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Eigg ( ; ) is one of the Small Isles in the Scotland Inner Hebrides. It lies to the south of the island of Skye and to the north of the Ardnamurchan peninsula. Eigg is long from north to south, and east to west. With an area of just over it is the second-largest of the Small Isles after Rùm. The highest eminence on Eigg is The Sgùrr, which is formed from the Sgurr of Eigg Pitchstone Formation, which erupted into a valley of older lavas during the Eocene epoch.
There are numerous archaeological sites dating from the prehistoric period of human occupation with the earliest written references relating to the Irish monk Donnán who arrived on Eigg around 600 AD. Commencing in the early 9th century, Norsemen settlers established the Kingdom of the Isles throughout the Hebrides. The 1266 Treaty of Perth transferred the territories of the Kingdom of the Isles to King Alexander III of Scotland. From the late 14th century, the island became a possession of Clanranald, during which time a notorious massacre took place during a period of clan warfare. After more than four centuries in Clanranald's hands, the island was sold during the 19th century, and the new laird evicted many of his tenants en masse and replaced them with herds of sheep.
There were then a series of owners until the island was purchased by the Isle of Eigg Heritage Trust in 1997. The trust is a form of community ownership and another stakeholder, the Scottish Wildlife Trust, manages the island as a nature reserve. Eigg now generates virtually all of its electricity using renewable energy. In April 2019, National Geographic discussed the island in an online article, estimating the average number of annual visitors at 10,000.
In the north of the island are a series of sedimentary rocks of Middle Jurassic and Upper Cretaceous age. The oldest of these, and hence lowest from a stratigraphy is the fossiliferous Bearreraig Sandstone which is calcareous in nature. It is overlain by the Lealt Shale which consists of a lower and an upper grey shale (respectively the Kildonnan and Lonfearn members) separated by a thin band of algae limestone. The shale is overlain by the thicker Valtos Sandstone which contains . It is found along the east coast northwards from Poll nam Parlan and around the northern end and down the eastern side of the Bay of Laig. This in turn is overlain by the bivalve-rich limestone and shale of the Duntulm Formation and lastly the dark shales and ostracod-bearing limestones of the Kilmaluag Formation. A fossilised limb bone, considered most likely to be from a Middle Jurassic dinosaur, was discovered at a coastal exposed Valtos Sandstone Formation in 2020; it is the first confirmed dinosaur fossil to be found in Scotland away from the Isle of Skye. The Turonian (Upper Cretaceous) age Strathaird Limestone Formation is the youngest part of the Mesozoic sequence preserved beneath the unconformity at the base of the Eigg lavas and its found in a strip along the coast just west of the bay of Laig.
Both the igneous and the sedimentary rocks are cut through by a swarm of Palaeocene age dykes generally aligned NW-SE. A handful of faults are mapped on the same alignment, the two most significant ones stretching SE from Bay of Laig. A band of microsyenite stretches around the hillside southeast of the Sgùrr. Isolated pockets of peat of postglacial origin are to be found behind Bay of Laig whilst to its north are areas of hummocky moraine. occupy the whole coastal strip in the northeast of the island and the embayment behind Bay of Laig and effectively mask much of the outcrop of the Mesozoic sediments.
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The plateau in the northern part of the island, at Beinn Buidhe, drops to a fertile coastal plain on its western side, containing Cleadale, the main settlement on Eigg. At the southern end of the plain, in the centre of the island, lies the bay of Laig, known for its quartz beach, called the "singing sands" on account of the squeaking noise it makes if walked on when dry. The first written description of this effect was penned by Hugh Miller in the 19th century:
I struck it obliquely with my foot, where the surface lay dry... which elicited a shrill sonorous note... I walked over it, striking it obliquely with each step and with every blow the shrill note was repeated.
The plateau is cleaved by a central valley, stretching from the vicinity of Laig, in the north, to Galmisdale at its southeastern end, which forms the main port. Beyond the southeast coast lies the small islet of Eilean Chathastail.
