Sanday, Inner Hebrides
| Scottish Gaelic name | Sandaigh |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| OS grid reference | NG282043 |
| Physical geography | |
| Island group | Small Isles |
| Area | 184 ha (0.71 sq mi) |
| Area rank | 115 [1] |
| Highest elevation | 59 m (194 ft) |
| Administration | |
| Council area | Highland |
| Country | Scotland |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Demographics | |
| Population | 6 |
| Population rank | 78= [1] |
 | |
| References | [2][3] |
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.
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.[4] 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 This bridge was destroyed by storms in 2005, and has been replaced by a road bridge which was completed in April 2006.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.[5]
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 [6], 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.
References
- ^ 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.
- ^ Haswell-Smith, Hamish (2004). The Scottish Islands. Edinburgh: Canongate. ISBN 978-1-84195-454-7.
- ^ Ordnance Survey
- ^ Patterson, A (2000). "Seabird Enhancement Programme on the Islands of Canna and Sanday". Case Studies -- Species Regeneration. National Trust for Scotland. Retrieved 2006-06-10.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|month=ignored (help) - ^ "Tertiary Igneous (TER-IGN)". Geological Conservation Review GCR Database. Joint Nature Conservation Committee. Retrieved 2006-06-10.
- ^ http://www.hebrideantrust.org/
57°3′0″N 6°28′54″W / 57.05000°N 6.48167°W
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