Torrin

infobox UK place
official_name = Torrin
gaelic_name = Na Torran
country = Scotland
unitary_scotland = Highland
lieutenancy_scotland = Ross and Cromarty
population =
latitude = 57.20
longitude = -6.02
os_grid_reference = NG5720
constituency_westminster = Ross, Skye and Lochaber
constituency_scottish_parliament = Ross, Skye and Inverness West
post_town = PORTREE
postcode_area = IV
postcode_district = IV49
dial_code = 01471

Torrin ("Na Torran" in Gaelic) is a small village which is located between Broadford ("An t-Àth Leathann") and Elgol ("Ealaghol") the Strathaird Peninsula on the Isle of Skye in Scotland. The village although very small boasts good views of Blaven and Loch Slapin. It has several houses spread out all over there is a mixture of Victorian white-washed cottages and modern flat pack houses. Torrin also has an old school now used as an outdoor centre by youth work organisations.

The "Skye Marble Railway" used to run near Torrin to get to its destination of the nearby village of Kilbride ("Cille Bhrìghde"). The Railway was a narrow gauge line running from Broadford to Elgol, not for passengers but for transporting the Skye Marble. The Railway closed in the early 1900s, however the track bed remains as a public footpath, there are also quite a few old railway remains to be seen. Skye Marble stills operates now transported by lorries.

A little out of the village toward Broadford can be seen the stark remains of the parish church of Strathaird. The church was replaced by a new one in Broadford, in the Victorian era. Since then the small Torrin church has fallen into ruin, today only the shell of the building is standing.

In 2006 [Wildgoose, M, and Birch, S. 2006. High Pasture Cave: Entrance to the Underworld?. "Current Archaeology" 205: 6] it was announced that the "entrance to the Underworld" had been discovered on the High Pasture Cave Excavations, near Torrin. A natural shaft of some 6 metres deep was discovered which led into a cave, both of which appeared to have been used between 1200 BC and 200 BC (Mid Bronze Age to Late Iron Age). After this date the shaft was deliberately backfilled with structured deposits, suggesting some sort of propitiation ritual comparable to some of the mysterious underground structures at Mine Howe on Orkney.

References

The railway ran from a Lime quarry at Suardale to Broadford pier.The ruined church half way to Broadford is called "Kilchrist" and served the local area and the cleared villages of Borraraig and Susinish. Torrin has its own church which closed in the 1970's and is now a holiday home.

External links

* [http://www.blaven.com/abouttorrin.asp About Torrin on Blaven.com]
* [http://www.elgolandtorrinhistoricalsociety.org.uk Elgol and Torrin Historical Society]