Muldoanich is an uninhabited island in the

Barra Isles The Barra Isles, also known as the Bishop's Isles, are a small archipelago in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. They lie south of the island of Barra, for which they are named. The group consists of nine islands and numerous rocky islets, skerries, ...

archipelago at the southern extremity of the larger island chain of 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 ...

in Scotland.

The island is in area and rises to a maximum height of at the peak of Cruachan na h-àin ("midday hill"). Muldoanich stands about southeast of

Castlebay Castlebay ( gd, Bàgh a' Chaisteil) 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 domi ...

, the main port on the island of

Barra Barra (; gd, Barraigh or ; sco, Barra) is an island in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland, and the second southernmost inhabited island there, after the adjacent island of Vatersay to which it is connected by a short causeway. The island is na ...

, and it is a prominent landmark for the approaching ferry and other craft. It has no level ground. There are no census records, but the southern headland of Vanish (meaning "headland of the house" or "sacred place" in Gaelic) may indicate habitation at some time in the past.

Etymology

The name "Muldoanich" is probably the anglicised version of the gd, Maol Dòmhnaich meaning "Duncan's rounded hill". It is shown with that name on Ordnance Survey maps. ''Mul Domhnach'', meaning "Sunday island", is another possible derivation. Writing in the 16th century, Dean Munro referred to the island as "Scarp" and it appears as "Scarpa" on Blaeu's atlas of 1654. Vatersay - geograph

Martin Martin Martin Martin (Scottish Gaelic: Màrtainn MacGilleMhàrtainn) (-9 October 1718) was a Scottish writer best known for his work '' A Description of the Western Islands of Scotland'' (1703; second edition 1716). This book is particularly noted for ...

refers to "Muldonish" in his 1695 voyage around the Western Isles, stating "about a mile in circumference; it is high in the middle, covered over with heath and grass, and is the only forest here for maintaining the deer, being commonly about seventy or eighty in number." Martin, Martin (1703)
''A Description of The Western Islands of Scotland''
. Appin Regiment/Appin Historical Society. Retrieved 3 March 2007.

References

{{coord, 56, 55, 9, N, 7, 26, 35, W, display=title, region:GB_type:isle Barra Isles Uninhabited islands of the Outer Hebrides