South Uist is the second-largest island of the Outer Hebrides in Scotland. At the 2011 census, it had a usually resident population of 1,754: a decrease of 64 since 2001. The island, in common with the rest of the Hebrides, is one of the last remaining strongholds of the Gaelic language in Scotland. South Uist's inhabitants are known in Gaelic as Deasaich (Southerners). The population is about 90% Roman Catholic.
Sutherland is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area in the Highlands of Scotland. Its county town is Dornoch. Sutherland borders Caithness and Moray Firth to the east, Ross-shire and Cromartyshire to the south and the Atlantic to the north and west. Like its southern neighbour Ross-shire, Sutherland has some of the most dramatic scenery in the whole of Europe, especially on its western fringe where the mountains meet the sea. These include high sea cliffs, and very old mountains composed of Precambrian and Cambrian rocks.
The Lord of the Isles or King of the Isles (Scottish Gaelic: Triath nan Eilean or Rìgh Innse Gall) is a title of Scottish nobility with historical roots that go back beyond the Kingdom of Scotland. It began with Somerled in the 12th century and thereafter the title was held by a series of his descendants, the Norse Gaels rulers of the Isle of Man and Argyll and the islands of Scotland in the Middle Ages. They wielded sea-power with fleets of galleys (birlinns). Although they were, at times, nominal vassals of the Kings of Norway, Ireland, or Scotland, the island chiefs remained functionally independent for many centuries. Their territory included much of Argyll, the Isles of Arran, Bute, Islay, the Isle of Man, Hebrides, Knoydart, Ardnamurchan, and the Kintyre peninsula. At their height they were the greatest landowners and most powerful lords after the Kings of England and Scotland.
Mingulay is the second largest of the Bishop's Isles in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. Located 12 miles (19 km) south of Barra, it is known for its important seabird populations, including puffins, black-legged kittiwakes, and razorbills, which nest in the sea-cliffs, amongst the highest in the British Isles.
The Flannan Isles or alternatively, the Seven Hunters are a small island group in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, approximately 32 kilometres (20 mi) west of the Isle of Lewis. They may take their name from Saint Flannan, the 7th century Irish preacher and abbot.
The Summer Isles are an archipelago lying in the mouth of Loch Broom, in the Highland region of Scotland.
Neil Miller Gunn was a prolific novelist, critic, and dramatist who emerged as one of the leading lights of the Scottish Renaissance of the 1920s and 1930s. With over twenty novels to his credit, Gunn was arguably the most influential Scottish fiction writer of the first half of the 20th century.
Clan Maclaine of Lochbuie is a Scottish Clan that inhabited lands on the southern end of the Isle of Mull in the Inner Hebrides of the western Scottish Highlands. "Maclaine" is an alternate spelling for "McLean." Clan Maclaine of Lochbuie and Clan Maclean of Duart are two separate clans. However, the two clans share a strong family connection. The 26th clan chief is The Much Honoured Lorne Gillean Ian Maclaine of Lochbuie, Baron of Moy. The clan is recognized by both the Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs and the Lord Lyon.
Morar is a small village on the west coast of Scotland, 3 miles (5 km) south of Mallaig. The name Morar is also applied to the northern part of the peninsula containing the village, though North Morar is more usual. The coastline of the area forms part of the Morar, Moidart and Ardnamurchan National Scenic Area, one of 40 such areas in Scotland, which are defined so as to identify areas of exceptional scenery and to ensure its protection by restricting certain forms of development.
Clan MacKinnon or Clan Fingon is a Highland Scottish clan associated with the islands of Mull and Skye, in the Inner Hebrides.
Clan Matheson is a Highland Scottish clan.
Breacleit is the central village on Great Bernera in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland. Breaclete is within the parish of Uig. Although the village name comes from a geographical feature rather than a steading it is generally believed to be an ancient settlement. The oldest building in the village is the thatched water mill by the shore of Loch Risay which was restored in the 1990s. It was formerly a tiny crofting and fishing settlement of just 12 crofts surrounding the natural harbour of Loch Beag but crofting has now ceased and holiday homes have taken over. The earliest clearly mapped reference is on Murdoch MacKenzie's first Admiralty chart surveyed in 1748. In 1851 J.M. MacKenzie, the Chamberlain to the estate owner Sir James Matheson, proposed that all the tenants of the village were to be evicted and sent to North America on the emigrant ship the SS Marquis of Stafford. This plan was not fully carried through however but it still had a great effect on the village leaving it with a population of just three families. This population was later supplemented through evictions elsewhere notably the clearances of Hacklete and Barragloum villages in the south of Great Bernera.
Hector Mor Maclean of Dowart, or Eachann Mór Maclean in Scottish Gaelic, or Hector the Great, was the 16th Clan Chief of Clan MacLean from 1623 to his death in 1626. Mór or Mor translates as great when added to a name in Scottish Gaelic. He resided at Duart Castle on the Isle of Mull. He was the first Chief of MacLean to not produce an heir in four hundred years, breaking the direct male line from Gillean of the Battle Axe, the founder of the clan to himself. He was succeeded by his younger brother, Lachlan Maclean, 1st Baronet.
Lachlan Maclean, 6th Laird of Coll succeeded his father Hector to this title to lands on the Scottish island of Coll. He was succeeded by his son John at some point in the 17th century.
Sir Roderick Macleod of Macleod (1573–1626), also known as Rory Mor, was the 15th Chief of Clan MacLeod.
Bearasaigh or Bearasay is an islet in outer Loch Ròg, Lewis, Scotland. During the late 16th and early 17th centuries it was used as a pirates' hideout and the remains of various buildings from that period still exist. In the modern era its cliffs are used for rock-climbing.
Highland River is a novel by Neil M. Gunn. Its plot revolves around a young boy called Kenn who grows up next to the Dunbeath river, then going on to experience the horrors of the First World War and his attempts to rediscover inner peace and satisfaction on his return to his village.
The Green Isle of the Great Deep is a 1944 dystopian novel by Neil M. Gunn. Whilst the book features two protagonists from his previous novel, Young Art and Old Hector, Gunn transports the characters into an allegory about totalitarianism and the nature of freedom and legend.
Sir Lachlan Mackinnon was chief of the Scottish Highland clan Mackinnon and played a prominent part in the troubled and transitional politics of the West Highlands in the early 17th century.
Butcher's Broom is an epic, historical novel by Neil M. Gunn written in 1934. Based on a semi-fictionalised account of the Highland Clearances in Sutherland, the novel deals with the decline of Highland culture in a wide scope of pre-Clearance and post-Clearance life, as well as the Clearances themselves.
