List of outlying islands of Scotland

The outlying islands of Scotland are not part of the larger archipelagos and island groups of Scotland—the Hebrides, the Northern Isles or the Islands of the Forth and Clyde estuaries. None of these islands are currently inhabited and few of them ever were, although Hirta was occupied from the Neolithic age until 1930 and Stroma was permanently occupied until the 1970s and thereafter by lighthouse keepers and their families until 1996.^[1]^[2] Several other outlying islands have lighthouses, none of which is still staffed.

In this list, an island is defined as "land that is surrounded by seawater on a daily basis, but not necessarily at all stages of the tide, excluding human devices such as bridges and causeways".^{[Note 1]} A complication relating to membership of this list is that there are various descriptions of the scope of the Hebrides, the large group of islands that lie off Scotland's west coast. The Collins Encyclopedia of Scotland describes the Inner Hebrides as lying "east of The Minch", which would include any and all offshore islands. There are various islands that lie in the sea lochs such as Eilean Bàn and Eilean Donan that might not ordinarily be described as "Hebridean" but no formal definitions exist and for simplicity they are included in the List of Inner Hebrides rather than here.^[5]

There are several small groupings of outlying islands involved. The most significant of these is the St Kilda archipelago^{[Note 2]} which lies 64 kilometres (40 mi) west-northwest of North Uist and is now a World Heritage Site. It is one of the few to hold joint status for its natural and cultural qualities.^[8]^{[Note 3]} At 196 metres (643 ft) Stac an Armin is the highest sea stack in the British Isles^[10]^[11]^[12] and in July 1840, the last great auk seen in the British Isles was captured there.^[13]

East of St Kilda are the Flannan Isles, where all three lighthouse keepers mysteriously vanished without trace in December 1900.^[14] Further north and east are the two outliers of Sula Sgeir and North Rona, which have strong cultural links to the Outer Hebrides. North Rona is 71 kilometres (44 mi) north north east of Butt of Lewis and 18 kilometres (11 mi) east of Sula Sgeir. It is the remotest island in the British Isles ever to have been inhabited on a long-term basis. It is also closer than any other part of Scotland to the Faroe Islands. Sule Skerry and Sule Stack lie further east and are administratively part of Orkney.

The islands of the north coast are remote from the main centres of population, although they mostly lie close to the mainland. There is a small group of larger islands near Tongue Bay, but the largest on this coast is Stroma in the Pentland Firth, between Caithness and Orkney. Innis Mhòr in the Dornoch Firth is the largest of a handful of small islets off the coast of Easter Ross. Further south are Inchcape off the coast of Angus, and Mugdrum, the only substantial island in the Firth of Tay. There is a cluster of islands in the Solway Firth that marks the south western border of Scotland, including the Islands of Fleet, in Wigtown Bay.

Most of the smaller islets that surround those in the main list are obscure and none have been permanently inhabited in modern times. Nonetheless, some have a degree of historical significance. Castle Mestag off Stroma is the ruins of a once fortified stack accessible only via a drawbridge.^[15]^{[Note 4]} Some islets are identified as "storm washed", meaning that although they are partly above mean sea level, large waves wash over the top of them during storms, rendering them uninhabitable.

Finally, there is remote Rockall, which is 367 kilometres (228 mi) to the west of North Uist. It is a small rocky islet in the North Atlantic which could be, in James Fisher's words, "the most isolated small rock in the oceans of the world"^[17]^{[Note 5]} and which was declared part of Scotland by the Island of Rockall Act 1972.^[19]^[20] However, the legality of the claim is disputed by the Republic of Ireland, Denmark and Iceland and it is probably unenforceable in international law.^[21]^[22] ^{[Note 6]}

More information Island, Group ...

