Taransay ( gd, Tarasaigh, ) is an island 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 ...
of
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
. It was the host of the British television series ''
Castaway 2000
''Castaway 2000'' is a reality TV programme broadcast on BBC One throughout 2000. The programme followed a group of thirty-six men, women, and children who were tasked with building a community on the remote Scottish island of Taransay.
Describ ...
''. Uninhabited since 1974, except for holidaymakers, Taransay is the largest
Scottish island
This is a list of islands of Scotland, the mainland of which is part of the island of Great Britain. Also included are various other related tables and lists. The definition of an offshore island used in this list is "land that is surrounded by ...
without a permanent population.
It is one hectare larger than
Scarba
Scarba ( gd, Sgarba) is an island, in Argyll and Bute, Scotland, just north of the much larger island of Jura. The island was owned by Richard Hill, 7th Baron Sandys, and has not been permanently inhabited since the 1960s. It is now covered in ...
, which is also uninhabited.
Geography
![Taransay](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/09/Taransay.png)
Taransay lies from
Harris
Harris may refer to:
Places Canada
* Harris, Ontario
* Northland Pyrite Mine (also known as Harris Mine)
* Harris, Saskatchewan
* Rural Municipality of Harris No. 316, Saskatchewan
Scotland
* Harris, Outer Hebrides (sometimes called the Isle o ...
, separated by a stretch of sea called the Sound of Taransay. It is also part of the
civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...
of Harris and the
Na h-Eileanan Siar
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 ...
council area {{Unreferenced, date=May 2019, bot=noref (GreenC bot)
A council area is one of the areas defined in Schedule 1 of the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 and is under the control of one of the local authorities in Scotland created by that Act. ...
of
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
. Crossings between the two islands are dependent on calm weather and there are no harbours for large boats on Taransay or the west coast of Harris. Taransay is long, and, at its widest point, across, with an area of .
Taransay is made up of two heather-covered hills connected by a white sandy
isthmus
An isthmus (; ; ) is a narrow piece of land connecting two larger areas across an expanse of water by which they are otherwise separated. A tombolo is an isthmus that consists of a spit or bar, and a strait is the sea counterpart of an isthmu ...
in the south of the island. It overlooks the bays of Luskyntyre and Seilibost bay to the east, with the
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...
to the west. The bays are bordered with sandy beaches and
machair
A machair (; sometimes machar in English) is a fertile low-lying grassy plain found on part of the northwest coastlines of Ireland and Scotland, in particular the Outer Hebrides. The best examples are found on North and South Uist, Harris an ...
dunes. The area is mostly
gneiss
Gneiss ( ) is a common and widely distributed type of metamorphic rock. It is formed by high-temperature and high-pressure metamorphic processes acting on formations composed of igneous or sedimentary rocks. Gneiss forms at higher temperatures an ...
, with granite veins. The highest point of the island is Ben Raah (''Beinn Ra'') at .
Wildlife
The island hosts a variety of birds, but other vertebrate wildlife is limited to
red deer
The red deer (''Cervus elaphus'') is one of the largest deer species. A male red deer is called a stag or hart, and a female is called a hind. The red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Anatolia, Iran, and parts of wes ...
and mice. In 2003–2004, the population of
American mink
The American mink (''Neogale vison'') is a semiaquatic species of mustelid native to North America, though human intervention has expanded its range to many parts of Europe, Asia and South America. Because of range expansion, the American mink i ...
on the island was the subject of an eradication programme in order to protect the rare ground-nesting birds. Taransay is however, noted for its flora, with an abundance of wildflowers growing on the island's
machair
A machair (; sometimes machar in English) is a fertile low-lying grassy plain found on part of the northwest coastlines of Ireland and Scotland, in particular the Outer Hebrides. The best examples are found on North and South Uist, Harris an ...
grasslands.
History
![Taransay Beach](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3f/Taransay_Beach.jpg)
The Isle of Taransay was inhabited as early as 300 AD, and probably considerably earlier. Originally home to
Celtic pagans,
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
was established on Taransay around 650 AD. In 900 AD, Taransay was taken over by
Vikings
Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden),
who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...
when they invaded Scotland. 1544 saw the ''
Massacre of Taransay
A massacre is the killing of a large number of people or animals, especially those who are not involved in any fighting or have no way of defending themselves. A massacre is generally considered to be moral judgement, morally unacceptable, esp ...
