List of islands of Scotland

This is a list of 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 "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".

Scotland has around 900 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. 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 fresh water in Scotland including Loch Lomond and Loch Maree. The largest island is Lewis and Harris, which extends to , and there are a further 200 islands which are greater than in area. Of the remainder, several, such as Staffa and the Flannan Isles, are well-known, despite their small size.. Between 2001 and 2011, Scottish island populations as a whole grew by 4% to 103,702 although by 2022 the total had fallen back to just under 103,000.

The geology and geomorphology of the islands is varied. Some, such as Skye and Mull, are mountainous, while others like Tiree and Sanday are relatively low-lying. Many have bedrock made from ancient Archaean Lewisian Gneiss which was formed 3 billion years ago; Shapinsay and other Orkney islands are formed from Old Red Sandstone, which is 400 million years old; and others, such as Rùm from more recent Tertiary volcanoes. Many of the 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 another example is the "Grey Dog" between Scarba and Lunga. Orkney was rated as the best place to live in Scotland in both 2013 and 2014, according to the Halifax Quality of Life survey.

Rockall is a small rocky islet in the North Atlantic which was declared part of Scotland by the Island of Rockall Act 1972. However, despite no possession by any other state and other precedents, the legality of the claim is disputed by the Republic of Ireland, Denmark and Iceland, and some say it may be unenforceable in international law.

thumb|[[Eilean Donan castle]]

Demographics

thumb|left|Abandoned houses on [[Fuaigh Mòr, which had a population of 46 prior to being cleared]]

The 2022 census records 101 Scottish islands as having a usually resident population, of which 96 are offshore islands. There are however various complications with both the definitions of an "island" and occasional habitation; and the National Records of Scotland have also listed a further 17 islands that were inhabited in 2001 but not in 2011, or are "included in the NRS statistical geography for inhabited islands but had no usual residents at the time of either the 2001 or 2011 censuses". There are a small number of other islands that are evidently inhabited but which are not recorded in this list.

in 2011 the local government council areas with the most inhabited islands were Argyll and Bute with 23, Orkney with 20, Shetland with 16 and Highland and Comhairle nan Eilean Siar with 14 each. There were also three in North Ayrshire and one each in Fife, Perth and Kinross, Stirling and West Dunbartonshire. The last three named plus two islands in Argyll and Bute are freshwater rather than offshore.]]

In the past many smaller islands that are uninhabited today had permanent populations. Losses were severe in many areas during the 19th century when islands such as Pabbay and Fuaigh Mòr were subject to forcible evictions during the Highland Clearances. Mass emigration from the Hebridean islands was at its height in the mid-19th century but it commenced as early as the 1770s in some areas. The crofting counties held 20% of Scotland's population in 1755 but by 1961 this figure had declined to 5%. Other examples are Mingulay, Noss and the St Kilda archipelago, which were abandoned during the course of the 20th century. Declines have been particularly significant in the more remote outlying islands, some of which remain vulnerable to ongoing losses.

The following table shows population trends for the ten most populous islands as of the 2011 census. The overall trends are typically growth in populations in the early part of the modern period, followed by declines from the mid 19th century onwards. In every case except Orkney the highest population was recorded prior to 1932 and the lowest post-Industrial Revolution figure after 1960. Subsequently, there has been modest growth overall, although some islands are continuing to show a decline. Between 1991 and 2001, the population of the islands as a whole fell by 3% to 99,739, although there were 35 islands whose population increased. By contrast, between 2001 and 2011 Scottish island populations as a whole grew by 4% to 103,702.

Largest Scottish islands by population

{| class="wikitable sortable"

! rowspan="2"|Rank

! rowspan="2"|Island

! rowspan="2"|Local authority

! colspan="9"|Population

!c. 1801

! 1841

! 1891

! 1931

! 1961

! 1981

! 2001

| Na h-Eileanan Siar

|12,164

|20,046

|30,726

|28,042

|24,107

|22,476

|19,918

|21,031

|19,680

| 2

| Mainland, Shetland

| Shetland

|20,572

|19,741

|15,172

|13,282

|17,722

|17,550

|18,765

|18,763

| 3

| Mainland, Orkney

| Orkney

|16,022

|16,498

|13,352

|13,495

|14,000

|15,315

|17,162

|17,779

| 4

| Skye

| Highland

|14,470 (in 1794)

|23,082

|15,705

|9,908

|7,479

|7,276

| 9,232

|10,008

|10,496

| 5

| Bute

| Argyll and Bute

|4,759 (in 1792)

|7,147

|11,735

|12,112

|9,793

|7,306

| 7,228

|6,498

|6,047

| 6

| Arran

| North Ayrshire

|5,804 (in 1792)

|6,241

|4,730

|4,506

|3,700

|3,845

|5,045

|4,629

|4,618

| 7

| Islay

| rowspan="2" | Argyll and Bute

|9,500 (in 1792)

|15,772

|7,375

|4,970

|3,860

|3,792

| 3,457

|3,228

|3,180

| 8

| Mull

|8,016 (in 1794)

|8,316

|4,691

|2,903

|2,154

|2,197

|2,667

|2,800

|3,063

| 9

| South Uist

| Na h-Eileanan Siar

|5,093

|3,708

|2,810

|2,376

|2,231

| 1,818

|1,754

|1,650

| 10

| Great Cumbrae

| North Ayrshire

|509 (in 1793)

|1,413

|1,784

|2,144

|1,638

|1,300

| 1,434

|1,376

|1,293

! Total

!123,704

!116,693

!95,919

!81,884

!82,145

!83,664

!87,251

!86,569

!Change

! −5.7%

! −7.8%

! −14.6%

! +0.3%

! +1.8%

! +4.3%

! -0.8%

The following table compares the populations of the main Scottish archipelagos with that of the Faroe Islands for a similar time frame to the above.

{| class="wikitable sortable"

! Archipelago

! 1801

! 1851

! 1901

! 1931

! 1971

!2011

|64,690

|88,615

|76,780

|60,390

|45,480

|46,632

|-style="background-color:#eeeeaa"

|Change

| 37%

| 13%

| 21%

| 25%

| 3%

|Orkney

|24,445

|31,318

|27,763

|21,933

|17,007

|21,349

|-style="background-color:#eeeeaa"

|Change

| 28%

| 11%

| 21%

| 22%

| 26%

|Shetland

|22,000

|31,000

|28,000

|21,000

|17,500

|23,167

|-style="background-color:#eeeeaa"

|Change

| 41%

| 10%

| 25%

| 17%

| 32%

|Faroe Islands

|5,265

|8,000

|15,230

|-style="background-color:#eeeeaa"

|Change

| 52%

| 90%

| 61%

| 58%

| 26%

Legislation

In July 2013, the Scottish Government made the Lerwick Declaration, indicating an intention to decentralise power to the three island council areas of Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles and later that year made a commitment to do so. In 2017 an Islands bill was introduced to make "island proofing" (including for uninhabited islands) a statutory requirement for public bodies. The Bill completed Stage 1 on 8 February 2018. The Islands (Scotland) Act 2018 was then duly passed.

Larger islands

This is a list of Scottish islands that either have an area greater than 40 hectares (approximately 100 acres) and/or are inhabited. The main groups, from Haswell-Smith (2004), in many cases provide a more useful guide to location than local authority areas. These groups are: Firth of Clyde, Islay, Firth of Lorn, Mull, Small Isles, Skye, Lewis and Harris, Uists and Barra, St Kilda, Orkney, Shetland and Firth of Forth. In a few cases where the island is part of either a recognisable smaller group or an archipelago, or is located away from the main groups, an archipelago, local authority or other descriptive name is used instead. "F" designates a freshwater island.

Scotland's islands include thirteen Munros (mountains with a height over 3,000 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).

thumb|Orkney aerial photomap

thumb|The [[Shetland archipelago]]

thumb|[[Bressay|Bressay Lighthouse at Kirkabister Ness, Shetland]]

thumb|The [[Old Man of Hoy, Orkney, a 137-metre (450 ft) sea stack of red sandstone]]

thumb|[[Tobermory, Mull|Tobermory harbour, Isle of Mull]]

thumb|upright|The cliffs of Creag na Bruaich, [[Raasay]]

thumb| Lighthouse, During Construction by [[Sam Bough (1822–1878)]]

thumb|[[Fingal's Cave, Staffa]]

thumb|[[Kisimul Castle, Barra]]

right|thumb|[[Ailsa Craig from the South Ayrshire coast]]

thumb|[[Iona Abbey]]

thumb|[[Shiant Islands]]

thumb|[[Muckle Flugga lighthouse, Shetland]]

thumb|Two of the Paps of [[Jura, Scotland|Jura. Photo by John Shaw.]]

thumb|[[Earl's Palace, Birsay|The Earl's Palace, Birsay, Orkney]]

thumb|The cliffs of Eshaness, [[North Mainland, Shetland]]

thumb|upright|The [[Bass Rock from Tantallon Castle]]

thumb|MV Isle of Lewis in [[The Minch]]

thumb|[[Sula Sgeir from the south west]]

thumb|[[Stornoway harbour, Lewis]]

thumb|upright|[[Fair Isle cliffs]]

thumb|[[Callanish Standing Stones, Lewis]]

thumb|[[Machair (geography)|Machair at Balephuil Bay, Tiree]]

right|thumb|The east coast of [[Mousa, Shetland|Mousa towards the Peerie Bard]]

thumb|[[Clisham, Harris]]

thumb|, [[Eigg]]

thumb|The rock pinnacles of the [[Quiraing, Skye]]

{| class="wikitable sortable"

!Island

!Group

!Area (ha)

!Population

| Ailsa Craig ()

| rowspan="2" | Firth of Clyde

| 0

| 338

| Arran ()

| 4,618

| 874

| Auskerry

| Orkney

| 2

| 18

| Baleshare ()

| Uists and Barra

| 53

| 12

| Balta

| Shetland

| 0

| 44

| Barra ()

| rowspan="4" | Uists and Barra

| 1,209

| 383

| Barra Head ()

| 0

| 193

| Benbecula ()

| 1,255

| 124

| Berneray ()

| 142

| 93

| Bigga

| Shetland

| 0

| 34

| Boreray ()

| St Kilda

| 0

| 384

| Boreray ()

| Uists and Barra

| 1

| 56

| Bressay

| rowspan="2" | Shetland

| 345

| 226

| Brother Isle

| 0

| 25

| Bruray

| Out Skerries

| 16

| 53

| Buchan Ness

| Buchan coast

| 4 *

| 1

| 5

| Burray

| Orkney

| 445

| 80

| Bute ()

| Firth of Clyde

| 6,047

| 278

| Calf of Eday

| Orkney

| 0

| 54

| Edrachillis Bay

| 1

| 10

| Garvellachs

| 0

| 80

| Highland

| <10 *

| 0 °

| 5

| Craobh Haven

| 4 *

| 6

| 9

| rowspan="2" | Lewis and Harris

| 0

| 43

| 0

| 37

| Islay

| *

| 4

| 16

| Highland

| <1 *

| 0 °

| 3

| Slate Islands

| 0

| 53

| Eilean Fladday ()

| Inner Hebrides

| 1

| 10

| Lewis and Harris

| 0

| 76

| Eilean Loain

| Inner Hebrides

| 15 *

| 1

| 28

| Eilean Macaskin ()

| Islay

| 0

| 65

| Crowlin Islands

| 0

| 54

| Lewis and Harris

| 0

| 77

| Islay

| *

| 0

| 63

| Crowlin Islands

| 0

| 114

| (F)

| Lewis

| *

| 0

| 64

| Highland

| 0

| 76

| Islay

| 0

| 55

| Eilean Shona ()

| Small Isles

| 9

| 265

| (F)

| Loch Maree

| *

| 0

| 36

| Skye

| 481

| Hunda

| 0

| 41

| Inchcailloch () (F)

| Loch Lomond

| - It is in Loch Lomond, which contains over sixty other islands.

Bunglan was once a separate island, but is now connected to Samphrey by two tombolos.
Eilean-a-beithich was once one of the Slate Islands and located in Easdale Sound. However, it was quarried to a depth of below sea level leaving only the outer rim of the island. This was eventually breached by the sea and little visible sign of the island now remains.
Eilean Chaluim Chille is a former island near Kilmuir on Skye in a now drained loch that was associated with the 13th century Hebridean lord Páll, son of Bálki.
Inchbroach, also known as Rossie Island, is now part of Montrose harbour.
Inch of Culter is a former island in the River Dee near Maryculter.
Innis Bheag or Paterson Island near Portmahomack in Easter Ross is now permanently attached to the Morrich More due to shifting sands.
Keith Inch (not to be confused with Inchkeith), is now part of Peterhead Harbour, and is the easternmost point of mainland Scotland.
King's Inch on which stood Inch Castle.
Milton Island or Green Inch was an island in the Clyde's estuarine waters close to the old ford across the river at Dumbuck near Dumbarton.
Newshot Island or Newshot Isle was an island of circa 50 acres or 20 hectares lying in the River Clyde close to Park Quay, Renfrewshire, Scotland. It is now partly joined to the river bank.
North Inch, one of the "Inches" in Perth, formerly an island in the River Tay.
Preston Island, an artificial construction south of Low Valleyfield, has now been fully reclaimed, using ash slurry from Longannet power station.
Rosyth Castle also stands on what was once a tidal island in the Firth of Forth, now surrounded by reclaimed land.
Sand Inch was a small island in the River Clyde next to King's Inch
Scalp na Caoraich, Cridhe An Uisge, Rònach and Scalp Phàdraig Mhòir - four small islands at the delta of the River Ness in Inverness which were removed in the 19th century.
Scottle Holm was an islet north of Lerwick, Shetland. It has since become part of an industrial estate. 1792 "Bridge over The Atlantic".
Danna by causeway to the mainland

Orkney Islands

thumb|[[Churchill Barrier 1, blocking Kirk Sound]]

Similarly, four Orkney islands are joined to the Orkney Mainland by a series of causeways known as the Churchill Barriers. They are:

South Ronaldsay
Burray
Lamb Holm
Glimps Holm

Hunda is in turn connected to Burray via a causeway.

South Walls and Hoy are connected by a causeway called the Ayre. The islands are treated as one entity (Hoy) by the UK census.

An undersea tunnel between the archipelago and Caithness, at a length of about and a tunnel connecting Orkney Mainland to Shapinsay have been discussed, although little has come of it.

Shetland Islands

Several Shetland islands are joined to the Shetland Mainland:

West Burra and East Burra (via Trondra)
Muckle Roe
Trondra
Broch of Clickimin is a freshwater islet joined to the mainland by a stone causeway.
Holm of Mel was a tidal island linked to the west coast of Bressay at low tide but it is now linked permanently to its larger neighbour by a 75m stone causeway.

There is also a bridge which joins Housay and Bruray in the Out Skerries.

Others

Various other islands are also connected by bridges or causeways, to the mainland or other islands, including:

Inchgarvie (part of Forth Bridge), thus joined to both Fife and Lothian on the Mainland.
Garbh Eilean at the entrance to Loch Glencoul is now joined to the mainland by both the Kylesku Bridge to the south and its associated roadworks to the north.
Innis Chonan, an inhabited island in Loch Awe is connected to the mainland by a small road bridge.
Moncreiffe Island connected to the mainland by the Tay Viaduct
Buchan Ness is a tidal island joined to mainland Buchan by road.

Tidal islands and tombolos

thumb|A beach on [[Oronsay, Inner Hebrides|Oronsay by Colonsay, looking towards the Paps of Jura in the distance]]

thumb|[[St Ninian's Isle and tombolo]]

There are a large number of small tidal islands in Scotland. The more notable ones include:

Baleshare
Bernera
Calve Island
Castle Island
Corn Holm
Cramond Island
Island Davaar
Dunnicaer
Eilean Mhic Chrion
Eilean Shona
Eriska
Erraid
Helliar Holm
Kili Holm
Isle Ristol
Sanday
Torsa

Oronsay means "ebb island" and there are several tidal islands of this name.

The three main islands of the Monach Islands (Heisgeir), Ceann Iar, Ceann Ear and Shivinish are connected at low tides. It is said that at one time it was also possible to walk all the way to Baleshare, and on to North Uist, away at low tide. In the 16th century, a large tidal wave was said to have washed the route away.

Dùn in St Kilda is separated from Hirta by a shallow strait about wide. This is normally impassable but is reputed to dry out on rare occasions.

Gluss Isle at the western entrance to Sullom Voe is one of the many promontories in Orkney and Shetland connected to a larger body of land by an ayre.

Other elements

thumb|[[Vementry Farm, on Mainland Shetland, with Isle of Vementry in hinterground]]

The name "Inch" (Innis) can mean island (e.g. Inchkenneth, Inchcolm), but is also used for terra firma surrounded by 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. Likewise Eilean Aoidhe on Loch Fyne. The Black Isle is also An t-Eilean Dubh in Gaelic, while Eilean Glas is part of Scalpay.

"-holm" is also common as a suffix in various landlocked placenames, especially in the far south of mainland Scotland e.g. Langholm, Kirk Yetholm, Holmhead (by Cumnock), Holmhill (next to Thornhill, Nithsdale). Some of these were river islands in their time, or dry land surrounded by marsh. "Holm" can be found in an element in Holmsgarth, now a suburb of Lerwick and the Parish of Holm on Mainland Shetland and Mainland Orkney respectively. Neither of these is an island in its own right.

Islands named after mainland areas

Likewise, occasionally an island may be named after a location on the nearby mainland, or a major neighbouring island – or vice versa. Examples of this include: Vementry, which was originally the name of an island, but whose name has been transferred to a nearby farm on Mainland Shetland; Oldany Island, whose name has been transferred to Oldany; Cramond Island which is named after neighbouring Cramond (a district of Edinburgh); and Eilean Mhealasta in the Outer Hebrides, which is named after Mealista on Lewis.

The name Easdale appears to be the combination of eas, which is Gaelic for "waterfall" and dal, the Norse for "valley". However, it is not clear why either description should apply to this tiny island which is low-lying and has no waterfalls and the name may have come from the nearby village of the same name on Seil.

thumb|left|The 172m high [[Stac Lee off the coast of Boreray, St Kilda]]

Stacks

It has been estimated that there are about 275 sea stacks in Scotland, of which around 110 are located around the coasts of Shetland. The highest are Stac an Armin and Stac Lee, St Kilda. In July 1967, 15 million people watched the climbing of the Old Man of Hoy live on BBC television. However, for many of the remoter stacks, especially in Shetland, there is no record of there having been any attempt by rock climbers to ascend them.

Crannogs

thumb|upright|Modern reconstruction of a crannog in [[Loch Tay]]

Crannogs are prehistoric artificial islands created in lochs. There are several hundred sites in Scotland. Today, crannogs typically appear as small, circular islands, between 10 and 30 metres (30–100 feet) in diameter. Scottish crannogs include:

Breachacha on Coll
Cherry Island in Loch Ness
Dùn Anlaimh on Coll
Eilean Dòmhnuill on North Uist
Keppinch (or The Kitchen) in Loch Lomond

References and footnotes

Notes

Specific references

General references

Murray, W.H. (1973) The Islands of Western Scotland: the Inner and Outer Hebrides. London. Eyre Methuen.
Nicolson, James R. (1972) Shetland. Newton Abbot. David & Charles.
Omand, Donald (ed.) (2003) The Orkney Book. Edinburgh. Birlinn.
Symonds, James (June 1999) "Toiling in the Vale of Tears: Everyday Life and Resistance in South Uist, Outer Hebrides, 1760—1860". International Journal of Historical Archaeology/JSTOR. 3 No. 2, Archaeologies of Resistance in Britain and Ireland, Part II, pp. 101–122. Retrieved 8 September 2013.

External links

Scottish Island Network - Population Statistics
Scottish Islands Access Rights

Demographics

Largest Scottish islands by population

Legislation

Larger islands

Tidal islands and tombolos

Other elements

Islands named after mainland areas

Stacks

Crannogs

See also

References and footnotes

External links