Portree


Portree is the largest town on, and capital of, the Isle of Skye in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. It is the location for the only secondary school on the island, Portree High School. Public transport services are limited to buses.
Portree has a harbour, fringed by cliffs, with a pier designed by Thomas Telford.
Attractions in the town include the Aros centre which celebrates the island's Gaelic heritage. Further arts provision is made through arts organisation ATLAS Arts, a Creative Scotland regularly-funded organisation. The town also serves as a centre for tourists exploring the island.
The Royal Hotel is the site of MacNab's Inn, the last meeting place of Flora MacDonald and Bonnie Prince Charlie in 1746.
The town plays host to the Isle of Skye's shinty club, Skye Camanachd. They play at Pairc nan Laoch above the town on the road to Struan.
Around 939 people can speak Scottish Gaelic.
The A855 road leads north out of the town, passing through villages such as Achachork, Staffin and passes the rocky landscape of the Storr before reaching the landslip of the Quiraing.

Etymology

The current name, Port Rìgh translates as 'king's port', possibly from a visit by King James V of Scotland in 1540. However this etymology has been contested, since James did not arrive in peaceful times. The older name appears to have been Port Ruighe, meaning 'slope harbour'.
Prior to the 16th century the settlement's name was Kiltaraglen from Gaelic Cill Targhlain.

History

In the 1700s, the town was a popular point of departure for Scots sailing to America to escape poverty. This form of use repeated during the potato famine in the 1840s. Both times, the town was saved by an influx of boats, often going between mainland Scotland and the Outer Hebrides, who used Portree's pier as a rest point. The town also began exporting fish at this time, which contributed greatly to the local economy.
The town had the last manual telephone exchange in the UK, which closed in 1976.

Football clubs

Portree is home to two football club that play in the Skye and Lochalsh amateur football league called Portree and Portree Juniors.

Climate

Like most of the British Isles, Portree has an oceanic climate. The nearest weather station to Portree is located at Prabost, approximately north-west of Portree.

Portree shale

Portree shale is a geologic association in the vicinity of Portree, the existence of which is linked with potential petroleum occurrences of commercial importance.

In fiction