Tha na h-uibhir de dh’ainmean-àite le ‘Eilrig’ a’ dearbhadh far an robhar a’ sealg nam fiadh / The Scottish landscape abounds in ‘Eilrig/Elrick’ place-names, commemorating great hunts of the past.

Eilrigean – Comharraidhean de Shealg nam Fiadh

Ann am pàipear a chaidh a lìbhrigeadh do Chomunn Gàidhlig Inbhir Nis ann an 1895, sgrìobh Teàrlach MacFhearghais mu shealg mhòr fhiadh a chumadh airson Rìgh Seumas VI anns an Lùnastal 1582 ann am monadh Shrath Àrdail agus Athall: ‘Bha cruinneachadh mòr de luchd nam fineachan ann ro làimh, mar a b’ àbhaist, airson fèidh iomain a-steach bho na ceàrnaidhean timcheall. B’ e an t-àite-cruinneachadh, dhan robh na fèidh air an iomain, an Eilrig ann am monadh Doire nan Eun … a bh’ air a bhith airson ùine mhòr mar fhear de na prìomh àiteachan-seilg ann an Athall.’

Càrn Eilrig ann an Rat Mhurchais, Am Monadh Ruadh / Càrn Eilrig in Rothiemurchus, the Cairngorms.

Bha fios aig MacFhearghais gun tuigeadh an luchd-èisteachd aige am facal eilrig. Ge-tà, a dh’aindeoin ’s gu bheil e an ìre mhath cumanta air mapaichean na h-Alba, ’s iomadh duine an-diugh, a thogas a shùilean chun nam beann, nach bi eòlach air. O thùs, bha an dreach erelc air an fhacal, agus bha a’ chiall ‘feall-fhalach’ air. Tro fhuaim-iomlaid, chaidh atharrachadh gu elerc, agus ’s ann mar sin a nochdas e ann an Leabhar Dheir anns an dàrna linn deug. Mu dheireadh, ghabh e an dreach eileirg, eleirig agus eilrig ann an Gàidhlig, an dèidh nam meadhan-aoisean.

Tha eilrig a’ ciallachadh àite dham biodh fèidh air an iomain, le fir agus coin, airson am marbhadh le boghaichean is saighdean. ’S e gnothach fuilteach a bh’ ann, nach robh mar spòrs an latha an-diugh, ach bha am fiadh na ghoireas air leth cudromach do na seann Ghàidheil – airson biadh, aodach is iomadh rud eile, agus ’s iongantach mura robh an gnothach gu math mòr ann an clàr-bliadhna an t-sluaigh. Ann an cuid de dh’àiteachan, leithid Gleann Moireasdan, far a bheil druim air a bheil An Elric air mapaichean, agus Gleann Tromaidh anns a’ Mhonadh Ruadh, thathar a’ dèanamh ceangal eadar an t-àite agus na Fianna.

Little Elrick (An Eilrig Bheag), Bràigh Mhàrr. Faisg air làimh, tha Meikle Elrick (Eilrig Mhòr) agus Tom na h-Eilrig – àite ainmeil airson sealg! / Little Elrick, north of Braemar. Close by is Meikle Elrick (both are reinterpretations of older Gaelic names). In the same vicinity is Tom na h-Eilrig ‘the hillock of the deer trap’, which retained its Gaelic name.

Am measg iomadh eisimpleir de dh’ainmean-àite le eilrig, tha Meall na h-Eilrig (ann an co-dhiù dà àite), Càrn Eilrig agus Lòn na h-Eilrig. Ann an sgìre Mhàrr, tha Tom na h-Eilrig agus, anns an aon nàbachd, tha dà bheinn eile làimh ri chèile, air a bheil Meikle Elrick agus Little Elrick, a’ sealltainn dreach an fhacail ann an Albais. ’S iongantach mura robh Eilrig Mhòr agus Eilrig Bheag air an dà bheinn sin uaireigin, ach chan eil sin clàraichte. Chan eil e coltach gun deach am facal Gàidhlig a-steach a dh’Albais mar fhacal-iasaid, agus gun tàinig na h-ainmean-àite le Elrick agus Eldrick ann an àiteachan mar Ghall-Ghàidhealaibh agus Siorrachd Obar Dheathain (anns an deach Leabhar Dheir a sgrìobhadh) gu dìreach bho thùs-ainm Gàidhlig. Cia mheud duine a thadhlas air Pàirc Dhùthchail Elrick Hill ann an Obar Dheathain a thuigeas gu bheil iad ann an seann dùthaich nan Gàidheal, far an robhar a’ sealg nam fiadh?!

