The distinctive peak of Sgurr of Eigg in the Small Isles in the Inner Hebrides off Arisaig XPL 6357
Eigg (Scottish Gaelic: Eige) is one of the Small Isles, in the Scottish Inner Hebrides. It lies to the south of the isle of Skye, and to the north of the Ardnamurchan peninsula. Eigg is 9 kilometres long from north to south, and five kilometres east to west. With an area of twelve square miles, it is the second largest of the Small Isles after Rùm. Bronze Age and Iron Age inhabitants have left their mark on Eigg. The monastery at Kildonan was founded by an Irish missionary, St. Donnan. He and his monks were massacred in 617 by the local Pictish Queen. In medieval times the island was held by Ranald MacDonald. A lengthy feud with the MacLeods led to the massacre of the island's entire population. They had taken refuge in a cave on the south coast, and they were suffocated by a fire lit at the entrance. By the nineteenth century, the island had a population of 500, producing potatoes, oats, cattle and kelp. When sheep farming became more profitable than any alternative, land was cleared by compulsory emigration - in 1853 the whole of the village of Gruilin, fourteen families, was forced to leave. The Scottish geologist and writer Hugh Miller visited the island in the 1840s and wrote a long and detailed account of his explorations in his book The Cruise of the Betsey published in 1858. The book includes a description of his visit to the Cave of Frances (Uamh Fhraing) in which the whole population of the island had been smoked to death by McLeods from Skye some hundred years earlier. Miller was a self-taught geologist; so the book contains detailed observations of the geology of the island, including the Scuir and the singing sands. He describes the islanders of Eigg as "an active, middle-sized race, with well-developed heads, acute intellects, and singularly warm feelings". After decades of problems with absentee landlords, the island was bought in 1997 by the Isle of Eigg Heritage Trust. XPL 6357
Size: 5620px × 3733px
Location: Sgurr of Eigg in the Small Isles in the Inner Hebrides
Photo credit: © David Gowans / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 1840s, 50, 67, 97, 1858., 1997, :, absentee, account, alba, arisaig, authority:, betsey, book, bought, britain, british, cleadale, coast, community, council, croft, crofting, cruise, decades, detailed, eige, eigg, explorations, explore, ferry, fishing, fort, gaelic, geologist, geology, great, grid, group:, groupings, hebrides, heritage, highland, hills, hugh, industry, interest, inverness-shire, island, isle, isles, landlords, local, lochaber, long, main, mallaig, millar, miller, moorland, names, nm476868, os, partnership, places, population, port, problems, published, rank:, reference:, residents, scotland, scottish, settlement:, sheltered, skye, small, travel, trust, trust., uk, visited, west, wildlife, william, writer, wrote