Eigg was also known as Eilean nam Ban Móra - "the island of the great women".Mac an Tàilleir (2003) pp. 45-46 (Local tradition claims that the dun at Loch nam Ban Mora (see below) was once inhabited by unusually large women.) Martin Martin reported in 1703 that "the natives dare not call this isle by its ordinary name of Egg when they are at sea, but island Nim-Ban-More."
Some of the island settlement names are of Old Norse origin. Cleadale (Clèadail) may mean "valley of the ridged slope". The first element of Galmisdale is possibly a personal name. Laig may derive from "muddy bay".Mac an Tàilleir (2003) pp. 30,52,78 Grulin is of Gaelic origin, meaning "stony land".Mac an Tàilleir (2003) p. 60
Evidence for the island having been occupied in the Bronze Age includes two axes and a cache of flints, one of them being thumbnail scraper found near Galmisdale, together with significant metalworking debris. A barbed-and-tanged flint arrowhead of uncertain date was found to the south of Kildonnan.
Later in the Iron Age, the inhabitants of Eigg chose to fortify the island. Small fortifications restrict access to rocky knolls at Garbh Bealach west of Galmisdale and Poll Duchaill on the northwest coast and on the promontory of Rudha na Crannaig south of Kildonnan. More substantial duns existed at Galmisdale Point, and at Loch nam Ban Mora, the latter of which is located on an island.
On the coast at the opposite side of the island, are 16 or more quare cairns, lined up neatly into groups; they are each between square, most being bordered by a stone kerb, and some having upright cornerstones. This form of cairn is usually associated with the Picts kingdoms of the first millennium AD. The site may thus have some connection with the contemporary monastery at Kildonnan.
By the mid 13th century the Small Isles were in Lordship of Garmoran, a possession of Clan MacRory founded by Somerled's grandson Ruaidhrí mac Raghnaill. At this point the islands was nominally subject to Norway but in 1266, the Treaty of Perth transferred the territories of the Kingdom of the Isles to Alexander III of Scotland and Dubhghall mac Ruaidhrí, Lord of Garmoran, found that he had a new overlord. He, and others who had supported the Norse, had the opportunity to emigrate under the terms of the treaty and Dubhghall died in 1268, possibly in exile.
By 1337 the sole MacRory heir was Amy of Garmoran, who in that year married John of Islay, Lord of the Isles, leader of the Clan Donald, the most powerful group among Somerled's heirs. Circa 1350 they divorced and John deprived his eldest son, Ranald, of the ability to inherit the MacDonald lands. As compensation, John granted Lordship of the Uists to Ranald's younger brother Siol Gorrie, and made Ranald Lord of the remainder of Garmoran, including Eigg.
However, when Ranald died in 1386 at Castle Tioram, Godfrey seized his lands, leading to violent disputes between his heirs (the Siol Gorrie) and those of Ranald (Clanranald). In 1427 James I arrested the leaders and declared the Lordship of Garmoran forfeit. Ranald Bane MacAllan, leader of Clanranald, refused to support the rebellion of Donald Dubh against James IV. In 1505, after the rebellion was defeated, he was "now in high favour at Court". In 1520, Ranald Bane's son Dougall, the 6th chief of Clanranald, was assassinated by his own clansmen in part for his lack of opposition to the crown. Leadership of Clanranald then passed not to his sons but to the Moidart branch of the clan. In 1534 John Moidartach, 8th of Clanranald, managed to obtain from the king a charter confirming his position as laird of Eigg and Morar.
Writing in 1549, Donald Munro, High Dean of the Isles wrote of "Egge" that it was: "gude mayne land with ane paroch kirk in it, with mony solenne geis; very gude for store, namelie for scheip, with ane heavin for heiland Galayis".Munro, D. (1818) Description of the Western Isles of Scotland called Hybrides, by Mr. Donald Munro, High Dean of the Isles, who travelled through most of them in the year 1549. Miscellanea Scotica, 2. Quoted in Banks (1977) p. 190
However, serious doubts remain about the veracity of the tale. MacPherson wrote of it that "it is curious to find how difficult it is to determine its date or to decide with certainty on whom the odium of this deed should lie." The difficulties include that both Alasdair Crotach and his son Uilleam died long before 1577 and that similar stories are related about both Coll and Ardnamurchan. Furthermore, Privy Council papers from 1588 describe massacres on all the Small Isles perpetuated by Lachlan MacLean of Duart and 100 Spanish soldiers from the crew of an Spanish Armada vessel that sank off Tobermory. The idea that two such massacres occurred on Eigg within eleven years has thus been questioned.
