Please note: there is also a group called "Small Isles" off south east Jura, ScotlandJura is an island in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland, situated adjacent and to the north-east of Islay. The island is designated as a National Scenic Area. Until the twentieth century Jura was dominated - and most of it was eventually owned - by the Campbell clan of Inveraray Castle on Loch Fyne...
The
Small Isles (Scottish Gaelic:
Na h-Eileanan Tarsainn) are a small
archipelagoAn archipelago is a chain or cluster of islands that are formed tectonically. The word archipelago is directly derived from the Greek arkhon and pelagos...
of islands in the
Inner HebridesThe Inner Hebrides is an archipelago off the west coast of Scotland, to the south east of the Outer Hebrides. They are part of the Hebrides. In classical sources, they are referred to as the Ebudae or the Ebudes...
, off the west coast of
ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. They lie south of Skye and north of
MullThe Isle of Mull or simply Mull is the second largest island of the Inner Hebrides, off the west coast of Scotland in the council area of Argyll and Bute....
and
ArdnamurchanArdnamurchan is a peninsula in Lochaber, Highland, Scotland, noted for being very unspoilt and undisturbed. Its remoteness is accentuated by the main access route being a single track road for much of its length.-Geography:...
– the most westerly point of mainland
ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
.
The four main islands are
CannaCanna is the westernmost of the Small Isles archipelago, in the Scottish Inner Hebrides. It is linked to the neighbouring island of Sanday by a road and sandbanks at low tide. The island is long and wide...
,
RùmRùm , a Scottish Gaelic name often Anglicised to Rum) is one of the Small Isles of the Inner Hebrides, in the district of Lochaber, Scotland...
,
EiggEigg is one of the Small Isles, in the Scottish Inner Hebrides. It lies to the south of the Skye and to the north of the Ardnamurchan peninsula. Eigg is long from north to south, and east to west. With an area of , it is the second largest of the Small Isles after Rùm.-Geography:The main...
and
MuckMuck is the smallest of four main islands in the Small Isles, part of the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. It measures roughly 2.5 miles east to west and has a population of around 30, mostly living near the harbour at Port Mòr. The other settlement on the island is the farm at Gallanach...
. The largest is Rùm with an area of .
The islands now form part of
LochaberLochaber is one of the 16 ward management areas of the Highland Council of Scotland and one of eight former local government districts of the two-tier Highland region...
, in the
HighlandThe Highland Council area is a local government area in the Scottish Highlands and the largest local government area in both Scotland and the United Kingdom as a whole. It shares borders with the council areas of Moray, Aberdeenshire, Perth and Kinross, and Argyll and Bute...
council area.
Please note: there is also a group called "Small Isles" off south east Jura, ScotlandJura is an island in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland, situated adjacent and to the north-east of Islay. The island is designated as a National Scenic Area. Until the twentieth century Jura was dominated - and most of it was eventually owned - by the Campbell clan of Inveraray Castle on Loch Fyne...
The
Small Isles (Scottish Gaelic:
Na h-Eileanan Tarsainn) are a small
archipelagoAn archipelago is a chain or cluster of islands that are formed tectonically. The word archipelago is directly derived from the Greek arkhon and pelagos...
of islands in the
Inner HebridesThe Inner Hebrides is an archipelago off the west coast of Scotland, to the south east of the Outer Hebrides. They are part of the Hebrides. In classical sources, they are referred to as the Ebudae or the Ebudes...
, off the west coast of
ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. They lie south of Skye and north of
MullThe Isle of Mull or simply Mull is the second largest island of the Inner Hebrides, off the west coast of Scotland in the council area of Argyll and Bute....
and
ArdnamurchanArdnamurchan is a peninsula in Lochaber, Highland, Scotland, noted for being very unspoilt and undisturbed. Its remoteness is accentuated by the main access route being a single track road for much of its length.-Geography:...
– the most westerly point of mainland
ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
.
The four main islands are
CannaCanna is the westernmost of the Small Isles archipelago, in the Scottish Inner Hebrides. It is linked to the neighbouring island of Sanday by a road and sandbanks at low tide. The island is long and wide...
,
RùmRùm , a Scottish Gaelic name often Anglicised to Rum) is one of the Small Isles of the Inner Hebrides, in the district of Lochaber, Scotland...
,
EiggEigg is one of the Small Isles, in the Scottish Inner Hebrides. It lies to the south of the Skye and to the north of the Ardnamurchan peninsula. Eigg is long from north to south, and east to west. With an area of , it is the second largest of the Small Isles after Rùm.-Geography:The main...
and
MuckMuck is the smallest of four main islands in the Small Isles, part of the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. It measures roughly 2.5 miles east to west and has a population of around 30, mostly living near the harbour at Port Mòr. The other settlement on the island is the farm at Gallanach...
