| Stornoway | |
| Scottish Gaelic: Steòrnabhagh | |
|
Stornoway
Stornoway shown within the Outer Hebrides |
|
| Population | 9,000 [1] |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Scottish Gaelic | |
| OS grid reference | NB426340 |
| Council area | Na h-Eileanan Siar |
| Lieutenancy area | Western Isles |
| Country | Scotland |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | STORNOWAY |
| Postcode district | HS1 |
| Dialling code | 01851 |
| Police | Northern |
| Fire | Highlands and Islands |
| Ambulance | Scottish |
| EU Parliament | Scotland |
| UK Parliament | Na h-Eileanan an Iar |
| Scottish Parliament | Western Isles |
| List of places: UK • Scotland • | |
Stornoway (Scottish Gaelic: Steòrnabhagh) is a burgh on the Isle of Lewis, in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland.
The town's population is around 9,000, making it the largest settlement in the Western Isles (with a third of the population) and the third largest town in the Scottish Highlands after Inverness and Fort William. The civil parish of Stornoway, including various nearby villages, has a population of approximately 12,000.[2] Stornoway is an important port and the major town and administrative centre of the Outer Hebrides. It is home to Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (the Western Isles Council) and a variety of educational, sporting and media establishments. Observance of the Christian Sabbath (Sunday) is a prominent and sometimes controversial aspect of the town's culture.
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Stornoway was originally a Viking settlement and developed around its well sheltered natural harbour. Reflecting this, the name Stornoway itself is derived from 'Stjórnavágr', an Old Norse word for 'steering bay'. Medieval development of the town was spurred by the construction of the original castle in the High Middle Ages by the Nicolson (or MacNicol) family, themselves of Viking descent. Infighting between rival clans continued throughout the Late Middle Ages and resisted an attempt by the then King of Scotland James VI to colonise Lewis in 1597.
The castle was destroyed by Oliver Cromwell's forces in the aftermath of his Scottish campaign in the mid 17th century , and the ownership of Stornoway - and by extension, Lewis - passed from the MacKenzies of Kintail through the Seaforth family and Sir James Matheson (and his descendants) to William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme. Lord Leverhulme finally gifted the town's parish to the Stornoway Trust, whose ownership remains to this day.
Today the harbour hosts a fishing fleet (and associated shoreside services) somewhat reduced from its heyday, a small marina and moorings for pleasure craft, a small shipyard and slipway, three larger piers for commercial traffic and Stornoway Lifeboat Station, run by the RNLI and home to a Severn class lifeboat, Tom Sanderson. Her Majesty's Coastguard operates a Maritime Rescue Sub Centre from a building near the harbour.
A lighthouse, seaweed processing plant and a renewable energy manufacturing yard are situated on Arnish Point at the mouth of the harbour and visually dominate the approaches. Arnish Point is also earmarked by AMEC as the landfall for its proposed private sub-sea cable which would export the electricity generated from the Lewis Windpower wind farm with a planning application for 181 turbines submitted to the Scottish Executive. In 2008 the Scottish Government rejected the plans - the company responsible are currently planning their next move.
The Arnish area was also surveyed by SSE for a second sub-sea cable but lost out in favour of Gravir to the south as the preferred site.
The manufacturing yard was originally established in the 1970s as a fabrication plant for the oil industry but suffered regular boom and bust cycles. The downturn in business from the North Sea oil industry in recent years led to a move away from serving this market. The yard is now earmarked as a key business in the development of the whole Arnish Point industrial estate and has received large amounts of funding in recent years.
In 2007 the Arnish yard was taken over by its third tenant in as many years. Cambrian Engineering fell into liquidation as did Aberdeen-owned Camcal Ltd with relatively large scale redundancies. Both firms were affected by the absence of a regular stream of orders and left a chain of large debts impacting upon local suppliers. Altissimo Ltd is a new firm backed by a group of Swiss and Dutch investors, and has purchased the Camcal name from the previous operator.[3] In December 2007, the yard won a contract to construct 49 towers for wind turbines in Turkey. This will ensure employment for around 70 employees for over six months.[4]
On 1 January 1919, the Iolaire sank at the entrance of the harbour, one of the worst maritime disasters in Scottish or UK waters, with a death toll of 200 men.
