A view of loch Erisort

An excellent walk through the village is clearly signed.

The headland is surprisingly rough and wild with rocky outcrops, gullies and cliffs with nesting seabirds and views of uninhabited islands. Shipwrecks and drownings were sadly very common, bad weather & numerous reefs on the coastline being the chief cause. ‘Brothers Reef’ is named in memory of the three local brothers after their boat was wrecked there and all drowned. Marker cairns were built on hilltops and islands to guide boats home and to act as markers for fishing grounds.

Fishing was once the main industry and staple diet in the village, which in 1928/29 had seven large boats and about 20 smaller ones in the fleet. There was a curing station and slat house on the foreshore over 100 years ago. Crofting produced potatoes and oats, seaweed and byre manure were the main forms of fertiliser used.

There is a Dun on Loch Cromore. Unfortunately, there is little now left of Dun Cromor, which was a galleried Dun or Broch, with a wide staircase of 17 steps within the southern wall, leading to an upper gallery. The causeway connecting the Dun to the shore is still visible under the water. Galleried Duns like this were built throughout the islands some 2000 years ago.

On the west of the village are the ruins of St Columba’s church on a tidal island called Eilean Chaluim Chille. This was once an important centre of religion, being cited in a report of 1549 as the main place of worship for the parish of Lochs. There was probably a church there from about 800AD, built by the followers of St Columba, who died on Iona in 597AD. The cemetery was in use until 1878. Both the Dun and Eilean Chaluim Chille are protected by Historic Scotland as ancient monuments.

The island can be reached at low tide only by a causeway from Crobeg. This is a short but interesting excursion.

Cromore Village Association