Mugeary

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Mugeary (Scottish Gaelic: Mùigearraidh) is a farm or croft and former settlement on the Isle of Skye, about 4 km southwest of Portree. It sits on the north-facing slope of Stròc-bheinn, around 150 m above sea level. The Glenmore River flows nearby and joins the Snizort River, which reaches the sea at Loch Snizort Beag.

The place is best known as the first location where the basaltic rock mugearite was identified. Mugeary’s Gaelic name likely means “narrow field.” Ruins around the croft suggest there was a larger settlement before the Highland Clearances, and old field systems have been found nearby.

Glen Tungadal’s forestry lies to the south, and the upper Snizort River provides salmon and trout fishing. The climate is cool and damp, with average temperatures around 8 C and rainfall over 2,200 mm a year.

Mugeary is the type locality for mugearite, a type of oligoclase-bearing basalt that also contains olivine and apatite. It was first described by Alfred Harker in 1904. The rock is found in other parts of the world as well. In 2012, NASA’s Curiosity rover identified a rock named “Jake Matijevic” that appears to be mugearite. Nearby Glenelg, on Scotland’s mainland, lies about 40 km from Mugeary.