Stac an Armin

Stac an Armin (gbm4ibx|NA151064) or Stac an Àrmainn (the proper Scottish Gaelic spelling, formerly "àrmuinn"), meaning "stack of the soldier/warrior". It is a sea stack in the St Kilda archipelago. It is 196 metres tall, making it a Marilyn, and is also the highest sea stack in Scotland and the British Isles. [ [http://www.kilda.org.uk/frame26.htm National Trust for Scotland - St Kilda] . Retrieved 06.01.07.] [Heights from Haswell-Smith (2004); the National Trust website states 191 m & 165 m respectively.]

It is 400 m to the north of Boreray.

History and people

There are no fewer than 78 storage cleitean on Stac an Àrmainn and a small bothy, built by the St Kildans. The island was never inhabited, but was visited several times a year. The islanders used Stac an Àrmainn for harvesting gannets, which they would throw off a cliff into the boats below.

Martin Martin calls the island "Stack-Narmin".

It was here in July, 1840, that the last great auk seen in the British Isles was killed by two locals. Haswell-Smith claims that this was because they thought it was a witch. The last known specimens in the world were killed a few years later either in Eldey, Iceland or off Newfoundland.

As a result of a smallpox outbreak on Hirta in 1727 three men and eight boys were marooned here until the following May.

References

* Haswell-Smith, Hamish. (2004) "The Scottish Islands". Edinburgh. Canongate.