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 comprise 35 inhabited islands as well as 44 uninhabited islands with an area greater than 30 hectares. Skye, Mull, and Islay are the three largest, and also have the highest populations. The main commercial activities are tourism, crofting, fishing and whisky distilling. In modern times the Inner Hebrides have formed part of two separate local government jurisdictions, one to the north and the other to the south. Together, the islands have an area of about 4,130 km2 (1,594 sq mi), and had a population of 18,948 in 2011. The population density is therefore about 4.6 inhabitants per square kilometre.
Sleat is a peninsula and civil parish on the island of Skye in the Highland council area of Scotland, known as "the garden of Skye". It is the home of the clan MacDonald of Sleat. The name comes from the Scottish Gaelic Slèite, which in turn comes from Old Norse sléttr, which well describes Sleat when considered in the surrounding context of the mainland, Skye and Rùm mountains that dominate the horizon all about Sleat.
The Storr is a mountain on the Trotternish peninsula of the Isle of Skye in Scotland. The hill presents a steep rocky eastern face overlooking the Sound of Raasay, contrasting with gentler grassy slopes to the west.
Trotternish is the northernmost peninsula of the Isle of Skye in Scotland, beginning at Portree and terminating at Rubha Hunish. The Trotternish escarpment runs almost the full length of the peninsula, some 30 kilometres, and contains such landmarks as the Old Man of Storr and the Quiraing. The summit of The Storr, overlooking the Old Man, is the highest point of the peninsula. The north-eastern part of the peninsula around Quiraing is designated as a National Scenic Area and the entire escarpment is a Special Area of Conservation.
Clan MacNeacail, sometimes known as Clan MacNicol, is a Scottish clan long associated with the Isle of Skye. Tradition states that, early in its history, the clan held the Isle of Lewis, as well as extensive territory on the north-western mainland. The earliest member of the clan on record is one 14th century John "mak Nakyl", who is recorded amongst Edward I of England's powerful West Highland supporters during the Wars of Scottish Independence. John Barbour's 1375 epic, The Brus, suggests that by 1316, the clan had switched allegiance to Robert I, and made a decisive intervention in the new theatre of Anglo-Scottish conflict in Ireland. The marriage of an heiress to the MacLeods of Lewis brought a severe loss of lands and power in the following generation, forcing the clan chiefs to relocate to the surviving estates on Skye. However, the MacNeacails retained local significant influence: serving, according to tradition, as members of the Council of the Lords of the Isles and as custodians of the cathedral church of the Western Isles at Snizort. In the 17th century, members of the clan began to Anglicise their surname from the Scottish Gaelic MacNeacail to various forms, such as Nicolson. Today the English variants of the Gaelic surname are borne by members of the clan as well as members of unrelated Scottish families, including the Lowland Clan Nicolson.
Uig is a village at the head of Uig Bay on the west coast of the Trotternish peninsula on the Isle of Skye, Scotland. In 2011 it had a population of 423.
Duntulm is a township on the most northerly point of the Trotternish peninsula of the Isle of Skye made up of Shulista, south Duntulm and Ghlumaig.
The Quiraing is a landform on the eastern face of Meall na Suiramach, the northernmost summit of the Trotternish escarpment on the Isle of Skye, Scotland. It takes the form of a craterous hollow surrounded by a high rampart of rock. Within the hollow is a raised plateau the size of a football field, known as the Table. Other distinctive features of the landscape are the Needle, a jagged pinnacle rising to 120 feet (37 m), and the Prison, a mass of rock resembling a medieval keep.
Hungladder is a small village on north west coast of the Trotternish peninsula in Kilmuir, Portree, Isle of Skye, Scottish Highlands and is in the Scottish council area of Highland. The village of Uig, lies 5 miles to the south.
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 of the most dramatic mountain scenery in the country. Although Sgitheanach has been suggested to describe a winged shape, no definitive agreement exists as to the name's origins.
Staffin is a district with the Gaelic name An Taobh Sear, which translates as "the East Side", on the northeast coast of the Trotternish peninsula of the island of Skye. It is located on the A855 road about 17 miles north of Portree and is overlooked by the Trotternish Ridge with the famous rock formations of The Storr and the Quiraing. The district comprises 23 townships made up of, from south to north, Rigg, Tote, Lealt, Lonfearn, Grealin, Breackry, Cul-nan-cnoc, Bhaltos, Raiseburgh, Ellishadder, Garafad, Clachan, Garros, Marrishader, Maligar, Stenscholl, Brogaig, Sartle, Glasphein, Digg, Dunan, Flodigarry and Greap. The Kilmartin River runs northwards through the village. From where it reaches the sea a rocky shore leads east to a slipway at An Corran. Here a local resident found a slab bearing a dinosaur track, probably made by a small ornithopod. Experts subsequently found more dinosaur prints of up to 50 cm, the largest found in Scotland, made by a creature similar to Megalosaurus. At about 160 million years old they are the youngest dinosaur remains to be found in Scotland.
Snizort is an area of the Isle of Skye comprising the head of Loch Snizort and the western coast of Trotternish up to Uig, which is the largest settlement.
The Reverend Donald Nicolson of Scorrybreac was an Episcopalian minister of Kilmuir in the Isle of Skye and head of the Clan MacNeacail, or MacNicol.
Duirinish is a peninsula and civil parish on the island of Skye in Scotland. It is situated in the north west between Loch Dunvegan and Loch Bracadale.
Páll, son of Bálki, or Paal Baalkeson, was a 13th-century Hebridean lord who was an ally of Olaf the Black, king of Mann and the Isles. He was long remembered in Gaelic tradition and is traditionally the progenitor of certain families with roots in the Hebrides. Páll is recorded as being a "sheriff" of Skye, a post which had earlier been held by another Páll, son of Bálki, who was possibly an ancestor. This earlier sheriff was said to have been a close friend of Godred II, King of Mann and the Isles.
Kingsburgh is a scattered crofting township, overlooking Loch Snizort Beag on the Trotternish peninsula of the Isle of Skye in the Highlands of Scotland. It is in the council area of Highland. Kingsburgh is located 5+1⁄2 miles south of Uig.
Kilmuir is the name of a number of settlements in Scotland:
Kilmaluag is a township made up of several small settlements on the most northerly point of the Trotternish peninsula of the Isle of Skye, Scotland. Kilmaluag is within the parish of Kilmuir.
Donald MacQueen was a Church of Scotland minister in the Isle of Skye and a notable scholar, who made a favourable impression on Dr Johnson and James Boswell on their tour of the Hebrides in 1773.
Heribusta, , is a small crofting township on the Trotternish peninsula of the Isle of Skye in the Highlands of Scotland. It is part of the civil parish of Kilmuir.
Heribusta lies along a small road that branches off eastward from the A855 at Kilmuir Hall and rejoins the A855 1 mile further north near the Skye Museum of Island Life. Along this road one also finds the Kilmuir cemetery with the grave of Flora Macdonald and the headstone of fashion designer Lee Alexander McQueen. Heribusta is 5.8 kilometres north of Uig.
