The land is highly fertile, and crofting, alongside tourism, and fishing are the main sources of employment for the islanders. Tiree, along with Colonsay, enjoys a relatively high number of total hours of sunshine during the late spring and early summer compared to the average for the United Kingdom.[6] Tiree is a popular windsurfing venue; it is sometimes referred to as "Hawaii of the north".[7] In most years, the Tiree World Classic surfing event is held here.[8] People native to the island are known as Tirisdich.
The Ringing Stone – a Cup and ring mark stone in 1892.Map of Tiree (bottom, southwest) and Coll (top, northeast), 1899.
Tiree is known for the 1st-century-AD Dùn Mòr broch, for the prehistoric carved Ringing Stone and for the birds of the Ceann a' Mhara headland.
Adomnán, abbot of Iona Abbey 679–704, recorded several stories relating to St Columba and the island of Tiree.
In one story, Columba warned a monk called Berach not to sail directly from Iona to Tiree, and instead to take a different route, and the monk went against his advice and sailed directly, but along the way, a huge whale came out of the sea and almost destroyed their boat. Columba gave the same warning to Baithéne mac Brénaind who replied that both he and the whale were in God's hands, and Columba told him to go because his faith would save him. And Baithene set off for Tiree, and when the whale appeared, he raised his hands and blessed it and it went back down into the ocean.
In another story, Adomnán claimed there to be a monastery on the island of Tiree that was called Artchain. The monastery had been founded by a priest called Findchan, who was very closely attached "in a carnal way" to Áed Dub mac Suibni. Columba took issue at Aed Dub's ordination because he had previously killed a number of men, and prophesied that Aed Dub would ultimately leave the priesthood and return to his sinful life as a murderer, only to be killed violently himself.[10][11]
In another story, Adomnán claimed that Baithéne mac Brénaind asked Columba to pray for a good wind to get him to Tiree, and it was given to him, and he crossed the sea from Iona to Tiree with full sail. In another story, Columba instructed a particular monk to go to the monastery on Tiree and do penance for seven years. In another story, Columba banished some demons from Iona who then went to the island of Tiree to afflict the monks there instead. Adomnán also records there being more than one monastery on Tiree in that time period, and that Baithéne mac Brénaind had been abbot of one of these monasteries.[12]
Writing in 1549, Donald Munro, High Dean of the Isles wrote of "Thiridh" that it was: "ane mane laich fertile fruitful cuntrie... All inhabite and manurit with twa paroche kirkis in it, ane fresh water loch with an auld castell. Na cuntrie may be mair fertile of corn and very gude for wild fowls and for fishe, with ane gude heavin for heiland galayis".[Note 1]
In 1770, half of the island was held by fourteen farmers who had drained land for hay and pasture. Instead of exporting live cattle (which were often exhausted by the long journey to market and so fetched low prices), they began to export salt beef in barrels to get better prices. The rest of the island was let to 45 groups of tenants on co-operative joint farms: agricultural organisations probably dating from clan times. Field strips were allocated by annual ballot. Sowing and harvesting dates were decided communally. It is reported that in 1774, Tiresians were 'well-clothed and well-fed, having an abundance of corn and cattle'.
Its name derives from Tìr Iodh, 'land of the corn', from the days of the 6th century Celtic missionary and abbotSt Columba (d. 597). Tiree provided the monastic community on the island of Iona, southeast of the island, with grain. A number of early monasteries once existed on Tiree itself, and several sites have stone cross-slabs from this period, such as St Patrick's Chapel, Ceann a' Mhara (NL 938 401) and Soroby (NL 984 416).
Skerryvore lighthouse, 12 miles (19 kilometres) south west of Tiree, was built with some difficulty between 1838 and 1844 by Alan Stevenson.
A large Royal Air Force station was built on Tiree during World War II The weather observations from squadron 518 collected helped inform Group CaptainJames Martin Stagg's recommendation to General Dwight D. Eisenhower to delay the launching of the D-Day invasion of Normandy from 5 June to 6 June 1944.[14] The airfield became Tiree Airport in 1947.[15] There was also an RAF Chain Home radar station at Kilkenneth and an RAF Chain Home Low radar station at Beinn Hough. These were preceded by a temporary RAF Advanced Chain Home radar station at Port Mor and an RAF Chain Home Beam radar station at Barrapol. Post-war there was RAF ScarinishROTOR radar station at Beinn Ghott.
