View source for Vatersay

{{Short description|Island in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2013}}
{{Infobox Scottish island | 
|Image=Vatersay, Bagh Siar.jpg
|ImageCaption=Bàgh Siar (West Bay)
|coordinates = {{coord|56.93|-7.53|region:GB|display=inline, title}}
|location_map=Scotland Outer Hebrides
|caption=Vatersay shown within the Outer Hebrides
|GridReference=NL635955
|celtic name=Bhatarsaigh
|gaelic pronunciation={{IPA|gd|ˈvaʰt̪əɾs̪aj||Bhatarsaigh.ogg}}
|norse name=
|meaning of name=''Water island''
|area= {{cvt|960|ha|sqmi|frac=8}}
|area rank= 51
|highest elevation=Heiseabhal Mòr, {{cvt|190|m|ft|0}}
|Population=83<ref name=RESAS>{{RESAS}}</ref>
|population density ={{cvt|8.65|PD/km2}}<ref name=RESAS/><ref name=Smith/>
|population rank=48
|main settlement=Baile Bhatarsaigh
|island group=[[Uist]] and [[Barra]] 
|local authority=[[Comhairle nan Eilean Siar]]
|references=<ref name=Smith>{{Haswell-Smith}}</ref><ref>{{Ordnance Survey}}</ref><ref>{{Gaelic Placenames}}</ref>
}}

The island of '''Vatersay''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|v|æ|t|ər|s|eɪ}}; {{langx|gd|Bhatarsaigh}}) is the southernmost and westernmost inhabited island in the [[Outer Hebrides]] of [[Scotland]], and the settlement of [[Caolas]] on the north coast of the island is the westernmost permanently inhabited place in Scotland.{{efn|It is also further west than anywhere in England or Wales, but settlements in Counties [[County Fermanagh|Fermanagh]] and [[County Tyrone|Tyrone]] in Northern Ireland are further west, meaning that Vatersay is not the most westerly settlement in the [[United Kingdom]].}} The main village, also called Vatersay, is in the south of the island.

==Geography==
One of the group of islands south of [[Barra]] which make up the [[Barra Isles]], Vatersay is irregularly shaped and has a [[tombolo]]: it is composed of two rocky islands (north and south) linked by a sandy [[isthmus]]. The isthmus is covered in [[sand dunes]] and on either side are large white-sand beaches: Bàgh Siar (West Bay), and Bàgh Bhatarsaigh (Vatersay Bay) to the east. There are a number of beaches backed by sand dunes.<ref>[https://www.cntraveller.com/gallery/islands-scotland THE 20 MOST BEAUTIFUL ISLANDS TO VISIT IN SCOTLAND]</ref>

The island is about {{convert|3|mi|km|0|abbr=off}} from north to south, and the northern section of the island is about {{convert|3+1/2|mi|km|round=0.5|abbr=on}} from west to east.

Vatersay is linked to the larger island of Barra to the north by the approximately {{convert|250|m|adj=mid|4=-long}} [[Vatersay Causeway]], which was completed in 1991.<ref>{{Cite web |date=15 July 2023 |title=Vatersay Causeway |url=https://www.cne-siar.gov.uk/roads-travel-and-parking/bridges-causeways-and-ferries/vatersay-causeway/ |access-date=15 July 2023 |website=[[Comhairle nan Eilean Siar]] |archive-date=15 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230715194506/https://www.cne-siar.gov.uk/roads-travel-and-parking/bridges-causeways-and-ferries/vatersay-causeway/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Royle |first1=S.A. |last2=Robinson |first2=J. |last3=Smyth |first3=B.L. |date=1990 |title=Fixed links in the Western Isles: The Barra-Vatersay causeway |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00369229018736785 |journal=Scottish Geographical Magazine|volume=106 |issue=2 |pages=117–120 |doi=10.1080/00369229018736785 |issn=0036-9225 |access-date=15 July 2023|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.isleofbarra.com/vatersay.htm |title=Undiscovered Vatersay |publisher=Isle of Barra |access-date=2008-11-06 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080923150905/http://www.isleofbarra.com/vatersay.htm |archive-date=23 September 2008 }}</ref> This is of great benefit, as the shipping of goods and passenger traffic no longer has to rely on a small passenger ferry boat. Access to school and for emergency services is also much quicker and easier. The northern end of the causeway is about {{convert|2|mi|km|0|abbr=on}} by road from [[Castlebay]].

At low tide, the island is also linked to the islet of Uineasan to the east, which is about {{convert|5|ha|acres}}, depending on the tide. To the south are the uninhabited islands of [[Pabbay, Barra Isles|Pabbay]], [[Mingulay]] and [[Sandray]].

==Wildlife==
{{main|Flora and fauna of the Outer Hebrides}}
Wildlife on the island includes [[Eurasian otter]]s, [[Pinniped|seal]]s and [[grey heron]]s. Bonnie Prince Charlie's flower (''[[Calystegia soldanella]]''), reputedly originating from French seeds dropped by [[Bonnie Prince Charlie]] is, in Scotland, found only on Vatersay and [[Eriskay]]. Also found on Vatersay are [[Atlantic puffin]]s.

