Insh Island
| Scottish Gaelic name | Innis |
|---|---|
| Meaning of name | island |
 | |
| Location | |
  Insh Island Insh Island shown within Argyll and Bute | |
| OS grid reference | NM729192 |
| Coordinates | 56°18′40″N 5°40′21″W / 56.311109°N 5.672493°W |
| Physical geography | |
| Island group | Slate Islands |
| Area | 33 ha (82 acres)[1] |
| Highest elevation | 69 m (226 ft) |
| Administration | |
| Council area | Argyll and Bute |
| Country | Scotland |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Demographics | |
| Population | 0 |
 | |
| References | [2][3] |
Insh Island (Scottish Gaelic: An Innis) or simply Insh is an uninhabited island west of the island of Seil in the Firth of Lorn, Scotland.
One of the Slate Islands, Insh Island lies a mile (1.5 km) northeast of Ellenabeich in Seil. It is separated from it by the Sound of Insh. The island rises to 69 metres (226 feet) and is 36 hectares (89 acres) in area. The private owner, David Brearley lived in a cave at the north end between 1973 and 2003.[2] It was "Eilean nan Caorach" on the 1875 OS maps, which was though to have been an error, with its correct name being "Inis-Capul".[4] It is now on OS maps as "Insh Island".[5] Insh was previously known as Sheep Island.[6][2]
The name is tautologous. The Gaelic An Innis means simply "The Island" and the derived English language name thus means "The Island Island."[7]
The 49.3 m (162 ft) long wooden sailing ship Norval ran aground in fog near the southern tip of Insh on 20 September 1870. The wreckage was still visible in 1995.[6]
The Northern sea fan (Swiftia pallida) is found in the waters off Insh Island.[8]
The island is "reputed to be owned by a Londoner who ocasionaly occupies the cave"[2] found in the northwest overlooking Seil.[3]
Footnotes
- ^ Rick Livingstone’s Tables of the Islands of Scotland (pdf) Argyll Yacht Charters. Retrieved 12 Dec 2011.
- ^ a b c d Haswell-Smith (2004) p. 78
- ^ a b Ordnance Survey. OS Maps Online (Map). 1:25,000. Leisure.
- ^ "Insh Island". Gazetteer for Scotland. Retrieved 14 November 2009.
- ^ "Insh Island". Ordnance Survey. Retrieved 20 November 2018.
- ^ a b Baird (1995), p. 117.
- ^ Mac an Tàilleir (2003) p. 65
- ^ "The Insh Island Sea Fans" (PDF). Northern Sea Fan Project. Retrieved 13 November 2009.
Bibliography
- Baird, Bob (1995), Shipwrecks of the West of Scotland, Glasgow: Nekton Books, ISBN 1897995024
- Haswell-Smith, Hamish (2004). The Scottish Islands. Edinburgh: Canongate. ISBN 978-1-84195-454-7.
- Mac an Tàilleir, Iain (2003) Ainmean-àite/Placenames. (pdf) Pàrlamaid na h-Alba. Retrieved 26 August 2012.
