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Canna, Scotland

Coordinates: 57°03′28″N 6°32′44″W / 57.05790°N 6.54564°W / 57.05790; -6.54564
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Not to be confused with Càrna.

Canna
Scottish Gaelic nameCanaigh, Eilean Chanaigh
Pronunciation[kʰanaj] ⓘ,
[ˈelan ˈxanaj] ⓘ
Old Norse namePossibly Kne-oy
Meaning of nameIrish for 'wolf whelp island' or Scottish Gaelic for 'porpoise island'. Possibly Norse for 'knee-shaped island'
Location
Canna is located in Lochaber
Canna
Canna
Canna shown within Lochaber
OS grid referenceNG244058
Coordinates57°03′28″N 6°32′44″W / 57.05790°N 6.54564°W / 57.05790; -6.54564
Physical geography
Island groupSmall Isles
Area1,130 hectares (4.4 sq mi)
Area rank46 [1]
Highest elevationCàrn a' Ghaill 210 metres (689 ft)
Administration
Council areaHighland
CountryScotland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Demographics
Population21[2] (including Canna and Sanday)
Population rank67 [1]
Population density1 person/km2[2][3]
Lymphad
References[3][4]
Canna Lighthouse
Sanday
Isle of Canna Small automatic lighthouse on the eastern tip of Sanday
Map
LocationIsle of Sanday
Highland
Scotland
United Kingdom
Coordinates57°02′49″N 6°27′57″W / 57.047076°N 6.465876°W / 57.047076; -6.465876
Constructed1907
Constructionmetal tower
Height9 metres (30 ft)
Shapecylindrical tower with balcony and lantern
Markingswhite tower and lantern
OperatorNorthern Lighthouse Board[5]
Light
Focal height32 metres (105 ft)
Light sourcesolar power
CharacteristicFl W 6s.

Canna (Scottish Gaelic: Canaigh; Eilean Chanaigh) is the westernmost of the Small Isles archipelago, in the Scottish Inner Hebrides. It is linked to the neighbouring island of Sanday by a road and sandbanks at low tide. The island is 4.3 miles (6.9 km) long and 1 mile (1.6 km) wide. The isolated skerries of Hyskeir and Humla lie 6.2 miles (10.0 km) south west of the island.[3]

The islands were left to the National Trust for Scotland (NTS) by their previous owner, the Gaelic folklorist and scholar John Lorne Campbell in 1981, and are run as a farm and conservation area. Canna House, one of two big houses on the island (the other being Tighard), contains John Campbell's important archives of Gaelic materials that were donated with the islands to the nation.[3] Since then the NTS has engaged in new initiatives to attract new residents and visitors to the island.

Facilities

There are some 20 buildings on Canna and Sanday, including three churches, one of which has been deconsecrated (see below). There is also a post office which was converted from a garden shed. The Canna tea room, which closed in 2008, reopened in 2010 as the Gille Brighde Cafe and Restaurant. This restaurant closed in 2013[6] but has since re-opened again as Cafe Canna. [7] A new resident manager for the island was appointed in 2010. [8] The island is isolated and in the past inhabitants have had to buy all their provisions from the mainland, but it now has a small unstaffed shop operated on an 'honesty' basis. [9] There is a telephone link, a red telephone box and broadband internet access, although there is no mobile phone coverage. Electricity is provided by a diesel generator, at mainland voltage and frequency, and there is a private water supply.[10][11] In 2010 a proposal to establish a fish farm off Canna was defeated in a residents' ballot, even though it would have created a number of new jobs.[12]

The island has a very low crime rate, but a mainland-based policeman visits the island twice a year, mainly to inspect gun licences. A doctor based on the neighbouring island of Skye is available for house calls once a month. The roads on Canna are not metalled and are privately owned; local vehicles therefore do not require road tax. The previous footbridge to Sanday was destroyed by storms during 2005, and has recently been replaced by a road bridge. This allows vehicular access at all tide levels for the first time, although the road on Sanday is still covered by high tides.[10][11] However, in 2017 an appeal was been launched to raise funds for the reconstruction of the road on Sanday so that it is also available at high tide. [13]

Wildlife

Canna is renowned for its wildlife, including sea eagles, golden eagles and puffins. Recently, peregrine falcons and merlins have been sighted also. The island is also inhabited by a number of rare butterfly species. In the nearby waters one can spot dolphins and smaller whales.

