What is "catacol"

Catacol is a small village on the Isle of Arran, Scotland. It is located on the north west side of the island, just a few miles along the coastal road from Lochranza at the foot of Glen Catacol, a steep-sided valley. It derives its name from Old Norse, referring to the 'gully of the cat'.

Catacol's main feature is the row of cottages called the 'Twelve Apostles'. They were built to house those people cleared from the surrounding countryside, when much of the interior of the island was set aside for deer. The theory was these former farmers would turn to fishing, and with this in mind, each of the twelve cottages had a differently shaped first floor window. This would allow the woman of the house to signal by placing a candle in the window to her husband out while he was out fishing in the Firth of Clyde. The husband would know who was being signalled by the shape of the window. In reality, most of the dispossessed moved away to other parts of the island in protest against their eviction.

The village also houses a hotel, the Catacol Bay Hotel, behind the shore opposite the peninsula of Kintyre.