List of outlying islands of Scotland

A map of Scotland showing physical features.
Topographic map of Scotland
A stone trigonometric point, composed of individual stones cemented together into a small structure about a metre high and with a small metal object on the top, possibly a sundial, sits at the summit of a high hill. It overlooks an ocean in which there are three distant islands. One is large, green and wedge-shaped. The other two are precipitous stacks.
Boreray and the stacks from the heights of Conachair, Hirta

The outlying islands of Scotland are not part of the larger archipelagos and island groups of Scotland—the Hebrides, the Northern Isles or the Islands of the Forth and Clyde estuaries. None of these islands are currently inhabited and few of them ever were, although Hirta was occupied from the Neolithic age until 1930 and Stroma was permanently occupied until the 1970s and thereafter by lighthouse keepers and their families until 1996. Several other outlying islands have lighthouses, none of which is still staffed.

In this list, an island is defined as "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". A complication relating to membership of this list is that there are various descriptions of the scope of the Hebrides, the large group of islands that lie off Scotland's west coast. The Collins Encyclopedia of Scotland describes the Inner Hebrides as lying "east of The Minch", which would include any and all offshore islands. There are various islands that lie in the sea lochs such as Eilean Bàn and Eilean Donan that might not ordinarily be described as "Hebridean" but no formal definitions exist and for simplicity they are included in the List of Inner Hebrides rather than here.

Main islands

A children's play area sits amid leafless trees in the foreground. Beyond is a still body of water reflecting a cloudless sky. In the middle distance is a brown-coloured marshland, with green fields and woodlands beyond that, illuminated by a sun that is low in the sky.
Mugdrum seen from Newburgh
A precipitous and cliff-girt green island is mist-shrouded near its summit but with blue skies above.
Soay, St Kilda, the westernmost island of Scotland (excluding Rockall, the status of which is a matter of dispute)
A back and white aerial image of an isolated and steep-sided rock in the midst of a stormy sea. A large wave has broken on the rock and sent fountains of white water high into the air.
Winter waves breaking over Rockall in 1943
A grey and rocky islet sits in a dark sea. Waves lash the shores and innumerable white birds sit on its upper surfaces above black cliffs. The top of a small lighthouse can be seen near the highest point.
Sula Sgeir
A rocky peninsula, whose surface is covered in white birds sits in a grey sea. The rock is heavily eroded in places and there are two large gaps in the rock with a third making an oblong window right through the structure. More birds wheel around in the air and the summit of a precipitous island lies beyond under grey skies.
The westernmost of the Flannan Isles: Eilean a' Ghobha and Roareim with Brona Cleit in the distance
Two green sun-lit islets connected by a sandy tombolo sit offshore from a beach. The skies are grey and the sea all but flat calm.
The Rabbit Islands
White birds wheel around a tall and precipitous grey sea stack that is partly covered in guano. Cliffs on the left are shrouded in mist and another stack lies further away at right.
Stac an Armin with Boreray to the left and Stac Lee beyond at right
A tall grey rocky cliff towers over dark waters. The edge of the cliff is silhouetted against a leaden sky and topped with grass, creating a shape resembling a man's face.
Stac Levenish cliff's face silhouette
A brown stack composed of a sedimentary rocks sits in dark blue seas close to a grassy island. A white bird glides between the two.
Castle Mestag, Stroma
A series of dark black rocky shapes traverse from left to right in a dark blue sea under pale blue skies. The four main structures are tall and cliff-girt and set at odd angles to one another – the shapes are suggestive of a gathering of living creatures taken from a bestiary.
Stac Biorach (at left) and Stac Soay between Hirta and Soay

There are several small groupings of outlying islands involved. The most significant of these is the St Kilda archipelago which lies 64 kilometres (40 mi) west-northwest of North Uist and is now a World Heritage Site. It is one of the few to hold joint status for its natural and cultural qualities. At 196 metres (643 ft) Stac an Armin is the highest sea stack in the British Isles and in July 1840, the last great auk seen in the British Isles was captured there.

East of St Kilda are the Flannan Isles, where all three lighthouse keepers mysteriously vanished without trace in December 1900. Further north and east are the two outliers of Sula Sgeir and North Rona, which have strong cultural links to the Outer Hebrides. North Rona is 71 kilometres (44 mi) north north east of Butt of Lewis and 18 kilometres (11 mi) east of Sula Sgeir. It is the remotest island in the British Isles ever to have been inhabited on a long-term basis. It is also closer than any other part of Scotland to the Faroe Islands. Sule Skerry and Sule Stack lie further east and are administratively part of Orkney.

The islands of the north coast are remote from the main centres of population, although they mostly lie close to the mainland. There is a small group of larger islands near Tongue Bay, but the largest on this coast is Stroma in the Pentland Firth, between Caithness and Orkney. Innis Mhòr in the Dornoch Firth is the largest of a handful of small islets off the coast of Easter Ross. Further south are Inchcape off the coast of Angus, and Mugdrum, the only substantial island in the Firth of Tay. There is a cluster of islands in the Solway Firth that marks the south western border of Scotland, including the Islands of Fleet, in Wigtown Bay.

Most of the smaller islets that surround those in the main list are obscure and none have been permanently inhabited in modern times. Nonetheless, some have a degree of historical significance. Castle Mestag off Stroma is the ruins of a once fortified stack accessible only via a drawbridge. Some islets are identified as "storm washed", meaning that although they are partly above mean sea level, large waves wash over the top of them during storms, rendering them uninhabitable.

Finally, there is remote Rockall, which is 367 kilometres (228 mi) to the west of North Uist. It is a small rocky islet in the North Atlantic which could be, in James Fisher's words, "the most isolated small rock in the oceans of the world" and which was declared part of Scotland by the Island of Rockall Act 1972. However, the legality of the claim is disputed by the Republic of Ireland, Denmark and Iceland and it is probably unenforceable in international law.

Smaller islets off the mainland

An Garbh-eilean off the north coast near Durness
A large brown rock with a striking shape lies just beyond a rock coast in a blue sea under a pale blue sky. The left hand and foreground part of the rock is wedge shaped and the sedimentary rocks it is made off are set at a 45 degree angle to the horizontal. A second part of the rock is in the shape of an arch with a thick top section and a thin downward leg. The whole structure has a strangely contrived air, suggestive of a wrecked ship.
Bow Fiddle Rock
A low-lying skerry made of dark rocks and covered with seabird droppings sits in a blue sea.
The skerry of Craiglethy – one of the few east coast islands
  • Solway Firth: Inch
  • North coast (from west to east): Stac an Dunain, Duslic, Stack Clò Kearvaig, An Garbh-eilean, Na Glas Leacan, Eilean Dubh, Clach Bheag na Faraid, Clach Mhòr na Faraid, Àigeach, Eilean Polsain, Boursa Island, Glas-eilean Mòr, Garbh-eilean, Wester Clett, Middle Clett, Easter Clett, Little Clett, Clett.
  • East coast:
    • North Moray Firth (from north to south): The Knee, Stacks of Duncansby, Stack o' Brough, South Stack, The Stacks, Eilean na h-Aibhne, Three Kings.
    • South Moray Firth (from west to east): Covesea Skerries, Halliman Skerries, Boar's Head Rock, West Muck, East Muck, Craigenroan, Bow Fiddle Rock, Collie Rocks, Craigandargity.
    • Kinnaird Head to the Bullers of Buchan: The Ron, The Skerry, Miekle Mackie, Miekle Donnon, Little Donnon, Craig Snow, Meikle Dumeath, Little Dumeath.
    • Bullers of Buchan to Girdle Ness: Dunbuy, The Donnons, Skellyis of Harrol.
    • Girdle Ness to Buddon Ness: Craiglethy, Craigmaroinn, May Craig.

Other than Mugdrum in the Firth of Tay and the Islands of the Forth there are no genuine islands on the east coast of Scotland south of Buddon Ness.

Tidally exposed islets and skerries

There are various smaller islets and skerries in the seas surrounding the mainland of Scotland that are only exposed at lower stages of the tide. Craiglethy is part of the Fowlsheugh nature reserve. The Three Kings, off the coast of Easter Ross near Balintore, is also known as Creag Harail or Harold's Rock and called The King's Sons in the New Statistical Account of Scotland. According to legend, three sons of a Danish prince, sailing to avenge their sister's wrongs, were wrecked here and gave these rocks their collective name. Their graves were marked by the sculptured stones of Nigg, Shandwick and Hilton of Cadboll. Another story has their burial at Nigg Rocks below the North Sutor.

See also

References and footnotes

General references
  • Fisher, James (1956) Rockall. London. Geoffrey Bles.
  • Fleming, Andrew (2005) St Kilda and the Wider World: Tales of an Iconic Island. Windgather Press.ISBN 1-905119-00-3
  • Haswell-Smith, Hamish. (2004) The Scottish Islands. Edinburgh. Canongate.ISBN 1-84195-454-3
  • Keay, J. & Keay, J. (1994) Collins Encyclopaedia of Scotland. London. HarperCollins.
  • Mac an Tàilleir, Iain (2003) Ainmean-àite/Placenames. (pdf) Pàrlamaid na h-Alba. Retrieved 26 August 2012.
Notes
Citations

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