==Archaeology==
The island has remains of an [[Iron Age]] [[broch]] at Dun a' Chaolais overlooking the Sound of Vatersay, and nearby is a [[passage grave]] dated to the 3rd millennium BC.<ref>Branigan (2007) p. 65</ref> There is also a [[Bronze Age]] cemetery at Trèseabhaig south of the heights of Heiseabhal Mòr<ref>Branigan (2007) p. 66</ref> and a cairn built around 1000&nbsp;BC west of the village of Vatersay.<ref>Branigan (2007) p. 68</ref> The offshore islet of [[Biruaslum|Bioruaslum]] has a walled [[fortification|fort]] that may be of [[Neolithic]] provenance.<ref>Branigan (2007) p. 67</ref>

==Ownership==
{{main|Highland Clearances}}
At the end of the nineteenth century, the existing landowner, wanting to use the whole of the island for their own farming purposes, evicted all the existing [[crofter]] inhabitants. Between 1902 and 1906, in a sequence of [[land raid]] actions, some of the men, the so-called "Vatersay Raiders", returned and took possession of land,<ref name="EC97">{{cite journal |last1=Cameron |first1=Ewan |title='They Will Listen to no Remonstrance': Land Raids and Land Raiders in the Scottish Highlands, 1886 to 1914 |journal=Scottish Economic & Social History |date=May 1997 |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=50–55 |doi=10.3366/sesh.1997.17.1.43|via=Edinburgh University Press}}</ref> claiming that an ancient law allowed a man to acquire land by building a wooden dwelling and lighting a fire on its hearth within a day. However, the landowner [[Emily Gordon Cathcart|Lady Cathcart]] took them to court, and they were imprisoned. After much public protest at these events, in 1909, the [[Congested Districts Board (Scotland)]] bought Vatersay island for £6250 ({{Inflation|UK|6250|1909|r=-3|fmt=eq|cursign=£}}),<ref name="EC97"/> and it was divided into 58 crofts.<ref>Burnett, Ray (1984), ''Land Raids and the Scottish Left'', in Parker, Geoff (ed.), ''[[Cencrastus]]'' No. 18, Autumn 1984, pp. 2 – 6, {{issn|0264-0856}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Barra and Vatersay islanders on path to ownership |url=https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/13085213.barra-and-vatersay-islanders-on-path-to-ownership/ |website=The Herald |date=18 December 2012 |access-date=23 January 2021}}</ref>

==Wrecks==
[[File:Annie Jane.jpg|thumb|left|Monument to the wreck of the ''Annie Jane'', overlooking the West Bay]]
In September 1853, the ''Annie Jane'', a three-masted migrant ship out of [[Liverpool]] bound for [[Montreal]], Quebec, Canada, struck rocks off West Beach during a storm. Within ten minutes the ship began to founder and break up, casting 450 people into the raging sea. In spite of the conditions, islanders tried to rescue the passengers and crew.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.isleofvatersay.com/Vatersay2chist.html| title=Annie Jane Memorial – the story| publisher=Isle of Vatersay| access-date=2008-11-06| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081121022423/http://isleofvatersay.com/Vatersay2chist.html| archive-date=21 November 2008}}</ref>

There were only a few survivors. A small cairn and monument marks the site where the bodies recovered from the sea were buried. An inscription reads:

<blockquote>On 28th September 1853 the ship Annie Jane with emigrants from Liverpool to Quebec was totally wrecked in this bay and threefourths of the crew and passengers numbering about 350 men women and children were drowned and their bodies interred here.</blockquote>

Two Chinese seamen from the SS ''Idomeneus'', which sank on 28 September 1917, are also buried somewhere near the monument. There is a commemorative headstone in Cuier Churchyard.<ref>[http://www.cwgc.org/search/cemetery_reports.aspx?cemetery=34227&mode=1 CWGC Dept of Honour]</ref>

The remains of a [[Catalina flying boat]] that crashed on the slopes of Heiseabhal Beag in 1944 lie in a stream bed near the shore.<ref>[http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/en/site/85066/details/consolidated+catalina+vatersay+heishival+beg/ "Consolidated Catalina: Vatersay, Heishival Beg"]. Canmore. Retrieved 13 November 2011.</ref>
{{Clear}}

==See also==
{{Portal|Scottish islands}}
* [[List of islands of Scotland]]
* [[Land raid]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Cited sources==
*Branigan, Keith (2007) ''Ancient Barra: exploring the Archaeology of the Outer Hebrides''. Comhairle nan Eilean Siar.

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060623074409/http://robinwilson.net/vatersay/vatersay.html Panorama of the West Bay on Vatersay (Annie Jane burial cairn and monument)] (QuickTime required)

{{Barra Isles}}
{{Hebrides}}
{{Islands of Scotland}}

[[Category:Barra Isles]]
[[Category:Barra]]
[[Category:Clan MacNeil]]