'' by the Morrisons of
Lewis
Lewis may refer to:
Names
* Lewis (given name), including a list of people with the given name
* Lewis (surname), including a list of people with the surname
Music
* Lewis (musician), Canadian singer
* "Lewis (Mistreated)", a song by Radiohead ...
. Inhabitants from the island of
Berneray retaliated against this, forcing the Morrisons to retreat to a rock where they were executed. The rock was later called ''Sgeir Bhuailte'', meaning "smitten rock".
In 1549,
Donald Monro wrote of "Tarandsay" that it was:
ane ile of five myle lange, and haffe myle braid, ane rough ile, with certain tounis, weil inhabit and manurit; bot all this fertill is delved with spaides, excepting sa meikell as ane horse pleuch will teill, and zet they have maist abundance of beir, meikel of corn, store, and fishing. It pertains to M’Cloyd of Harrey.
Taransay was once made up of three villages; Raa, Uidh, and Paible (''Paibeil''). Rent increases in 1835 caused a large decrease in the population of Taransay, made worse in 1883 by new orders that
cotter households were no longer allowed to keep livestock or grow neither oats nor barley. The island was abandoned in 1942, and then re-inhabited. In 1961 there was only one family of five, the MacRaes living in the village of Paible, who departed in 1974.
Taransay remained uninhabited until 2000 when the island was revived to host the television programme ''
Castaway 2000
''Castaway 2000'' is a reality TV programme broadcast on BBC One throughout 2000. The programme followed a group of thirty-six men, women, and children who were tasked with building a community on the remote Scottish island of Taransay.
Describ ...
''. During the uninhabited years, the island had been used as a sheep-farm, run from the Harris mainland.
Evidence that Vikings settled on the island can be derived from its name, as the word is an
Old Norse
Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...
translation of "the Isle of Taran". The island was most probably named after the Irish
Saint Ternan
Saint Ternan (''fl.'' fifth or sixth century) is venerated as the "Bishop of the Picts". Not much is known of his life. Different historians place him either at the mid-fifth century or the latter part of the sixth. Those who place him in the earl ...
(also known as Taran or Torannan, see also
Taranis
In Celtic mythology, Taranis (Proto-Celtic: *''Toranos'', earlier ''*Tonaros''; Latin: Taranus, earlier Tanarus) is the god of thunder, who was worshipped primarily in Gaul, Hispania, Britain, and Ireland, but also in the Rhineland and Danube r ...
), although another theory, reported by
Saint Adomnan of Iona
In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of Q-D-Š, holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and Christian denomination, denominat ...
, suggests that Taran may have been the son of a Noble Pictish family.
The village of Paible had two ancient chapels; the chapel of Saint Taran and the chapel of Saint Keith. The former was used for the burial of women, and the latter for men. A traditional myth on the island suggests that if this was reversed, the dead would rise and the bodies would be disinterred. The remains of Saint Keith's chapel can still be identified on the ground, but the site of Saint Taran's was destroyed by
coastal erosion
Coastal erosion is the loss or displacement of land, or the long-term removal of sediment and rocks along the coastline due to the action of waves, currents, tides, wind-driven water, waterborne ice, or other impacts of storms. The landward ...
sometime in the late 1970s.
The island was bought in 1967 by John MacKay, for £11,000.
[ In 2011 his sons Angus and Norman MacKay (then the owners) of neighbouring Harris, placed the island up for sale for £2.2 million.][ Having visited the island several times after the series "Castaway" finished, including spending his honeymoon there, Ben Fogle expressed an interest in purchasing the island in order to turn it into a wildlife reserve, but he was unsuccessful. The island was sold to Adam and Cathra Kelliher, the owners of Borve Lodge Estate on Harris. The family have a long association with Harris, since Cathra's father, Dr David Horrobin, purchased Borve Lodge in 1985.]
