| Inch Kenneth | |
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| Location | |
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Inch Kenneth
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| Inch Kenneth shown within Argyll and Bute | |
| OS grid reference | NM435355 |
| Names | |
| Gaelic name | Innis Choinnich |
| Meaning of name | Island of Kenneth, follower of St Columba |
| Area and summit | |
| Area | 55 hectares (0.21 sq mi) |
| Area rank | 190= |
| Highest elevation | 49 metres (161 ft) |
| Population | |
| Population | 0 |
| Groupings | |
| Island group | Inner Hebrides |
| Local Authority | Argyll and Bute |
| References | [1][2][3] |
| If shown, area and population ranks are for all Scottish islands and all inhabited Scottish islands respectively. Population data is from 2001 census. | |
Inch Kenneth (Scottish Gaelic: Innis Choinnich) is a small grassy island in the parish of Kilfinichen and Kilvickeon, Argyllshire. The island is situated at the entrance of Loch Na Keal, off the west coast of the Isle of Mull, Scotland, to the south-southeast of Ulva. It is part of the Loch Na Keal National Scenic Area, one of 40 in Scotland.[4]
The island is named after St Kenneth, a follower of Saint Columba, who is said to have founded a monastery on the island.
Inch Kenneth was visited in 1773 by Samuel Johnson and James Boswell during their tour of the Hebrides; they were entertained there by Sir Allan MacLean, head of the Maclean clan. Both Johnson[5] and Boswell[6] published accounts of their visit to Inch Kenneth.
In the 1930s the island was owned by Sir Harold Boulton, the writer of the words to the Skye Boat Song. He enlarged an earlier house to make the existing large mansion on the island.
Its most famous owners were the eccentric Mitford family. Nazi sympathiser Unity Mitford spent her final years living on the island.[7] Following the death of their mother, Lady Redesdale in 1963, the island was inherited by the surviving Mitford sisters. Diana, Nancy, Deborah and Pamela sold their shares in the island to their sister and fellow beneficiary Jessica. Jessica, a former communist, teasingly suggested that it might become a Soviet submarine base.
The island was sold by Jessica Mitford in the late 1960s and it remains under private ownership. Inch Kenneth was one of the locations for the 1993 feature film Walk Me Home produced by author Timothy Neat.[8]
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