The men of Eigg also rose and fought in both the Jacobite risings of 1715 and 1745. After the failure of the rebellion a navy vessel arrived on the island seeking one of the Clanranald officers, John MacDonald of Kinlochmoidart. After his discovery on the island all 38 surviving islanders who had served in the '45 were arrested by Captain John Ferguson. They were held on board H.M.S. Furnace and remained there when it became a prison hulk anchored in the River Thames off Gravesend, Kent. Although many died aboard the Furnace from torture, disease, or starvation, the remaining 16 were eventually transported to the Colony of Barbados and the Colony of Jamaica, to work as Redleg on sugar cane .Campbell (1971), Highland Songs of the Forty-Five, p. 39.Robert Forbes (1895), The Lyon in Mourning: Or a Collection of Speeches, Letters, Journals Etc., Relative to the Affairs of Prince Charles Edward Stuart. Volume III, Printed at the University Press by T. and A. Constable for the Scottish History Society. Pages 84-88.
Some families voluntarily emigrated to Antigonish County, Nova Scotia to escape both rising rents and crushing poverty. They settled on a high plateau near the coast of the Northumberland Strait, which they named Eigg Mountain. Meanwhile, like many other Anglo-Scottish landlords during the Highland Clearances, Ranald George Macdonald, 19th Chief of Clanranald issued orders to evict the whole village of Cleadale, and use the land for sheep; both to cover his debts and to continue funding his extremely extravagant spending.
Raonuill Dubh's son Aonghas Lathair MacDhòmhnaill took over the tack of Eigg and gained local infamy by beginning evictions from Cleadale. When severe hardships fell upon Aonghas Lathair and his family, which resulted in the tacksman committing suicide, the old people of Eigg blamed the family's misfortune on the curse that was said to have been put on them by the women whom he had evicted from Cleadale. In 1827 Macdonald found someone willing to purchase Eigg, and cancelled further evictions. After 440 years Clan Ranald rule of Eigg had come to an end.
The financial woes of the islanders were compounded by the Highland Potato Famine. Furthermore, Dr. MacPherson decided to evict his tenants en masse and replace them with herds of sheep. In 1853, the whole village of Gruilin was cleared and all but three families emigrated to Nova Scotia. One woman who was left behind never recovered from the evictions and threw herself into the sea off the cliffs. Three more villages were similarly cleared shortly thereafter.
The MacPhersons sold Eigg to Robert Thompson, a wealthy shipbuilder, in 1893. He died in 1913 and is buried on Eilean Chathastail. After being sold by Thompson's family in 1917, the island passed through various hands, including the cabinet minister, Walter Runciman, until being purchased by Keith Schellenberg in 1975. Unlike his predecessors, who had sought to use the resources of the island for their own power, profit, or leisure, Schellenberg had conservationist motives; he wished to restore its listed buildings, and preserve the natural environment.
After the death of his father Raonuill Dubh MacDhòmhnuill, the eldest son of Alasdair Mac Mhaighstir Alasdair, moved from Arisaig to become Clanranald tacksman of Laig. While serving as tacksman Raonuill Dubh collected and published the poetry anthology called Comh-chruinneachidh Orannaigh Gaidhealach, or The Eigg Collection, in Edinburgh in 1776.Digitised version of Alasdair Mac Mhaighstir Alasdair and Raonuill Dubh MacDonald's Comh-chruinneachidh Orannaigh Gaidhealach/The Eigg Collection, 1776, from Archive.org. He is believed to have drawn heavily upon oral poetry collected by his father and also upon a similar poetry collection made by Dr. Hector Maclean of Grulin.Derek S. Thomson (1983), The Companion to Gaelic Scotland, page 169. The latter manuscript contains an additional 104 pages of material, including fourteen of Tiree-born Canadian Gaelic bard Iain mac Ailein's poems in his own hand, and is now preserved in the Nova Scotia Archives.Edited by Natasha Sumner and Aidan Doyle (2020), North American Gaels: Speech, Song, and Story in the Diaspora, McGill-Queen's University Press. Pages 288-289.
