Shiant Isles
Encyclopedia
Outer Hebrides
The Outer Hebrides also known as the Western Isles and the Long Island, is an island chain off the west coast of Scotland. The islands are geographically contiguous with Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, one of the 32 unitary council areas of Scotland...
of Scotland. They are five miles south east of Lewis
Lewis
Lewis is the northern part of Lewis and Harris, the largest island of the Western Isles or Outer Hebrides of Scotland. The total area of Lewis is ....
.
Etymology
The name "Shiant" is from the nə ˈhelanən ˈʃiant̪ə , which means the "charmed", "holy" or "enchanted isles". The group is also known as Na h-Eileanan Mòra, "the big isles" nə ˈhelanən ˈmoːɾə. The main islands are Garbh EileanGarbh Eilean
Garbh Eilean is one of the Shiant Isles at the south end of the Minch on the west coast of Scotland.-Geology:...
(rough island) and Eilean an Taighe
Eilean an Taighe
Please note "Eilean an Taighe", or "Eilean Taigh" is a fairly common island nameEilean an Tighe or Eilean an Tigh, meaning "home island", is one of the Shiant Isles...
(house island), which are joined by a narrow isthmus
Isthmus
An isthmus is a narrow strip of land connecting two larger land areas usually with waterforms on either side.Canals are often built through isthmuses where they may be particularly advantageous to create a shortcut for marine transportation...
, and Eilean Mhuire
Eilean Mhuire
Eilean Mhuire is the most easterly of the Shiant Islands in the Outer Hebrides.Once populated Eilean Mhuire is now used only for grazing sheep. There are various ruins on the island and the Ordnance Survey mark the remains of "St...
(island of the Virgin Mary) to the east. Eilean an Taighe was called Eilean na Cille (island of the church) prior to the 19th century.
Geography and geology
In geological terms, these islands essentially represent an extension of the Trotternish
Trotternish
Trotternish or Tròndairnis is the northernmost peninsula of the Isle of Skye, in Scotland.One of its more well-known features is the Trotternish landslip, a massive landslide that runs almost the full length of the peninsula, some...
peninsula of Skye. The rocks are volcanic, and at 60Ma, very young by Hebridean
Hebrides
The Hebrides comprise a widespread and diverse archipelago off the west coast of Scotland. There are two main groups: the Inner and Outer Hebrides. These islands have a long history of occupation dating back to the Mesolithic and the culture of the residents has been affected by the successive...
standards. Dolerite columns on the north side of Garbh Eilean are over 120 metres (393.7 ft) tall and about 2 metres (6.6 ft) in diameter. Similar to those at Staffa
Staffa
Staffa from the Old Norse for stave or pillar island, is an island of the Inner Hebrides in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. The Vikings gave it this name as its columnar basalt reminded them of their houses, which were built from vertically placed tree-logs....
and the Giant's Causeway
Giant's Causeway
The Giant's Causeway is an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic eruption. It is located in County Antrim on the northeast coast of Northern Ireland, about three miles northeast of the town of Bushmills...
and much higher in places, they were formed by the slow cooling of volcanic rocks deep underground. Intrusive sills
Sill (geology)
In geology, a sill is a tabular sheet intrusion that has intruded between older layers of sedimentary rock, beds of volcanic lava or tuff, or even along the direction of foliation in metamorphic rock. The term sill is synonymous with concordant intrusive sheet...
show a progression in their chemical compositions, from olivine
Olivine
The mineral olivine is a magnesium iron silicate with the formula 2SiO4. It is a common mineral in the Earth's subsurface but weathers quickly on the surface....
-rich rocks at the base to rocks with very little or no olivine at the top. The sills are thought to have formed by crystal settling
Fractional crystallization (geology)
Fractional crystallization is one of the most important geochemical and physical processes operating within the Earth's crust and mantle. Fractional crystallization is the removal and segregation from a melt of mineral precipitates; except in special cases, removal of the crystals changes the...
. Recent study has suggested that at least one of the sills represents a multiple intrusion. In some places the basalt
Basalt
Basalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix, or vesicular, or frothy scoria. Unweathered basalt is black or grey...
is overlain by Jurassic
Jurassic
The Jurassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about Mya to Mya, that is, from the end of the Triassic to the beginning of the Cretaceous. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of the Mesozoic era, also known as the age of reptiles. The start of the period is marked by...
mudstone, which weathers to form much more fertile soil than elsewhere in the Western Isles
Outer Hebrides
The Outer Hebrides also known as the Western Isles and the Long Island, is an island chain off the west coast of Scotland. The islands are geographically contiguous with Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, one of the 32 unitary council areas of Scotland...
.
The islands can be visited via various cruises from other Hebridean Islands and from mainland Scotland.
History
In 1549, Donald MonroDonald Monro (Dean)
Donald Monro was a Scottish clergyman, who wrote an early and historically valuable description of the Hebrides and other Scottish islands and enjoyed the honorific title of “Dean of the Isles”.-Origins:...
, Dean of the Isles wrote of:
"ane ile callit Ellan Senta, that is in English a Saw, ane ile mair than twa myle lang, verey profitable for corne, store, and fishing, perteining to M’Cloyd of the Lewis. On the eist side of this ile ther is a bore, maid like a vylt, mair nore an arrow shot of any man under the eirde, through the quilk vylt we use to row ore saill with our bottis, for fear of the horrible breake of the seas that is on the outwar side thereof, bot na grate ships can saill ther.
