''Disambiguation: "Ceann Iar" is a common Scottish placename meaning Western Headland'' Ceann Iar (

Gaelic Gaelic is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". As a noun it refers to the group of languages spoken by the Gaels, or to any one of the languages individually. Gaelic languages are spoken in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and Ca ...

"Western Headland") is one of the

Monach Isles The Monach Islands, also known as Heisker ( gd, Eilean Heisgeir / , ), are an island group west of North Uist in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. The islands are not to be confused with Hyskeir in the Inner Hebrides, or Haskeir which is also off ...

/Heisgeir, to the west of North Uist 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 ...

. It is a slender island, approximately a mile, or two kilometres long.

Geography

Ceann Iar is the second largest of the Monach Islands. It is connected at low tide to

Ceann Ear :''Disambiguation: "Ceann Ear" is a common Scottish placename meaning Eastern Headland'' Ceann Ear is the largest island in the Monach or Heisgeir group off North Uist in north west Scotland. It is in size and connected by sandbanks to Ceann Ia ...

via

Sibhinis Sibhinis, Siobhanais ''Machair Marooned Offshore''/ ''Machair aig Muir'' http://www.snh.org.uk/publications/on-line/designatedareas/nnrs/monachisles/monach.asp or Shivinish.Haswell-Smith, Hamish. (2004) ''The Scottish Islands''. Edinburgh. Canon ...

. It is said that it was at one time possible to walk all the way to Baleshare, and on to North Uist, five miles away, at low tide. In the 16th century, a large tidal wave was said to have washed this away. Despite Ceann Iar's name, Shillay is in fact the westernmost of the group. Like the other islands of the group, it is a low-lying, sandy island, subject to intense coastal erosion. Not unlike the

Isles of Scilly The Isles of Scilly (; kw, Syllan, ', or ) is an archipelago off the southwestern tip of Cornwall, England. One of the islands, St Agnes, is the most southerly point in Britain, being over further south than the most southerly point of the ...

, it is possible that Ceann Iar, Sibhinis and Ceann Ear formed a single body of land within historic times, and that their land area has greatly decreased due to overgrazing, and wind erosion as well. On the east side is Baile Beag (little town), the settlement of the island, on the slopes of Cnoc Bhàrr (top hill), which at 19 metres in height is a mere metre higher than neighbouring

's hillocks. In the north, there is also Cnoc Mòr (big hill), which is the other "height" on the island. The west is formed by Rubha Shulabhaig (a headland), and the north east by Hearnish. Just to the north is the island of S(t)ròmaigh (from Old Norse meaning "storm island")

History

A cairn on Ceann Iar marks the grave of Lieutenant RNR MacNeill of the HMA ''Laurentic''. The ship hit a mine in 1917, during World War I, off Northern Ireland, and his body had drifted all the way to here. Strangely, this accords with the old Hebridean tradition that the sea carries the drowned home - the Monachs are Clan MacNeil territory. The island had been settled intermittently for over a thousand years, although the main settlement was on Ceann Ear. It was resettled in the wake of the

Highland Clearances The Highland Clearances ( gd, Fuadaichean nan Gàidheal , the "eviction of the Gaels") were the evictions of a significant number of tenants in the Scottish Highlands and Islands, mostly in two phases from 1750 to 1860. The first phase resulte ...

, but finally abandoned in 1942.

Notes and references

{{coord, 57, 31, 35, N, 7, 39, 15, W, display=title, region:GB_type:isle_source:GNS-enwiki Monach Islands Tidal islands of Scotland Former populated places in Scotland Uninhabited islands of the Outer Hebrides