Darroch Learg - Gaelic Meaning

One of the questions most asked by visitors to Darroch Learg is “What does the name mean?”. It’s a little difficult to pronounce but it’s the original name - and is very appropriate.

Darroch Learg and Craigendarroch, the hill on which it stands, are good examples of how descriptive the Gaelic names can be. ‘Dwelly’, the authoritative Gaelic-English dictionary, includes the following translations of the name -

Darroch - oak-tree or oak-wood.

Learg - a little eminence, a beaten path, sloping declivity of a hill, a sloping place exposed to sun and sea.

Darroch Learg might also date back to when the “Darroch Brae” would have been a “beaten path” up to Fit o’ Gairn. There are still signs of an old track along the Old Line walk beside the river. It was replaced by a road over 200 years ago soon after the first Ballater Bridge was constructed. This became the main road, replacing the road through the Pass of Ballater.

So a reasonable translation of Darroch Learg is “The Oak-Wood on the Sunny Hillside”.

Craigendarroch translated to the equally descriptive “Hill of Oaks”.