Eilean Mhealasta (Mealista Island) is an uninhabited island off the west coast of Lewis 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 ...

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 takes its name from Mealista, a nearby township on Lewis.

History

Nearby Mealista had a shrine to St Catan, but it is not known if the island itself had a Culdee settlement. The ruins of old buildings of a previous community can still be seen. In 1823 the island was incorporated into a sheep farm. Thereafter no permanent inhabitants were recorded. A folk myth says that anyone born on Eilean Mhealasta will grow up to be an idiot. Haswell-Smith suggests that the landlords started this rumour to encourage residents to leave. In the 1861 census, it was recorded that some sailors from

Rosehearty Rosehearty ( gd, Ros Abhartaich) is a settlement on the Moray Firth coast, four miles west of the town Fraserburgh, in the historical county of Aberdeenshire in Scotland. The burgh has a population of approximately 1,300 with about 25 per cent of ...

were camping there. In about 1785 a boat from Mealista carrying a cargo of timber took shelter from a gale at the southernmost point of the

Pairc Park ( gd, A' Phàirc), also known as South Lochs, is a huge area of land connected to the rest of Lewis only by a narrow neck between Loch Seaforth and Loch Erisort. This had a wall called ''Gàrradh an Tighearna'' (''"The Laird's Dyke"'') built ...

. Nothing more was heard of the crew and on Mealista they were given up as lost at sea. During the following summer, blankets were offered for sale at the annual market day at

Stornoway Stornoway (; gd, Steòrnabhagh; sco, Stornowa) is the main town of the Western Isles and the capital of Lewis and Harris in Scotland. The town's population is around 6,953, making it by far the largest town in the Outer Hebrides, as well a ...

. The blankets were recognised by an unusual identification mark and a confession of murder for the cargo of timber followed. The island is still used as sheep grazing.

Geography and geology

Eilean Mhealasta lies from the west coast of Lewis, south of Brenish (Breanais) and several miles north of

Scarp Scarp may refer to: Landforms and geology * Cliff, a significant vertical, or near vertical, rock exposure * Escarpment, a steep slope or long rock that occurs from erosion or faulting and separates two relatively level areas of differing elevatio ...

. It is just over a kilometre long, and indented with a bay, Camas Leirageo in the west, which contains, Sgeir na Geòdha Ruaidh. The east coast has a clean sandy beach, while the west coast is rocky. The island is a bedrock of

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 ...

, some of which contains a reddish

quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical form ...

. There are natural arches on the east coast.

Notes and references

{{coord, 58, 5, N, 7, 8, W, display=title, region:GB_type:isle Islands off Lewis and Harris Natural arches of Scotland Cleared places in the Outer Hebrides Uninhabited islands of the Outer Hebrides Landforms of the Outer Hebrides