The island of Vatersay (; gd, Bhatarsaigh) is the southernmost and westernmost inhabited 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, and the settlement of

Caolas Caolas ( gd, An Caolas ), is a small settlement on the island of Vatersay, in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland. Caolas is within the parish of Barra. It is the westernmost settlement in Scotland. Previously, the village on Hirta claimed this title; ...

on the north coast of the island is the westernmost permanently inhabited place in Scotland. The main village, also called Vatersay, is in the south of the island.

Geography

Vatersay is irregularly shaped and has a tombolo: it is composed of two rocky islands (north and south) linked by a sandy isthmus. The isthmus is covered in

sand dunes A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, fl ...

and on either side are large white-sand beaches: Bàgh Siar (West Bay), and Bàgh Bhatarsaigh (Vatersay Bay) to the east. There are a number of beaches backed by sand dunes. The island is about from north to south, and the northern section of the island is about from west to east. Vatersay is linked to the larger island of Barra to the north by a

causeway A causeway is a track, road or railway on the upper point of an embankment across "a low, or wet place, or piece of water". It can be constructed of earth, masonry, wood, or concrete. One of the earliest known wooden causeways is the Sweet Tra ...

about long, which was completed in 1991. This is of great benefit, as the shipping of goods and passenger traffic no longer has to rely on a small passenger ferry boat. Access to school and for emergency services is also much quicker and easier. The causeway is about by road from

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 ...

. At low tide, the island is also linked to the islet of Uineasan to the east. To the south are the uninhabited islands of Pabbay, Mingulay and Sandray.

Wildlife

Wildlife on the island includes Eurasian otters, seals and grey herons. Bonnie Prince Charlie's flower (''

Calystegia soldanella The morning glory ''Calystegia soldanella'' (syn. ''Convolvulus soldanella'') is a species of bindweed known by various common names such as sea bindweed, seashore false bindweed, shore bindweed, shore convolvulus and beach morning glory. Descri ...

''), reputedly originating from French seeds dropped by

Bonnie Prince Charlie Bonnie, is a Scottish given name and is sometimes used as a descriptive reference, as in the Scottish folk song, My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean. It comes from the Scots language word "bonnie" (pretty, attractive), or the French bonne (good). That ...

is, in Scotland, found only on Vatersay and Eriskay. Also found on Vatersay are

Atlantic puffin The Atlantic puffin ('), also known as the common puffin, is a species of seabird in the auk family. It is the only puffin native to the Atlantic Ocean; two related species, the tufted puffin and the horned puffin is found in the northeastern ...

Archaeology

The island has remains of an Iron Age

broch A broch is an Iron Age drystone hollow-walled structure found in Scotland. Brochs belong to the classification "complex Atlantic roundhouse" devised by Scottish archaeologists in the 1980s. Their origin is a matter of some controversy. Origin ...

at Dun a' Chaolais overlooking the Sound of Vatersay, and nearby is a passage grave dated to the 3rd millennium BC. There is also a Bronze Age cemetery at Trèseabhaig south of the heights of Heiseabhal Mòr and a cairn built around 1000 BC west of the village of Vatersay. The offshore islet of Bioruaslum has a walled fort that may be of Neolithic provenance.

Ownership

At the end of the nineteenth century, the existing landowner, wanting to use the whole of the island for their own farming purposes, evicted all the existing crofter inhabitants. Between 1902 and 1906 there were a sequence of

Land raid A land raid was a form of political protest in rural Scotland, primarily in the Highlands. History A land raid was a form of political protest in rural Scotland, primarily in the Highlands. Land raiders threatened to seize, or seized, land which ...

actions when some of these men, the so-called "Vatersay Raiders", returned and took possession of land, claiming that an ancient law allowed a man to acquire land by building a wooden dwelling and lighting a fire on its hearth within a day. However, the landowner Lady Gordon Cathcart took them to court, and they were imprisoned. After much public protest at these events, in 1909, the Congested Districts Board (Scotland) bought Vatersay island for £6250 and it was divided into 58 crofts.

Wrecks

In September 1853, the ''Annie Jane'', a three-masted migrant ship out of Liverpool bound for Montreal, Quebec, Canada, struck rocks off West Beach during a storm. Within ten minutes the ship began to founder and break up, casting 450 people into the raging sea. In spite of the conditions, islanders tried to rescue the passengers and crew. There were only a few survivors. A small cairn and monument marks the site where the bodies recovered from the sea were buried. An inscription reads:

On 28th September 1853 the ship Annie Jane with emigrants from Liverpool to Quebec was totally wrecked in this bay and threefourths of the crew and passengers numbering about 350 men women and children were drowned and their bodies interred here.

Two Chinese seamen from the SS ''Idomeneus'', which sank on 28 September 1917, are also buried somewhere near the monument. There is a commemorative headstone in Cuier Churchyard. The remains of a

Catalina flying boat The Consolidated PBY Catalina is a flying boat and amphibious aircraft that was produced in the 1930s and 1940s. In Canadian service it was known as the Canso. It was one of the most widely used seaplanes of World War II. Catalinas served wit ...

that crashed on the slopes of Heiseabhal Beag in 1944 lie in a stream bed near the shore."Consolidated Catalina: Vatersay, Heishival Beg"
Canmore. Retrieved 13 Nov 2011.

Notes

References

Cited sources

*Branigan, Keith (2007) ''Ancient Barra: exploring the Archaeology of the Outer Hebrides''. Comhairle nan Eilean Siar.

External links

Panorama of the West Bay on Vatersay (Annie Jane burial cairn and monument)
(QuickTime required) {{Islands of Scotland Barra Isles Barra Clan MacNeil