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Eigg - An Island Landscape: The Story of Eigg and its People
58 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1987
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 9, 2018
Visiting Eigg is like taking a trip back in time. It is a tiny island off the West coast of Scotland, so tiny that most visitors only stay a few hours, returning the same day by ferry. I walked the entire length of the island before the ferry came back to collect me (and my dog wanted to stay for good!) This book proudly starts,
"The journey to the isle of Eigg either by road or rail via Fort William to Mallaig, is through some of the most beautiful scenery in Scotland"
and this is true. The crossing itself then takes an hour and a half. As you approach the island by ferry, its distinctive outline is visible for much of the journey. A basalt plateau slopes towards the sea at the south and east, but it is the West which takes the eye. There are the
"majestic columnar rocks of An Sgurr, rising 400 metres above sea level and jutting up above the plateau surface like the funnel of some giant ocean liner."
The cover shows a photograph of these steep forbidding cliffs at one end of the island; they are a haven for bird life, and the cries of the kittiwakes and guillemots can be heard from a long distance away.
But this large format book is not a tourist guide. And Eigg is definitely not a touristy island, being very difficult to get to, and with few amenities. It has to be said that the island has a neglected air about it,
"Disused cars and machinery are left about for the brambles to climb over. Bracken is encroaching fast on the abandoned upper fields. Walls are broken and barbed wire slack and ineffective."
The author sadly asserts that this feeling of neglect and abandonment is something that visitors find hard to accept, and she is correct. I have rarely felt so conflicted as on my visit to Eigg. I found the description above accurate, and also disliked the sight of empty bottles of booze tossed anywhere and everywhere. But the views! The landscape as described by Macdonald in 1811, is "yielding scenes unparalleled in Britain". From the heights of An Sgurr one can see the mountains of the mainland and Skye, another small island, Muck, to the South West, and on a clear day one can even detect the small black humps of the Outer Hebrides, and below, "a fairytale landscape of mountains and lochs." I loved the isolation, and the power of a landscape which has not been dominated by humans. Mostly there are crofts dotted around, there is a prehistoric fort, one shop, a phone box ... it is the magnificent location, the wildlife, archaeological remains and remoteness which attracts people. And those few people living there have a very different way of life from the mainland.
"Music has always played a very large part in island life, partly perhaps inspired by the ever present sound of the wind and the waves, but only on Eigg is there a knoll, Cnoc-na-Piobaireachd (near Grulin) where new tunes could be learnt on a beautiful moonlit night by putting an ear to the ground and just listening."
The striking monochrome photographs in this book are by Stephen Sankey, the RSPB's regional officer for south and west Scotland. They convey the island's stark beauty very well. There are archaeological maps, and detailed drawings of artefacts which have been found. There are photographs of the landscape, a few people playing music, a few animals such as cattle and sheep, a border collie, "Meg", structures and farming implements, both from a time gone by and contemporary, (although they don't really differ very much). A shot of kelp scattered around on a beach, distributed by a storm, a bay with one small croft, a mill, a sheep fank (enclosure), a school house, a horse and cart from the mainland, even an abandoned car, disused machinery, deserted crofts... There are few trees on Eigg - it is too isolated and windswept - but there is a beech hedge. And the weather is a force to be reckoned with; there are snowcapped mountains, but also frequently lowering skies.
The narrative covers the island's history, starting from prehistoric times, with chapters headed, "The Arrival of the Saints", "From Anarchy to Order", "The End of the Clanranalds", "A Century of Change" and ending with the present, "The Crofting Community". Each chapter has detailed surveys and factual information such as the island's population at various times, how they were employed, how they worshipped, details of names and dates.
A piece of social history then, anthropo-geography, enclosed in an attractively set out book. It was the photographs which attracted me. It is a large format book which could be an Art book if there were but a few more of these high quality photographs. But perhaps, excellent though it is as a record, it is of limited interest. Perhaps I will be content to remember walking along the "singing sands", composed of grey granite, which seemed to make a rustling sound under my feet.
