- this term was adopted into Scots from Gaelic clachan 'a village with a church'. Many places around Scotland took their name directly from the Gaelic word, such as Clachan on the Isle of Lismore, Clachan in the north of the Isle of Skye, and Clachan in Caithness. In Old Scots, clachans are often mentioned in legal documents. For example, the Muniments of the Royal Burgh of Irvine (1608) stipulates that people could be fined for the keeping of
"liquere [alcohol] in ony clachan."
The word also appears in modern Scots literature, including Anna Blair's novel, The Rowan on the Ridge (1980):
They sailed past creeks and fisher clachans where beachcombers and bairns waved them by.