Eilean Shona

Infobox Scottish island
latitude=56.8
longitude=-5.9
GridReference=NM645739
celtic name= Eilean Seòna
norse name=
meaning of name= Possible from the Norse for 'sea island'
area=525 ha
area rank=72
highest elevation= Beinn a' Bhàillidh 265 m
Population=9
population rank=74
main settlement=Invermoidart
island group= Inner Hebrides
local authority=Highland
references= [2001 UK Census per List of islands of Scotland] Haswell-Smith, Hamish. (2004) "The Scottish Islands". Edinburgh. Canongate.] [http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/ Ordnance Survey] ]

Eilean Shona (Gaelic: Eilean Seòna) is a tidal island in Loch Moidart, Scotland. The earlier Gaelic names was "Arthràigh", meaning 'foreshore island', similar to the derivation of Erraid. [http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/vli/language/gaelic/pdfs/placenamesP-Z.pdf Scottish Parliament Gaelic Placenames] Retrieved 9 July 2007.]

It was leased to writer J. M. Barrie in the 1920s, who used it as a summer holiday retreat for himself, his foster sons Michael and Nicholas Llewelyn Davies, and a few of their friends. [Birkin, Andrew, "The Lost Boys", (Yale University Press)] It was here he wrote a screenplay for the 1924 film adaptation of "Peter Pan".

It is currently owned by Robert Devereux who purchased the island in 1995 for a sum believed to be in the region of £1.3 million. In 1856 the sales price was just £6,500.

The current population is 11, but in 1851 there were reports of evacuations and emigrations of 37 families from the island and the nearby settlement of Dorlinn in the wake of potato blight. [ [http://www.moidart.org.uk/datasets/lastlairdofmorar.htm Moidart.org] Retrieved 9 July 2007.]

There are several small attendant isles include Riska Island, Eilean an Fheidh and Eilean Tioram. Eilean Shona House overlooks Riska and Castle Tioram. There are 5 cottages for rent on the island, and the main house is also available for hire. The old Schoolhouse (on the North Shore track between Sawmill and Baramore) is not available for let. It is in an isolated position, some two miles down a track, reputedly because when it was built in the nineteenth century the wife of the island's owner did not wish to be disturbed by children.

References