Explore Argyll & the Isles through its stories
‘The Coast that Shaped the World’ website and app can help you make the most out of your time in Argyll by discovering enthralling stories about the people and culture you will encounter.
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Using the COAST app at ‘Fingal’s Dog Stone’ in Oban
The COAST App
The website and app hosts 400 stories from throughout the west coast, contributed by a team of local ‘story gatherers’ who were tasked with talking to members of their community and visiting museums and heritage centres to uncover stories important to their area but often little-known outside of it, told by those who know them most intimately.
Each story is geotagged so that people using the app can visit the places where events occurred, encouraging you to explore the stories while out and about. A walk along the Crinan Canal can be enlivened by reading a first-hand account from somebody who spent his career helping to maintain it. The story behind this taxidermy bird in the Colonsay Heritage Centre is told by the grandniece of the kind-hearted lady who cared for it, or get greater insights into community life in Kintyre by reading an account from the event organiser of how the Mull of Kintyre music festival was ‘taken interstellar’ during the Covid pandemic. Where relevant there is more information about local museums, heritage centres or monuments where you can find out more. The stories can also be explored by theme or subject, such as ‘Vikings’ ‘Shipwrecks’ or ‘Archaeology’, to make it easy to find what you are most interested in
The app also hosts recordings of some of the stories, told by professional storytellers. It makes for an atmospheric outing, to hear a story about a specific place being recounted while standing on location. Check out favourites ‘The Granny and the Whale’, a charming folklore story from Mull, and ‘The Starling and the Postbox’ about a breeding bird who made an unusual nest on Jura.
Download the COAST app for free or head to the COAST website.
Get the App
‘The Coast that Shaped the World’ app can be downloaded for free from both the Apple and Android stores. The website is at www.coast.scot. We are also on Facebook and Instagram at @coastscot.
The project is part-funded by the ERDF Natural and Cultural Heritage Fund administered by NatureScot, with additional funding from UHI West Highland and CALMAC.