Looking west to Balephuil Bay, across the famous Hebridean Machair
Caledonian MacBrayne operate a ferry to Scarinish. The daily crossing from Oban on the mainland takes four hours.[20] A call is made at Arinagour on Coll and once a week the ferry crosses to Castlebay on Barra. More limited services operate in Winter.
Roads on Tiree, in common with many other small islands, are nearly all single-track roads. There are passing places, locally called 'pockets', where cars must wait to enable oncoming traffic to pass or overtake.
As with the rest of western Scotland, Tiree experiences a maritime climate (Cfb) with cool summers and mild winters. Despite its being on the same latitude as Labrador on the opposite side of the Atlantic Ocean, snow and frost are rare, and short-lived when they occur. Weather data is collected at the island's airport. The lowest temperature to occur in recent years was −5.8°C (21.6°F) during the cold spell of December 2010.[22] The extreme maritime moderation contributes to summer temperatures that are far below even coastal locations in continental Europe on similar latitudes. Winter temperatures are similar to those of coastal southern England.
Climate data for Tiree, 9m asl, 1981–2010, Extremes 1951–
Source 2: Royal Dutch Meteorological Institute/KNMI[24]
A restored 'spotted house'.Satellite image of Tiree.
Economy
The Southern Hebrides agency states that "while farming and, to a lesser extent, fishing, continue to provide most of the income of Tiree, tourism plays an increasing part in the island’s economy".[25] The fertile machair lands of the island provide for good quality farming and crofting
Tiree Community Development Trust owns and operates a 950kW community-owned wind turbine project known as Tilley. This was the fourth such large-scale project in Scotland.[26] The first three projects were on Gigha and Westray and at Findhorn Ecovillage. The Argyll Array, an offshore wind farm development was proposed for development around Skerryvore but was subsequently abandoned.[27]
The island is a popular destination for family holidays. Tourists are attracted by the beaches, its many crofts, "traditional blackhouses and white houses, many retaining their charming thatched roofs, as well as unique ‘pudding houses’ where white mortar contrasts with dark stone".[28] A full dozen blackhouses, thatched with local marram grass, can still be found on Tiree.[25]
Tiree is popular for windsurfing. The island regularly hosts the Tiree Wave Classic[29] and was the venue for the Corona Extra PWA World Cup Finals in 2007.[30] It is visited regularly by surfing clubs, including Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Glasgow university clubs.[31] There is a radar station which tracks civil aircraft.
The island's population was 653 as recorded by the 2011 census[2] a drop of over 15% since 2001, when there were 770 usual residents.[32] During the same period Scottish island populations as a whole grew by 4% to 103,702.[33]
Tiree has a rich distilling history and is home to a distillery, which was set up to re-establish the island's whisky heritage and, as of 2019[update], is producing Tyree Gin.[34] The distillery has plans to make Scotch Whisky.[citation needed] An April 2020 article about the Tiree Whisky Company, producers of Tyree Gin, states that it began making gin on the island again in 2019 but does not mention a plan to make whisky on the island.[35] The company is said to be the first legal distillery on the island in over 200 years; distilling had been banned in 1802. In 2020, the company was marketing a Speyside whisky, The Cairnsmuir, but not made on Tiree.[36]
Culture and media
The island is known for its vernacular architecture, including a 'blackhouse' and 'white houses', many retaining their traditional thatched roofs, and for its unique 'pudding houses' or 'spotted houses' where only the mortar is painted white.
Tiree has a declining but still considerable percentage of Gaelic speakers.[37] In 2001, 368 residents (47.8%) spoke Gaelic. By 2011 the figure had decreased to 240 (38.3%), still the highest percentage of speakers in the Inner Hebrides.[38][39]
Since 2010, the island has hosted the annual Tiree Music Festival, held in Crossapol in the fields beside the community hall 'An Talla'.[40] In 2012, when Tiree appeared in the BBC Programme Coast for a second time, the actions of RAF weather forecasters, flying hazardous missions far out into the storms of the Atlantic during World War II, were discussed.
