Garbh Eilean
Encyclopedia
Garbh Eilean is one of the Shiant Isles
at the south end of the Minch
on the west coast of Scotland
.
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
.
may still be made out in these areas.
Adam Nicolson
, father of the present owner of the Shiants, has recently published a book about them under the title of Sea Room 'to tell the whole story'.
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
.
A gold torc
was dredged up by some Scalpay
scallop
fishermen south-west of the islands. This beautiful object dates from perhaps 1200BC, and while similar such torcs have turned up elsewhere in UK, this is by far the furthest north. It is possible to speculate endlessly about the provenance of such a find, and whether it got there by shipwreck, or as a votive offering.
s breed in burrows on the slopes of Garbh Eilean, as well as significant numbers of guillemot
s, razorbill
s, fulmar
s, kittiwakes
, shags
, gull
s and great skua
s. Although St Kilda
has more puffins, the sheer density on the Shiants is greater. The island also has a population of black rats, which may originally have come ashore from a shipwreck. Analysis of their stomach contents has shown that the Shiant rats do eat seabirds, but it is impossible to tell if they prey on live birds or simply scavenge dead remains.[Paul Stapp (2002) Stable isotopes reveal evidence of predation by ship rats on seabirds on the Shiant Islands, Scotland Journal of Applied Ecology 39 (5), 831–840.] These rats are now rare in the UK but on the Shiants their numbers are still controlled in and around the house. Elsewhere on the islands they are unmolested. [A. Nicolson, personal comm.]
Shiant Isles
The Shiant Isles are a privately owned island group in the Minch, east of Harris in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. They are five miles south east of Lewis.-Etymology:...
at the south end of the Minch
The Minch
The Minch , also called The North Minch, is a strait in north-west Scotland, separating the north-west Highlands, and the northern Inner Hebrides, from Lewis and Harris in the Outer Hebrides...
on the west coast of Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
.
Geology
In geological terms, these islands essentially represent an extension of the TrotternishTrotternish
Trotternish or Tròndairnis is the northernmost peninsula of the Isle of Skye, in Scotland.One of its more well-known features is the Trotternish landslip, a massive landslide that runs almost the full length of the peninsula, some...
peninsula of Skye. The rocks are volcanic, and at 60Ma, very young by Hebridean
Hebrides
The Hebrides comprise a widespread and diverse archipelago off the west coast of Scotland. There are two main groups: the Inner and Outer Hebrides. These islands have a long history of occupation dating back to the Mesolithic and the culture of the residents has been affected by the successive...
standards. Dolerite columns on the north side of Garbh Eilean are over 100m tall and about 2m across. Similar to those at Staffa
Staffa
Staffa from the Old Norse for stave or pillar island, is an island of the Inner Hebrides in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. The Vikings gave it this name as its columnar basalt reminded them of their houses, which were built from vertically placed tree-logs....
and the Giant's Causeway
Giant's Causeway
The Giant's Causeway is an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic eruption. It is located in County Antrim on the northeast coast of Northern Ireland, about three miles northeast of the town of Bushmills...
, they were formed by the slow cooling of volcanic rocks deep underground. Intrusion sills
Sill (geology)
In geology, a sill is a tabular sheet intrusion that has intruded between older layers of sedimentary rock, beds of volcanic lava or tuff, or even along the direction of foliation in metamorphic rock. The term sill is synonymous with concordant intrusive sheet...
show a progression in their chemical compositions, from olivine
Olivine
The mineral olivine is a magnesium iron silicate with the formula 2SiO4. It is a common mineral in the Earth's subsurface but weathers quickly on the surface....
-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
Fractional crystallization (geology)
Fractional crystallization is one of the most important geochemical and physical processes operating within the Earth's crust and mantle. Fractional crystallization is the removal and segregation from a melt of mineral precipitates; except in special cases, removal of the crystals changes the...
. Recent study has suggested that at least one of the sills represents a multiple intrusion. In some places the basalt
Basalt
Basalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix, or vesicular, or frothy scoria. Unweathered basalt is black or grey...
is overlain by Jurassic
Jurassic
The Jurassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about Mya to Mya, that is, from the end of the Triassic to the beginning of the Cretaceous. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of the Mesozoic era, also known as the age of reptiles. The start of the period is marked by...
mudstone, which weathers to form much more fertile soil than elsewhere in the Western Isles
Outer Hebrides
The Outer Hebrides also known as the Western Isles and the Long Island, is an island chain off the west coast of Scotland. The islands are geographically contiguous with Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, one of the 32 unitary council areas of Scotland...
.
Economy
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 Airighean a’Baigh and Airighean na h-Annaid are unusually fertile land. FeannaganLazy bed
Lazy bed is a method of arable cultivation. Rather like cord rig cultivation, parallel banks of ridge and furrow are dug by spade although lazy beds have banks that are bigger, up to 2.5m in width, with narrow drainage channels between them....
may still be made out in these areas.
