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Eilean-a-beithich or Eilean nam Beitheach ("island of the birches") was once one of the Slate Islands, located in Easdale Sound between 
In 1549, Dean Monro wrote: "''Narrest Seunay layes ther a litle iyle, callit in Erische Leid Ellan Sklaitt, quherein ther is abundance of skalzie to be win''".Gillies (1909) p. 10 In modern English: "Nearest to Shuna there lies a little isle, called ''Eilean Sklaitt'' in Gaelic where there is an abundance of
Electric Scotland Retrieved 18 March 2012.
Southernhebrides.com. Retrieved 14 November 2009.
The quarry had been immensely productive and of high quality, and may have been the richest workings in the Slate Islands. An estimated seven to nine million slates had been manufactured annually over a protracted periods and after the flooding of the workings two hundred and forty men and boys lost their jobs. The outer rim of the island now forms a harbour on the edge of the village and is the only sign of the island that now remains.
Easdale
Easdale ( gd, Eilean Èisdeal) is one of the Slate Islands, in the Firth of Lorn, Scotland. Once the centre of the Scottish slate industry, there has been some recent island regeneration by the owners. This is the smallest of the Inner Hebrides ...
and Seil, in the Inner Hebrides
The Inner Hebrides (; Scottish Gaelic: ''Na h-Eileanan a-staigh'', "the inner isles") is an archipelago off the west coast of mainland Scotland, to the south east of the Outer Hebrides. Together these two island chains form the Hebrides, whic ...
.
In 1549, Dean Monro wrote: "''Narrest Seunay layes ther a litle iyle, callit in Erische Leid Ellan Sklaitt, quherein ther is abundance of skalzie to be win''".Gillies (1909) p. 10 In modern English: "Nearest to Shuna there lies a little isle, called ''Eilean Sklaitt'' in Gaelic where there is an abundance of slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...
to be gained."
Originally about in area the island was quarried for its slate to a depth of below sea level leaving only the outer rim of the island. Tipping of the quarry detritus eventually filled up the channel which separated Eilean-a-beithich from Seil, and the slate-mining village of Ellenabeich began to grow up there. However, the quarry came to a sudden and catastrophic end. "In the early morning of the 22nd November 1881, after a very severe gale of south-west wind followed by an exceptionally high tide, a large rocky buttress which supported a sea wall gave way under the excessive pressure of water"."Netherlorn and its Neighbourhood:Chapter II - Easdale"Electric Scotland Retrieved 18 March 2012.
Southernhebrides.com. Retrieved 14 November 2009.
The quarry had been immensely productive and of high quality, and may have been the richest workings in the Slate Islands. An estimated seven to nine million slates had been manufactured annually over a protracted periods and after the flooding of the workings two hundred and forty men and boys lost their jobs. The outer rim of the island now forms a harbour on the edge of the village and is the only sign of the island that now remains.
Footnotes
References
* * Gillies, Patrick Hunter (1909) ''Netherlorn, Argyllshire, and its neighbourhood''. London. Virtue and Co. * Former islands of Scotland {{ArgyllBute-geo-stub