Canna is noted for its tiers of basalt pillars that rise over the eastern half of the island and the sea cliffs that dominate its northern shore. The highest point on the island is Càrn a' Ghaill (Gaelic for rocky hill of the storm) at 689 feet (210 m). Another point of interest is Compass Hill. Its peak is at 456 feet (139 m) and sits on the eastern edge of the island. It is made of a volcanic rock called tuff, and it has such a high iron content that the compass of nearby ships are distorted, pointing to the hill rather than north.[3]

History

Ruins of An Coroghon "castle" on top of a stack at the east end of Canna

Prehistory

An Coroghon is a possible dun site on an isolated stack at the east end of the island. A medieval prison tower was built on the site which was described by Thomas Pennant in 1772 as "a lofty slender rock, that juts into the sea: on one side is a little tower, at a vast height above us, accessible by a narrow and horrible path: it seems so small as scarce to be able to contain half a dozen people. Tradition says, that it was built by some jealous regulus, to confine a handsome wife in".[14] There are the remains of a lintelled entrance in a mortared wall.[3][15]

Early Christian period

Canna is known to have belonged to the monastery of Iona in 1203 and it is likely that it did so from a much earlier period, possibly the 7th century.[16] The island is a possible site for the Columban monastic retreat of Hinba.[17] However, Adomnán the chronicler of the life of Columba, notes that Brendan the Navigator set sail from Ireland to visit Columba and unexpectedly found him en route at Hinba. Canna is a most unlikely landfall on such a journey as it is well to the north of and thus beyond Iona.[18] There are two carved stone crosses on the island, one of which is 10th century of a unique design and which may have a significant Viking influence and ten cross marked slabs.[16] Sgorr nam Ban-naomha on the south coast has the remains of an early Christian cashel. The site has the remains of an enclosing wall and could only have been conveniently supplied by sea. The Gaelic name translates as "grassy slope of the holy women" and in the 19th century local people believed that it had a healing spring and that nuns had lived there at one time.[19] Three carved stones, bearing crosses, were found in the enclosure in 1994.[20] In 2012 the National Trust for Scotland announced that the first cursing stone to be found in the Scotland, dated to circa 800, had been discovered on Canna.[21]

Uaigh Rìgh Lochlainn

Viking rule

The Norse and their Norse-Gael allies ruled the Hebrides from the 9th century until the 1266 Treaty of Perth,[3] at which time Canna was part of the Sudreyar. Written records are few, but the Viking occupation of Canna is evident from place names such as the element sgor, gearaid (enclosure), tota (homestead) and Sanday ("sand island"), although the name "Canna" may pre-date the Norse period.[22][23] There is a burial site from this period known as Uaigh Righ Lochlainn ("The grave of the King of Norway") at Rubha Langan-innis on the north coast. This is a narrow rectangular structure approximately 11 yards (10 m) long by 2.2 yards (2.0 m) wide on a grassy promontory below the cliffs.[3][24][25]

Medieval Scotland

Blaeu's 1654 Atlas of Scotland – The Small Isles

References to Canna are absent from documents relating to Clan Macruari holdings in the Small Isles in the 13th and 14th centuries, suggesting the island was still under ecclesiastical control. In 1428 the Abbot of Iona wrote to the Pope requesting immunity for the island's inhabitants on pain of excommunication for those who violated this status, claiming that:

"by reason of wars and other calamities in the past divers homicides, depredations and other ills were perpetrated so that some strong men of the familiars of the Abbot and convent were slain by pirates and sea rovers and divers farmers and inhabitants of the island were afraid to reside there".[26]

It is unlikely that Canna ever formed part of the territories of the MacDonald Lordship of the Isles, which title became forfeit in 1493, as Monro reported of "Kannay" in 1549 that the island was a: "faire maine land, foure myle lange, inhabit and manurit, with paroche kirke in it, guid for corne, fishing and grassing, with a falcon nest in it, pertines to the Abbot of Colmkill",[27] although it "burned with fire" as part of the feud between Clanranald and Maclean of Duart in the late 16th century.[28]

In the aftermath of the Jacobite Rising of 1745 a Royal Navy vessel arrived on 3 April 1746. The crew demanded 20 cows, which were duly provided by the islanders. However, the ship was becalmed for four days and the sailors complained of the smell of the cattle they had slaughtered and demanded 20 more. The "Bailie" of the island complained that this was unjust.