Adam Nicolson
Adam Nicolson
Adam Nicolson, Baron Carnock, FRSL, FSA , is a British author who writes about English history, landscape and the sea....
, father of the present owner of the Shiants, has recently published a book about them under the title of Sea Room 'to tell the whole story'.
Archaeology
There are several possible chapel sites. The first may have been dedicated to St ColumbaColumba
Saint Columba —also known as Colum Cille , Colm Cille , Calum Cille and Kolban or Kolbjørn —was a Gaelic Irish missionary monk who propagated Christianity among the Picts during the Early Medieval Period...
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
Eilean an Taighe
Please note "Eilean an Taighe", or "Eilean Taigh" is a fairly common island nameEilean an Tighe or Eilean an Tigh, meaning "home island", is one of the Shiant Isles...
.
A gold torc
Torc
A torc, also spelled torq or torque, is a large, usually rigid, neck ring typically made from strands of metal twisted together. The great majority are open-ended at the front, although many seem designed for near-permanent wear and would have been difficult to remove. Smaller torcs worn around...
was dredged up by some Scalpay
Scalpay, Inner Hebrides
Scalpay is an island in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland.Separated from the east coast of Skye by Loch na Cairidh, Scalpay rises to at Mullach na Càrn. It has an area of almost ten sq. miles....
scallop
Scallop
A scallop is a marine bivalve mollusk of the family Pectinidae. Scallops are a cosmopolitan family, found in all of the world's oceans. Many scallops are highly prized as a food source...
fishermen south-west of the islands. This beautiful object dates from perhaps 1200BC, and while similar such torcs have turned up elsewhere in UK, this is by far the furthest north. It is possible to speculate endlessly about the provenance of such a find, and whether it got there by shipwreck, or as a votive offering.
Wildlife
The Shiants are a major seabird breeding ground due to their location next to good feeding grounds and lack of predators, except for Black Rats. Huge numbers of puffinPuffin
Puffins are any of three small species of auk in the bird genus Fratercula with a brightly coloured beak during the breeding season. These are pelagic seabirds that feed primarily by diving in the water. They breed in large colonies on coastal cliffs or offshore islands, nesting in crevices among...
s breed in burrows on the slopes of Garbh Eilean, as well as significant numbers of guillemot
Guillemot
Guillemots is the common name for several species of seabird in the auk family . In British use, the term comprises two genera: Uria and Cepphus. In North America the Uria species are called "murres" and only the Cepphus species are called "guillemots"...
s, razorbill
Razorbill
The Razorbill is colonial seabird that will only come to land in order to breed. It is the largest living member of the Auk family. This agile bird will choose only one partner for life and females will lay one egg per year. Razorbills will nest along coastal cliffs in enclosed or slightly exposed...
s, fulmar
Fulmar
Fulmars are seabirds of the family Procellariidae. The family consists of two extant species and two that are extinct.-Taxonomy:As members of Procellaridae and then the order Procellariiformes, they share certain traits. First, they have nasal passages that attach to the upper bill called...
s, kittiwakes
Black-legged Kittiwake
The Black-legged Kittiwake is a seabird species in the gull family Laridae.This species was first described by Linnaeus in his Systema naturae in 1758 as Larus tridactylus....
, shags
Cormorant
The bird family Phalacrocoracidae is represented by some 40 species of cormorants and shags. Several different classifications of the family have been proposed recently, and the number of genera is disputed.- Names :...
, gull
Gull
Gulls are birds in the family Laridae. They are most closely related to the terns and only distantly related to auks, skimmers, and more distantly to the waders...
s and great skua
Great Skua
The Great Skua, Stercorarius skua, is a large seabird in the skua family Stercorariidae. In Britain, it is sometimes known by the name Bonxie, a Shetland name of unknown origin.-Description:...
s. Although St Kilda
St Kilda, Scotland
St Kilda is an isolated archipelago west-northwest of North Uist in the North Atlantic Ocean. It contains the westernmost islands of the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. The largest island is Hirta, whose sea cliffs are the highest in the United Kingdom and three other islands , were also used for...
has more puffins, the sheer density on the Shiants is greater. The island also has a population of black rats, which may originally have come ashore from a shipwreck. Analysis of their stomach contents has shown that the Shiant rats do eat seabirds, but it is impossible to tell if they prey on live birds or simply scavenge dead remains.[Paul Stapp (2002) Stable isotopes reveal evidence of predation by ship rats on seabirds on the Shiant Islands, Scotland Journal of Applied Ecology 39 (5), 831–840.] These rats are now rare in the UK but on the Shiants their numbers are still controlled in and around the house. Elsewhere on the islands they are unmolested. [A. Nicolson, personal comm.]