Soay (, ) is an island just off the coast of

Skye The Isle of Skye, or simply Skye, is the largest and northernmost of the major islands in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The island's peninsulas radiate from a mountainous hub dominated by the Cuillin, the rocky slopes of which provide some o ...

, in 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 ...

of Scotland.

Geography

Soay lies to the west of Loch Scavaig on the south-west coast of Skye, from which it is separated by Soay Sound. Unlike its neighbours Skye and

Rùm Rùm (), a Scottish Gaelic language, Scottish Gaelic name often Anglicisation, anglicised to Rum ( ), is one of the Small Isles of the Inner Hebrides, off the west coast of Scotland, in the district of Lochaber. For much of the 20th century the ...

, Soay is low-lying, reaching at Beinn Bhreac. The dumb-bell shaped island is virtually cut in half by inlets that form Soay Harbour (north) and the main bay, Camas nan Gall (to the south). The main settlement, Mol-chlach, is on the shore of Camas nan Gall. It is normally reached by boat from

Elgol Elgol () is a village on the shores of Loch Scavaig towards the end of the Strathaird peninsula in the Isle of Skye, in the Scottish Highlands. Name According to tradition, its name derives from a battle fought with five ships by Aella, a foll ...

. The island is part of the Cuillin Hills National Scenic Area, one of 40 in Scotland.

History

The name derives from

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

''Sauða-ey'' meaning ''Sheep Island''. Camas nan Gall (G: ''Bay of Foreigners'') is probably named after the Norse invaders, after whom the Hebrides (''Na h-Innse Gall'') are also named. The population peaked at 158 in 1851, following eviction of crofters from Skye in 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 ...

. In 1946, author

Gavin Maxwell Gavin Maxwell FRSL FZS FRGS (15 July 19147 September 1969) was a Scottish naturalist and author, best known for his non-fiction writing and his work with otters. He became most famous for '' Ring of Bright Water'' (1960) and its sequels, which ...

bought the island and established a factory to process

shark oil Sharks are a group of elasmobranch cartilaginous fish characterized by a ribless endoskeleton, dermal denticles, five to seven gill slits on each side, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the ...

from

basking shark The basking shark (''Cetorhinus maximus'') is the second-largest living shark and fish, after the whale shark. It is one of three Planktivore, plankton-eating shark species, along with the whale shark and megamouth shark. Typically, basking sh ...

s. The enterprise was unsuccessful, lasting just three years. Maxwell wrote about it in his book ''Harpoon at a Venture''. After the failure of the business the island was sold on to Maxwell's business partner's wife (Jeanne Geddes), Tex Geddes. The island had the first solar-powered telephone exchange in the world. Previously mainly

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic (, ; Endonym and exonym, endonym: ), also known as Scots Gaelic or simply Gaelic, is a Celtic language native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a member of the Goidelic language, Goidelic branch of Celtic, Scottish Gaelic, alongs ...

-speaking, most of the population was evacuated, at their request, to

Mull Mull may refer to: Places *Isle of Mull, a Scottish island in the Inner Hebrides ** Sound of Mull, between the Isle of Mull and the rest of Scotland * Mount Mull, Antarctica * Mull Hill, Isle of Man * Mull, Arkansas, a place along Arkansas Highwa ...

on 20 June 1953 due to the poor ferry schedule in the winter when it was frequently cancelled due to bad weather , since then the island has been sparsely populated. In 2001 the population was 7. By 2003 this had dwindled to 2 and the usually resident population in 2011 were three people.

Stamps

Local stamps were issued for Soay between 1965 and 1967, all on the Europa theme, some being overprinted to commemorate Sir Winston Churchill. As the stamps were produced without the owner's permission, they are regarded as bogus.

Footnotes

References

* * {{coord, 57, 9, 0, N, 6, 13, 48, W, display=title Skye and Lochalsh Islands of Highland (council area) Islands of the Inner Hebrides

Geography

History

Stamps

See also

Footnotes

References