Tiree
| Tiree | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
 Tiree
|
|
| OS grid reference | NL999458 |
| Names | |
| Gaelic name |  Tiriodh (help·info) |
| Norse name | Tyrvist |
| Meaning of name | Gaelic for 'land of corn' |
| Area and summit | |
| Area | 7,834 hectares (30.2 sq mi) |
| Area rank | 17 |
| Highest elevation | Ben Hynish 141 metres (463 ft) |
| Population | |
| Population | 770 |
| Population rank | 17 out of 101 |
| Main settlement | Scarinish |
| Groupings | |
| Island group | Mull |
| Local Authority | Argyll and Bute |
  |
|
| References | [1][2][3][4] |
|
Area and population ranks are for all Scottish islands and all inhabited Scottish islands respectively. Population data is from 2001 census. |
|
Tiree (Scottish Gaelic: Tiriodh, pronounced [ˈtʲʰiɾʲəɣ]) is the most westerly island in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The low-lying island, southwest of Coll, has an area of 7,834 hectares (30.2 sq mi) and a population of around 800. The land is highly fertile, and crofting, alongside tourism, are the main sources of employment for the islanders. Tiree, along with Colonsay enjoys a relatively high total of hours of sunshine during the late spring and early summer compared to the average for the United Kingdom.[5] Tiree is a popular windsurfing venue and is a proposed location for an offshore wind farm.
Contents |
History [edit]
Tiree is known for the 1st century BC Dùn Mòr broch, for the prehistoric carved Ringing Stone and for the birds of the Ceann a' Mhara headland.
Writing in 1549, Donald Munro, High Dean of the Isles wrote of "Thiridh" that it was: "ane mane laich fertile fruitful cuntrie... All inhabite and manurit with twa paroche kirkis in it, ane fresh water loch with an auld castell. Na cuntrie may be mair fertile of corn and very gude for wild fowls and for fishe, with ane gude heavin for heiland galayis".[Note 1]
In 1770, half of the island was held by fourteen farmers who had drained land for hay and pasture. Instead of exporting live cattle (which were often exhausted by the long journey to market and so fetched low prices), they began to export salt beef in barrels to get better prices. The rest of the island was let to 45 groups of tenants on co-operative joint farms: agricultural organisations probably dating from clan times. Field strips were allocated by annual ballot. Sowing and harvesting dates were decided communally. It is reported that in 1774, Tiresians were 'well-clothed and well-fed, having an abundance of corn and cattle'.
Its name derives from Tìr Iodh, 'land of the corn', from the days of the 6th century Celtic missionary and abbot St Columba (d. 597). Tiree provided the monastic community on the island of Iona, south-east of the island, with grain. A number of early monasteries once existed on Tiree itself, and several sites have stone cross-slabs from this period, e.g. St Patrick's Chapel, Ceann a' Mhara (NL 938 401) and Soroby (NL 984 416).
Skerryvore lighthouse, 12 miles (19 km) south west of Tiree, was built with some difficulty between 1838 and 1844 by Alan Stevenson.
A large Royal Air Force station was built on Tiree during World War II becoming Tiree Airport in 1947.[8] There was also an RAF Chain Home radar station at Kilkenneth and an RAF Chain Home Low radar station at Beinn Hough. These were preceded by a temporary RAF Advanced Chain Home radar station at Port Mor and an RAF Chain Home Beam radar station at Barrapol. Post war there was RAF Scarinish ROTOR radar station at Beinn Ghott.
Geography [edit]
The main village on Tiree is Scarinish. The island's other settlements include Hynish and Sandaig, both of which boast small museums.
The highest point on Tiree is Ben Hynish to the south of the island which rises to 141 metres (463 ft).
Transport [edit]
CalMac operate a ferry to Scarinish. The daily crossing from Oban on the mainland takes four hours.[9] A call is made at Arinagour on Coll and once a week the ferry crosses to Castlebay on Barra. More limited services operate in Winter.
