Sanday, Inner Hebrides

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Sanday
Location
Sanday is located in Lochaber
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Sanday
Sanday shown within Lochaber
OS grid reference NG282043
Names
Gaelic name Sandaigh
Area and summit
Area 184 ha (0.71 sq mi)
Area rank 115
Highest elevation 59 m (194 ft)
Population
Population 6
Population rank 78= out of 99
Groupings
Island group Small Isles
Local Authority Highland
Flag of Scotland.svg Lymphad3.svg
References [1][2]
If shown, area and population ranks are for all Scottish islands and all inhabited Scottish islands respectively. Population data is from 2001 census.

Sanday (Scottish Gaelic: Sandaigh) is one of the Small Isles, in the Scottish Inner Hebrides. It is a tidal island linked to its larger neighbor, Canna, via sandbanks at low tide, and also connected to the larger island by a bridge. Canna and Sanday form a single community, and are usually described as Canna.

Panorama taken from Compass Hill on Canna, overlooking Canna Bay and Sanday, the island of Rùm in the distance.
The school

Like its neighbour, Canna, the whole island is owned by the National Trust for Scotland (NTS), and is part of the Lochaber committee area of Highland Council.[3] Whereas Canna is run by the NTS as a single farm, parts of Sanday are used for crofting.

A small primary school on Sanday serves the communities of both islands, and currently (2009) has four pupils, of whom two are the children of the teacher. A footbridge to the island was built in 1905 to allow pupils from Canna to reach the school regardless of the state of the tide. This bridge was destroyed by storms in 2005, and has been replaced by a road bridge which was completed in April 2006. This new bridge allows vehicular access at all tide levels between the two islands, although the road on Sanday is still covered by water during high tides.

From the mainland the island can be reached by the Caledonian MacBrayne ferry system from the port of Mallaig. Sanday includes rocks that are geologically part of the Paleocene and Eocene British Tertiary Volcanic Province, among some of the youngest rocks found in Scotland.[4]

The largest and most conspicuous building on Sanday is the deconsecrated Catholic church of St Edward, which stands alone on an elevated part of the island, away from the cottages which, together with the school, cluster around the bay facing Canna. The church now belongs to the Hebridean Trust,[5] which converted it into a hostel and study centre, linked to the archive of Gaelic culture and folklore created by the former owner of Canna and Sanday, the late John Lorne Campbell. The centre was opened by the Princess Royal in 2001, but since then has remained locked and unused.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Haswell-Smith, Hamish (2004). The Scottish Islands. Edinburgh: Canongate. ISBN 1841954543. 
  2. ^ Ordnance Survey
  3. ^ Patterson, A (June 2000). "Seabird Enhancement Programme on the Islands of Canna and Sanday". Case Studies -- Species Regeneration. National Trust for Scotland. http://www.ntseducation.org.uk/students/case-species.html. Retrieved 2006-06-10. 
  4. ^ "Tertiary Igneous (TER-IGN)". Geological Conservation Review GCR Database. Joint Nature Conservation Committee. http://www.jncc.gov.uk/earthheritage/gcrdb/GCRblock.asp?block=94. Retrieved 2006-06-10. 
  5. ^ http://www.hebrideantrust.org/

Coordinates: 57°3′0″N 6°28′54″W / 57.05°N 6.48167°W / 57.05; -6.48167


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