Lewis and Harris
| Lewis and Harris | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
 Lewis and Harris
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| Lewis and Harris shown within the Outer Hebrides | |
| OS grid reference | NB240256 |
| Names | |
| Gaelic name | Leòdhas is na Hearadh |
| Norse name | Ljóðhús ok Hérað |
| Meaning of name | Old Norse: Ljóðhús = "Poet's House" + Hérað = "a type of administrative district" |
| Area and summit | |
| Area | 217,898 hectares (841 sq mi)[1] |
| Area rank | 1 |
| Highest elevation | Clisham 799 metres (2,621 ft) |
| Population | |
| Population | 19,918[2] |
| Population rank | 1 out of 99 |
| Popn. density | 9.14 /km2 (23.7 /sq mi)[1][2] |
| Main settlement | Stornoway |
| Groupings | |
| Island group | Lewis and Harris |
| Local Authority | Na h-Eileanan Siar |
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| References | [3][4][5] |
| If shown, area and population ranks are for all Scottish islands and all inhabited Scottish islands respectively. Population data is from 2001 census. | |
Lewis and Harris (Scottish Gaelic: Leòdhas agus na Hearadh) in the Outer Hebrides make up the largest island in Scotland. This is the largest single island of the British Isles after Great Britain and Ireland.[6]
Contents |
[edit] Geography
The northern part of the island is called Lewis, the southern is Harris and both are frequently referred to as if they were separate islands. The boundary between Lewis and Harris is formed by a line with Loch Resort (Reasort) (opposite Scarp) on the west and Loch Seaforth (Shiphoirt) on the east.
The island does not have a common name in either English or Scottish Gaelic and is referred to as 'Lewis and Harris', 'Lewis with Harris', 'Harris with Lewis' etc.[7] Rarely, the collective name of the Long Island (Scottish Gaelic: an t-Eilean Fada) is used,[8] although this is normally applied to the entire Outer Hebrides.[9]
Most of Harris is very hilly, with more than thirty peaks above 1,000 ft (300 m) high and seven mountains, defined as Corbetts.[10] It has an area of 841 square miles (2,178 km2) - slightly under one per cent of the area of Great Britain. It is 24 miles (39 km) from the nearest point of the mainland, from which it is separated by the Minch.
Lewis is comparatively flat, save in the south-east, where Ben More reaches 1,874 ft (571 m), and in the south-west, where Mealasbhal 1,885 ft (575 m) is the highest point.
Until 1975, Lewis belonged to the county of Ross and Cromarty and Harris to Inverness-shire. The entire island group now belongs to Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, the Western Isles Council.
[edit] Transport links
The main town in Lewis is Steòrnabhagh (Stornoway) with ferry links to Ullapool and air services to Benbecula (for Barra), Inverness, Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh. An Tairbeart (Tarbert) is the ferry terminal in Harris with connections to Skye and North Uist.
[edit] Smaller islands
Other nearby inhabited islands in the Lewis and Harris group are Beàrnaraigh (Great Bernera) and Sgalpaigh (Scalpay). Tarasaigh (Taransay) and An Sgarp (Scarp) are now-uninhabited islands close to the shore of Harris.
[edit] History
The island is the ancestral homeland of the Highland Clan MacLeod, with those individuals on Harris being referred to as from the clan MacLeod of Harris or MacLeod of MacLeod, and those on Lewis being referred to as from the clan MacLeod of Lewis.[citation needed]
Lewis island is also the ancestral home of Clan Morrison.
[edit] Economy
A major industry on the island is the production of the famous fabric Harris tweed which is hand made on the island; by law only fabric produced on the island can be called Harris tweed.
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ a b Haswell-Smith (2004) p. 262
- ^ a b General Register Office for Scotland (28 November 2003) Occasional Paper No 10: Statistics for Inhabited Islands. Retrieved 9 July 2007.
- ^ Haswell-Smith, Hamish (2004). The Scottish Islands. Edinburgh: Canongate. ISBN 1841954543.
- ^ Ordnance Survey
- ^ Jón A. Hjaltalín; Goudie, G.; Anderson, J. (Ed.) (1893 / 1981). The Orkneyinga saga. Edinburgh: Mercat Press. ISBN 0-901824-25-9.
- ^ List of islands in the British Isles
- ^ Thompson, Francis (1968). Harris and Lewis, Outer Hebrides. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. ISBN 0715342606.
- ^ "Lewis-with-Harris". Encyclopædia Britannica. 1911. http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Lewis-With-Harris. Retrieved 22 February 2009.
- ^ Murray, W.H. (1966). The Hebrides. London: Heinemann. p. 2. OCLC 4998389.
- ^ Johnstone et al (1990) pp. 240-43
[edit] References
- Johnstone, Scott; Brown, Hamish; and Bennet, Donald (1990) The Corbetts and Other Scottish Hills. Edinburgh. Scottish Mountaineering Trust. ISBN 0907521290
[edit] External links
- Google map
- hebrides.ca Home of the Quebec-Hebridean Scots who were cleared from Lewis to Quebec 1838-1920's
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