Craigbraneoch

• Place-name: Craigbraneoch
• Suggested meaning: craig of the place of the raven
  • Gaelic: creag ‘rock, crag’
  • Gaelic:  bran achadh ‘place of the raven’
• Location: OS Six-inch Scotland 1892-1960
  • National Library of Scotland

Craigbraneoch hill sits at the head of Glen Afton.  The hill is often called Stayamra, however this is the name of one of three rock faces on the hill, i.e. Stayamrie. The other two rock faces are Corbie Craig and Garnel Craig.

The first element of the name of Craigbraneoch is the Gaelic creag ‘craig, rock’. The second element “braneoch” is therefore also likely to be of Gaelic origin. It appears to contain the Gaelic element bran ‘raven’ . It may therefore be no coincidence that one of the aforementioned rock faces, namely Corbie Craig, also contains a reference to a raven, i.e.  Scots corbie ‘raven’.   Is the element “braneoch”  Gaelic bran achadh ‘place of the raven’? (cf. Beoch beith achadh ‘place of the birch’.)

• http://maps.nls.uk/index.html
  
• Map reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland

In other words is the name Craigbraneoch the Gaelic equivalent of the Scots  Corbie Craig? – the two names sitting adjacent to each other on the Ordnance Survey Map.

The long ridge that runs south from Craigbraneoch Hill is known as Craigbraneoch Rig.