A dh’aindeoin na th’ ann de eilrigean agus elricks air mapaichean na h-Alba, is cinnteach gun robh na h-uibhir eile ann nach robh air an clàradh. Tha Teàrlach MacFhearghais ag ràdh, ‘mar dhearbhadh air an uiread de shealg a bh’ ann an Srath Àrdail anns an t-seann aimsir, faodaidh mi innse dhuibh gun do dh’inns bràthair mo mhàthair, Raibeart Foirbeis (aig an robh eòlas thar chàich air a’ mhonadh an sin) dhomh gun robh e eòlach air dusan eilrig anns a’ mhonadh os cionn Cill Mhìcheil.’ Cumaibh ur sùilean fosgailte airson eisimpleirean de dh’eilrigean an ath thuras a tha sibh a-muigh anns a’ mhonadh air a’ Ghàidhealtachd no air a’ Ghalltachd.

Elrig above Strathardle, Perthshire – one of twelve ‘elricks’ recognised in the area at one time.
An Eilrig, Srath Àrdail, Siorrachd Pheairt. Bhathar a’ dèanamh gun robh dusan ‘eilrig’ ann an sgìre Chìll Mhìcheil aig aon àm.    Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland

Eilrigean – Landscape Reminders of Great Deer Hunts

In an 1895 paper about Strathardle in Perthshire, Charles Fergusson tells us of a royal hunt held for King James VI in August 1582 in the hills of Strathardle and neighbouring Atholl: ‘There was a great gathering of clansmen beforehand, as usual, to gather in the deer etc from the surrounding districts. The great meeting-place, to which all the deer were driven to, was at the hill of Elrick, on Dirnanean Moor, which hill, as its name indicates, had been for ages before one of the noted hunting-places of Athole [sic].’

Fergusson knew that his audience, the Gaelic Society of Inverness, would understand the relevance of the word Elrick to the hunting of deer, but, despite the word’s relative abundance on the Scottish landscape, it is likely that many modern users of our mountain country do not fully appreciate the term or what it represents. The Gaelic form is usually eilrig, and the Strathardle example is given as Elrig on OS maps. However, the ancient form of the word was erelc, meaning an ‘ambush’. It underwent a process called metathesis (a swapping of consonants) to become elerc in the 12^th century Book of Deer, and finally eileirg, eileirig and eilrig in modern Gaelic.

Looking across Lòn na h-Eilrig ‘the damp meadow of the Eilrig’ from the slopes of An Eilrig, Aberchalder Forest / Sealladh thar Lòn na h-Eilrig bho chliathaich beinne ris an canar An Eirlig, Frìth Obar Challadair.

The reference to an ambush is important, because the word, as a landscape term, came to mean a space into which herds of deer would be driven by men and dogs, and then killed, usually with bows and arrows. It was a bloody affair and not a sport as we might recognise it today, but it was a means of sourcing animal protein and supplying other parts of a deer’s carcase that were useful to humans – and perhaps even a throwback to the distant practices of a hunter-gatherer past. Being a communal activity, where success depended on all parties playing their role, it probably also made a contribution to social cohesion. In some places, such as in Glenmoriston, where there is a ridge called An Elric on the OS maps, the place is connected to the great hunts of the mythological Fianna.

Examples of place-names which contain eilrig are Meall na h-Eilrig ‘the hill of the deer trap’, Càrn Eilrig ‘deer trap hill’ and Lòn na h-Eilrig ‘the damp meadow of the deer trap’. Near Braemar there is Tom na h-Eilrig ‘the hillock of the deer trap’ and two other hills, adjacent to each other, called Meikle Elrick and Little Elrick, which show a Scots form of what was probably an original Eilrig Mhòr and Eilrig Bheag. The Gaelic word does not appear to have gone into Scots as a loan, so it is likely that the many Elrick and Eldrick names in places like Galloway and Aberdeenshire (the latter being where the Book of Deer was written) have a direct link back to a Gaelic original. How many people who visit the Elrick Hill Country Park in Aberdeen are aware that they are on ancient Gaelic deer-hunting territory?!

Despite the considerable number of eilrigean or elricks in our landscape, there are likely to have been many more that have gone unrecorded. Charles Fergusson says that as ‘proof of what a hunting country Strathardle must have been in olden times, I may mention that my late uncle, Robert Forbes (than whom none better knew these hills), told me that he knew twelve elrigs in the district above Kirkmichael.’ Keep your eyes open for these fascinating landscape names next time you are out in the hills and glens of both Highland and Lowland Scotland.