The Small Isles (
Until 1891, Canna, Rùm and Muck belonged to the county of Argyll,[ "Argyll". Vision of Britain. University of Portsmouth. Retrieved 30 May 2020.] while Eigg belonged to Inverness-shire. In that year, the entire archipelago was transferred to Inverness-shire. They now belong to the Highland council area.
Name
"Small Isles" is the name of the coterminous civil parish and former Church of Scotland parish,
[Haswell-Smith, Hamish (2004). The Scottish Islands. Edinburgh: Canongate. . p. 134] originally created in 1726 from part of
Sleat parish, the balance of which lies on the much larger island of Skye. The original name of the new parish was Eigg or
Short Isles. "In process of time the name was by an easy transition changed from 'Short' to 'Small' Isles."
[Donald McLean "Small Isles, County of Inverness", Old Statistical Account of Scotland, Vol. XVII, 1796] The islands are not especially small,
with Rùm being the 15th largest in Scotland. The Gaelic name of
Na h-Eileanan Tarsainn translates as "cross isles", referring to the islands' position between
Morar and
Uist.
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]
Geography
The four main islands are: Canna, Rùm, Eigg and Muck. The largest is Rùm, with an area of .[Haswell-Smith, Hamish (2004). The Scottish Islands. Edinburgh: Canongate. . p. 138]
Smaller islands surrounding the main four include:
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Sanday, separated from Canna by a narrow tidal island;
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Eilean Chathastail, near Eigg and
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Eilean nan Each (Horse Island), near the north coast of Muck ()
There are also a number of skerry:
Demographics
According to the 2011 census, the total population of the Small Isles was 153. Five of the islands are inhabited: Eigg (83), Muck (27), Rùm (22), Canna (12) and Sanday (9).
The inhabited islands are in contrasting forms of ownership: Canna (along with the tidally linked Sanday) is owned by a national conservation charity, the National Trust for Scotland;
Transport
A Caledonian MacBrayne ferry, , links the Small Isles to each other and to the mainland port of Mallaig. The ferry runs a daily service, calling at different islands depending on the day of the week; there are two calls at certain islands on each day to allow for day visits to and from each island.[ Caledonian MacBrayne: Ferries of the Clyde, Highlands and Islands. Ships Illustrated. Special Issue No. 11. . p. 74.] however visitors are not normally permitted to bring vehicles to the Small Isles.
Nature and conservation
The Small Isles are all important for their wildlife,
Around of the waters around Rùm, Canna and the low-lying rocky islet of Oigh-sgeir have been designated as the Small Isles Nature Conservation Marine Protected Area (NCMPA). Of particular note is that this area holds the UK's only known colony of Atrina fragilis.
The islands and surrounding sea area together form the Small Isles national scenic area, one of the forty such areas in Scotland, which are defined so as to identify areas of exceptional scenery and to ensure its protection from inappropriate development.
Footnotes
External links
