This is a list of the islands of Scotland, the mainland of which is part of the island of Great Britain. Also included are various other related tables and lists. The definition of an offshore island used in this list is that it is 'land that is surrounded by seawater on a daily basis, but not necessarily at all stages of the tide, excluding human devices such as bridges and causeways'.[1]
Scotland has over 790 offshore islands, most of which are to be found in four main groups: Shetland, Orkney, and the Hebrides, sub-divided into the Inner Hebrides and Outer Hebrides.[2] There are also clusters of islands in the Firth of Clyde, Firth of Forth, and Solway Firth, and numerous small islands within the many bodies of freshwater in Scotland including Loch Lomond and Loch Maree.
Many of these islands are swept by strong tides, and the Corryvreckan tide race between Scarba and Jura is one of the largest whirlpools in the world. Other strong tides are to be found in the Pentland Firth Between mainland Scotland and Orkney, and the Grey Dog between Scarba and Lunga.[2]
The geology and geomorphology of the islands is very varied. Some such as Skye and Mull are mountainous whilst others like Tiree and Sanday are relatively low lying. Many have bedrock made from ancient Archaen Lewisian Gneiss which was originally laid down 3 billion years ago, Shapinsay and other Orkney islands are formed from Old Red Sandstone, which is 400 million year old, and others such as Rùm from more recent Tertiary volcanoes[3]
The largest island is Lewis with Harris which extends to 2,179 square kilometres, and there are a further 200 islands which are greater than 40 hectares in area. Of the remainder, several such as Staffa and the Flannan Isles have achieved considerable notability despite their small size.[2]
Some 96 Scottish islands are populated, of which 91 are offshore islands. Many previously inhabited islands such as Mingulay, Noss and the St Kilda archipelago have been abandoned during the course of the past century and today only 14 islands are populated by over 1,000 people and 44 by over 100. Between 1991 and 2001, the population of the islands fell by 3 per cent overall, although there were 35 islands whose population increased. The total population of all the islands in 2001 was 99,739.[4]
The culture of the islands has been affected by the successive influences of Celtic, Norse and English speaking peoples and this is reflected in names given to the islands. Most of the Hebrides have Scots Gaelic derivations, whilst those of the Northern Isles tend to be derived from the Viking names. A few have Brythonic, Scots and even perhaps pre-Celtic roots.[2]
Rockall, is a small rocky islet in the North Atlantic which was declared part of Scotland by the Island of Rockall Act 1972.[5][6] However, the legality of the claim is disputed by the Republic of Ireland, Denmark and Iceland and it is probably unenforceable in international law.[7][8]
List of offshore islands
This is an alphabetical list of the Scottish islands including all of those with an area greater than 40 hectares (approximately 100 acres).[9]
Small archipelagos
There are various small archipelagos which may be better known than the larger islands they contain. These include:
Largest islands
| Island | Area (sq mi) | Area (km²) | |
| 1 | Lewis and Harris | 859.19 | 2,178.98 |
| 2 | Skye | 643.28 | 1,656.25 |
| 3 | Shetland Mainland | 373.36 | 968.79 |
| 4 | Mull | 347.21 | 875.35 |
| 5 | Islay | 239.21 | 619.56 |
| 6 | Orkney Mainland | 206.99 | 523.25 |
| 7 | Arran | 168.08 | 432.01 |
| 8 | Jura | 142.99 | 366.92 |
| 9 | South Uist | 135.71 | 320.26 |
| 10 | North Uist | 128.36 | 303.05 |
| 11 | Yell | 81.9 | 212.11 |
| 12 | Hoy | 55.2 | 143.08 |
| 13 | Bute | 47.2 | 122.17 |
| 14 | Unst | 46.6 | 120.68 |
| 15 | Rùm | 40.4 | 104.63 |
| 16 | Benbecula | 31.7 | 82.03 |
| 17 | Tiree | 30.2 | 78.34 |
| 18 | Coll | 29.7 | 76.85 |
| 19 | Raasay | 24.7 | 64.05 |
| 20 | Barra | 22.7 | 58.75 |
| 21 | Sanday | 19.5 | 50.43 |
| 22 | South Ronaldsay | 19.2 | 49.80 |
| 23 | Rousay | 18.8 | 48.60 |
| 24 | Westray | 18.2 | 47.13 |
| 25 | Fetlar | 15.7 | 40.78 |
| 26 | Colonsay | 15.7 | 40.74 |
| 27 | Stronsay | 12.6 | 32.75 |
| 28 | Eigg | 11.8 | 30.49 |
| 29 | Shapinsay | 11.4 | 29.48 |
| 30 | Bressay | 10.8 | 28.05 |
| 31 | Eday | 10.6 | 27.45 |
| 32 | Scalpay, Inner Hebrides | 9.6 | 24.83 |
| 33 | Lismore | 9.1 | 23.51 |
| 34 | Great Bernera | 8.2 | 21.22 |
| 35 | Ulva | 7.7 | 19.90 |
| 36 | Whalsay | 7.6 | 19.70 |
| 37 | Muckle Roe | 6.8 | 17.73 |
| 38 | Taransay | 5.7 | 14.75 |
| 39 | Scarba | 5.7 | 14.74 |
| 40 | Luing | 5.5 | 14.30 |
Highest islands
- See also List of Munros and List of Marilyns on Scottish islands
Scotland's islands include thirteen Munros (mountains with a height over 3000 feet or 914.4 metres), twelve of them found on Skye, and a total of 227 Marilyns (hills with a relative height of at least 150 metres, regardless of absolute height).[10] The following list is of all islands with a highest elevation greater than 300 metres (984 feet).