Stornoway, like much of the British Isles, has an Oceanic climate, with little variation of temperature and damp conditions through-out the year.
| Climate data for Stornoway 15m asl, 1971-2000, extremes 1901- | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 14.4 (57.9) |
13.9 (57.0) |
17.2 (63.0) |
20.5 (68.9) |
23.9 (75.0) |
25.6 (78.1) |
26.2 (79.2) |
26.3 (79.3) |
25.0 (77.0) |
19.4 (66.9) |
16.3 (61.3) |
14.4 (57.9) |
26.3 (79.3) |
| Average high °C (°F) | 7.0 (44.6) |
7.0 (44.6) |
8.0 (46.4) |
9.5 (49.1) |
12.1 (53.8) |
13.9 (57.0) |
15.8 (60.4) |
15.9 (60.6) |
14.0 (57.2) |
11.7 (53.1) |
8.9 (48.0) |
7.6 (45.7) |
10.95 (51.71) |
| Average low °C (°F) | 2.0 (35.6) |
1.9 (35.4) |
2.6 (36.7) |
3.7 (38.7) |
6.0 (42.8) |
8.2 (46.8) |
10.3 (50.5) |
10.3 (50.5) |
8.6 (47.5) |
6.4 (43.5) |
3.7 (38.7) |
2.7 (36.9) |
5.53 (41.96) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −12.2 (10.0) |
−10.6 (12.9) |
−9.4 (15.1) |
−8.9 (16.0) |
−4.4 (24.1) |
0.6 (33.1) |
2.5 (36.5) |
2.1 (35.8) |
−0.4 (31.3) |
−4.4 (24.1) |
−7.8 (18.0) |
−11.2 (11.8) |
−12.2 (10.0) |
| Rainfall mm (inches) | 141.1 (5.555) |
104.5 (4.114) |
112.7 (4.437) |
70.7 (2.783) |
57.3 (2.256) |
63.8 (2.512) |
72.5 (2.854) |
81.7 (3.217) |
113.4 (4.465) |
134.5 (5.295) |
143.8 (5.661) |
135.8 (5.346) |
1,231.8 (48.496) |
| Sunshine hours | 31.9 | 62.7 | 98.9 | 141.6 | 196.5 | 162.3 | 129.6 | 132.1 | 109.5 | 82.5 | 43.2 | 26.0 | 1,216.8 |
| Source no. 1: [5] | |||||||||||||
| Source no. 2: [6] | |||||||||||||
A Caledonian MacBrayne operated ferry (MV Isle of Lewis) sails from the harbour to Ullapool on the Scottish mainland, taking 2 hours 45 minutes. There are an average of two return crossings a day, with an increase and reduction in frequency in summer and winter months respectively. As ferry traffic has increased, a second ship (MV Muirneag) now provides a single early morning sailing to carry most of the island's freight lorries.
Suggestions for the possibility of an undersea tunnel linking Lewis and Harris to the Scottish mainland were raised in early 2007. One of the possible routes, between Stornoway and Ullapool, would be over 40 miles long and hence become the longest road tunnel in the world.[7][8]
Stornoway is also the public transport hub of Lewis, and bus services provides links to Point, Ness, Back and Tolsta, Uig, the West Side, Lochs and Tarbert, Harris. These services are provided by the Comhairle and several private operators as well as some community-run organisations.
Stornoway Airport is located next to the village of Melbost, two miles away from the town itself. From here services operate to Aberdeen, Benbecula, Edinburgh, Inverness and Glasgow, with flights from Flybe franchisee Loganair, Eastern Airways and Highland Airways. The airport is also the base of an HM Coastguard Search & Rescue Sikorsky S-92 helicopter, and was previously home to RAF Stornoway.
In 1898, the Hebridean Light Railway Company was proposed, with a terminus at Stornoway, but the line was never constructed.
Stornoway is home to a small campus of the University of Stirling, teaching nursing, which is based in Ospadal nan Eilean (Western Isles Hospital).
There is also a further education college, Lews Castle College, which is part of the UHI Millennium Institute.
Primary education in Stornoway is in Stornoway Primary School, situated on Jamieson Drive with around 300 pupils. The head teacher is Annette Murray.
The Nicolson Institute is the only secondary school in Lewis providing a six year course, with a roll of approximately 1,100 pupils.
Football is the most popular amateur sport and Goathill Park in the town hosts special matches involving select teams and visiting clubs and other organisations. Two local teams currently participate in the Lewis and Harris Football League, Stornoway Athletic (Aths) and Stornoway United. Until the early 1990s there was also Stornoway Rovers. Shinty is not as popular as in the rest of the West of Scotland, but the Lewis Camanachd team is based around the town. Rugby Union is also popular with Stornoway RFC competing regularly in national leagues and cups.
The town also has a very popular gymnastics group which competes annually in sports festivals.
The Lews Castle Grounds is the home of Stornoway Golf Club (the only 18-hole golf course in the Outer Hebrides).