Tiree Airport is located at Crossapol. Flybe provide daily flights to Glasgow International[10] and Hebridean Air Services fly to Coll and Oban.[11]
Roads on Tiree, in common with many other small islands, are nearly all single-track roads. There are passing places, locally called 'pockets', where cars must wait to enable oncoming traffic to pass or overtake.
Climate [edit]
-GB.png)
As with the rest of Scotland, Tiree experiences a maritime climate with cool summers and mild winters. Weather data is collected at the Island's airport. The lowest temperature to occur in recent years was −5.8 °C (21.6 °F) during the cold spell of December 2010.[12]
| Climate data for Tiree, 9m asl, 1981-2010, Extremes 1951- | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 12.3 (54.1) |
12.9 (55.2) |
15.2 (59.4) |
19.8 (67.6) |
23.4 (74.1) |
25.0 (77) |
26.1 (79) |
25.0 (77) |
21.2 (70.2) |
19.1 (66.4) |
14.6 (58.3) |
13.2 (55.8) |
26.1 (79) |
| Average high °C (°F) | 7.8 (46) |
7.7 (45.9) |
8.7 (47.7) |
10.4 (50.7) |
13.0 (55.4) |
14.8 (58.6) |
16.3 (61.3) |
16.4 (61.5) |
15.0 (59) |
12.5 (54.5) |
10.1 (50.2) |
8.3 (46.9) |
11.8 (53.2) |
| Average low °C (°F) | 3.4 (38.1) |
3.1 (37.6) |
3.9 (39) |
5.1 (41.2) |
7.1 (44.8) |
9.5 (49.1) |
11.2 (52.2) |
11.4 (52.5) |
10.0 (50) |
8.0 (46.4) |
5.6 (42.1) |
3.9 (39) |
6.9 (44.4) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −6.4 (20.5) |
−6.1 (21) |
−4.8 (23.4) |
−4.4 (24.1) |
−0.3 (31.5) |
2.3 (36.1) |
5.4 (41.7) |
4.9 (40.8) |
1.4 (34.5) |
−0.3 (31.5) |
−3.9 (25) |
−7 (19) |
−7 (19) |
| Rainfall mm (inches) | 137.8 (5.425) |
101.3 (3.988) |
103.0 (4.055) |
72.8 (2.866) |
59.6 (2.346) |
65.0 (2.559) |
79.7 (3.138) |
106.9 (4.209) |
112.0 (4.409) |
149.5 (5.886) |
135.8 (5.346) |
131.7 (5.185) |
1,255.1 (49.413) |
| Avg. rainy days (≥ 1.0 mm) | 20.2 | 16.2 | 18.3 | 12.5 | 11.9 | 11.9 | 14.1 | 15.0 | 16.0 | 19.6 | 19.5 | 19.4 | 194.4 |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 39.0 | 69.9 | 111.1 | 175.2 | 238.8 | 205.5 | 174.4 | 163.3 | 128.2 | 88.4 | 46.8 | 36.0 | 1,476.6 |
| Source #1: Met Office[13] | |||||||||||||
| Source #2: Royal Dutch Meteorological Institute/KNMI[14] | |||||||||||||
Economy [edit]
The fertile machair lands of the island provide for good quality farming and crofting.
Tiree Community Development Trust have commissioned a 950 kW community-owned wind turbine project, the fourth such large-scale project in Scotland.[15] The first three projects were on Gigha and Westray and at Findhorn Ecovillage. The Argyll Array, an offshore wind farm development has been proposed around Skerryvore.[16]
Tiree is popular for windsurfing. The island hosts the Tiree Wave Classic on a regular basis[17] and was the venue for the Corona Extra PWA World Cup Finals in 2007.[18] It is visited regularly by surfing clubs, including Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Glasgow university clubs.[19]
There is a radar station which tracks civil aircraft.
Culture and media [edit]
The island is known for its vernacular architecture, including 'blackhouses' and 'white houses', many retaining their traditional thatched roofs, as well as its unique 'pudding' or 'spotted houses' where only the mortar is painted white.
Tiree has a declining but still considerable percentage of Gaelic speakers.[20] The figure of 48.6% from the 2001 Census is high for the Inner Hebrides.