Allan MacDonald collected numerous Catholic and works of oral poetry by Donald MacLeod, a seanchaidh from Eigg resident in Oban. MacDonald supplemented these with several of his own compositions and translations and anonymously published a Gaelic hymnal in 1893.Ronald Black (2002), Eilein na h-Òige: The Poems of Fr. Alllan MacDonald, Mungo Books. Page 64.John Lorne Campbell, The Sources of the Gaelic Hymnal, 1893, The Innes Review, December 1956 Vol. VII, No. 2, pp. 101-111.
Donald MacQuarrie was a resident of Grulin who became a pupil of bagpipes Raghnall Mac Ailein Òig of Morar during the latter's visits to Eigg in the late 17th century. He developed quickly and received further support from the MacCrimmon piping family on Skye, becoming known as am Piobair Mór - "the great piper".
War poet and Seanchaidh Hugh MacKinnon (1894-1972), a veteran of the First World War, composed a Gaelic lament for the fallen soldiers of the island, Ò, tha mi 'n-duigh trom fo lionn-dubh, ("I am today sad and mournful"), which is still read aloud at the Eigg War Memorial every November 11. "Eigg World War I soldiers". Chomunn Eachdraidh Eige/Eigg History Society. Retrieved 25 August 2024.
Ward, a Franciscan friar, had been sent by the Catholic Church in Ireland in order to proselytism the population of Scotland's west coast. His "chatty mission report" indicates that he converted 198 individuals and baptised 16 during his 8-day visit. (The only family not to convert were relatives of the Protestant minister of Sleat, Neil MacKinnon.) Infuriated by Ward's success, MacKinnon set off for Eigg in the company of some soldiers with the intention of arresting Ward but the islanders threatened him sufficiently forcefully to secure his withdrawal. The Clanranald bailie later persuaded him to turn a blind eye, in return for the island's tithes.
The friar was unable to reconsecrate the Chapel and it came to only be used for burials. One grave had a carved cover popularly re-interpreted as a medieval sheela na gig. Martin Martin recorded a ritual in 1703 that suggests that visiting priests were at pains to integrate traditional beliefs into their formal doctrines.
"There is a well, called St. Katherine's Well; the natives have it in great esteem, and believe it to be a catholicon for diseases. They told me that it had been such ever since it was consecrated by one Father Hugh, a Popish priest, in the following manner: he obliged all the inhabitants to come to this well, and then employed them to bring together a great heap of stones at the head of the spring, by way of penance. This being done, he said mass at the well, and then consecrated it; he gave each of the inhabitants a piece of wax candle, which they lighted, and all of them made the dessil, of going round the well sunways, the priest leading them: and from that time it was accounted unlawful to boil any meat with the water of this well."
To evade the religious persecution the British government imposed upon the Catholic Church in Scotland and which contributed to the Jacobite risings, the laity secretly and illegally attended Tridentine Mass at a Mass rock inside a large high-roofed coastal cave, which can only be accessed during low tide, now known as Cathedral Cave. Later, Catholic worship moved into "the lower floor of an old farmhouse" which remained the island's Mass house until 1910. "Massacre and Cathedral Caves of Eigg". Walk Highlands. Retrieved 23 July 2024. "Walk: Eigg caves – massacres & masses". Scotland Off the Beaten Track. Retrieved 23 July 2024.Odo Blundell (1917), The Catholic Highlands of Scotland, Volume II, pp. 198-199. In that year, St Donan of Eigg Roman Catholic Church was built in Cleadale by the Diocese of Argyll and the Isles and continues to be served by visiting priests from Morar.
