page_title: Kyleakin
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Kyleakin / History
caption_attribution_description: Great Britain, Scotland, Kyleakin
context_page_description: Kyleakin is a village situated on the east coast of the Isle of Skye in the Inner Hebrides, Scotland. The village is along the strait of Kyle Akin opposite the northwest Scottish mainland town of Kyle of Lochalsh. Kyleakin is within the parish of Strath.
context_section_description: The etymology of Kyleakin is disputed. The most popular account is that the name is derived from 'Strait of Haakon' named after the King Haakon IV of Norway whose fleet moored there prior to the Battle of Largs in 1263 which ended Norwegian rule of the island. Another possible origin from Acunn, a Celtic mythological hero.
  In the early 19th century, Lord Macdonald conceived a grandiose plan for the development of Kyleakin, to be re-christened "New Liverpool". A contemporary print, intended to illustrate his plans, shows row upon row of tenement buildings but the project never came to fruition.
  The village of Kyleakin is also the site of Castle Moil, an ruined fortress built in the late 15th century. Legend states that there were much older fortifications on the site, and that it was originally built for a Norwegian princess known as 'Saucy Mary' who would charge a toll to any boat using the narrow channel by hanging a chain from the castle to the mainland to prevent unpaid crossings; she would then thank the boat's crew for paying the toll by flashing her bare breasts at them, hence her nickname 'Saucy Mary'. Her remains are said to be buried on the top of Beinn na Caillich (Gaelic for "mountain of the old woman"), the large mountain to the rear of the castle ruins. However, some local historians contest this and claim that she was laid to rest by another mountain of the same name a few miles west in the village of Broadford, so that she may forever face the land of her birth.
caption: Kyleakin – Dunakin Castle
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