Map with: Google Map, or OS Explorer Map from Streetmap.co.uk

Other Sites Within 500m

*Potential Dig  *Potential Dig  *Rock Shelter  Camas Malag Cave (Lower)  Camas Malag Cave (Upper)  Oxbow Cave  Letterbox Cave  Mud Slide Cave  Sgeinne (Uamh)  Uisge Bruthach (Uamh na h-)  Beinn an Dubhaich Rising 

 Go to the Main Scottish Cave and Mine Database Search Page

Amadan (Uamh)

Skye, Torrin, Kilbride, Allt nan Leac, Invernessshire.

NGR:NG 58545 18800
WGS84:57.19618, -5.99862
Length:12 m
Vert. Range:Not recorded
Altitude:43 m
Geology:Limestone, Kilchrist Member - Dolostone
Tags:Cave
Registry:main

Cave, dug into & explored by Mike Wood of the Gritstone Club, 25/5/1980. Entrance in stream-bed of Allt Garbhlain. c. 80 m upstream of bridge above Camas Malag Cave where water sinks only accessible in dry conditions. Tight duck at sink into slightly larger passage running north 5 m then turning back south to point close to resurgence and only 3 m from sink. Mud choked passage continues north from bend. Squalid.

Alternative Names: Amadain (Uamh), Uamh Amadan, Uamh Amadain, Fool's Cave

Notes: The (Irish) Gaelic word for Idiot or Fool. Also was used in parts of Scotland as well. From Old Irish ammatán ‎("fool, simpleton"‎); synchronically amaid ‎("foolish woman; simpleton, idiot"‎) +‎ -án ‎(masculine diminutive suffix‎).

Amadan Dubh, also known as the "'Dark Fool'" or "Fairy Fool", is a trickster fairy found in Irish folklore, and is the "bringer of madness and oblivion." It is also said that Amadan Dubh "haunts the hills after sunset playing reed pipes to work his magic."

Kilchrist Member - Dolostone over laid by Beinn An Dubhaich Granite (Skye Eastern Red Hills Centre: Phase 3) - Granite, Granophyric.

Hydrographic Feeds: Allt Garbhlain

Hydrographic Resurgences: Allt Garbhlain

Links and Resources:

This entry was last updated: 2020-10-20 11:37:37

Errors or omissions in this information? Submit corrections/additions/comments for this entry to the registrars.

All database content Copyright 2026 Grampian Speleological Group.
Web Registry software by Matt Voysey.