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Portree Port Rìgh, pronounced  is the largest town on, and capital of, the Isle of Skye in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. It is the location for the only secondary school on the island, Portree High School. Public transport services are limited to buses. Portree has a harbour, fringed by cliffs, with a pier designed by Thomas Telford.

Attractions in the town include the Aros centre which celebrates the island's Gaelic heritage. Further arts provision is made through arts organisation ATLAS Arts, a Creative Scotland regularly-funded organisation The town also serves as a centre for tourists exploring the island.

Around 939 people (37.72% of the population) can speak Scottish Gaelic.

The A855 road leads north out of the town, passing through villages such as Achachork, Staffin and passes the rocky landscape of the Storr before reaching the landslip of the Quiraing.

The current name, Port Rìgh translates as 'king's port', possibly from a visit by King James V of Scotland in 1540. However this etymology has been contested, since James did not arrive in peaceful times. The older name appears to have been Port Ruighe(adh), meaning 'slope harbour'.

Prior to the 16th century the settlement's name was Kiltaraglen ('the church of St. Talarican') from Gaelic Cill Targhlain.

Archaeological investigations in advance of construction of a housing development in 2006–2007, by CFA Archaeology, uncovered evidence of occupation of Portree from the Early Bronze Age to the Medieval period (the earliest radiocarbon date was 2570BC and the latest was AD 1400). They also found stone tools that indicated people were in the area in the Early to Mid Neolithic, possibly as far back as the Late Mesolithic.

The archaeologists discovered the remains of timber roundhouses, a circular ditch-defined enclosure, miniature souterrains, probable standing stone sockets and an assortment of pits. While not many artefacts were recovered there was an assemblage of Beaker pottery. This was the first discovery of a site dating from the Later Bronze Age on the Isle of Skye.

The archaeologists also found evidence of the shooting range that was created in the 1800s with the formation of the Rifle Volunteer movement, (set up in 1859 to defend the country against a potential French invasion). The first official unit in Portree was the 8th Inverness-shire Rifle Volunteer Corps, formed in July 1867.

history 

In the 1700s, the town was a popular point of departure for Scots sailing to America to escape poverty. This form of use repeated during the famine in the 1840s. Both times, the town was saved by an influx of boats, often going between mainland Scotland and the Outer Hebrides, who used Portree's pier as a rest point. The town also began exporting fish at this time, which contributed greatly to the local economy.

The Royal Hotel is the site of MacNab's Inn, the last meeting place of Flora MacDonald and Bonnie Prince Charlie in 1746.

The town had the last manual telephone exchange in the UK, which closed in 1976.

Portree is considered to be among the "20 most beautiful villages in the UK and Ireland" according to Condé Nast Traveler and is visited by many tourists each year.

A report published in mid 2020 indicated that visitors added £211 million in a single year to the Isle of Skye's economy, prior to travel restrictions imposed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. This was expected to decline substantially due to the COVID-19 pandemic. "Skye is highly vulnerable to the downturn in international visitors that will continue for much of 2020 and beyond", Professor John Lennon of Glasgow Caledonian University told a reporter in July 2020.

In 2016, over 150,000 people stopped at the VisitScotland centre in Portree, a 5% increase over 2015. Overcrowding during peak season was a problem, however, before the pandemic, since it is "the busiest place on the island". One news item recommended that some tourists might prefer accommodations in quieter areas such as Dunvegan, Kyleakin and the Broadford and Breakish area.

The 2020 reports did not cover tourism in Portree specifically but a December 2018 report by well-known travel writer Rick Steves had recommended the village as "Skye’s best home base" for visitors. He indicated that Portree "provided a few hotels, hostels and bed-and-breakfasts in town, while more B&Bs line the roads into and out of town". The tourism bureau added that visitors would appreciate the "banks, churches, cafes and restaurants, a cinema at the Aros Centre, a swimming pool and library, (...) petrol filling stations and supermarkets".

Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC Scotland and STV North (formerly Grampian Television). Television signals are received from one of the local relay transmitters (Penifiler and Skriaig).

Portree is served by nation-wide stations, BBC Radio Scotland on 92.9 FM and BBC Radio Nan Gaidheal (for Gaelic listeners) on 104.7 FM. The local radio station Radio Skye is a community based station that broadcast to the Isle Of Skye and Loch Alsh on 106.2 FM and 102.7 FM. 

The town plays host to the Isle of Skye's shinty club, Skye Camanachd. They play at Pairc nan Laoch above the town on the road to Struan.

Portree is home to two football clubs that play in the Skye and Lochalsh amateur football league called Portree and Portree Juniors.

Portree is now home to a new youth football club, Skye Young Boys. Like most of the British Isles, Portree has an oceanic climate  The nearest weather station to Portree is located at Prabost, approximately 5+1⁄2 miles (9 km) north-west of Portree.

A bothy is a basic shelter, usually left unlocked and available for anyone to use free of charge. It was also a term for basic accommodation, usually for gardeners or other workers on an estate. Bothies are found in remote mountainous areas of Scotland, Northern England, Ulster and Wales. They are particularly common in the Scottish Highlands, but related buildings can be found around the world (for example, in the Nordic countries there are wilderness huts). A bothy was also a semi-legal drinking den on the Isle of Lewis. These, such as Bothan Eòrapaidh, were used until recent years as gathering points for local men and were often situated in an old hut or caravan.

In Scots law, bothies are defined in law as:

_{a building of no more than two storeys which—}

_{(a)does not have any form of—}

_{(i)mains electricity,}

_{(ii)piped fuel supply, and}

_{(iii)piped mains water supply,}

_{(b)is 100 metres or more from the nearest public road (within the meaning of section 151 of the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984(9)), and}

_{(c)is 100 metres or more from the nearest habitable building}

Any such building is exempt from council tax and from legislation requiring registration for letting purposes.

Etymology

The etymology of the word bothy is uncertain. Suggestions include a relation to both "hut" as in Irish bothán and Scottish Gaelic bothan or bothag; a corruption of the Welsh term bwthyn, also meaning small cottage; and a derivation from Norse būð, cognate with English booth with a diminutive ending.

Mountain bothy character

Main article: List of Mountain Bothies Association bothies

Most bothies are ruined buildings which have been restored to a basic standard, providing a windproof and watertight shelter. They vary in size from little more than a large box up to two-storey cottages. They usually have designated sleeping areas, which commonly are either an upstairs room or a raised platform, thus allowing one to keep clear of cold air and draughts at floor height. No bedding, mattresses or blankets are provided. Public access to bothies is either on foot, by bicycle or boat. Most have a fireplace and are near a natural source of water. A spade may be provided to bury waste.

There are thousands of examples to draw from. A typical Scottish bothy is the Salmon Fisherman's Bothy, Newtonhill, which is perched above the Burn of Elsick near its mouth at the North Sea. Another Scottish example from the peak of the salmon fishing in the 1890s is the fisherman's bothy at the mouth of the Burn of Muchalls. A further example is the Lairig Leacach Bothy in Lochaber, not far to the east of Fort William.

Mountain Bothy code

Because they are freely available to all, the continued existence of bothies relies on users helping look after them. Over the years, the Mountain Bothies Association has developed a Bothy Code that sets out the main points users should respect:

• Bothies are used entirely at users' own risk.
• Leave the bothy clean and tidy with dry kindling for the next visitors. Make other visitors welcome.
• Report any damage to whoever maintains the bothy. Take out all rubbish which you cannot burn.Avoid burying rubbish; this pollutes the environment. Do not leave perishable food as this attracts vermin. Guard against fire risk and ensure the fire is out before you leave. Make sure the doors and windows are properly closed when you leave.
• If there is no toilet at the bothy bury human waste out of sight and well away from the water supply; never use the vicinity of the bothy as a toilet.
• Never cut live wood or damage estate property. Use fuel sparingly.
• Large groups and long stays are to be discouraged – bothies are intended for small groups on the move in the mountains.
• Respect any restrictions on use of the bothy, for example during stag stalking or at lambing time. Please remember bothies are available for short stays only. The owner's permission must be obtained if you intend an extended stay.
• Because of overcrowding and lack of facilities, large groups (6 or more) should not use a bothy nor camp near a bothy without first seeking permission from the owner. Bothies are not available for commercial groups.

