The Cumbraes are a group of islands in the
Firth of Clyde
The Firth of Clyde is the mouth of the River Clyde. It is located on the west coast of Scotland and constitutes the deepest coastal waters in the British Isles (it is 164 metres deep at its deepest). The firth is sheltered from the Atlantic ...
,
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 ...
. The islands belong to the traditional
county of Bute
The County of Bute ( gd, Siorrachd Bhòid), also known as Buteshire, is a historic county and registration county of Scotland.
The county comprises a number of islands in the Firth of Clyde, between the counties of Argyll and Ayrshire, the p ...
and the modern unitary authority of
North Ayrshire
North Ayrshire ( gd, Siorrachd Àir a Tuath, ) is one of 32 council areas in Scotland. The council area borders Inverclyde to the north, Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire to the northeast, and East Ayrshire and South Ayrshire to the east and so ...
.
The main islands in the group are:
*
Great Cumbrae
Great Cumbrae ( sco, Muckle Cumbrae; gd, Cumaradh Mòr; also known as Great Cumbrae Island, Cumbrae or the Isle of Cumbrae) is the larger of the two islands known as The Cumbraes in the lower Firth of Clyde in western Scotland. The island is s ...
*
Little Cumbrae
Little Cumbrae ( sco, Wee Cumbrae, gd, Cumaradh Beag) or Little Cumbrae Island is an island in the Firth of Clyde, in North Ayrshire, Scotland. The island is known locally as Wee Cumbrae.
Etymology
The Gaelic name ''Cumaradh'' means "place of t ...
These two islands are separated from each other by a broad
sound
In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid.
In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...
called The Tan and from the Scottish mainland by a busy shipping channel known as the
Fairlie Roads.
There are also a number of uninhabited islets in the group:
:*
The Eileans
The Eileans are two small, low-lying islands located in Newtown Bay, Millport on the island of Great Cumbrae, Scotland. ().
The name is an anglicisation of the Scottish Gaelic, ''eilean'' meaning "island". Unusually for the west coast of Scotl ...
:*
Castle Island
:* The Broad Islands
:* Trail Isle
The Cumbraes are referred to as the ''Kumreyiar'' in the Norse ''
Saga of Haakon Haakonarson''.
"cömbröɣ"
"Brittonic Language in the Old North". Scottish Place-Name Society. Retrieved 14 Sept 2011.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cumbraes, The
Islands of the Clyde
Islands of North Ayrshire