Â鶹Éç

Isle of Eigg

The Island of Eigg lies to the south of Skye, and to the north of the Ardnamurchan peninsula and is approximately 9 kilometres long from north to south, and five kilometres east to west.

Eigg is best known as the island which became an emblem of the land reform movement when it was the first successful community buy-out in 1997 when - after decades of mismanagement by absentee landlords, the island was bought by the Isle of Eigg Heritage Trust, a partnership between the residents of Eigg, the Highland Council, and the Scottish Wildlife Trust.

The name Eigg is thought by some to be the Norse for 'rollock', the island resembling the shape of the holding for an oar when viewed on the horizon at sea. One end of these promonitories dominates the landing bay at Eigg, An Sghurr welcoming arrivals towering at of 1290 feet. This basalt ridge (pictured) is home to Golden Eagles, an old island saying 'Bidh an Sgurr an sid 's bidh mis an seo.'- the Sgurr will always be there and so will I. Clearly this was not the case, the island once supported a population of 600, now about eighty live here.

Site:

To suggest a site to be added, email us at:
islandblogging@bbc.co.uk

The Â鶹Éç is not responsible for the content of external sites.