Forgotten Woodlands

Can linguistic clues enhance our understanding of an area's past and inspire its future potential?

Luscious woodland of 'Loch Coille Bharr' reflecting on a flat, calm loch

Introduction

Coilltean Caillte (Gaelic for 'Forgotten Woodlands') is a partnership project that has mapped over 15,000 Scottish place-names that suggest the presence of woodland. Many of the names appear in areas of ancient woodland, but others lie in open ground. Could these be the locations of long-forgotten woodlands?

Place-names can help us to read the landscape, adding an important cultural and historical context and appreciation. Along with other datasets and field surveys, these place-names can broaden our understanding of today’s ecology and how it might have changed over time. This deeper interpretation may help inform land management choices that we make today and for the future too.

In this StoryMap, we will show you what we have gathered, share some case studies, and invite you to use the open-source map for yourself.

Looking down through pine tress onto Loch Ness and its surrounding glen
Steep hillside with a few native tress growing on the slopes.
Luscious broadleaved woodland on the edge of a rocky shore.

Coilltean Caillte (Forgotten Woodlands) is a partnership project between NatureScot, Forestry and Land Scotland and Gaelic Place-Names of Scotland. It is also funded by Future Woodland Scotland and the Forest, Peat and Rural Land Management programme at the University of Edinburgh.