Nevertheless, by then a community trust had been formed by the Highland Council, the Scottish Wildlife Trust, and a number of residents – particularly those newly moved to the island – with a view to buying Eigg from the laird. In 1997, this Isle of Eigg Heritage Trust persuaded Eckhard to sell, and bought it from him.
The ceremony to mark the handover took place a few weeks after the 1997 General Election and was attended by the Scottish Office Minister, Brian Wilson, a long-standing advocate of land reform; he used the occasion to announce the formation of a Community Land Unit within Highlands and Islands Enterprise to support further land buy-outs in the region.Between then and the 2011 census, the ordinarily resident population expanded from 65 to 83; this increase of 24 percent (six times greater than for the Scottish islands as a whole) "Scotland's 2011 census: Island living on the rise". BBC News. 15 August 2013. Retrieved 18 August 2013. was principally formed by young people who moved to Eigg to set up in business, as well as a handful of former residents returning to the island. However, by 2003, the residents' representatives on the trust's board were entirely people who had moved to the island since the trust took over.
A few longstanding residents complained that the trust focused on the new residents, while ignoring the concerns of the families who had lived on the island for generations; for example, they complained that new mains power connections, and housing provision, was given to the families of trust members, not indigenous islanders. One islander from an old Eigg family declared that the trust " is not a democracy ... it is the mafia". More recently, more positive articles have been published, showing a different picture of the island.
Eigg was featured on the American television program 60 Minutes in November 2017 and an extended feature on its companion web site 60 Minutes Overtime in July 2018.
In its 2019 coverage of the island, National Geographic provided this summary of the ownership and current situation:
"after years of neglect by the previous laird, or estate owner, the people gained ownership themselves in 1997. Now, visitors to the nicknamed “People's Republic of Eigg” contend with nothing more dangerous than negotiating walking territory with sheep or engaging in cheeky yet informative banter with Charlie Galli, the sole taxi driver and self-proclaimed 'Eigg Gazette'" ... there is a single main road ... and a single stoplight ... to alert everyone when electricity is running low ... humble attractions like the tiny post-office-turned-museum detailing island history; a wee, closet-size shed boasting handcrafted curiosities for sale by the honor system; herds of distrustful sheep; and pit stops such as “Rest and Be Thankful,” a patio tea garden open only when the sun shines.
Conde Nast Traveller particularly recommends that visitors explore the Singing Sands beach, "dark Cathedral and Massacre caves, the abandoned village of Grulin or the island's most distinctive sight, the near vertically-sided volcanic plug of An Sgùrr".
There are two ferry routes to the island. There is a sheltered anchorage for boats at Galmisdale in the south of the island. In 2004 the old jetty there was extended to allow a RORO ferry to Ferry slip. The Caledonian MacBrayne ferry sails a circular route around the four " Small Isles"—Eigg, Canna, Rùm and Muck from the fishing port of Mallaig. Arisaig Marine also runs a passenger ferry called the MV Sheerwater from April until late September from Arisaig on the mainland.
Around 2014 a beer brewery called Laig Bay Brewing was set up on the island.
In November 2017, a crew from the American television news magazine 60 Minutes visited Eigg. Its report stated that there was "one grocery shop, one primary school for five students and one pub at the tea room down by the wharf. The island's tiny electrical grid powers it all ... a combination of wind, hydroelectric and solar".
Eigg Electric generates a finite amount of energy and so Eigg residents agreed from the outset to cap electricity use at 5 kW at any one time for households, and 10 kW for businesses. If renewable resources are low, for example when there is less rain or wind, a "traffic light" system asks residents to keep their usage to a minimum. The traffic light reduces demand by up to 20 percent and ensures that there's always enough energy for everyone.
The Heritage Trust has formed a company, Eigg Electric Ltd, to operate the new £1.6 million network, which has been part funded by the National Lottery and the Highlands and Islands Community Energy Company. "Isle of Eigg, Inner Hebrides, Scotland - 2007" Wind and Sun Ltd. Retrieved 20 September 2007.
In January 2010, Eigg was announced as one of three joint winners in NESTA's Big Green Challenge, winning a prize of £300,000. Eigg also won the prestigious Ashden UK Gold Award in July 2010.
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