Eilean Shona

Eilean Shona
Location
Eilean Shona
Eilean Shona shown within Highland Scotland
OS grid reference NM645739
Names
Gaelic name Eilean Seòna
Pronunciation [ˈelan ə ˈɲeː] ( listen)
Meaning of name Possible from the Norse for 'sea island'
Area and summit
Area 525 hectares (1,300 acres)
Area rank 72
Highest elevation Beinn a' Bhàillidh,
265 metres (869 ft)
Population
Population 9
Population rank 74 out of 99
Main settlement Invermoidart
Groupings
Island group Inner Hebrides
Local Authority Highland
References [1][2][3][4]
If shown, area and population ranks are for all Scottish islands and all inhabited Scottish islands respectively. Population data is from 2001 census.

Eilean Shona (Scottish Gaelic: Eilean Seòna) is a tidal island in Loch Moidart, Scotland. The earlier Gaelic names was Arthraigh, 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 Vanessa Branson and 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 2, 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 Fhèidh and Eilean Tioram. Eilean Shona House overlooks Riska and Castle Tioram. There are 5 cottages for rent on the island, and the main house is also available for hire. The old Schoolhouse (on the North Shore track between Sawmill and Baramore) is not available for let. 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]

References

  1. ^ 2001 UK Census per List of islands of Scotland
  2. ^ a b c Haswell-Smith, Hamish. (2004) The Scottish Islands. Edinburgh. Canongate.
  3. ^ Ordnance Survey
  4. ^ a b Scottish Parliament Gaelic Placenames Retrieved 9 July 2007.
  5. ^ Birkin, Andrew, The Lost Boys, (Yale University Press)
  6. ^ Moidart.org Retrieved 9 July 2007.

External links