South Uist is the second-largest island of the Outer Hebrides in Scotland. At the 2022 census it had a usually resident population of 1,650, a decrease of 104 since 2011.[3][8] The island, in common with the rest of the Hebrides, is one of the last remaining strongholds of the Gaelic language in Scotland. South Uist's inhabitants are known in Gaelic as Deasaich (Southerners). The population is about 90% Roman Catholic.
The island is home to a nature reserve and a number of sites of archaeological interest, including the only location in the British Isles where prehistoric mummies have been found.[9] In the northwest, there is a missile testing range. In 2006 South Uist, together with neighbouring Benbecula and Eriskay, was involved in Scotland's biggest-ever community land buyout by Stòras Uibhist.[10] The group also owns the "biggest community wind farm in Scotland", Lochcarnan, on South Uist which opened in 2013.[11][12]
Geology
In common with the rest of the Western Isles, South Uist is formed from the oldest rocks in Britain, Lewisian gneiss brought to the surface by old tectonic movements. They bear the scars of the last glaciation which has exposed many of them. The rocks had high-grade regional metamorphism around 2,900 million years ago: in the Archaean eon. Some show granulite facies metamorphism, but most have slightly cooler amphibolite facies. A number of metabasic bodies and metasediments occur locally in the gneiss.
On the east side of the island between Lochboisdale and Ornish – part of the Outer Hebrides Thrust Zone – is the Corodale gneiss, dominated by garnet-pyroxene rock. A narrow zone of pseudotachylyte occurs along its western margin with the regular gneiss. The Usinish peninsula is formed from ‘mashed gneiss’, within which the banding has mainly been destroyed. Between these two gneisses is a band of mylonite (as offshore on Stuley). Mashed gneiss occurs again in the extreme southeast. Small occurrences of Archaean granites are found in the centre of the island.[13][14]
Geography
The west is machair (fertile low-lying coastal plain) with a continuous sandy beach, whilst the east coast is mountainous with the peaks of Beinn Mhòr (Gèideabhal) at 620 m and Hecla at 606 m. The island is linked to Eriskay and Benbecula by causeways.
The landscape is characterised by numerous lochs and lochans, the largest of which is Loch Bì.
The main village on the island is Lochboisdale (Loch Baghasdail), from which Caledonian MacBrayne operates ferries to Mallaig (Malaig) on the Scottish mainland (some sailings to Oban in winter when the only large vessel able to dock at Mallaig, MV Lord of the Isles, is covering elsewhere on the Calmac network for vessels in drydock, or in drydock herself). The company previously operated services to Castlebay (Bàgh a' Chaisteil) on Barra, however as of the 2016 fleet reshuffle these have been removed. There is a separate service to Ardmhòr (Barra) operating from Eriskay numerous times a day. (Smaller settlements include Daliburgh (Dalabrog), Howmore (Tobha Mòr) and Ludag (An Lùdag).
Climate
South Uist has an oceanic climate (Köppen: Cfb).
Etymology
Mac an Tàilleir (2003) suggests that the derivation of Uist may be "corn island".[18] However, whilst noting that the vist ending would have been familiar to speakers of Old Norse as meaning "dwelling", Gammeltoft (2007) says that the word is "of non-Gaelic origin" and that it reveals itself as one of a number of "foreign place-names having undergone adaptation in Old Norse". In contrast, Clancy (2018) has argued that Ívist itself is an Old Norse calque on an earlier Gaelic name, *Ibuid or Ibdaig, which corresponds to Ptolemy’s Eboudai.[19]
History
Early history
South Uist was clearly home to a thriving Neolithic community. The island is covered in several neolithic remains, such as burial cairns, and a small number of standing stones, of which the largest—standing 17 ft tall—is in the centre of the island, at the northern edge of Beinn A' Charra. Occupation continued into the Chalcolithic, as evidenced by a number of Beaker finds throughout the island.
Later in the Bronze Age, a man was mummified, and placed on display at Cladh Hallan, parts occasionally being replaced over the centuries; he was joined by a woman three hundred years later. Together they are the only known prehistoric mummies in the British Isles.[21] Towards the end of the Bronze Age, the mummies were buried, and a row of roundhouses built on top of them.
Burials underneath buildings during this time are seen elsewhere on South Uist. At Hornish Point (Cnoc Mòr) a burial was found under a roundhouse, consisting of an individual, likely male and aged 12. The skeleton had been dismembered, probably some time after death when the body was partly decomposed. Cannibalism was ruled out as there were none of the marks of skinning, filleting and butchering which would be expected if it was cannibalism.
