Inchmarnock
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Inchmarnock | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
  Inchmarnock
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| Inchmarnock shown within Scotland. | |
| OS grid reference: | NS020598 |
| Names | |
| Gaelic name: | Innis Mhearnaig |
| Meaning of name: | Island of St Marnock |
| Area and Summit | |
| Area: | 266 ha |
| Area rank (Scottish islands): | 94 |
| Highest elevation: | 60 m |
| Population | |
| Population (2001): | 0
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| Groupings | |
| Island Group: | Islands of the Clyde |
| Local Authority: | Argyll and Bute |
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| References: | [1][2][3] |
Inchmarnock (Scottish Gaelic: Innis Mheàrnaig) is an island at the northern end of the Sound of Bute on the west coast of Scotland.
The island belongs to the traditional county of Bute and the modern unitary authority of Argyll and Bute. It is not to be confused with Inchmarnock in Aberdeenshire.[4]
[edit] Geography
Around 3.5 km long and rising to a height of 60 metres, Inchmarnock lies to the west of Bute. The island consists mainly of a single ridge running from north to the south. It is partially wooded and has sea caves at the north and the south and two tiny lochans inland. The island is divided into three farms, Southpark, Midpark and Northpark although only the latter is currently inhabited. A short reef of drying rocks, Tràigh na h-Uil, skirts the island's west coast.
The island lends its name to the Inchmarnock Water, the body of water that lies between the island's western shore and the Kintyre peninsula. Inchmarnock Water connects the Sound of Bute and the Kilbrannan Sound in the south to Loch Fyne and the Kyles of Bute in the north.
[edit] History
The island's name is an anglicisation of the Gaelic Innis Mearnaig meaning Island of Saint Marnock. Marnock, (or Marnoc) was a holyman who lived on the island for a time in the 7th Century and established a chapel here. He has also lent his name to a number of other locations:
- Kilmarnock, a town on the Scottish mainland
- Portmarnock, a town on the eastern coast of Ireland
- Dalmarnock, an area in the east end of Glasgow
The remains of Saint Marnock's chapel can still be seen near Midpark.
At the northern end of the island a Bronze Age cist contains the remains of a female skeleton, the Queen of the Inch. The remains were removed for carbon dating and are now displayed behind a pane of glass in their original position.
Local legend has it that in the 19th century drunks from Rothesay were left on Inchmarnock to dry out by means of "isolation and deprivation".
During World War II the islanders were evacuated and the island was used for commando training. Following the war the military themselves left and the island lay uninhabited until the 1990s.
Today, Inchmarnock is privately owned and run as an organic farm. The owner, Sir Robert Haldane Smith, has introduced a population of organic Highland Cattle, employed Headland Archaeology (UK) Ltd to survey the island and has had a new ferry, MV Marnock, built locally (at Ardmaleish on Bute) to provide a service to the island.
[edit] References
- ^ 2001 UK Census per List of islands of Scotland
- ^ Ordnance Survey
- ^ Haswell-Smith, Hamish (2004) The Scottish Islands. Edinburgh. Canongate.
- ^ Wilson, Rev. John The Gazetteer of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1882) Published by W. & A.K. Johnstone
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