page_title: Hinba
section_title: Seil
hierarchical_section_title: Hinba / Possible locations / Seil
caption_attribution_description: English: Clachan Bridge, Seil, Scotland
context_page_description: Hinba is an island in Scotland of uncertain location that was the site of a small monastery associated with the Columban church on Iona. Although a number of details are known about the monastery and its early abbots, and various anecdotes dating from the time of Columba of a mystical nature have survived, modern scholars are divided as to its whereabouts. The source of information about the island is Adomnán's late 7th-century Vita Columbae.
  The islands of Eileach an Naoimh, Jura, Colonsay and Oronsay are the most likely candidates, although Seil and Canna are also possibilities.
  The origin of the name 'Hinba' appears to be Goidelic. The Hebrides remain the stronghold of the modern Gàidhealtachd and unsurprisingly this language has had a significant influence on the island names still found there. Why then would an island name vanish from the records? As a result of the Norse impact on Scotland from some point prior to 900 AD and for several centuries thereafter many of the Hebridean island names were altered or replaced.
context_section_description: The island of Seil lies to the north east of the Gravellachs and close to the mainland. Rae (2011) has suggested it as possible location of Hinba on various grounds. These include its association with Brendan, its location on an inshore trade route from Antrim to the north and its suitability for a substantial settlement. He suggests that the Muirbolcmar could refer to the Seil Sound and narrows at Clachan Bridge where the "bag" captures the rapidly flowing water that floods under the bridge and also argues for this location on etymological grounds.  Equating "Hinba" with the Gaelic Inbhir, he notes that the adjacent mainland parish of Kilninver means "church of Inbhir" and suggests that the derivation of "Seil" maybe of Scandinavian origin with similarities to the East Frisian place name Zijl or Syl meaning a "seep or passage of water". This, he proposes, could have been a Norse interpretation of Hinba/Inbhir. However, Mac an Tàilleir (2003) notes that Kilninver or Cill an Inbhir "appears to mean 'church by the river mouth', although an older form of Cill Fhionnbhair, 'Finbar's church' also appears.
  It has also been suggested that Seil may be the Innisibsolian referred to in the Chronicle of the Kings of Alba, which records a victory of the Scots over a Viking force during the time of Donald II in the 9th century. Innisibsolian is of Goidelic origin and if Solian is derived from 'Seil' as this early date it is hardly likely to have had a different Gaelic name prior to the arrival of the Norse. Furthermore, although south of Iona, Seil is not on a direct route to Iona from Ireland and there are very strong tides in this area.
caption: Fast-flowing sea water under the 18th century Clachan Bridge that links Seil to mainland Scotland
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