Very near to the Nicolson Institute is the Lewis Sports Centre (Ionad Spors Leòdhas), which has a Sports Hall, Fitness Suite, Climbing Wall, Swimming Pool and various other facilities. It also boasts a running track.
There is also the Stornoway Karate Club, a member of the International Japan Karate Association. The club has run for over thirty years, under the teaching of Sadashige Kato.
As well as this, the village of Tong about 2 miles from Stornoway plays host to the Highland Games and the Western Isles Strongest man competition each summer.
The annual Hebridean Celtic Festival is a 4-day community led festival which attracts over 10,000 visitors during July of each year. The Royal National Mod has been held in Stornoway on a number of occasions, most recently in 2001 and 2005. Large influxes of visitors such as for these events can strain the town's accommodation capacity.
Stornoway is a sister town of Pendleton, in Anderson County, South Carolina, United States.
The radio station Isles FM is based in Stornoway and broadcasts on 103FM, featuring a mixture of Gaelic and English programming. It is also home to a studio operated by BBC Radio nan Gàidheal, and Studio Alba, an independent television studio from where the Gaelic TV channel TeleG was broadcast. The Gaelic-language public service broadcaster BBC Alba launched on 19 September 2008, is based in Stornoway.
The main local newspaper for the Western Isles is the Stornoway Gazette, the Hebridean being a sister-title.
Another main local newspaper is Events, which is a free paper that is mainly advertisements.
The Stornoway black pudding is regarded by some as one of the top gourmet black puddings in the United Kingdom.[9]
Stornoway Kippers and Stornoway smoked salmon are still produced in the town. They have one of the last working brick kilns in the United Kingdom, which can be found at the establishment of Stornoway Fish Smokers, Shell Street.
The Hebridean Brewing Company produces cask ale and filtered beer in bottles.[10]
Notable buildings in Stornoway include:
It is also home to a new arts centre, an Lanntair, containing an art gallery, auditorium for film showings, music and other performances, a restaurant and bar.
Other attractions include a museum and the Lewis Loom Centre.
Stornoway became immortalised in the song "Lovely Stornoway" by Calum Kennedy and Bob Halfin.
The 4AD Records folk-rock band Stornoway took their name from the town, after seeing it on the BBC weather report. They signed their record deal outside the Woodlands Centre in Lews Castle Grounds, Stornoway, after performing in the town for the first time in April 2010.[11] Their second concert there was as headliners on the main stage of the Hebridean Celtic Festival, on Thursday 13th July 2011.[12]
The cult, bestselling novel The Stornoway Way by Lewisman Kevin MacNeil is largely set in Stornoway.
RAF Stornoway is featured in the Tom Clancy novel Red Storm Rising as a base for Allied air operations over the North Atlantic and against Soviet-held Iceland.
Stornoway features heavily in the initial stages of the X-Men comics Dark Phoenix Saga due to its proximity to the ficitonal Muir Island and Proteus' attempts to find a new host body.
In the motion picture "Latitude Zero" by Toho Productions (1969), Stornoway Harbour is featured on a wall plaque as the construction site of the submarine "Alpha".
In 2007 the British car manufacturer Land Rover introduced Stornoway Grey as a colour choice for its vehicle line-up. In response, Stornoway's councillor Angus Nicolson appealed to Land Rover to relabel the colour as Silvery Stornoway, fearing that the association of grey with dull and boring would hurt the image of the town with tourists; Mr Nicolson said: "This is deeply insulting and is offensive, inaccurate and inherently degrading. This will hit tourism as it subliminally implants adverse connotations in the minds of those who have never experienced the reality of these beautiful islands." Land Rover replied that the colour in question is one of the most popular ones and the use of Stornoway in its name will instead "keep it on the map".[13][14]
Stornoway has several churches of various Christian denominations, and is a stronghold of the Free Church of Scotland. The Sabbath is still widely observed in Stornoway; it is home to a number of members of the Lord's Day Observance Society, which lobbies for no work on the Christian Sabbath (Sundays), based on its interpretation of the fourth (by the Hebrew reckoning) of the Ten Commandments. Sunday newspapers are not available and almost all shops and local amenities are closed on Sundays.
Until July 2009, there were no Sunday ferry services to or from Stornoway. It was announced on 14 July 2009 that Caledonian MacBrayne would begin to operate Sunday sailings from Sunday 19 July 2009.[15] Before this, they would operate additional sailings on Sundays if several previous sailings have been cancelled, to allow the backlog of traffic to clear. Caledonian MacBrayne have said that they took legal advice that not implementing Sunday sailings would be against human rights legislation.[15]
There are Sunday flights leaving from Stornoway airport with two return flights to Inverness and one to Glasgow.