Tiree is mentioned in the traditional Scottish song titled "Dark Island", which tells a tale of a ship leaving Oban and passing the "isle of my childhood", Tiree.[41] Tiree is mentioned in Enya's 1988 single "Orinoco Flow". Tiree is also referenced in the song "Western Ocean" by Skipinnish, a traditional Scottish band co-founded by local Tirisdeach (Tiresian) Angus MacPhail.[42]
The Tiree Songbook is an album of songs from Na Bàird Thirisdeach, a 20th-century book collecting songs from Tiree, and new compositions about the island.[43] The album won the Community Project of the Year award at the Scots Trad Music Awards in 2017.
People connected to Tiree
Iain mac Ailein, or John MacLean, (1787-1848), was a Tiree bard and highly important figure in both Scottish Gaelic literature and that of Canadian Gaelic.[44] According to Robert Dunbar, the Gaels of Tiree have a very long history of producing highly gifted songwriters and poets, but "MacLean is ...considered by some to be the greatest of the Tiree bards."[45]
↑ English translation from Lowland Scots: "a low-lying fertile fruitful country... Its entirety is inhabited and manured and there are two parish churches and a freshwater lake with an old castle. Nowhere is more fertile for corn and it is good for wild fowl and fish, with a good harbour for Highlandgalleys."[13]
Related Research Articles
The Hebrides are an archipelago off the west coast of the Scottish mainland. The islands fall into two main groups, based on their proximity to the mainland: the Inner and Outer Hebrides.
Iona is a small island in the Inner Hebrides, off the Ross of Mull on the western coast of Scotland. It is mainly known for Iona Abbey, though there are other buildings on the island. Iona Abbey was a centre of Gaelic monasticism for three centuries and is today known for its relative tranquility and natural environment. It is a tourist destination and a place for spiritual retreats. Its modern Scottish Gaelic name means "Iona of (Saint) Columba".
Dál Riata or Dál Riada was a Gaelic kingdom that encompassed the western seaboard of Scotland and north-eastern Ireland, on each side of the North Channel. At its height in the 6th and 7th centuries, it covered what is now Argyll in Scotland and part of County Antrim in Northern Ireland. After a period of expansion, Dál Riata eventually became associated with the Gaelic Kingdom of Alba.
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.
The Isle of Mull or just Mull is the second-largest island of the Inner Hebrides and lies off the west coast of Scotland in the council area of Argyll and Bute.
Argyll, sometimes called Argyllshire, is a historic county and registration county of western Scotland.
Coll is an island located west of the Isle of Mull in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. Coll is known for its sandy beaches, which rise to form large sand dunes, for its corncrakes, and for Breacachadh Castle. It is in the council area of Argyll and Bute.
The Treshnish Isles are an archipelago of small islands and skerries, lying west of the Isle of Mull, in Scotland. They are part of the Inner Hebrides. Trips to the Treshnish Isles operate from Ulva Ferry, Tobermory, Ardnamurchan and Tiree.
Ardnamurchan is a 50-square-mile (130-square-kilometre) peninsula in the ward management area of Lochaber, Highland, Scotland, noted for being very unspoiled and undisturbed. Its remoteness is accentuated by the main access route being a single track road for much of its length. The most westerly point of mainland Great Britain, Corrachadh Mòr, is in Ardnamurchan.
Castlebay is the main village and a community council area on the island of Barra in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland. The village is located on the south coast of the island, and overlooks a bay in the Atlantic Ocean dominated by Kisimul Castle, as well as nearby islands such as Vatersay. Castlebay is also within the parish of Barra. The village is located on the A888, which serves as a circular road around Barra. In 1971 it had a population of 307.
The Gulf of Corryvreckan, also called the Strait of Corryvreckan, is a narrow strait between the islands of Jura and Scarba, in Argyll and Bute, off the west coast of mainland Scotland.
Scarinish is the main village on the island of Tiree, in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. It is located on the south coast of the island, between Hynish Bay to the southwest and Gott Bay to the northeast. The harbour was built in 1771. In 1961 it had a population of 103.