A century and a half later Martin Martin
Martin Martin
Martin Martin was a Scottish writer best known for his work A Description of the Western Isles of Scotland . This book is particularly noted for its information on the St Kilda archipelago...
stated that:
"the two southern islands are separated only by spring-tides, and are two miles in circumference. Island-More hath a chapel in it dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and is fruitful in corn and grass; the island joining to it on the west is only for pasturage.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, the Shiant Isles had a population of eight.
The author and politician Compton MacKenzie
Compton Mackenzie
Sir Compton Mackenzie, OBE was a writer and a Scottish nationalist.-Background:Compton Mackenzie was born in West Hartlepool, England, into a theatrical family of Mackenzies, but many of whose members used Compton as their stage surname, starting with his grandfather Henry Compton, a well-known...
owned the islands from 1925 until 1937. He was an island lover who, at different points in his life rented Herm
Herm
Herm is the smallest of the Channel Islands that is open to the public and is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey. Cars are banned from the small island just like its Channel Island neighbour, Sark. Unlike Sark, bicycles are also banned...
in the Channel Islands
Channel Islands
The Channel Islands are an archipelago of British Crown Dependencies in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two separate bailiwicks: the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Bailiwick of Jersey...
. He never lived on the Shiants, but paid several brief visits during his time as owner.
In 1937 the islands were acquired by Nigel Nicolson
Nigel Nicolson
Nigel Nicolson OBE was a British writer, publisher and politician.-Biography:Nicolson was the son of the writers Sir Harold Nicolson and Vita Sackville-West; he had a brother Ben, later an art historian...
, then an undergraduate at Oxford, who like MacKenzie was later a writer, publisher and politician. Nicolson's son, the writer Adam Nicolson
Adam Nicolson
Adam Nicolson, Baron Carnock, FRSL, FSA , is a British author who writes about English history, landscape and the sea....
, published the definitive book on the islands, Sea Room. The Shiants now belong to Adam's son Tom. Sheep belonging to a Lewis crofter graze all three islands. The simple bothy
Bothy
A bothy is a basic shelter, usually left unlocked and available for anyone to use free of charge. It was also a term for basic accommodation, usually for gardeners or other workers on an estate. Bothies are to be found in remote, mountainous areas of Scotland, northern England, Ireland, and Wales....
restored by Nigel Nicolson on Eilean an Taighe is currently the only habitable structure on the islands.
Wildlife
Seabird
Seabirds are birds that have adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same environmental problems and feeding niches have resulted in similar adaptations...
s, including tens of thousands Atlantic Puffin
Atlantic Puffin
The Atlantic Puffin is a seabird species in the auk family. It is a pelagic bird that feeds primarily by diving for fish, but also eats other sea creatures, such as squid and crustaceans. Its most obvious characteristic during the breeding season is its brightly coloured bill...
s breeding in burrows on the slopes of Garbh Eilean, as well as significant numbers of Common Guillemot
Common Guillemot
The Common Murre or Common Guillemot is a large auk. It is also known as the Thin-billed Murre in North America. It has a circumpolar distribution, occurring in low-Arctic and boreal waters in the North-Atlantic and North Pacific...
s, Razorbill
Razorbill
The Razorbill is colonial seabird that will only come to land in order to breed. It is the largest living member of the Auk family. This agile bird will choose only one partner for life and females will lay one egg per year. Razorbills will nest along coastal cliffs in enclosed or slightly exposed...
s, Northern Fulmar
Northern Fulmar
The Northern Fulmar, Fulmarus glacialis, Fulmar, or Arctic Fulmar is a highly abundant sea bird found primarily in subarctic regions of the north Atlantic and north Pacific oceans. Fulmars come in one of two color morphs: a light one which is almost entirely white, and a dark one which is...
s, Black-legged Kittiwake
Black-legged Kittiwake
The Black-legged Kittiwake is a seabird species in the gull family Laridae.This species was first described by Linnaeus in his Systema naturae in 1758 as Larus tridactylus....
s, Common Shag
Common Shag
The European Shag or Common Shag is a species of cormorant. It breeds around the rocky coasts of western and southern...
s, gull
Gull
Gulls are birds in the family Laridae. They are most closely related to the terns and only distantly related to auks, skimmers, and more distantly to the waders...
s and Great Skua
Great Skua
The Great Skua, Stercorarius skua, is a large seabird in the skua family Stercorariidae. In Britain, it is sometimes known by the name Bonxie, a Shetland name of unknown origin.-Description:...
s. Although St Kilda
St Kilda, Scotland
St Kilda is an isolated archipelago west-northwest of North Uist in the North Atlantic Ocean. It contains the westernmost islands of the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. The largest island is Hirta, whose sea cliffs are the highest in the United Kingdom and three other islands , were also used for...
has more puffins, the sheer density on the Shiants is greater.
The islands are also home to a colony of Black Rat
Black Rat
The black rat is a common long-tailed rodent of the genus Rattus in the subfamily Murinae . The species originated in tropical Asia and spread through the Near East in Roman times before reaching Europe by the 1st century and spreading with Europeans across the world.-Taxonomy:The black rat was...
s, which may originally have come ashore from a shipwreck. Apart from one or two small islands in the Firth of Forth
Firth of Forth
The Firth of Forth is the estuary or firth of Scotland's River Forth, where it flows into the North Sea, between Fife to the north, and West Lothian, the City of Edinburgh and East Lothian to the south...
, the Shiants are the only place in the UK where the black rat or ship's rat (Rattus rattus) can still be found. There are thought to be about 3,000 rats on the islands. Analysis of their stomach contents has shown that the Shiant rats do eat seabirds, but it is impossible to tell if they prey on live birds or simply scavenge dead remains. Their numbers are still controlled in and around the house. Elsewhere on the islands they are unmolested.