Edinbane

The Lodge Hotel

The road from Dunvegan towards Portree sweeps over moorland at the foot of the Waternish Peninsula before crossing land at the head of Loch Greshornish and bypassing the village of Edinbane.

Edinbane Hotel Gesto Hospital (Now Closed) Edinbane Pottery Village Cottages

Since the new road was built bypassing the village there is no need for visitors simply intent on crossing Skye to come to Edinbane at all. This has made the village a much quieter place than it used to be: now you can enjoy it without having to dodge the through traffic.

There has been a settlement at the head of Loch Greshornish since before 1600, largely based on crofting and fishing. Today the loch, curiously invisible from the village, is home to shellfish farming.

The Edinbane Shop

Edinbane is popular with those wanting somewhere quieter than Portree to base themselves when touring northern Skye. There are two hotels in the village, the Edinbane Hotel and the Lodge Hotel. The latter comes complete with the Lodge Restaurant, and the pair can be found hiding behind a stone wall near the bridge crossing the Abhainn Choishleadar as it flows through the centre of the village. Also nearby is the Greshornish House Hotel, reached along a minor road up the west side of Loch Greshornish.

A surprise in the centre of Edinbane is the ex-Gesto Hospital, white-painted like many other buildings in the village. The hospital was built here by a local man, Kenneth MacLeod who had returned to the area after making his fortune as a tea planter in the Far East. Sadly it is now boarded up, presumably looking for a new use.

Hiding amongst large trees near the edge of the village is the Edinbane Pottery, complete with its wood-fired kilns and attractive craft shop.

If you are heading west towards Dunvegan from Edinbane, look out for the junction with the single track B886 on your right, at the memorably named Fairy Bridge. This leads north to Lusta, Trumpan and the other small settlements that punctuate the Waternish Peninsula. Trumpan found its place in history as the site of two separate massacres on a single day in May 1578.

It helps to understand the background. In 1577 some 395 MacDonalds on the Isle of Eigg were killed by raiding MacLeods from Skye. The MacLeods lit a fire in the entrance to the cave in which the MacDonalds were hiding and suffocated them. On the first Sunday in May 1578, MacDonalds from Uist arrived in Ardmore Bay and caught the local population of MacLeods celebrating mass in Trumpan Church. In an act of revenge for Eigg they barred the door of the church and set fire to the thatched roof. All but one of the MacLeods were killed.

The girl who escaped managed to get word of the attack to Dunvegan. More MacLeods quickly arrived in force, capturing the MacDonalds' galleys stranded by the retreating tide in Ardmore Bay. They then unfurled the Clan's Fairy Flag and attacked and killed the raiding party. The dead MacDonalds were lined up next to a turf dyke or wall, which was pushed over on top of their bodies. For this reason the Battle of Trumpan is also sometimes called the Battle of the Spoiled Dyke.