Gartnavel – Gart an Abhaill – The Apple Orchard Tha gart no gort ga cheangal ri ùbhlan ann an dàn bhon 13mh linn do dh'Amhlaoíbh, mac Iarla an Leamhnachd, air a dhèanamh thathas an dùil le Muireadhach Albanach Ó Dálaigh:
Mairg thréigios inn, a Amhlaoíbh an ghuirt úaine ubhallmhaoíl, giodh mór do ghnaoi ’gus do ghráin ní lór mur taoí ’gum thógbháil
Dh’fhaotadh gu bheil “an gart uaine, ubhal-mhaol” a-mach air fearann torach an Leamhnachd (far a bheil an-diugh Bearsden, Muileann Dhaibhidh is eile), oir neo dh'fhaotadh gur ainm e do dh'àit' eile cleas Gart nan Ubhal. Tha e follaiseach bhon dàn gu robh Gàidhlig air bilean nan uaislean 800 bliadhn' air ais. Is e òran molaidh a th' ann an Craobh nan Ubhal, às Ìle bho thùs agus air a thogail bhon t-seinn aig An Eòsag. Na chois tha beannachdan na grèine, na gealaich agus na gaoithe, agus buadhan neirt is torrachais mar a tha nochdadh tric ann an òrain Ghàidhlig an cois ìomhaigeachd ubhail.
The Gaelic gart or gort, is associated with apples in a 13th-century poem to Amhlaoíbh, son of the Earl of Lennox, attributed to the Irish poet Muireadhach Albanach Ó Dálaigh:
Mairg thréigios inn, a Amhlaoíbh an ghuirt úaine ubhallmhaoíl, giodh mór do ghnaoi ’gus do ghráin ní lór mur taoí ’gum thógbháil
The reference to the ‘green apple-smooth enclosure’ could refer to the fertile land of Lennox (including modern-day Bearsden and Milngavie), or it could refer to a place whose name contains similar elements to those in Gartnavel. The poem also shows Gaelic to have been a language of the nobility of 800 years ago. Craobh nan Ubhal is a praise song, originally from Islay, and learned from the singing of An Eòsag. It invokes blessings of the sun, moon and wind and attributes of strength and fertility associated so often in Gaelic song with apples.