The name is an anglicisation of the Scottish Gaelic, eilean meaning "island". Unusually for the west coast of Scotland, the two islands appear to have no individual names of their own and as such are always referred to collectively. The islands were mined for stone in the Victorian times, during the busy expansion of Millport.
Today the islands are home to a small colony of harbour seals.
Three smaller rocks, the Leug (possibly Gaelic: gemstone), the Spoig (Gaelic: paw) and the Clach (Gaelic: stone) lie to the west.
Great Cumbrae is the larger of the two islands known as The Cumbraes in the lower Firth of Clyde in western Scotland. The island is sometimes called Millport, after its main town.
Little Cumbrae is an island in the Firth of Clyde, in North Ayrshire, Scotland. It lies south of Great Cumbrae, its larger neighbour. The underlying geology is igneous with limited outcrops of sedimentary rock. Little Cumbrae House is of 20th century construction, although the island has no permanent inhabitation at present, its population having peaked at 23 in the late 19th century. There is a lighthouse on the western coast.
Millport is the only town on the island of Great Cumbrae in the Firth of Clyde off the coast of mainland Scotland, in the council area of North Ayrshire. The town is 4 miles (6 km) south of the ferry terminal that links the island to the Scottish mainland.
Erraid is a tidal island approximately one mile square located in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. It lies west of Mull and southeast of Iona. The island receives about 1,000 millimetres (40 in) of rain and 1,350 hours of sunshine annually, making it one of the driest and sunniest places on the western seaboard of Scotland. It is attended by numerous uninhabited small islets, the largest being Eilean Dubh, Eilean nam Muc, Eilean Chalmain, Eilean Ghomain and Eilean na Seamair.
Horse Isle is an uninhabited island located in the Firth of Clyde, Scotland near the seaside town of Ardrossan. It is a nature reserve, run by the RSPB.
Priest Island is a small, uninhabited island in the Summer Isles off the west coast of Scotland.
This particular Eilean Dubh is sometimes known as Glen Caladh Island and lies just off the Cowal peninsula in the Kyles of Bute. The island is around 0.3 kilometres at its longest length and rises to a height of 19 metres above sea level. It is almost entirely covered by woodland.
Eilean Dubh Mòr is an uninhabited island in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. It lies at the mouth of the Firth of Lorn, between the islands of Lunga and Garbh Eileach. The area of the island has been measured variously—at 50 hectares by Livingstone and 65 hectares by Haswell-Smith, the latter including the nearby islet of Eilean Dubh Beag, which is joined to Eilean Dubh Mòr at low tide.
Sgat Mòr and Sgat Beag are two small islands that lie at the mouth of Loch Fyne by the shore of the Cowal peninsula on the west coast of Scotland.
Eilean nan Ròn is an island near Skerray, in the north of Sutherland, Scotland. An estimated 350 seal pups are born here annually.
Gunna is an island in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland.
Castle Island or Allimturrail is a small tidal island, lying off the east coast of Little Cumbrae, and to the west of Trail Island, in the Firth of Clyde. It is joined to Little Cumbrae at low tide.
Finlaggan is a historic site on Eilean Mòr in Loch Finlaggan. The Loch, the island, and Finlaggan Castle lie on Islay, around two kilometres to the northwest of Ballygrant.
Eilean nan Deargannan is a small island in Loch Lomond, in west central Scotland. It lies between Rowardennan and Inverbeg.
Dùn Anlaimh, also known as Dùn Amhlaidh, and Eilean nan Cinneachan, is a crannog, located within Loch nan Cinneachan on the Inner Hebridean island of Coll. Upon the crannog there are the remains of walls and several buildings. These remains are not unlike those of other fortified islands found throughout the Outer Hebrides, and it is likely that Dùn Anlaimh dates from the late Middle Ages. According to local tradition on Coll, the fort was once the home of a Norse chieftain who was defeated in battle somewhere nearby. The early 20th century antiquary Erskine Beveridge considered it as one of the four most interesting fortifications, on Coll. The site of Dùn Anlaimh is located at grid reference NM18845684. The RCAHMS classifies the site as a 'crannog' and an 'island dwelling'.
Fraoch-eilean is a small island with an uncertain population north of Benbecula in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. It is about 55 hectares in extent and the highest point is 11 metres (36 ft). Its name derives from the Gaelic for "heather island".
Eilean Tigh is a tidal island in the Sound of Raasay of Scotland, that lies between Rona and Raasay.
Fraoch Eilean/Ejlean is a small island situated at the northern end of Loch Awe, a freshwater lake in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It is notable for being the site of a medieval royal castle, now ruined, which was given into the keeping of Clan Macnaghten by Alexander III in 1267.
Loch Sween is a sea loch located near Lochgilphead, Argyll and Bute, Scotland. Castle Sween is located on the southern shore towards the seaward end of the loch. The village of Tayvallich, a favoured haven for water craft as it sits at the head of sheltered Loch a' Bhealaich, lies on the northern shore.
Dun an Sticir is an Iron Age broch situated approximately 9.5 kilometers north of Lochmaddy in a loch on North Uist in the Scottish Outer Hebrides. A building was erected on the site in the late medieval period.
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