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Garbh Eilean

Garbh Eilean
Gaelic name Garbh Eilean
Meaning of name Rough Isle
Location
Garbh Eilean is located in Outer Hebrides
Garbh Eilean
Garbh Eilean
Garbh Eilean shown within the Outer Hebrides
OS grid reference NG414983
Coordinates 57°54′N 6°22′W / 57.9°N 6.36°W / 57.9; -6.36
Physical geography
Island group Shiant Isles
Area 143 hectares (0.55 sq mi)
Area rank 126 
Highest elevation Mullach Buidhe 160 m
Administration
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Country Scotland
Council area Comhairle nan Eilean Siar
Demographics
Population 0
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References

Garbh Eilean (Scottish Gaelic Rough Isle) is one of the Shiant Isles at the south end of the Minch on the west coast of Scotland.

In geological terms, these islands essentially represent an extension of the Trotternish peninsula of Skye. The rocks are volcanic, and at 60Ma, very young by Hebridean standards. Dolerite columns on the north side of Garbh Eilean are over 100m tall and about 2m across. Similar to those at Staffa and the Giant's Causeway, they were formed by the slow cooling of volcanic rocks deep underground. Intrusion sills show a progression in their chemical compositions, from olivine-rich rocks at the base to rocks with very little or no olivine at the top. The sills are thought to have formed by crystal settling. Recent study has suggested that at least one of the sills represents a multiple intrusion. In some places the basalt is overlain by Jurassic mudstone, which weathers to form much more fertile soil than elsewhere in the Western Isles.

The islands were inhabited until the late 18th century, when changes in land ownership and society made the old way of life no longer viable. The previously inhabited and cultivated areas of Àirighean a’ Baigh and Àirighean na h-Annaid are unusually fertile land. Feannagan may still be made out in these areas.

Adam Nicolson, father of the present owner of the Shiants, published a book about them in 2001 under the title of Sea Room 'to tell the whole story'.

There are several possible chapel sites. The first may have been dedicated to St Columba and have been on the west side of Garbh Eilean, perhaps at Àirighean na h-Annaid - the name Annaid means Old Church. There is also evidence of a more recent church, dedicated to the Virgin, near the present cottage on Eilean an Taighe.


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