Upon which the officer.... gathers all the cattle of the island.... shot 60 of the best dead, threw the old beef overboard and would not allow the poor distressed owners to finger a gobbet of it, no, not a single tripe.[29]

On 18 April "King George's men" went "hunting the Canna women" who had to hide from them in isolated caves and under cliffs. One pregnant woman died after being chased by 12 of them.[29]

The lands belonging to Iona were transferred into private ownership during the Reformation[30] and Macdonald of Clanranald sold the island after the failure of the kelp boom to Donald MacNeil in 1827.[3]

Modern times

A' Chill, situated to the north west of Canna Harbour was the main settlement until 1851 when the island was cleared. It was then under the ownership of Donald MacNeil's son Donald, who was a minor at the time. The post-clearance population is recorded as 57 in 1881 (with a further 62 on Sanday), in which year MacNeil sold to Robert Thom, a ship owner from Glasgow. His more enlightened stewardship continued until 1938 when his family sought a sympathetic purchaser and sold to John Lorne Campbell. Campbell lived there until his death in 1996, gifting the island to the NTS in 1981.[3] His widow, the American musician Margaret Fay Shaw, remained at Canna House until her death in 2004 at the age of 101.[31]

Stamps

A single local stamp was issued for Canna in 1958 by then-laird John Lorne Campbell. The stamp shows Compass Hill and two Manx shearwaters, a seabird found in profusion on the island. Their use is optional and all proceeds from the sale – at the island farm and post office — go to the Shipwrecked Mariners Society.[32]

There are populations records going back to the 16th century, the earliest of which combine Canna and Sanday.[33] Following the clearances, population numbers remained fairly stable at around 20 to 30 during the second half of the 20th century, but by the time of the 2001 census had dwindled to 6 (12 including Sanday).[3] Since then new residents have settled on the island, bringing the 2009 population of Canna and Sanday to around 20 (see below).

Year c. 1595 1728 1750 1755 1764 1768 1772 1794 1807 1821 1831 1841 1851 1861 1881 1891 1931 1961 1981 1991 2001 2011 2014
Canna population 57 40 40 24 11 20 6 12 11
Sanday population 62 62 20 0 7 0 6 9 7
Total population 84-100[34] c.253[35] 210 231 253 233 220 304 300 436 264 255 238 127 119 102 60 24 18 20 12 21 18

In 2015 it was reported that the population of Canna and Sanday had fallen to 19.[36]

Transport

Lochnevis calls at Canna

A large natural harbour is formed between Canna and Sanday. The pier on Canna and those of the other Small Isles, was rebuilt and enlarged in 2005. This is used by the Caledonian MacBrayne ferry, MV Lochnevis, which links Canna, and the neighbouring Small Isles of Rùm, Eigg and Muck, to the mainland port of Mallaig (2½ hours away). Lochnevis is capable of carrying motor vehicles, although NTS permission is required to land them. The harbour is sheltered. It is the only deep harbour in the Small Isles, and is very popular with west coast yachting traffic out of Oban and Arisaig.[3][37]

Recent developments

Invasive species

Rat problem

In September 2005, it was reported that the population of brown rats on the island had grown to 10,000 and was causing such problems to both the human population and the birdlife, particularly the rare Manx shearwaters, that a complete cull would take place. Because the mice on the island are believed to be a rare and distinct subspecies of woodmouse,[38][39] a breeding population of mice was removed beforehand by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) so that the cull could use rodenticide. By the end of 2006 it was believed that Canna was rat-free and during that summer there was also an encouraging increase in the number of breeding puffins and razorbills; Manx shearwaters were nesting for the first time since 1997.[40]

Rabbit overpopulation

Within four years of the eradication of rats, a rabbit overpopulation problem was reported.[38] The pests caused damage to archaeological monuments, such as an Iron Age mound and stone remains from the Clearances, as well as the islanders' vegetable gardens.[38][41] The island's only restaurant started serving rabbit meat in pies and with cranberry and pistachio.[38] By 2013 rabbit numbers were estimated to have risen to 16,000[41] and the following year a team of six men engaged in a three-month cull of them, using traps, dogs, ferrets and guns to kill 9,000 rabbits.[42]