''Castaway''
Taransay became well known following the BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
show ''Castaway''. The show featured a group of 36 people marooned on the island for a year starting 1 January 2000. ''Castaway'' was broadcast internationally, including to audiences in Germany, America, Canada, Denmark, Australia and New Zealand. The show reached nine million viewers at its peak. The cast was made up of volunteers selected from 4,000 applicants. They lived in temporary accommodation built especially for the show, known as 'pods', which were based in the former village of Paible. Existing buildings on the island included a farmhouse, also called the Mackay house, and a school chalet; both were renovated for the show. Since 2004 these have been available as self-catering holiday cottages for tourist use. According to the BBC website, the project aimed to "create a new society for the new millennium".
Unlike the original inhabitants of the island, the "castaways" had access to electricity and a water supply, as well as limited modern conveniences. Of the 36 who joined the show, 29 remained on the island for the whole year, including Ben Fogle
Benjamin Myer Fogle, (born 3 November 1973) is an English broadcaster, writer and adventurer, best known for his presenting roles with British television channels Channel 5, BBC and ITV.
Early life
Fogle is the son of English actress Julia F ...
who went on to be a presenter for several BBC shows, including ''Countryfile
''Countryfile'' is a British television programme which airs weekly on BBC One and reports on rural, agricultural, and environmental issues in the United Kingdom.
The programme is currently presented by John Craven, Adam Henson, Matt Baker, T ...
''. The show was reported to be a social experiment, focusing on how this group would form a community.
The pods where the "castaways" lived were inhabited for a year on Taransay and then de-constructed, flat packed and moved to number of locations around Scotland including the island of Muck
Muck most often refers to:
*Muck (soil), a soil made up primarily of humus from drained swampland
Muck may also refer to:
Places Europe
* Muck, Scotland, an island
* Isle of Muck, County Antrim, a small island connected by sand spit to Portmu ...
and Cove Park Arts Centre on the Rosneath
Rosneath (''Ros Neimhidh'' in Gaelic) is a village in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It sits on the western shore of the Gare Loch, northwest of the tip of the Rosneath Peninsula. It is about by road from the village of Kilcreggan, which is sited ...
peninsula.
From 2001, when the ''Castaway'' show ended, Taransay has been a tourist resort, with the buildings being let as holiday accommodation, and boat trips to the island.
''Castaway 2007
''Castaway 2007'' is a follow-up to the BBC series ''Castaway 2000'' in which a group of people from the British public are "castaway" on a remote island. While in the 2000 series 36 men, women and children moved to a remote Scottish island for ...
'' was a semi-related follow-up to ''Castaway 2000''. However it was based on the considerably warmer Great Barrier Island
Great Barrier Island ( mi, Aotea) lies in the outer Hauraki Gulf, New Zealand, north-east of central Auckland. With an area of it is the sixth-largest island of New Zealand and fourth-largest in the main chain. Its highest point, Mount Hobson ...
, located 90 km north-east of central Auckland
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...
in New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
.
In 2008, BBC Two
BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...
broadcast a new 5-part series titled ''Return to... Castaway''.
''The Rocket Post''
A fictionalised account of a 1934 experiment by German inventor Gerhard Zucker
Gerhard Zucker (1908–1985) was a German businessman and rocket engineer.
Biography
Born in Hasselfelde, he first came to public notice in 1931, when he began to work on the problem of transporting mail by rocket. In 1933 he performed several ...
to provide a postal service to the island of Scarp by rocket mail
Rocket mail is the delivery of mail by rocket or missile. The rocket lands by deploying an internal parachute upon arrival. It has been attempted by various organizations in many different countries, with varying levels of success. It has nev ...
formed the basis of a 2001 film called ''The Rocket Post'', which was filmed on Taransay."The Rocket Post (2001)"
Film Hebrides. Retrieved 21 December 2008.
See also
* List of islands of Scotland
This is a list of islands of Scotland, the mainland of which is part of the island of Great Britain. Also included are various other related tables and lists. The definition of an offshore island used in this list is "land that is surrounded by ...
Notes
References
*
*
External links
*''The Isle of Taransay: A Harris island in its historical setting''. Lawson, Bill (1997). Bill Lawson Publications. .
Information for visitors to the island
{{Islands of Scotland.
Islands off Lewis and Harris
BBC Television
Uninhabited islands of the Outer Hebrides