Early history Following raids by
vikings, Moidart became part of the
Kingdom of the Isles, a Norwegian dependency. It was in this period that Moidart acquired its name, from the
Old Norse mod, meaning
mud, and the Norse suffix
-art, derived from
fjord; the whole name thus means
muddy loch, and refers to Loch Moidart in particular (whose name is thus
tautologous). In the late 11th century,
Malcolm III of Scotland made a written agreement with
Magnus Barelegs, the Norwegian king, which moved the border to the coast; Moidart thus became Scottish. In the early 12th century,
Somerled, a
Norse-Gael of uncertain origin, came into possession of Moidart and the surrounding region; no reliable record explains how this happened, but at some point in the 1140s,
David I of Scotland's control of the region had been eroded. In the early part of the century, in the 1130s, Somerled launched a coup in the Kingdom of the Isles, which resulted in that kingdom joining his other possessions, as a single independent state. Upon Somerled's death, Norwegian authority was restored, but in practice, the kingdom was divided; the portion containing Moidart was known as
Garmoran, and ruled by the
MacRory, a faction among Somerled's heirs. Following the 1266
Treaty of Perth, Garmoran became a Scottish crown dependency – the
Lordship of Garmoran, still ruled by the MacRory, until the sole MacRory heir was
Amy of Garmoran. At around this time,
Castle Tioram was built, in Loch Moidart, as the principal seat of the Lordship of Garmoran. Most of the remainder of the Kingdom of the Isles had become the
Lordship of the Isles, ruled by the
MacDonalds, whose leader,
John of Islay, married Amy. After the birth of three sons, he divorced Amy and married the king's niece, in return for a substantial
dowry. As part of the arrangement, John deprived his eldest son,
Ranald, of the ability to inherit the Lordship of the Isles, in favour of a son by his new wife; as compensation, he made Ranald the Lord of Garmoran. At the end of the 14th century, upon Ranald's death, his sons were still children, and Ranald's younger brother Godfrey took the opportunity to seize the Lordship of Garmoran. Also, the
heirs of Ranald's other brother Murdoch Stewart now made their own claim. This involved Godfrey's family (the
Siol Gorrie) and those of his brothers in a violent conflict, although it is not well-described in surviving records. In 1427, frustrated with the level of violence generally in the highlands, together with the insurrection caused by
his cousin Murdoch Stewart, King
James I demanded that highland magnates should attend a meeting at
Inverness. Upon arrival, many of the leaders were seized and imprisoned. Alexander MacGorrie, son of Godfrey, was considered to be one of the two most reprehensible, and after a quick
showtrial, he was executed. As Alexander had by now inherited Godfrey's
de facto position as Lord of Garmoran, and in view of Ranald's heirs being no less responsible for the violence, King James declared the Lordship forfeit.
Lairdship grants In 1469, James' grandson (
James III) granted
Lairdship of the lands of Garmoran and Uist to
John, the Lord of the Isles. In turn, John passed it to his own half-brother,
Hugh of Sleat; the grant to Hugh was confirmed by
the king in a 1493 charter. The violence that led to Alexander's execution had brought the Siol Gorrie to the brink of extinction, and after Alexander's death they played no further part in Moidart's history. Unlike many other areas of Jacobite sympathy, no attempt was made to establish a
military road into Moidart, and it remained without road access until the
A861 was built, in 1966 (after receiving approval in 1963). Prior to that, other than a rough footpath, it could only be accessed by a ferry running between
Lochailort (at the north of Moidart) and
Glenuig (in the west). It wasn't until 1988 that it became possible for residents to have a connection to the mains electricity supply. The remoteness ensured the persistence both of Catholicism, despite the
Scottish Reformation, and of the
Gaelic language. The area remained strongly Gaelic-speaking until the mid 20th century – in the 1881 census, around 90% of the population were able to speak Gaelic and over a third unable to speak English, though by 2001 the share of Gaelic speakers had declined to under 15% of habitual residents. The lack of connectivity before the 1960s also made the area an ideal training location for special operational units during
World War II. Several
SOE paramilitary training bases were sited in the area, and HMS
Dorlin was established at Dorlin, and used for training of
Royal Navy Beach Signals and
Royal Signals sections. ==Famous people==