description of it is not sufficiently precise to be able to give a six-figure NGR. The hill may be that now shown on OS maps as Beinn Mhòr (NM798215), which satisfies Gillies' description well enough (see below). On the other hand it may refer to a slighter hill, such as that which rises at NM793204 to a height of 120m. Gillies (1902, ch. 4) describes the hill of Suidhe Bhreanain as follows and makes a further connection with a place mentioned in the Aberdeen Breviary: 'Thus, on a hill overlooking Clachan Sound, known as Suidhe Bhreanain (the seat of St Brendan), there are the remains of a churchyard called Claodh Bhreanain (the burial-ground of Brendan). In the Aberdeen Breviary it is related that "Saint Brandon having sailed to the west coast of Scotland, fixed his residence on the top of a hill, whose base stretched into the sea, on the spot known as Sedes Brandani, where only one ship could enter." This description may well apply to Suidhe Bhreanain, and the narrow channel which at this place separates the parishes of Kilbrandon and Kilninver.' Nicholas Duncan Gilmour of Seil has also recorded on the eastern slopes of this hill, facing away from Clachan Sound, a stone seat carved out of the living rock at NM798206 (2008). He sought it out on the basis of a story handed down by an old woman of Seil, that there was an outcrop of rock on the hill which local tradition held to be St Brendan's Seat. We need not assume that the name Suidhe Bhreanain originally referred to this carved stone, rather than the hill. But if the story is reliable here must be some association between the two objects.

Relationships with other parishes

Within Kilninver & Kilmelfort, modern parish

Within Kilninver, former parish, K & Kilmelfort (formerly)

Relationships with other places

Contains Claodh Bhreanain, Kilninver