Ownership of South Uist
After a protracted campaign, South Uist residents took control of the island on 30 November 2006 in Scotland's biggest community land buyout to date. The previous landowners, a sporting syndicate, sold the assets of the 92000 acre estate for £4.5 million[59] to a Community Company known as Stòras Uibhist, which was set up to purchase the land and to manage it.[60][61] The buyout resulted in most of South Uist, and neighbouring Benbecula, and all of Eriskay coming under community control.[62] The proposal for community ownership received the overwhelming support of the people of the islands, who "look forward to regenerating the local economy, reversing decline and depopulation, and reducing dependency, while remaining aware of the environmental needs, culture and history of the islands". The company claims its name—Stòras Uibhist (meaning 'Uist Resource')—symbolises hope for the future wealth and prosperity of the islands. The organisation's website states that Stòras Uibhist comprises South Uist Estates Ltd, South Uist Renewable Energy (the wind farm) and Lochboisdale Development Limited ("which is responsible for the newly built Marina in the port of Lochboisdale").[63]
Economy
Tourism is important to the island's economy and attractions include the Kildonan Museum, housing the 16th-century Clanranald Stone, and the ruins of the house where Flora MacDonald was born.
South Uist is home to the Askernish Golf Course.[64] The oldest course in the Outer Hebrides, Askernish was designed by Old Tom Morris, who also worked on the Old Course at St Andrews. Morris was commissioned by Lady Gordon Cathcart in 1891.[65] The Askernish course existed intact until the 1930s, but was partly destroyed to make way for an aircraft runway, then abandoned, and ultimately lost. Its identity remained hidden for many years before its apparent discovery, a claim disputed by some locals.[66][67][68] Restoration of the course to Morris's original design was held up by disagreements with local crofters,
Wildlife and conservation
The west coast of South Uist is home to the most extensive cultivated machair system in Scotland,[74] which is protected as protected a both a Special Area of Conservation and a Special Protection Area under the Natura 2000 programme.[75][76] Over 200 species of flowering plants have been recorded on the reserve, some of which are nationally scarce. South Uist is considered the best place in the UK for the aquatic plant Slender Naiad (Najas flexilis),[77] which is a European Protected Species. Nationally important populations of breeding waders are also present, including redshank, dunlin, lapwing and ringed plover. The island is also home to greylag geese on the lochs, and in summer corncrakes on the machair. Otters and hen harriers are also seen.
Gaelic
At the 2011 Census it was found that 1,888 Gaelic speakers live on South Uist and Benbecula, this being 60% of the two islands' population.[90] 'Na Meadhoinean', Middle District in South Uist, is the strongest Gaelic-speaking community in the world, at 82%. The Gaelic dialect spoken is a Southern Hebridean dialect related to that of the rest of Uist and of Barra.[91]
A local Gaelic folktale tells of how a seal came out of the sea to settle a boundary dispute between the communities of Lochboisdale and Kilpheder by showing the antagonists where the boundary line should lie.[92][93]
In popular culture
The 1962 television series, The Dark Island, was filmed in South Uist.
Notable residents
- Angus Peter Campbell (born 1952) poet and novelist, as well as journalist, broadcaster and actor.
- Kathleen MacInnes (born 1969), singer, TV presenter and actress
- Danny Alexander (born 1972), Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament; lived at West Geirnish on South Uist for three years as a child[94]
- Allan MacDonald (1859–1905), Roman Catholic priest at Daliburgh, folklore collector
- Flora MacDonald (1722–1790), born at Milton; known for her help of the fugitive Prince Charles Edward Stuart after the Battle of Culloden
- Etienne Macdonald Although not a resident of the island, the family of this marshall of Napoléon Bonaparte originated in Howbeg, South Uist
- Angus McPhee (1916–1997), born at Iochdar; outsider artist
- Margaret Fay Shaw (1903–2004), American photographer and folklorist
See also
- List of islands of Scotland
- Bun Sruth, a loch in the southeast
- Easaval, a hill in the south
- Iochdar, a hamlet on the west coast
- Kilaulay, a township on the northwest coast
- Ushenish, a headland on the east coast
- Scottish island names
Bibliography
- Ballin Smith, Beverley; Taylor, Simon; and Williams, Gareth (2007) West over Sea: Studies in Scandinavian Sea-Borne Expansion and Settlement Before 1300. Leiden. Brill. ISBN 97890-04-15893-1
External links
- The Island Where God Speaks Gaelic Raidió Teilifís Éireann documentary from 1971
- Archaeological Aerial Photographs
- 'South Uist a Hebridean First': Flag Institute press release 30 June 2017
- An Gàrradh Mòr, Historic walled garden at Cille Bhrìghde
- The world in a spin: representing the Neolithic landscapes of South Uist in Internet Archaeology
- Rocket launches at South Uist
References
- Map of Scotland in Scots - Guide and gazetteer^
- Gammeltoft, Peder "Scandinavian Naming-Systems in the Hebrides—A Way of Understanding how the Scandinavians were in Contact with Gaels and Picts?" in Ballin Smith et al (2007) p. 487^
- {{RESAS}}^
- {{Haswell-Smith}}^