"The journey to the isle of Eigg either by road or rail via Fort William to Mallaig, is through some of the most beautiful scenery in Scotland"
and this is true. The crossing itself then takes an hour and a half. As you approach the island by ferry, its distinctive outline is visible for much of the journey. A basalt plateau slopes towards the sea at the south and east, but it is the West which takes the eye. There are the
"majestic columnar rocks of An Sgurr, rising 400 metres above sea level and jutting up above the plateau surface like the funnel of some giant ocean liner."
The cover shows a photograph of these steep forbidding cliffs at one end of the island; they are a haven for bird life, and the cries of the kittiwakes and guillemots can be heard from a long distance away.
But this large format book is not a tourist guide. And Eigg is definitely not a touristy island, being very difficult to get to, and with few amenities. It has to be said that the island has a neglected air about it,
"Disused cars and machinery are left about for the brambles to climb over. Bracken is encroaching fast on the abandoned upper fields. Walls are broken and barbed wire slack and ineffective."
The author sadly asserts that this feeling of neglect and abandonment is something that visitors find hard to accept, and she is correct. I have rarely felt so conflicted as on my visit to Eigg. I found the description above accurate, and also disliked the sight of empty bottles of booze tossed anywhere and everywhere. But the views! The landscape as described by Macdonald in 1811, is "yielding scenes unparalleled in Britain". From the heights of An Sgurr one can see the mountains of the mainland and Skye, another small island, Muck, to the South West, and on a clear day one can even detect the small black humps of the Outer Hebrides, and below, "a fairytale landscape of mountains and lochs." I loved the isolation, and the power of a landscape which has not been dominated by humans. Mostly there are crofts dotted around, there is a prehistoric fort, one shop, a phone box ... it is the magnificent location, the wildlife, archaeological remains and remoteness which attracts people. And those few people living there have a very different way of life from the mainland.
"Music has always played a very large part in island life, partly perhaps inspired by the ever present sound of the wind and the waves, but only on Eigg is there a knoll, Cnoc-na-Piobaireachd (near Grulin) where new tunes could be learnt on a beautiful moonlit night by putting an ear to the ground and just listening."
The striking monochrome photographs in this book are by Stephen Sankey, the RSPB's regional officer for south and west Scotland. They convey the island's stark beauty very well. There are archaeological maps, and detailed drawings of artefacts which have been found. There are photographs of the landscape, a few people playing music, a few animals such as cattle and sheep, a border collie, "Meg", structures and farming implements, both from a time gone by and contemporary, (although they don't really differ very much). A shot of kelp scattered around on a beach, distributed by a storm, a bay with one small croft, a mill, a sheep fank (enclosure), a school house, a horse and cart from the mainland, even an abandoned car, disused machinery, deserted crofts... There are few trees on Eigg - it is too isolated and windswept - but there is a beech hedge. And the weather is a force to be reckoned with; there are snowcapped mountains, but also frequently lowering skies.
The narrative covers the island's history, starting from prehistoric times, with chapters headed, "The Arrival of the Saints", "From Anarchy to Order", "The End of the Clanranalds", "A Century of Change" and ending with the present, "The Crofting Community". Each chapter has detailed surveys and factual information such as the island's population at various times, how they were employed, how they worshipped, details of names and dates.
A piece of social history then, anthropo-geography, enclosed in an attractively set out book. It was the photographs which attracted me. It is a large format book which could be an Art book if there were but a few more of these high quality photographs. But perhaps, excellent though it is as a record, it is of limited interest. Perhaps I will be content to remember walking along the "singing sands", composed of grey granite, which seemed to make a rustling sound under my feet.
August 7, 2017
Excellent short overview of the archaeology and history of the island, with added bonus of stunning photographs.
February 19, 2011
I am an avid fan of Eigg, but please when you read this book, bear in mind its date of publication. Should you go there on the strength of Ms Wade Martins' book, you're in for a shock. Things have changed DRAMATICALLY in the island since 1987.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews