Eilean Shona
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Eilean Shona | |
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Location | |
Eilean Shona shown within Scotland. | |
OS grid reference: | NM645739 |
Names | |
Gaelic name: | Eilean Seòna |
Meaning of name: | Possible from the Norse for 'sea island' |
Area and Summit | |
Area: | 525 ha |
Area rank (Scottish islands): | 72 |
Highest elevation: | Beinn a' Bhàillidh 265 m |
Population | |
Population (2001): | 9 |
Population rank (inhabited Scottish islands): | 74 out of 97 |
Main settlement: | Invermoidart |
Groupings | |
Island Group: | Inner Hebrides |
Local Authority: | Highland |
References: | [1][2][3][4] |
Eilean Shona (Gaelic: Eilean Seòna) is a tidal island in Loch Moidart, Scotland. The earlier Gaelic names was Arthràigh, meaning 'foreshore island', similar to the derivation of Erraid.[4]
It was leased to writer J. M. Barrie in the 1920s, who used it as a summer holiday retreat for himself, his foster sons Michael and Nicholas Llewelyn Davies, and a few of their friends.[5] It was here he wrote a screenplay for the 1924 film adaptation of Peter Pan.
It is currently owned by Robert Devereux who purchased the island in 1995 for a sum believed to be in the region of £1.3 million.[2] In 1856 the sales price was just £6,500.
The current population is 11, but in 1851 there were reports of evacuations and emigrations of 37 families from the island and the nearby settlement of Dorlinn in the wake of potato blight.[6]
There are several small attendant isles include Riska Island, Eilean an Fheidh and Eilean Tioram. Eilean Shona itself is linked to the mainland by a bridge.[3] Eilean Shona House overlooks Riska and Castle Tioram. The old schoolhouse is at Baramore to the north and is now a holiday home. It is in an isolated position, some two miles down a track, reputedly because when it was built in the nineteenth century the wife of the island's owner did not wish to be disturbed by children.[2]
[edit] References
- ^ 2001 UK Census per List of islands of Scotland
- ^ a b c Haswell-Smith, Hamish. (2004) The Scottish Islands. Edinburgh. Canongate.
- ^ a b Ordnance Survey
- ^ a b Scottish Parliament Gaelic Placenames Retrieved 9 July 2007.
- ^ Birkin, Andrew, The Lost Boys, (Yale University Press)
- ^ Moidart.org Retrieved 9 July 2007.
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