Everything about North Uist totally explained
North Uist (
Scottish Gaelic:
Uibhist a Tuath) is an island in the
Outer Hebrides of
Scotland.
Description
North Uist is the ninth largest Scottish island and the thirteenth largest island surrounding
Great Britain. It has an area of 117 square miles (303.05
sq km),
Settlements
The main settlement on the island is
Lochmaddy, a
fishing port and home to a
museum, an
arts centre and a
camera obscura.
Caledonian MacBrayne ferries sail from the village to
Uig on
Skye, as well as from the island of Berneray (which is connected to North Uist by road
causeway), to
Leverburgh in
Harris. Lochmaddy also has
Taigh Chearsabhagh - a museum and arts centre with a cafe, small shop and post office service. Nearby is the Uist Outdoor Centre.
The island's main villages are
Sollas, Hosta, Tigharry, Hougharry, Paible, Grimsay and Cladach Kirkibost. Other settlements include
Carinish,
Port nan Long and
Scolpaig, home to the
nineteenth century Scolpaig Tower folly.
Things of interest
North Uist has many prehistoric structures, including the
Barpa Langass chambered cairn, the
Pobull Fhinn stone circle, the
Fir Bhreige standing stones, the islet of
Eilean Dòmhnuill (which may be the earliest
crannog site in Scotland), and the
Baile Sear roundhouses, which were exposed by storms in January, 2005.
The island is also known for its
birdlife, including
corncrakes,
arctic terns,
gannets,
corn buntings and
Manx shearwaters. The
RSPB has a nature reserve at Balranald.
The island is also famed for its extremely successful athletics club (North Uist Amateur Athletics Club). This club has performed exceptionally at local, regional and national athletics competitions - taking into consideration the island's lack of facilities and small population.
Etymology
In Sir Donald Munro's
A Description of the Western Isles of Scotland Called Hybrides of 1549, North Uist, Benbecula and South Uist are described as one island of
Ywst (Uist). Starting in the south of this 'island', he described the division between South Uist and Benbecula where "the end heirof the sea enters, and cuts the countrey be ebbing and flowing through it". Further north of Benbecula he described North Uist as "this countrey is called Kenehnache of Ywst, that's in Englishe, the north head of Ywst". Another speculated derivation from Old Norse is
Ivist, A
Gaelic etymology is also possible, with
I-fheirste meaning "Crossings-island" or "Fords-island", derived from
I meaning "island" and
fearsad meaning "estuary, sand-bank, passage across at ebb-tide". Other place-names derived from
fearsad include
Fersit, and
Belfast.
|-
|
abt 5,000 ||3,870 || 3,398 || 3,250|| 2,349|| 1,622|| 1,469|| 1,454|| 1,404|| 1,271
|}
From Haswell-Smith (2004) and remained in possession of the Macdonald's of Sleat until 1855, when it was sold to Sir John Powlett Ord. The pre-clearance population of North Uist had been almost 5,000, though by 1841 it had fallen to 3,870, It is misconception that most families involved in the clearances were "cleared" from their holdings, though in 1849 there was rioting as 603 inhabitants from Sollas were forcefully cleared by Lord Macdonald. As a detachment of Glasgow police officers advanced on the protesters, the Sollas men were said to have stood aside, but the women of Sollas stood up to the authorities, and pelted the police with rocks. The police then descended upon the Sollas folk and attacked them with their truncheons. In fact a Hebredian settlement in Cape Breton County, Nova Scotia was originally called Sollas (now Woodbine
). North Uist surnames affected during the clearances were the MacAulays, MacCodrums, MacCuishs, and MacDonalds.Further Information
Get more info on 'North Uist'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://north_uist.totallyexplained.com">North Uist Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