Call for families for Canna

In October 2006 the NTS[43][44][45] decided to invite two families to rent properties on the island, in an effort to attract new skills and spirit to the island community. The invitation was mainly aimed at people with "skills in building, plumbing and gardening". The call was global[46][47] and over 400 responses were received, from places as varied as Germany, Sweden, India and Dubai. From these, Sheila Gunn and John Clare were chosen to move to Canna during summer 2007.[48] They were joined in early 2008 by two more incomers, Neil and Deborah Baker, from Llannon, in the Gwendraeth Valley in South Wales. Neil is a gardener, and his job was to restore the fine but overgrown gardens of Canna House.[49] Since then, a further cottage was restored and was expected to be occupied by newcomers in 2011. However, in June 2011 it was announced that 12 people were planning to leave the island: Clare and Gunn, the Bakers and their two children, and schoolteacher Eilidh Soe-Paing, her husband and four children. The school would close, temporarily at least, as there would no longer be any school-age children on the island.[50]

Gaelic Study Centre

The church, which is also owned by the National Trust for Scotland, was restored and converted into a hostel and study centre by the Hebridean Trust. This project was undertaken at the invitation of the owners. The centre is linked to the archive of Gaelic language and culture that was created by the former owner of Canna and Sanday, the late John Lorne Campbell. It was successfully completed and opened in 2001 by Princess Anne. Subsequently, there was water ingress, which caused damage to the interior. This challenge is in the hands of the National Trust for Scotland.

Crime

The island enjoys a near zero crime rate,[51][52] with only a handful of crimes recorded in the last several decades.

  • Panorama taken from Compass Hill on Canna, overlooking Canna Bay and Sanday towards Rùm.
    Panorama taken from Compass Hill on Canna, overlooking Canna Bay and Sanday towards Rùm.
  • View from ferry approaching Canna Island
    View from ferry approaching Canna Island
  • Extreme east of Canna Island with Compass Hill. In the left the stack Dùn Mòr.
    Extreme east of Canna Island with Compass Hill. In the left the stack Dùn Mòr.
  • Looking north over Garrisdale point, western cliffs of Canna Island
    Looking north over Garrisdale point, western cliffs of Canna Island
  • Neolithic souterrain Canna Island
    Neolithic souterrain Canna Island
  • Canna House
    Canna House