. The largest is Rùm with an area of .
The islands now form part of
LochaberLochaber is one of the 16 ward management areas of the Highland Council of Scotland and one of eight former local government districts of the two-tier Highland region...
, in the
HighlandThe Highland Council area is a local government area in the Scottish Highlands and the largest local government area in both Scotland and the United Kingdom as a whole. It shares borders with the council areas of Moray, Aberdeenshire, Perth and Kinross, and Argyll and Bute...
council area. Until 1891
CannaCanna is the westernmost of the Small Isles archipelago, in the Scottish Inner Hebrides. It is linked to the neighbouring island of Sanday by a road and sandbanks at low tide. The island is long and wide...
,
RùmRùm , a Scottish Gaelic name often Anglicised to Rum) is one of the Small Isles of the Inner Hebrides, in the district of Lochaber, Scotland...
and
MuckMuck is the smallest of four main islands in the Small Isles, part of the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. It measures roughly 2.5 miles east to west and has a population of around 30, mostly living near the harbour at Port Mòr. The other settlement on the island is the farm at Gallanach...
were historically part of the
countiesThe counties of Scotland were the principal divisions of Scotland until 1975. Scotland's current lieutenancy areas and registration counties are largely based on them.-Origin:...
of
ArgyllArgyll , archaically Argyle , is a region of western Scotland corresponding with most of the part of ancient Dál Riata that was located on the island of Great Britain, and in a historical context can be used to mean the entire western seaboard between the Mull of Kintyre and Cape Wrath.The early...
;
EiggEigg is one of the Small Isles, in the Scottish Inner Hebrides. It lies to the south of the Skye and to the north of the Ardnamurchan peninsula. Eigg is long from north to south, and east to west. With an area of , it is the second largest of the Small Isles after Rùm.-Geography:The main...
was historically part of
Inverness-shireInverness was a general purpose county of Scotland, with the burgh of Inverness as the county town, until 1975, when, under the Local Government Act 1973, the county area was divided between the two-tier Highland region and the unitary Western Isles. The Highland region was a region of eight...
, and all of the Small Isles were in
Inverness-shireInverness was a general purpose county of Scotland, with the burgh of Inverness as the county town, until 1975, when, under the Local Government Act 1973, the county area was divided between the two-tier Highland region and the unitary Western Isles. The Highland region was a region of eight...
, from 1891 to 1975. The Gaelic name is literally "cross isles" referring to their position between
MorarMorar is a small village on the west coast of Scotland, south of Mallaig. The name Morar is also applied to the wider district around the village....
and
The UistsUist or The Uists are the central group of islands in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland.North Uist and South Uist are linked by causeways running via Benbecula and Grimsay, and the entire group is sometimes known as the Uists....
.
Smaller islands surrounding the main four include:
- Sanday
Sanday is one of the Small Isles, in the Scottish Inner Hebrides. It is a tidal island linked to its larger neighbor, Canna, via sandbanks at low tide, and also connected to the larger island by a bridge...
, separated from Canna by a narrow tidal channel;
- Eilean Chathastail
Eilean Chathastail is one of the Small Isles in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. It is roughly 1 km in length and lies only 100 m off the south eastern coast of the island of Eigg. Eilean Chathastail protects the only harbour on Eigg at Galmisdale.Eigg lighthouse was built on the island in 1906...
, near Eigg and
- Eilean nan Each (Horse Island), near north coast of Muck
There are also a number of
skerriesA skerry is a small rocky island, usually defined to be too small for habitation. It may simply be a rocky reef.The term skerry is derived from the Old Norse sker, which means a rock in the sea. The Old Norse term sker was brought into the English language via the Scots language...
:
- Hyskeir
Hyskeir or Heyskeir is a low-lying rocky islet in the Inner Hebrides, Scotland. Its lighthouse marks the southern entrance to The Minch.-Geography:...
, (not to be confused with Heisker or the Monach IslandsNot to be confused with Heysker/Hyskeir or HaskeirThe Monach Islands, also known as Heisker , are an island group west of North Uist in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland...
in the Outer Hebrides)
- Garbh Sgeir
Not to be confused with the nearby islet of the same name that lies 400 m east of the southern tip of the island of Eigg, north of Eilean Chathastail....
,
- Eagamol, near Eilean nan Each
- Humla, and
- two places called Dubh Sgeir
Footnotes