He is among several authors who have suggested that there has been continuity of settlement boundaries from the Iron Age through to more modern parishes – amongst them Parker-Pearson with specific reference to South Uist. The Norse period is crucical in understanding this as it was the period when Chrisitanity became a central part of the life of a community and they were the ruling elite on Uist in the 12th century.
In his excellent book ‘The Vikings in Islay’ Macniven suggests (p100) that ON borg = ‘fortification’ (amongst some other meanings) could be a place name indicative of the Norse separation of lands into administrative units. His argument is that ‘As around 90 Iron Age fortifications have been identified on Islay to date, this suggests that the semantic range of Norse borg on the island was rather more strictly defined than ‘fortification’ in general. One possibility is that these seven borg structures were once associated with central places in administrative divisions, perhaps appropriated by the incoming Norse from the displaced locals.’.
Assuming the continuity suggested above, these also could indeed have formed the basis of the earliest parish system, and so I shall refer to these areas as proto-parish hereafter. Does this apply on Uist?
The continuity between proto-parish and parish works well on Barra with Borve, on South Uist with Dalaborg (ON bala borg = ‘fort of the valleys’) in the Kilpheder parish and using Blaeu’s spelling of Loch Druidebeag, Loch Truriburg, in the Howmore parish (as suggested to me by Dr Sofia Evemalm-Graham) and with Borgh on Benbecula.
The root of Druidebeag/Truriburg is a bit of a puzzle. It is not easy to see how the /r/ has become /d/. One option is ON drjúg borg = ‘substantial fortification’ although ON drjúgt virki = ‘substantial stronghold’ could be better. ON trúrri borg = ‘believing stronghold’ is an alternative. A final option which is further away pheonetiucally is from Rygh who in his Elements lists ON drög/drag with a variety of meanings including 'Place where you drag boat over an isthmus, in order to save one route around a Nes, or through a sound' after being mangled by Google Translate. Dragvik occurs as an element of over 30 place names in Norway and over 400 starting with a bare ‘Drag’. The genitive 's' comes and goes, being present sometimes and not others. Geographically this would work well nut is less close pheonetically..
It is interesting to note that for most of these places that the ON borg place names of the proto-parish are not always in the same place as where we now think of as the ecclesiastical centre of the parish.
North Uist proves more intractable. As names possibly including ON borg, we have Loch Portain, Boraraigh, Bhorogaigh, An Linne Bhorasdal and on Berneray, Borgh. These are shown on the map below.
In the name An Linne Bhorasdal on Vallay, the ON borg element is the specific and therefore a lesser marker and could refer to the dùn site near Teampull Mhuir rather than to a ON borg settlement.
In Medieval times North Uist would appear to be divided into two very unequal parishes, with the division running along between the top of Loch nam Madadh and the shore by Orasaigh, marked on the map above.
.The current parish centre is at Kilmuir on the western edge of the main island. To the south of this , Illeray, stems in my view from ON heilagr ey = ‘holy island; and the nearby Bhorogaigh (from ON borg ey = ‘fort island’) provides the secular counterpoint. The Hebridean Connection, which records the oral traditions of North Uist, writes that there was a Norse fort on this island at around the time of Amy Macruari, 14th C. ‘Murdoch son of the Lord of the Isles arrived on the scene and he built a large stronghold on Fort Isle on the site of the earlier stronghold by the Norsemen.' This would be c1400.
As an aside, it is worth ocnsidering the following pairs of place:Boreray and Pabbay; Bhorogaigh and Illeray (ON heilagr ey = 'holy island'?); Dalaborg and Pabaigh. All are a combination of palces where the secular and the ecclesiatical are represented in relativley adjacent place-names. A conicidence?
The names Boraraigh, Borogaigh and indeed Boraraigh in the St Kilda archipelago must share the words ON borg = ‘stronghold’ and ON ey = ‘island’. Borogaigh is however subtly different as the root would appear to be a bare ON borg as opposed to the other two which appear to stem from the genitive form ON borgar (= ‘of the stronghold’). Therefore in the Boraraigh name, the ON borg element is the specific and as above, probably not indicative of referring to the centre of a proto-parish. Borogaigh however could indicate a close-compound where the first element is of greater importance.
On this basis, I suggest the Borogaigh is indicative of a focus of settlement of a proto-parish whilst the latter two are not. On this basis and lacking a ON borg name for the northern parish, I’d suggest the Berneray Borgh name is one. By including Berneray and Pabbay in this proto-parish, then the issue of the very different size is somewhat addressed. It might also help address the long confusion over the ownership of the northern section of North Uist, which has always had strong ties with Harris.
Harris itself provides the next proto-parish to the north with Borve on the W coast of the island [and nearby Paible on Taransay]. I am significantly less familiar with Lewis but Borve would appear to provide a centre for the parish of Ness, Broker a (remote and would disagree with Cox's interpetation of ON brokkur) possibility for the parish of Eye [Bayble nearby] , Bragar for the parish of Barvas and possibly Borranais for the parish of Uig. [Further reflection suggests A' Bheirigh might be a better option with the bonus of two adjacent Pabaigh islands. It is however not Cox's interpretation as o>e is not regular. The presence of a brocvh there however mightr persuade me otherwise.]
[Further thought leads me to suggest that Allt nam Brog, a stream running through Stornoway woods adjacent to Lewes Castle provides a better option for the borg name of the Eye parish. As far as I can see it first appears in the cartographic history as Burn of Altnabrog in 1785 and tihs form would inidicate that themeaning has been lost and so the name was older still. On this map Seaforth Lodge appears on the site of the modern day Lewes Caslte as a significanlty less grand building, This reuse of sites tends to be a Hebridean tradition anbd could go right back to an Iron Age dún, since heavily built over.]
Overall then there is a case to be made that of the earlier parishes on the Outer Hebrides, all contained a place name with the element ON borg. This does seem quite a coincidence, if coincidence is what it is!.
I've been thinking a little about Skye too. In Origines Parochiales Scotiae, there are eight parishes listed. These are listed below with a possible borg place-name within them.
Without knowing the area, it is difficult to comment on the reality of these suggestions.
Sleat Barabhaig
Strath Boreraig?
Rasay Dun Borodale/Brochel
Kilmuir Brogaig
Uig Borgh na Sgiotaig
Snizort Borve
Bracadale Bracadale
Duirinish ` Boraraig