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b Area and population ranks: there are c. 300 islands over 20 ha in extent and 93 permanently inhabited islands were listed in the 2011 census.
  2. ^ a b National Records of Scotland (15 August 2013). "Appendix 2: Population and households on Scotland's Inhabited Islands" (PDF). Statistical Bulletin: 2011 Census: First Results on Population and Household Estimates for Scotland Release 1C (Part Two) (PDF) (Report). SG/2013/126. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Haswell-Smith (2004) pp. 143-46
  4. ^ Ordnance Survey. OS Maps Online (Map). 1:25,000. Leisure.
  5. ^ Canna (Sanday) The Lighthouse Directory. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Retrieved 22 May 2016
  6. ^ http://www.cannarestaurant.com/
  7. ^ http://www.cafecanna.co.uk/
  8. ^ "Canna gets its own live-in manager". BBC News. 23 August 2010.
  9. ^ https://www.theisleofcanna.com/canna-community-shop-and-moorings
  10. ^ a b "The Internet Guide to Scotland: Canna" scotland-inverness.co.uk. Retrieved 18 July 2008.
  11. ^ a b "Westword" road-to-the-isles.org.uk. Retrieved 18 July 2008.
  12. ^ http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/transport-environment/environment-before-jobs-as-islanders-say-no-to-fish-farm-1.1075248,
  13. ^ https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/highlands/1304663/donations-to-build-first-road-on-small-isle-gathering-speed/
  14. ^ Rixson (2001) p. 5
  15. ^ "Canna, Coroghan Castle". RCAHMS. Retrieved 27 Feb 2011.
  16. ^ a b Rixson (2001) pp. 29-31
  17. ^ "Ernan" Catholic Encyclopedia. Retrieved 9 December 2007.
  18. ^ Adomnan of Iona, (tr. & ed. Richard Sharpe) (1995) Life of St Columba. Penguin ISBN 0-14-044462-9
  19. ^ Rixson (2001) pp. 31-34
  20. ^ "Canna, Sgor Nam Ban-Naomha". RCAHMS. Retrieved 27 Feb 2011.
  21. ^ "'Cursing stone' found on Isle of Canna". BBC News. 19 May 2012. Retrieved 20 May 2012.
  22. ^ Rixson (2001) pp. 66-69
  23. ^ Mac an Tàilleir (2003) p. 103
  24. ^ Banks (1977) p. 46. calls it a "ship-burial".
  25. ^ "Canna, Rubha Langanes". scotlandsplaces.gov.uk. Retrieved 27 Feb 2011.
  26. ^ Rixson (2001) p. 94 quoting the Scottish History Society (1956) Calendar of Scottish Supplications to Rome.
  27. ^ Monro (1549) no. 103
  28. ^ Rixson (2001) p. 118
  29. ^ a b Banks (1977) pp. 63-64
  30. ^ Rixson (2001) p. 119
  31. ^ Road to the Isles. "Canna". Archived from the original on 5 May 2007. Retrieved 20 April 2007. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  32. ^ "Modern British Local Posts CD Catalogue" (2009 ed.). Phillips. 2003. Archived from the original on 5 September 2008. Retrieved 8 December 2008. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  33. ^ Haswell-Smith (2004) p. 143 for all individual Canna and Sanday records. Rixon (2001) p. 170 for earlier combined figures.
  34. ^ Rixson's estimate is based on a figure of 20 "fighting men"
  35. ^ Rixson's estimate is based on a figure of 236 over the age of 5.
  36. ^ "Floortje naar het einde van de wereld (Flora visiting desolate places)". tvbllik. tvblik. Retrieved 20 January 2015.
  37. ^ "Small Isles ferry timetable" Caledonian MacBrayne. Retrieved 24 September 2007.
  38. ^ a b c d "Island which spent £600,000 getting rid of rats over-run with rabbits". Daily Telegraph. 27 April 2010. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
  39. ^ E. Bell; D. Boyle; K. Floyd; P. Garner-Richards; B. Swann; R. Luxmoore; A. Patterson; R. Thomas (2011). C. R. Veitch; M. N. Clout; D. R. Towns (eds.). The ground-based eradication of Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) from the Isle of Canna, Inner Hebrides, Scotland (PDF). International Conference on Island Invasives (PDF). The International Union for Conservation of Nature and The Centre for Biodiversity and Biosecurity, University of Auckland. pp. 269–274. ISBN 978-2-8317-1291-8. Retrieved 16 June 2015. {{cite conference}}: Unknown parameter |last-author-amp= ignored (|name-list-style= suggested) (help)
  40. ^ National Trust for Scotland. "Seabird Recovery Programme". Archived from the original on 1 January 2007. Retrieved 20 April 2007. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  41. ^ a b "Thousands of rabbits on Isle of Canna to be culled". BBC News. 21 October 2013. Retrieved 16 June 2015.
  42. ^ Cramb, Auslan (26 November 2014). "Nine thousand rabbits culled on tiny Hebridean island and sold to France". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 16 June 2015.
  43. ^ McKenzie, Steven (13 October 2006). "Canna come and live on your isle?". BBC News. Retrieved 20 April 2007.
  44. ^ Carrell, Severin (6 November 2006). "Wanted: classmates for islander Caroline at Britain's tiniest school". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 20 April 2007.
  45. ^ "The 15 residents of Canna". London: Daily Telegraph. 4 October 2006. Retrieved 20 April 2007.
  46. ^ "Families wanted for tiny island". BBC. 9 October 2006. Retrieved 20 April 2007.
  47. ^ Munday, Sean (18 October 2006). "Isolated island's SOS for migrants a huge hit". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on 26 October 2006. Retrieved 18 October 2006.
  48. ^ "Joining the island race" (29 March 2007) The Guardian. Retrieved 27 September 2007.
  49. ^ Carrell, Severin (13 October 2007). "Away from it all family prepare for new life on wind-battered isle". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 28 April 2010.
  50. ^ Carrell, Severin (22 June 2011). "Crisis on Canna as Hebridean island's population falls to 11". The Guardian. London.
  51. ^ Brooks, Libby (16 June 2015). "Hebridean island of Canna shocked by first crime in years". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 June 2015.
  52. ^ Jamie Merrill (16 June 2015). "Tiny Scottish island hit by first crime in decades". The Independent. Retrieved 16 June 2015.

References

  • Perman, Ray (2010) "The Man Who Gave Away His Island." Edinburgh: Birlinn.
  • Rixson, Dennis (2001) The Small Isles: Canna, Rum, Eigg and Muck. Edinburgh: Birlinn. ISBN 1-84158-154-2
  • Shaw, Margaret Fay (1999) From the Alleghenies to the Hebrides Edinburgh: Canongate.
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Canna.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Canna (Scotland).

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