| Island | Mountain | Height (feet) | Height (metres) | |
| 1 | Skye | Sgurr Alasdair | 3,258 | 993 |
| 2 | Mull | Ben More | 3,169 | 966 |
| 3 | Arran | Goat Fell | 2,867 | 874 |
| 4 | Rùm | Askival | 2,664 | 812 |
| 5 | Lewis with Harris | Clisham | 2,621 | 799 |
| 6 | Jura | Beinn an Oir | 2,575 | 785 |
| 7 | South Uist | Bheinn Mhor | 2,034 | 620 |
| 8 | Islay | Beinn Bheigier | 1,610 | 491 |
| 9 | Hoy | Ward Hill | 1,571 | 479 |
| 10 | Shetland Mainland | Ronas Hill | 1,476 | 450 |
| 11 | Scarba | Cruach Scarba | 1,473 | 449 |
| 12 | Raasay | Dùn Caan | 1,453 | 443 |
| 13 | Hirta | Conachair | 1,410 | 430 |
| 14 | Foula | The Sneug | 1,371 | 418 |
| 15 | Eigg | An Sgurr | 1,289 | 393 |
| 16 | Scalpay, Inner Hebrides | Mullach na Carn | 1,286 | 392 |
| 17 | Boreray, St Kilda | Mullach an Eilein | 1,259 | 384 |
| 18 | Barra | Heaval | 1,256 | 383 |
| 19 | Soay, St Kilda | Cnoc Glas | 1,240 | 378 |
| 20 | Ailsa Craig | The Cairn | 1,108 | 338 |
| 21 | Holy Isle | Mullach Mor | 1,030 | 314 |
| 22 | Ulva | Beinn Creagach | 1,026 | 313 |
| 23 | Scarp | Sròn Romul | 1,010 | 308 |
Inhabited offshore islands
Freshwater islands
Jan2000.jpg)
The are numerous freshwater islands, of which the more notable include Inchmurrin, Lochindorb Castle Island, Loch Leven Castle Island, St Serf's Inch, and Inchmahome. The populated freshwater islands are:
| Island | Location | Population | |
| 1 | Inchmurrin | Loch Lomond | 13 |
| 2 | Inchtavannach | Loch Lomond | 3 |
| 3 | Moncrieffe | River Tay | 3 |
| 4 | Inchfad | Loch Lomond | 2 |
| 5 | Innischonan | Loch Awe | 1 |
Former islands
The following is a list of places which were formerly islands, but by some definitions are no longer so, due to silting up, natural processes and harbour building.
- Inchbroach, now part of Montrose harbour
- Keith Inch (not to be confused with Inchkeith), is now part of Peterhead Harbour, and hence is the easternmost point of 'mainland' Scotland.
Bridged islands
Many of Scotland's islands are connected to the mainland/other islands by bridge or causeway. Although some people consider these to be no longer islands, they are generally treated as such.
Outer Hebrides
Many of the islands of the southern Outer Hebrides have been joined to other islands by causeways and bridges. These include:
To the north, Scalpay and Great Bernera are connected to Lewis and Harris.