Texa is a small island 700 metres directly south of Islay, in the Inner Hebrides, Scotland. It reaches a height of 48 metres at its highest point, Ceann Garbh. It is part of the parish of Kildalton on Islay. The distilleries of Laphroaig and Lagavulin are nearby on the Islay coast, as well as Port Ellen. It is currently uninhabited, but is home to wild goats, as well as otters.
Hinba is an island in Scotland of uncertain location that was the site of a small monastery associated with the Columban church on Iona. Although a number of details are known about the monastery and its early superiors, and various anecdotes dating from the time of Columba of a mystical nature have survived, modern scholars are divided as to its whereabouts. The source of information about the island is Adomnán's late 7th-century Vita Columbae.
Oban is a resort town within the Argyll and Bute council area of Scotland. Despite its small size, it is the largest town between Helensburgh and Fort William. During the tourist season, the town can have a temporary population of up to over 24,000 people. Oban occupies a setting in the Firth of Lorn. The bay forms a near perfect horseshoe, protected by the island of Kerrera; and beyond Kerrera, the Isle of Mull. To the north, is the long low island of Lismore and the mountains of Morvern and Ardgour.
Lewis and Harris, or Lewis with Harris, is a single Scottish island in the Outer Hebrides, divided by mountains. It is the largest island in Scotland and the third largest in the British Isles, after Great Britain and the island of Ireland, with an area of 841 square miles (2,178 km2), which is approximately 1% of the area of Great Britain. The northern two-thirds is called [the Isle of] Lewis and the southern third [the Isle of] Harris; each is referred to as if it were a separate island and there are many cultural and linguistic differences between the two.
Baithéne mac Brénaind was an Irish monk, one of Saint Columba's followers who accompanied him to Scotland around 563, and was the first successor of the abbacy of Iona. The Annals of Tigernach record his birth in 534, and his death was likely between 596 and 598 according also to the Annals of Ulster. Irish genealogical records indicate him to be the "son of Brendan, son of Fergus, son of Conall Gulban, son of Niall Noígiallach", thus being a member of the Cenél Conaill branch of the Northern Uí Néill, as the abbots of Iona following the death of Columba often were.
MV Hebridean Princess is a cruise ship operated by Hebridean Island Cruises. She started life as the MacBrayne car ferry and Royal Mail Ship, initially RMS then MV Columba, based in Oban for the first 25 years of her life, carrying up to 600 passengers, and 50 cars, between the Scottish islands.
Coll Island Airport is located 5 NM west southwest of Arinagour on the island of Coll in the Inner Hebrides. Highland Airways who originally operated the route to Oban went into administration in 2010, but a new operator, Hebridean Air Services now operates the route under a PSO with flights to Oban and Tiree using Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander aircraft.
↑ Anderson, Joseph (Ed.) (1893) Orkneyinga Saga. Translated by Jón A. Hjaltalin & Gilbert Goudie. Edinburgh. James Thin and Mercat Press (1990 reprint). ISBN0-901824-25-9
↑ Harvie-Brown, J.A. and Buckley, T. E. (1892), A Vertebrate Fauna of Argyll and the Inner Hebrides. Pub. David Douglas., Edinburgh. Facing P. LXIV.
↑ Thomas Innes, The Civil and Ecclesiastical History of Scotland, Aberdeen, 1853.
↑ Carlos Herrero, and Elena González-Cascos, Philip Perry’s Sketch of the Ancient British History: A Critical Edition
↑ Adomnan of Iona. Life of St Columba. Penguin Books, 1995
↑ Munro, D. (1818) Description of the Western Isles of Scotland called Hybrides, by Mr. Donald Munro, High Dean of the Isles, who travelled through most of them in the year 1549. Miscellanea Scotica, 2. Quoted in Banks (1977) p. 190
↑ Edited by Natasha Sumner and Aidan Doyle (2020), North American Gaels: Speech, Song, and Story in the Diaspora, McGill-Queen's University Press. Page 282.
Further reading
Banks, Noel, (1977) Six Inner Hebrides. Newton Abbott: David & Charles. ISBN0-7153-7368-4
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