Since 2010, the island has hosted the annual Tiree Music Festival, held in the car park of the island hall 'An Talla'.[21] In 2012, when Tiree appeared in the BBC Programme Coast for a second time the actions of RAF weather forecasters, flying hazardous missions far out into the storms of the Atlantic during World War II, were discussed.
See also [edit]
References [edit]
- General references
- Banks, Noel, (1977) Six Inner Hebrides. Newton Abbott: David & Charles. ISBN 0-7153-7368-4
- Notes
- ^ English translation from Lowland Scots: "a low-lying fertile fruitful country... Its entirety is inhabited and manured and there are two parish churches and a freshwater lake with an old castle. Nowhere is more fertile for corn and it is good for wild fowl and fish, with a good harbour for Highland galleys."[7]
- Citations
- ^ 2001 UK Census per List of islands of Scotland
- ^ Haswell-Smith, Hamish. (2004) The Scottish Islands. Edinburgh. Canongate.
- ^ Ordnance Survey
- ^ Anderson, Joseph (Ed.) (1893) Orkneyinga Saga. Translated by Jón A. Hjaltalin & Gilbert Goudie. Edinburgh. James Thin and Mercat Press (1990 reprint). ISBN 0-901824-25-9
- ^ Mayes, Julian; Wheeler (1997). "The Highlands and Islands of Scotland". Regional Climates of the British Isles. Dennis (Perback ed.). Routledge. p. 247. ISBN 0-415-13931-7. Retrieved 14 September 2009.
- ^ Harvie-Brown, J.A. and Buckley, T. E. (1892), A Vertebrate Fauna of Argyll and the Inner Hebrides. Pub. David Douglas., Edinburgh. Facing P. LXIV.
- ^ Munro, D. (1818) Description of the Western Isles of Scotland called Hybrides, by Mr. Donald Munro, High Dean of the Isles, who travelled through most of them in the year 1549. Miscellanea Scotica, 2. Quoted in Banks (1977) p. 190
- ^ "RAF Tiree airfield". Control Towers. Retrieved 26 July 2012.
- ^ "Summer Timetables: Coll and Tiree". CalMac. Retrieved 15 April 2012.
- ^ "Online Timetable: Tiree". Flybe. Retrieved 15 April 2012.
- ^ "Summer Timetable 2012". Hebridean Air Services. Retrieved 15 April 2012.
- ^ "2010 temperature". UKMO.
- ^ "Tiree 1981–2010 averages". UKMO. Retrieved September 13, 2012.
- ^ "Extremes for Tiree". KNMI.
- ^ "Tiree renewable energy". Tiree Renewable Energy. Retrieved 22 August 2010.
- ^ "Argyll Array Windfarm". ScottishPower Renewables. Retrieved 15 April 2012.
- ^ "The GMFCo Tiree Wave Classic". tireewaveclassic.com. Retrieved 28 August 2009.
- ^ "The Professional Windsurfing Association World Cup 2007" STV. Retrieved 28 August 2009.
- ^ "Tiree - the outermost Inner-Hebride". Edinburgh University Windsurfing and Surfing Club. Retrieved 15 April 2012.
- ^ Kurt C. Duwe (September 2006), "Muile, Tiriodh & Colla (Mull, Tiree & Coll)" (PDF), Gàidhlig (Scottish Gaelic) Local Studies (2nd ed.) (Linguae Celticae) 20, retrieved 15 April 2012
- ^ "A thousand music fans flock to Tiree". Oban Times.[dead link]
Coordinates: 56°31′N 6°49′W / 56.517°N 6.817°W
External links [edit]
- Community Website - The Tiree Community Website
- Summit of Tiree - a computer-generated panorama
- Gordon Scott's website keeps people up to date with Tiree events
- Tiree Images - large collection of photographs
- Vaul Golf Club - Golf on Isle of Tiree
- Tiree Baptist Church - Tiree Baptist Church
- Tiree Wave Classic - The Tiree Wave Classic
- An Tirisdeach - The Island's local paper
- Tiree Music Festival - The Island's Annual Music Festival
No Tiree Array
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