Orkney Islands
Similarly, four Orkney islands are joined to the Orkney Mainland by a series of causeways known as the Churchill Barriers. They are:
There are ideas being discussed to build an undersea tunnel between the archipelago and Caithness, at a length of about 9-10 miles (15-16 km) or (more likely) one connecting Orkney Mainland to Shapinsay,[11][12] although little has come of it
Shetland Islands
Several Shetland islands are joined to the Shetland Mainland:
- Burra (via Trondra)
- Muckle Roe
- Trondra
There is also a bridge from Housay to Bruray.
Skye
The Isle of Skye is connected to the mainland by the Skye Bridge which now incorporates Eilean Bàn.
Others
Various other islands are also connected by bridges or causeways, to the mainland or other islands, including:
- Eilean Donan (to mainland)
- Inchgarvie (part of Forth Bridge), thus joined to both Fife and Lothian on the Mainland.
- Seil (to mainland)
Tidal islands
There are a large number of small tidal islets in Scotland. The more notable ones include:
Places called "island" or "isle" which are not islands
Some places in Scotland are called islands or isles, but are not. They include:
| Black Isle (An t-Eilean Dubh) | Ross and Cromarty |
| Burntisland | Fife |
| Isle of Harris (Na Hearadh) | Outer Hebrides |
| Isle of Lewis (Eilean Leòdhais) | Outer Hebrides |
| Isleornsay (Eilean Iarmain) | Skye |
| Isle of Whithorn | Dumfries and Galloway |
Lewis and Harris are separated by a range of hills but form one island, and are sometimes referred to as "Lewis and Harris". Isle of Whithorn and The Black Isle are peninsulas, and Isleornsay is a village which looks out onto the island of Ornsay. There is no commonly accepted derivation for 'Burntisland' which had numerous other names in the past such as 'Brintilun' and 'Ye Brint Eland'.[13]
The name "Inch" (Innis) can mean island (e.g. Inchkenneth, Inchcolm), but is also used for dry land in a marsh e.g. Markinch, Insch.
Eilean is Gaelic for 'island'. However, Inistrynich, Eilean na Maodail, Eilean Dubh and Liever Island are all promontories on Loch Awe as opposed to islands despite their names. The Black Isle is also "An t-Eilean Dubh" in Gaelic, and Eilean Glas is part of Scalpay.
See also
Main references
- Haswell-Smith, Hamish. (2004) The Scottish Islands. Edinburgh. Canongate. ISBN 1-84195-454-3
- General Register Office for Scotland (28 Nov 2003) Occasional Paper No 10: Statistics for Inhabited Islands [3]
Citations and footnotes
- ^ Various other definitions are used. For example the General Register Office for Scotland define an island as 'a mass of land surrounded by water, separate from the Scottish mainland' but although they include islands linked by bridges etc. this is not clear from this definition. Haswell-Smith (2004) op cit uses 'an Island is a piece of land or group of pieces of land which is entirely surrounded by water at Lowest Astronomical Tide and to which there is no permanent means of dry access'. This is widely agreed to be unhelpful as it consciously excludes bridged islands. However, the large numbers of small tidal islets essentially defy categorisation.
- ^ a b c d Haswell-Smith, Hamish (2004) The Scottish Islands. Edinburgh. Canongate
- ^ McKirdy, Alan Gordon, John & Crofts, Roger (2007) Land of Mountain and Flood: The Geology and Landforms of Scotland. Edinburgh. Birlinn.
- ^ General Register Office for Scotland (28 Nov 2003) Occasional Paper No 10: Statistics for Inhabited Islands [1]
- ^ "In 1972 the Isle of Rockall Act was passed, which made the rock officially part of Inverness-shire, Scotland.", bbc.co.uk
- ^ House of Lords Hansard, June 24 1997
- ^ Oral Questions to the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Dáil Éireann, November 1 1973 Retrieved 17.01.2007.
- ^ MacDonald, Fraser (2006) The last outpost of Empire: Rockall and the Cold War. Journal of Historical Geography 32. P627-647. [2]
- ^ There are 201 islands with areas of 40 hectares or more identified from measurements provided by Haswell-Smith (2004) and in two cases (Eriska and South Walls) estimates from Ordnance Survey maps.
- ^ Munro's Tables. Scottish Mountaineering Club & Trust. 1997. ISBN 0-907521-53-3.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|name=ignored (help) - ^ Times newspaper Retrieved 28 April 2007.
- ^ The Scotsman newspaper Retrieved 28 April 2007.
- ^ Burntisland Online Retrieved 22 June 2007.