Ceann Iar (

Gaelic Gaelic (pronounced for Irish Gaelic and for Scots Gaelic) is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". It may refer to: Languages * Gaelic languages or Goidelic languages, a linguistic group that is one of the two branches of the Insul ...

"Western Headland") is one of the Monach Isles/Heisgeir, to the west of

North Uist North Uist (; ) is an island and community in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. Etymology In Donald Munro's ''A Description of the Western Isles of Scotland Called Hybrides'' of 1549, North Uist, Benbecula and South Uist are described as one isla ...

in the

Outer Hebrides The Outer Hebrides ( ) or Western Isles ( , or ), sometimes known as the Long Isle or Long Island (), is an Archipelago, island chain off the west coast of mainland Scotland. It is the longest archipelago in the British Isles. The islan ...

. It is a slender island, approximately a mile, or two kilometres long.

Geography

Ceann Iar is the second largest of the Monach Islands. It is connected at low tide to Ceann Ear via Sibhinis. It is said that it was at one time possible to walk all the way to Baleshare, and on to

, five miles away, at low tide. In the 16th century, a large tidal wave was said to have washed this away. Despite Ceann Iar's name, Shillay is in fact the westernmost of the group. Like the other islands of the group, it is a low-lying, sandy island, subject to intense

coastal erosion Coastal erosion is the loss or displacement of land, or the long-term removal of sediment and rocks along the coastline due to the action of Wind wave, waves, Ocean current, currents, tides, wind-driven water, waterborne ice, or other impacts ...

. Not unlike the

Isles of Scilly The Isles of Scilly ( ; ) are a small archipelago off the southwestern tip of Cornwall, England. One of the islands, St Agnes, Isles of Scilly, St Agnes, is over farther south than the most southerly point of the Great Britain, British mainla ...

, it is possible that Ceann Iar, Sibhinis and Ceann Ear formed a single body of land within historic times, and that their land area has greatly decreased due to

overgrazing Overgrazing occurs when plants are exposed to intensive grazing for extended periods of time, or without sufficient recovery periods. It can be caused by either livestock in poorly managed agricultural applications, game reserves, or nature ...

, and wind erosion as well. On the east side is Baile Beag (little town), the settlement of the island, on the slopes of Cnoc Bhàrr (top hill), which at 19 metres in height is a mere metre higher than neighbouring Ceann Ear's hillocks. In the north, there is also Cnoc Mòr (big hill), which is the other "height" on the island. The west is formed by Rubha Shulabhaig (a headland), and the north east by Hearnish. Just to the north is the island of S(t)ròmaigh (from Old Norse meaning "storm island")

History

A cairn on Ceann Iar marks the grave of Lieutenant RNR MacNeill of the HMA ''Laurentic''. The ship hit a mine in 1917, during World War I, off

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

, and his body had drifted all the way to here. Strangely, this accords with the old Hebridean tradition that the sea carries the drowned home - the Monachs are

Clan MacNeil Clan MacNeil, also known in Scotland as Clan Niall, is a Scottish Highlands, highland Scottish clan of Irish people, Irish origin. According to their early genealogies and some sources they're descended from Eógan mac Néill and Niall of the Ni ...

territory. The island had been settled intermittently for over a thousand years, although the main settlement was on Ceann Ear. It was resettled in the wake of the

Highland Clearances The Highland Clearances ( , the "eviction of the Gaels") were the evictions of a significant number of tenants in the Scottish Highlands and Islands, mostly in two phases from 1750 to 1860. The first phase resulted from Scottish Agricultural R ...

, but finally abandoned in 1942.

Notes and references

{{coord, 57, 31, 35, N, 7, 39, 15, W, display=title, region:GB_type:isle_source:GNS-enwiki Monach Islands Tidal islands of Scotland Former populated places in Scotland Uninhabited islands of the Outer Hebrides