Eigg

Eigg is one of the Small Isles, in the Scottish Inner Hebrides. It lies to the south of the isle of Skye, and to the north of the Ardnamurchan peninsula. Eigg is 9 kilometres long from north to south, and five kilometres east to west.

History

Bronze age and iron age inhabitants have left their mark on Eigg. The monastery at Kildonan was founded by an Irish missionary, St. Donnan. He and his monks were massacred in 617 by the local Pictish Queen. In medieval times the island was held by Ranald MacDonald. A lengthy feud with the MacLeods led to the massacre of the entire island's population. They had taken refuge in a cave on the south coast, and they were suffocated by a fire lit at the entrance.

Related Topics:
St. Donnan - 617 - Pictish - Ranald MacDonald - MacLeods

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By the nineteenth century, the island had a population of 500, producing potatoes, oats, cattle and kelp. When sheep farming became more profitable than any alternative, land was cleared by compulsory emigration - in 1853 the whole of the village of Gruilin, fourteen families, was forced to leave.

Related Topics:
Cleared - 1853

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