Little Colonsay () is an uninhabited island west of the island of the

Isle of Mull The Isle of Mull or simply Mull ( ) is the second-largest island of the Inner Hebrides (after Skye) and lies off the west coast of Scotland in the Council areas of Scotland, council area of Argyll and Bute. Covering , Mull is the fourth-lar ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. The geology of the island is columnar

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

, similar to that of neighbouring

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 pl ...

. It is part of the Loch Na Keal National Scenic Area, one of 40 in Scotland. In 1841 the population was 16 individuals in two households, but by 1881 no population was recorded, the island having been cleared in 1846 by F.W. Clark, the notorious owner of

Gometra Gometra () is an island in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland, lying west of Mull. It lies immediately west of Ulva, to which it is linked by a bridge, and at low tide also by a beach. It is approximately in size. The name is also applied to the is ...

and

Ulva Ulva (; ) is a small island in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland, off the west coast of Mull. It is separated from Mull by a narrow strait, and connected to the neighbouring island of Gometra by a bridge. Much of the island is formed from Cen ...

. The censuses of 1891 and 1931 recorded two inhabitants. In the early 20th century the island was farmed by John MacColum, known as "Johnny Colonsay", but he and his family were forced out by a plague of rats. The island is owned by the family of Viscount Blakenham but has not been permanently inhabited since the 1940s. The 2nd Viscount's daughter, Cressida Cowell, the author of children's books including ''

How to Train Your Dragon ''How to Train Your Dragon'' is a media franchise from DreamWorks Animation and loosely based on the book series How to Train Your Dragon (novel series), of the same name by British author Cressida Cowell. It consists of three feature films: '' ...

'', spent childhood summers on the island and cites the

Inner Hebrides The Inner Hebrides ( ; ) 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, which experience a mild oceanic climate. The Inner Hebrides compri ...

as an inspiration for her books, suggesting they are "one of the most beautiful places on Earth" and "the kind of place where you expect to see dragons overhead"."Film based on little island" (5 April 2010) ''Press and Journal''. Aberdeen.

Footnotes

Private islands of the United Kingdom Uninhabited islands of Argyll and Bute Islands of the Inner Hebrides {{Argyll-geo-stub