Shuna ( Gaelic Siuna) is one of the

Slate Islands The Slate Islands are an island group in the Inner Hebrides, lying immediately off the west coast of Scotland, north of Jura and southwest of Oban. The main islands are Seil, Easdale, Luing, Shuna, Torsa and Belnahua. Scarba and Kerrera, ...

lying east of

Luing Luing ( ; Gaelic: ''Luinn'') is one of the Slate Islands, Firth of Lorn, in the west of Argyll in Scotland, about south of Oban. The island has an area of and is bounded by several small skerries and islets. It has a population of around 200 peo ...

on the west coast of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

History

In 1815, James Yates, a Glasgow native living in Woodville in Devon, bought the island from Colonel McDonald of Lynedale. In 1829 Yates bequeathed the island in

trust Trust often refers to: * Trust (social science), confidence in or dependence on a person or quality It may also refer to: Business and law * Trust law, a body of law under which one person holds property for the benefit of another * Trust (bus ...

to the magistrates and council of Glasgow, with profits from the estate divide two fifths to the city, two fifths to

Glasgow University , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

and one fifth to

Glasgow Royal Infirmary The Glasgow Royal Infirmary (GRI) is a large teaching hospital. With a capacity of around 1,000 beds, the hospital campus covers an area of around , and straddles the Townhead and Dennistoun districts on the north-eastern fringe of the city cen ...

. This was disputed by Yates' heir, who accepted £300 from the trustees to settle his claim. The revenue from the island was scarce and the trustees sold it in 1911. Shuna Castle was built as recently as 1911. It fell into disrepair in the 1980s when the cost of maintenance become too great."Shuna Wildlife & History"
Internet Archive. Original access: islandofshuna.co.uk on 28 July 2007. Archived at 14 August 2007. Retrieved 24 July 2012. Unlike the other Slate Islands, Shuna has little slate, and has historically been farmed, although it is now overgrown with

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (se ...

. There are several cairns in the south and west of the small island. During the nineteenth century the population numbered up to 69, but by the 2001 census, Shuna was one of four Scottish islands with a population of one. The island has been privately owned by the Gully family since 1946. It is now occupied by a farmer and his family, who let four houses as holiday cottages and had a usually resident population of 3 in 2011.

Wildlife

The island has healthy populations of red, roe and fallow deer; along with otters, common and grey seals, porpoises and dolphins out on the water.

References

External links

Island website
Slate Islands Islands of Argyll and Bute Private islands of the United Kingdom {{Argyll-geo-stub