Isle Maree

It has the ruins of a chapel, graveyard, holy well, and holy tree on it, believed to be the 8th-century hermitage of Saint Maol Rubha (d. 722), a missionary from Bangor Abbey in Gaelic Ireland who founded the Celtic Church monastery of Applecross (Scottish Gaelic: Obar Crosain) in 672.

It is also traditionally said in Highland Scottish culture that anyone acting irrationally, "must be wanting a dip in Loch Maree."

The local oral tradition (still observed) commands that nothing must ever be taken from the island, be it even a pebble from the shore, lest the insanity formerly cured in past pilgrims follow the item back into the outside world.

In the 17th-century, the Church of Scotland Presbytery of Dingwall was disturbed by reports of several rituals, thought to be of pagan origin, such as the slaughter and roasting of bulls, on an island in Loch Maree, as part of the celebration of the saint's feast day.

These revolved around, some believe, an allegedly debased memory of St Máel Ruba, who is thought to have become mixed with an ancient pre-Christian cult of 'God Mourie'.