Bunessan

For the tune, see Bunessan (hymn tune).

Bunessan (Scottish Gaelic: Bun Easain), meaning "bottom of the waterfall",^[2] is a small village on the Ross of Mull, a peninsula in the south-west of the Isle of Mull, off the west coast of Scotland. The settlement is at OS grid reference NM382217,^[3] within the parish of Kilfinichen and Kilvickeon,^[4] and is situated on the A849,^[5] at the head of a cove at the southern end of Loch na Làthaich.

Bunessan Scottish Gaelic: Bun Easain
Bunessan village viewed from the road to Fionnphort
Bunessan Location within Argyll and Bute
Population	107 (1961)
OS grid reference	NM381217
Civil parish	Kilfinichen and Kilvickeon
Council area	Argyll and Bute
Lieutenancy area	Argyll and Bute
Country	Scotland
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	ISLE OF MULL
Postcode district	PA67
Dialling code	01681
Police	Scotland
Fire	Scottish
Ambulance	Scottish
UK Parliament	Argyll, Bute and South Lochaber
Scottish Parliament	Argyll and Bute
Bunessan Lighthouse Eileanan Liathanaitch Gray Islands
Coordinates	56.342770°N 6.272858°W / 56.342770; -6.272858
Constructed	1901 (first)
Construction	metal skeletal tower
Automated	2001
Height	5 metres (16 ft)
Shape	quadrangular tower with aluminium panels as daymark
Markings	white tower
Operator	Northern Lighthouse Board[1]
First lit	2001 (current)
Deactivated	2001 (first)
Focal height	12 metres (39 ft)
Range	8 nmi (15 km; 9.2 mi) (white), 6 nmi (11 km; 6.9 mi) (red)
Characteristic	Fl WR 6s.
List of places UK Scotland 56.316°N 6.235°W / 56.316; -6.235

Community

In 1961^{[needs update]} it had a population of 107.^[4] A village hall is used for dances throughout the year. The primary school for the Ross of Mull is found in Bunessan.

Economy

Business has included crofting, a mill (now home to the Ross of Mull Historical Centre), weaving and a small fishing fleet, up to the end of the 20th century. The village still has a lobster fishery.^[6]

Bunessan village has one grocery shop and a craft shop.

It also has one hotel, The Bunessan Inn (previously named Argyll Arms)^[7] (the only pub in the area). It claims to have been established over three centuries ago (the exact date is unknown). The earliest record of the inn was in 1773 when Dr Samuel Johnson and James Boswell, on their way to the isle of Iona, stopped at the inn in search of rum or brandy; but upon asking the innkeeper they found that the supplies were empty due to a funeral a few days before.^[8][9] The building, which is Category C listed, is described by Historic Environment Scotland as dating from c. 1800 with mid-1960s extensions.^[7]

Hymn tune

Main article: Bunessan (hymn tune)

Mary Macdonald (Màiri Dhòmhnallach) from the nearby crofting community of Ardtun used a traditional local melody for her Scottish Gaelic Christmas carol titled Leanabh an Àigh. In the 1880s Lachlan Macbean translated the text as "Child in the Manger" and called the air "Bunessan". The tune was reused in the 1930s for the hymn "Morning Has Broken".

Lighthouse

Bunessan lighthouse is located on a skerry of Gray Island in the entrance to Loch na Làthaich and the harbour of Bunessan. The present lighthouse is a metal skeletal tower covered by white aluminium panel as a daymark and the light on the top. The light emits a white or red flash, depending on the direction every six seconds.

See also

• List of lighthouses in Scotland
• List of Northern Lighthouse Board lighthouses