Colonsay

Colonsay
Location
Colonsay
Colonsay shown within Scotland
OS grid reference	NR382938
Names
Gaelic name	Colbhasa (help·info)
Pronunciation	IPA: [kʰɔlˠ̪ɔ.əs̪ə]
Norse name	Colonsey
Meaning of name	Old Norse for 'Columba's isle'
Area and summit
Area	4,074 hectares (15.7 sq mi)
Area rank	26
Highest elevation	143 metres (469 ft)
Population
Population (2001)	108
Population rank	44 out of 97
Main settlement	Scalasaig
Groupings
Island group	Islay
Local Authority	Argyll and Bute
References	[1][2]
If shown, area and population ranks are for all Scottish islands and all inhabited Scottish islands respectively.

Colonsay (Scottish Gaelic: Colbhasa) is an island in the Scottish Inner Hebrides, located north of Islay and south of Mull and has an area of 4,074 hectares (15.7 sq mi). It is the ancestral home of Clan Macfie and the Colonsay branch of Clan MacNeill. Aligned on a south-west to north-east axis, it measures 8 miles (13 km) in length and reaches 3 miles (4.8 km) at its widest point.

Community

The island's total population is about 110 people. Colonsay's main settlement is Scalasaig (Gaelic: Sgalasaig) on the east coast, from where ferries sail to Oban and, between April and October, to Kennacraig via Port Askaig on Islay.

The island is known for Colonsay House, the eighth century Riasg Buidhe Cross, its wild goats, and for birds including Black-legged Kittiwakes, cormorants, guillemots, corncrakes and golden eagles. The island is linked by a tidal causeway (named 'The Strand') to Oronsay [Orasa].

Although Colonsay appears bare and somewhat forbidding on approach from the sea, its landscape is exceptionally beautiful and varied, with some of the finest sandy beaches in the Hebrides, and a sheltered and fertile interior. Hence the growth of tourism as the mainstay of the island's economy, with numerous holiday cottages, many of them owned and managed by the Isle of Colonsay Estate. The estate is owned by Donald Howard, 4th Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal, whose eldest son and heir to the title, Alex Howard, lives on the island with his family and oversees the running of the Estate.

The Druid's Circle and other archaeological features on Colonsay.^[3]

The island has a tiny bookshop specialising in books of local interest; it is also the home of the House of Lochar publishing company specialising in Scottish history.^[4] There is a hotel overlooking the harbour^[5], a cafe and bakery, and a shop and post office. In 2006 the former grass airstrip was upgraded and provided with a hard surface, in readiness for the introduction of a scheduled air service from Oban (Connel). This service began operating in June 2008 with morning and evening flights on Tuesdays and Thursdays. ^[6]

Colonsay Community Development Company, the local development trust is “engaged in a range of work which reflects a sustainable approach to the regeneration of our island”. Current projects include running the islands coal supply and only petrol pump, a major rhododendron ponticum eradication programme and a feasibility study into the possibility of improving the harbour and surrounding area.

In 2008, Colonsay hosted the first ever Ceòl Cholasa, the island's own folk festival. Big names in the Scottish folk scene such as Karine Polwart, Kathleen MacInnes, The Anna Massie Band and Rallion performed. There was also performances from local island musicians at open mics and concerts. Due to the success of 2008's festival, there will be another in 2009 featuring Aly Bain and Phil Cunningham, Heidi Talbot, Karen Matheson and Donald Shaw, Kris Drever, John McCusker, Roddy Woomble, Breabach and Robin Laing. The festival begins on the 17th of September and is already sold out.^[7]

The nature of island life was exemplified by a story reported in November 2006, when a construction worker from Glasgow was arrested and confessed to burglary. The man had entered an unlocked house and stolen £60 in cash. Media interest was stirred when it was reported that this was the first recorded crime since 2004, and the 'first ever theft from a house.'^[8]

2007 saw the opening of the Colonsay Brewery, a micro-brewery offering three different products.^[9]

Mesolithic Food Industry

In 1995 evidence of large-scale Mesolithic nut processing, some 9,000 years old, was found in a midden pit at Staosnaig on the island's sheltered east coast. The evidence consists of a large, shallow pit full of the remains of hundreds of thousands of burned hazelnut shells. Hazelnuts have been found on other Mesolithic sites, but rarely in such quantities or concentrated in one pit. The nuts were radiocarbon dated to 7720+/-110BP, which calibrates to circa 7000 BC. Similar sites in Britain are known only at Farnham in Surrey and Cass ny Hawin on the Isle of Man.^[10][11]

This discovery gives an insight into communal activity and forward planning in the period. The nuts were harvested in a single year and pollen analysis suggests that the hazel trees were all cut down at the same time.^[11] The scale of the activity, unparalleled elsewhere in Scotland, and the lack of large game on the island, suggests the possibility that Colonsay contained a community with a largely vegetarian diet for the time they spent on the island. The pit was originally on a beach close to the shore, and was associated with two smaller stone-lined pits, whose function remains obscure, a hearth, and a second cluster of pits.^[10]

Gallery

View of Scalasaig from the Port Askaig ferry	View over Colonsay and Oronsay to the right, the Paps of Jura in the distance	An Tràigh Bhàn, Kiloran Bay, Colonsay.	Crest badge of the MacNeills of Gigha & Colonsay.
8th-century Riasg Buidhe Cross in the gardens of Colonsay House.

Notes

External links

• Island web site
• Colonsay House and gardens
• The Corncrake, Colonsay's newsletter
• On The Edge, documentary about Colonsay
• Colonsay Brewery

v • d • e Inhabited islands of the Hebrides Inner Hebrides Canna · Coll · Colonsay · Danna · Eigg · Eilean Bàn · Eilean Donan · Eilean Shona · Erraid · Gigha · Gometra · Iona · Islay · Isle of Ewe · Jura · Kerrera · Lismore · Lunga · Muck · Mull · Oronsay · Raasay · Sanday · Scalpay · Rona · Rùm · Skye · Slate Islands · Soay · Summer Isles · Tiree · Ulva Outer Hebrides Baleshare · Barra · Benbecula · Berneray · Eriskay · Flodaigh · Fraoch-eilean · Great Bernera · Grimsay (North) · Grimsay (South) · Lewis and Harris · North Uist · Scalpay · South Uist · Vatersay

Coordinates: 56°4′N 6°13′W / 56.067°N 6.217°W / 56.067; -6.217