Easdale

Infobox Scottish island |
latitude=56.29
longitude=-5.66
GridReference=NM735172
celtic name="Eilean Eisdeal"
norse name=
meaning of name=
area= c.20ha
area rank=
highest elevation= 38 m
Population=58
population rank= 54
main settlement=
island group=Slate Islands
local authority=Argyll and Bute
references= [2001 UK Census per List of islands of Scotland] cite book| author=Haswell-Smith, Hamish| date=2004| title=The Scottish Islands| location=Edinburgh| publisher=Canongate| isbn=] [ [http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/ Ordnance Survey] ]

Easdale (Gaelic: Eilean Eisdeal) is one of the Slate Islands, in the Firth of Lorn, Scotland. Once the centre of the British slate industry, there has been some recent island regeneration.

A ferry sails from Easdale to Ellenabeich (Gaelic: "Eilean nam Beathach") on the nearby island of Seil (Gaelic: "Saoil"), which is separated from Easdale by only a narrow channel. Confusingly, Ellenabeich is sometimes known as "Easdale" as a result of its traditional connections with the island.

Once the centre of the British slate industry, Easdale had a community of more than 500 working as many as seven quarries, some of which extended to 300 feet below sea level. Easdale slate helped to build major cities of the British Empire and can still be seen on rooftops as far a field as Melbourne, Nova Scotia, Dunedin and Dublin. The last slate was cut in the 1950s and the once active quarries are little more than still pools which provide a safe haven for a wide variety of flora and bird life. [cite web| url=http://www.easdale.org/| publisher=The Easdale Island Trust| title=Community website| accessdate=2007-07-28]

By the early 1960s, the population had dwindled to only four people and the island appeared doomed. Descendants of the original quarrymen, along with others from around the world, have moved to Easdale to create a model of island regeneration. The island now has a population of around sixty people (the smallest permanently inhabited island of the Inner Hebrides), [See List of islands of Scotland. This is true if bridged and tidal islands are excluded. Eilean Bàn, which is part of the Skye Bridge and Eilean Donan, which is tidal, were both inhabited at the time of the 2001 Census and smaller.] [General Register Office for Scotland (28 Nov 2003) " [http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/statistics/publications-and-data/occpapers/occasional-paper-10.html Occasional Paper No 10: Statistics for Inhabited Islands] "] and is home to a folk museum operated by the Scottish Slate Islands Heritage Trust.

As of 2005, there are plans by the local authority, Argyll and Bute Council, to build a bridge between the island and Seil, linking the island to the mainland by road, [cite news| url=http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article222778.ece| title=Storm brews over island idyll as council plans to build bridge| author=Paul Kelbie| date=2005-05-23| work=The Independent| accessdate=2007-07-28] despite there being no roads on Easdale.

The World Stone Skimming Championship [cite web| url=http://www.stoneskimming.com/| title=World Stone Skimming Championship| accessdate=2007-07-28] has taken place annually on Easdale since 1997.

External links

* [http://www.easdale.org/ The Easdale Island Trust]
* [http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/easdale/easdale/index.html Undiscovered Scotland: Easdale]

References and footnotes