Scottish Gaelic name | Orasaigh |
---|---|
Old Norse name | Örfirirsey |
Meaning of name | tidal island |
View of Oronsay from Ullinish Point | |
Location | |
OS grid reference | NG316360 |
Physical geography | |
Island group | Skye |
Area | 18 hectares (44 acres) [1] |
Highest elevation | 72 metres (236 ft) |
Administration | |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Country | Scotland |
Council area | Highland |
Demographics | |
Population | 0 |
Largest settlement | none |
References | [2] [3] [4] |
Oronsay (Scottish Gaelic : Orasaigh) is an uninhabited [2] tidal island in Loch Bracadale on the west coast of Skye, Scotland.
It is c.1,000 metres (0.7miles) long by 220m wide running approximately north-east to south west.
At low tide (approx. below 4 metres) the island is connected to Ullinish Point on Skye via a narrow rocky causeway, some 200m long. The name Oronsay is believed to derive from the Old Norse for 'tidal island'.
The eastern part of the island, which faces Skye, is low-lying grass land, while the western part rises until it reaches several cliffs, up to 72 metres (240 ft) in height. [5] Views from the westward side are to the Atlantic, Idrigill Point, Macleod's Maidens, with the much larger island of Wiay c.0.8 miles north-west, behind which the flat tops of Healabhal Bheag and Healabhal Mhòr (Macleod's Tables) dominate from the Duirinish Peninsula.
Behind Wiay some 2.7miles north-west is Harlosh Island (narrowly separated from Harlosh on Skye) and to the east of this, 1.7miles north-west (and directly north of Wiay) is Tarner Island.
Below the westernmost cliff of Oronsay sit several small sea stacks and the coast of the island contains several caves, however these are largely accessible except from the sea.
Oronsay is a well known hiking destination. [6]
57°20′10″N6°27′36″W / 57.33611°N 6.46000°W
Ullinish is a crofting township on Loch Bracadale, on the southwest coast of Skye, Scotland. The only promontory fort on Skye is located at Ullinish. It is situated to the west of Struan and just south of the hamlet of Ebost. Historically, Ullinish is associated with the MacLeod family. Of literary note, Samuel Johnson's views and denunciation of James Macpherson's Ossian were confirmed while Johnson was in Ullinish.
Wiay, pronounced "waya" is an uninhabited island in Loch Bracadale, off the coast of the Isle of Skye
The A863 road is one of the principal roads of the Isle of Skye in the Inner Hebrides off the west coast of mainland Scotland.
Struan is a small village on the west coast of the island of Skye, on the shores of Loch Beag, itself an inlet of Loch Bracadale. "Struan" is the anglicized form of the Scottish Gaelic word sruthan, meaning "small stream", or the flow at the point where a spring appears.
Wiay is an uninhabited island in the Outer Hebrides.
Loch Bracadale is a sea loch on the west coast of Skye in Scotland. It separates the Minginish Peninsula in the south from the Duirinish Peninsula in the north.
Fiskavaig or Fiscavaig is a picturesque crofting settlement on the north-west shore of the Minginish peninsula, Isle of Skye in the Highland Council area.
Harlosh is a settlement on the island of Skye off the west coast of Scotland. The settlement is on a peninsula of the same name.
Healabhal Bheag is a hill located on the Duirinish peninsula of the Isle of Skye in the Inner Hebrides, Scotland. It is also known as MacLeod's Table South and is part of the prominent pair of peaks known as MacLeod's Tables that dominate the views to the west of Dunvegan and to the north of Harlosh.
Roag, meaning noisy place or 'deer bay' in Norse, is a small remote scattered hamlet on the north west shore of Pool Roag in the west of the Duirinish peninsula. Located on the Isle of Skye, Scottish Highlands, it is in the Scottish council area of Highland.
Inverness-shire is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. Covering much of the Highlands and Outer Hebrides, it is Scotland's largest county, though one of the smallest in population, with 67,733 people or 1.34% of the Scottish population.
Minginish is a peninsula on the Isle of Skye in Scotland. It is situated on the west coast of the island and runs from Loch Scavaig in the south, along the western coast of Skye to Loch Bracadale in the north west, to Loch Harport in the north east, and Glen Sligachan in the south east. It includes most of the peaks of the Cuillin hills including Sgurr Alasdair, the highest point on the island at 992 metres (3,255 ft). The island of Soay lies offshore across the Soay Sound, with the Small Isles further south across the Cuillin Sound.
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.
Harlosh Island is one of four islands to be found in Skye's Loch Bracadale. Harlosh Island is one mile from the coast of the Duirinish Peninsula and four miles from the coast of the Minginish peninsula. At low tide it is only about 100 metres (330 ft) from Harlosh Point on mainland Skye.
Tarner Island is a triangular shaped island in Loch Bracadale just off the coast off the Harlosh peninsula of Skye in Scotland. It is about 28 hectares in extent and is 0.65 miles at its longest by 0.33 miles at its widest
Eilean Mòr is an uninhabited, tidal island opposite Oronsay at the entrance to Loch Sunart, an arm of the sea on the west coast of Scotland. At low tide it is attached to Glenmore on the Ardnamurchan peninsula. The highest elevation is 123 feet (37 m). At low tide it is attached to Glenmore on the Ardnamurchan peninsula. The water around Eilean Mòr contains flame shells.