Some 400 years after the name Bowmore first appeared in history books, the jury’s still out on its origins.

Some would have it that the name refers to the little black reef just outside Loch Indaal, the scene of so many shipwrecks over the years. Others believe the place was originally called Poll-mor meaning great pool, which incoming Lowlanders corrupted into Bowmore - or perhaps it derives from the Norse Bogha Mor, meaning sunken rock.

 

If truth be told, we’ll probably never know.