The gardener's bothy

The Gardeners Chronicle of 1906 rather grandly defines a bothy as “the apartments in a garden allotted for the residence of under gardeners”. These came in a variety of sizes. An advertisement from 1880 notes “two in bothy”.At the other end of the scale was “The Royal Bothy” at Frogmore (near Windsor castle) with accommodation for 24 gardeners, and of sufficient interest to be listed in Scientific American Building Monthly. A more recent summary mentions intermediate sized bothys housing three to six gardeners.

Bothy quality varied as well as the size. Frogmore, in 1903, had not only lavatories and dining room, but included a sick room and reading room. However at the other extreme one author in 1842 reported:

The bothy is commonly a little lonely shed placed on the north side of the north wall of the kitchen-garden ; that small apartment has often to be kitchen, breakfast-room, dining-room, parlour, bed-room, dressing-room, and study, for men that deserve better accommodation. If a little of the money that is spent upon dog-kennels were employed in erecting decent habitations for journeymen gardeners, gentlemen would receive a higher rate of interest for money laid out in such a way, than they do from much of their wealth that is sent out in other directions.

Having local accommodation for gardening staff was not just a convenience but a necessity. The twelve gardeners in Baron Rothschild's bothy in France  not only worked the 6-till-6 day shift in 1880, but every day one of them was the “night guard” to look after the forty different fires. Another article notes that the gardeners had to be up every 4 hours at night to note the temperatures.

Bothy life seems to have been varied, with some of the flavour of a student residence. In some cases gardeners were fined for being untidy, and forbidden to sing. Another ex-bothy resident recalled gardeners arriving with heavy heart, having left home for the first time, but regretful years later on leaving the bothy. In “A bothy Yuletide” he describes how, despite the necessity for two gardeners to remain on duty over the holiday to bank up the fires, the others accompanied them on their rounds and “the sound of Christmas carols mingled strangely with the rattle of the shovel”. Clearly singing was not always forbidden.

Ownership

Bothies are usually owned by the landowner of the estate on which they stand, although the actual owner is rarely involved in any way, other than by permitting their continued existence, and by helping with transport of materials. Many are maintained by volunteers from the Mountain Bothies Association (MBA), a charity that looks after 97 bothies in Scotland, the north of England, and Wales.

The location of these bothies can be found on the Mountain Bothies Association (MBA) website, along with information on how people can help.

 

• The song Am Bothan a Bh'Aig Fionnghuala ("Fionghuala's Bothy") is a traditional song recorded by the Bothy Band in 1976.
• Marion Zimmer Bradley used bothies as a pattern for shelters at Hellers mountains in her Darkover novels.^{[citation needed]}
• The Scottish history podcast Stories of Scotland examines bothy culture, heritage and bothy ballads in its first episode.
• The album Bothy Culture by Scottish Celtic fusion artist Martyn Bennett is named for the partying of shepherds and travellers in bothies.
•  
• Adirondack lean-to
• Bolt-hole
• Bothie (dog)
• Bothy band
• Bothy ballad
• But and ben – a simple two room cottage structure
• Byre-dwelling
• Castaway depot
• Cleit
• Crannog
• Mountain hut – building located in the mountains intended to provide food and shelter to mountaineers, climbers and hikers
• Shieling
• Vernacular architecture
• Wilderness hut – rent-free, open dwelling place for temporary accommodation, usually located in wilderness areas, national parks and along backpacking routes