Looking east from Garbh Eilean - geograph

Eilean Mhuire (meaning "Virgin Mary's island") is the most easterly of the

Shiant Islands The Shiant Islands (; gd, Na h-Eileanan Mòra or ) or Shiant Isles are a privately owned island group in the Minch, east of Harris in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. They are southeast of the Isle of Lewis.Keay, J. & Keay, J. (1994) ''Collins ...

in the

Outer Hebrides The Outer Hebrides () or Western Isles ( gd, Na h-Eileanan Siar or or ("islands of the strangers"); sco, Waster Isles), sometimes known as the Long Isle/Long Island ( gd, An t-Eilean Fada, links=no), is an island chain off the west coast ...

. Once populated, Eilean Mhuire is now used only for grazing

sheep Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus ''Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated s ...

. There was an old local tradition that said there used to be a chapel on the island. There are various ruins on the island, and the

Ordnance Survey , nativename_a = , nativename_r = , logo = Ordnance Survey 2015 Logo.svg , logo_width = 240px , logo_caption = , seal = , seal_width = , seal_caption = , picture = , picture_width = , picture_caption = , formed = , preceding1 = , di ...

mark some remains as that of a “

St. Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...

's Chapel" on the western side of the island. But this is based only on information provided in 1851 that the island had been the refuge of a priest "in the time of Knox". Nicolson (2002) has concluded that this tradition is mistaken, but has speculated that Eilean Mhuire may instead have been a hermitage in pre-Norse times. (And there was in fact a chapel on nearby

Eilean an Taighe :''"Eilean an Taighe", or "Eilean Taigh" is a fairly common island name'' Eilean an T(a)ighe, meaning "House Island" (lit. "Island of the House"), is one of the Shiant Islands. It is joined to Garbh Eilean by an isthmus, so they each form par ...

, possibly devoted to the Virgin Mary.) In 1549, Donald Monro, then Dean of the Isles, wrote that Eilean Mhuire was:

callit Senchastle by the Eriche, that is the alde castle ile in the Englishe, an strenthe, full of corne and grassinge, full of wyld fowls nests, and verey guid for fishing. It perteins to M’Cloyd of the Lewis.

Today, Seann Chaisteal (“old castle”) is the name of the flat-topped tidal islet at the south-eastern extremity of Eilean Mhuire. This islet is a "large tidal rock on which there never was a building of any kind","Seann Chaisteal, Eilean Mhuire, Shiant Islands"
Scotland's Places. Retrieved 11 Apr 2011. so the name may simply have been inspired by the rock's shape and appearance.

Notes and references

;Notes ;Footnotes ;General references * * Martin, Martin (1703)
A Description of The Western Islands of Scotland (Circa 1695)
'. Appin Regiment/Appin Historical Society. Retrieved 3 March 2007 * *

Nicolson, Adam Adam Nicolson, (born 12 September 1957) is an English author who has written about history, landscape, great literature and the sea. He is also the 5th Baron Carnock, but does not use the title. He is noted for his books ''Sea Room'' (about t ...

(2002) ''Sea Room''. London. HarperCollins. Shiant Islands {{WesternIsles-geo-stub