Island	Group	Area (ha)^[24]	Height (m) ^[25] ^{[Note 7]}	Light ^{[Note 8]}	Last inhabited^{[Note 9]}	Surrounding islets
Ardwall Isle	Islands of Fleet	22	34	No	18th century?^{[Note 10]}	Old Man of Fleet
Barlocco Isle	Islands of Fleet	10	10	No	Inhabitation unlikely	The Three Brethren
Big Scare	Solway Firth^[28]	<1	21^[29]	No	Inhabitation very unlikely	Little Scares (3)
Boreray	St Kilda	77	384	No	Iron Age?^{[Note 11]}	An t-Sail, Sgarbhstac
Bròna Cleit	Flannan Isles	1	c. 20	No	Inhabitation very unlikely	None
Dùn	St Kilda	32^[32]	178	No	Unknown^{[Note 12]}	Hamalan, Giasgeir, Sgeir Cul an Rubha, Sgeir Mhòr
Eilean a' Ghobha	Flannan Isles	8	57	No	Inhabitation very unlikely	None
Eilean Choraidh	Loch Eriboll	26^[34]	26	No	1930s	A' chlèit
Eilean Hoan	Loch Eriboll	28^[34]	25	No	Early 1800s^[35]	A' Ghoil-sgeir, An Cruachan, An Dubh-sgeir, Eilean Clùimhrig, Pocan Smoo
Eilean Mòr	Flannan Isles	17.5^[36]^{[Note 13]}	88	Yes	1971^[38]	Deirc na Sgeir, Làmh à Sgeir Beag, Làmh an Sgeir Mòire
Eilean nan Ròn	Tongue Bay	138	76	No	1930s or 40s^{[Note 14]}	An Innis, Eilean Iosal, Meall Thailm
Eilean Taighe	Flannan Isles	11	59	No	Unknown^{[Note 15]}	Gealtaire Beag, Gealtaire Mòr, Hamasgeir
Hestan Island	Solway Firth	c.11	54	Yes	Unknown^{[Note 16]}	None
Hirta	St Kilda	670	430	No	1930	An Torc, Bradastac, Mina Stac, Sgeir Domhnuill, Sgeir Mhòr, Sgeir nan Sgarbh
Inchcape	Angus coast	0.61^[41]	0^{[Note 17]}	Yes	1988^{[Note 18]}	None
Innis Mhòr	Easter Ross	26	<5	No	Shifting sands	None^{[Note 19]}
Little Ross	Solway Firth	7	35	Yes	Inhabitation unlikely	Sugarloaf
Mugdrum	Firth of Tay	32^[44]	4	No	Inhabitation unlikely	None
Murray's Isles	Islands of Fleet	1^{[Note 20]}	c.5	No	Inhabitation unlikely^{[Note 21]}	Horse Mark
Neave Island	Tongue Bay	30^[34]	70	No	Unknown^{[Note 22]}	Stac an Fhamhair
North Rona	North west	109	108	No	1885	Gealldraig Mhòr, Lòba Sgeir
Rabbit Islands	Tongue Bay	32	45	No	Unknown^{[Note 23]}	Dubh Sgeir-Mhòr, Eilean á Chaoil, Eilean Creagach, Sgeir an Òir, Talmine Island
Roaireim	Flannan Isles	5	52	No	Inhabitation very unlikely	None^{[Note 24]}
Rockall	North Atlantic	0.0624^{[Note 25]}	21.4^[48]	No	Storm washed	Hasselwood Rock, Helen's Reef
Rough Island	Solway Firth	8^[49]	24^[49]	No	Inhabitation unlikely	Craig Roan, Spring Stones
Sgeir Toman	Flannan Isles	4	43	No	Inhabitation very unlikely	Sgeir Righinn
Soay	St Kilda	99	378	No	Inhabitation unlikely^{[Note 26]}	Am Plastair, Sgeir Mac Righ Lochlainn, Stac Biorach, Stac Dona, Stac Soay.
Soraigh	Flannan Isles	6	41	No	Inhabitation very unlikely	None
Stac an Armin	St Kilda	9	196	No	Never inhabited^{[Note 27]}	None
Stac Lee	St Kilda	2.3	172	No	Never inhabited	None
Stac Levenish	St Kilda	2.42	62	No	Never inhabited	Na Bodhan
Stroma	Caithness	375	53	Yes	1996	Castle Mestag
Sula Sgeir	North west	15^{[Note 28]}	70	Yes	Storm washed^[54]	Bogha Córr, Grallsgeir
Sule Skerry	Orkney	16^[55]	12^[56]	Yes	1982^[54]	None
Sule Stack	Orkney	2.9^[55]	36^[56]	No	Storm washed	None

List of outlying islands of Scotland

Main islands

Smaller islets off the mainland

Tidally exposed islets and skerries

See also

References and footnotes

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