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MHG6302 - Graveyard, Cnoc Nan Righreon

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NH07NE 1 0922 7898.
(NH 0921 7898) Cnoc nan Righreon. Old Graveyard (NAT)
OS 6"map, 2nd ed., Ross and Cromarty, (1905)

'Cnoc Righ Iain' is name applied to a knoll. This knoll was at one time used as a burying-ground of which no traces are now to be seen. The name means 'King John's Knoll'.
Name Book 1875

The site falls on a heather-covered knoll but no trace of graveyard could be found.
Visited by OS (N K B) 5 October 1964

On the OS 1st edition 6 inch map sheet XLVII the following features and names are shown adjacent to the graveyard: Cnoc Righ Iain and Allt Righ Iain. "King John’s knoll" and "King John’s burn" do not make any historical sense in this context and I believe that the names are more likely to be an inaccurate phonetic rendering of Cnoc Righrean and Allt Righrean, where “righean" is the Gaelic genitive plural of “righ", a king or governor. This interepretation would render the meanings as "the knoll of kings" and "the burn of kings". So I think the 1st edition OS map made an error interpreting the phonetics, which the latest OS map has not completely corrected since, although I am not a Gaelic scholar, I cannot find any Gaelic word “righeon”; hence my conclusion that the names should be Cnoc Righrean and Allt Righrean. Although I have not been through that strath for many years I was told by a local gillie that the graves were still visible around 1980 but marked only by small white stones. <1>

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Location

Grid reference	Centred NH 0921 7898 (200m by 200m) (2 map features)
Map sheet	NH07NE
Geographical Area	ROSS AND CROMARTY
Civil Parish	GAIRLOCH

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