Shiant Islands On Visit To The Outer Hebrides Of Scotland

Tour Scotland travel video clip, with Scottish music, of the Shiant Islands,, on visit to the Outer Hebrides. The Shiant Islands , Scottish Gaelic: Na h-Eileanan Mòra or Na h-Eileanan Seunta or the Shiant Isles are a privately owned island group in the Minch, east of Harris and five miles South East of the Isle of Lewis. The name Shiant is from the Scottish Gaelic Na h-Eileanan Seunta, which means the charmed, holy or enchanted isles. The group is also known as Na h-Eileanan Mòra, the big isles. The main islands are Garbh Eilean known as rough island and Eilean an Taighe known as house island, which are joined by a narrow isthmus, and Eilean Mhuire known as island of the Virgin Mary to the east. Eilean an Taighe was called Eilean na Cille or island of the church prior to the 19th century. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the Shiant Islands had a population of eight. The author and politician Compton MacKenzie owned the islands from 1925 until 1937. He was an island lover who, at different points in his life rented Herm in the Channel Islands. He never lived on the Shiants, but paid several brief visits during his time as owner. In 1937 the islands were acquired by Nigel Nicolson, then an undergraduate at Oxford in England, from funds left to him by his grandmother. Like MacKenzie, Nicolson was later a writer, publisher and politician. Nicolson's son, the writer Adam Nicolson, published the definitive book on the islands, Sea Room. The Shiants now belong to Adam's son Tom Nicolson. Sheep continue to graze the islands as they have done since the middle of the 19th century. All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

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