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Ensay, Outer Hebrides
Ensay (Gaelic Easaigh) is a currently unpopulated and privately owned island in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. The island lies in the Sound of Harris, between the islands of Harris and Berneray. The name originates from the Old Norse for Ewe Island. It has nothing to do with the Gaelic for Jesus, "Iosa," as sometimes stated.
Although the island has had no permanent population since the 1930s, it is still used for summer grazing. The small chapel of Christ Church is maintained, and services are held biannually. The island is classified by the National Records of Scotland as an inhabited island that "had no usual residents at the time of either the 2001 or 2011 censuses."
The town of Ensay in Victoria, Australia, was named after this island by one of the early settlers, a Scotsman named Archibald Macleod: "This same Macleod named "Ensay" after the home of his aunt, who was married to Campbell of Ensay, with whom, I believe, Archibald Macleod, who named both Orbost and Ensay in Gippsland, frequently stayed when a lad, and probably had happy memories of the little island."
The island shows signs of Stone Age habitation, with a prominent standing stone. Human bone from a burial in a midden site near the Manish Strand has been dated to the range 1000-820 BCE. It has a share of the general history of Harris, though it is not covered in the standard work by Bill Lawson. In 1549 Sir Donald Monro, High Dean of the Isles,visited the island and wrote of "ane Ile callit Enisay, quhairin Mccloyd of Harey hes a dwelling place, ane fair mayne land, weill inhabite and manurit [= cultivated] ane mile lang, half mile braid". It was also described by Martin Martin in 1716: "BETWEEN Bernera and the main Land of Harries lies the Iſland of Enʃay, which is above two miles in Circumference, and for the moſt part arable Ground, which is fruitful in Corn and Graſs: there is an old Chappel here, for the uſe of the Natives; and there was lately diſcover'd a Grave in the Weſt end of the Iſland, in which was found a pair of Scales made of Braſs and a little Hammer, both which were finely poliſh'd."
The MacLeod chiefs of Dunvegan in Skye held Ensay and other islands as part of the lands of the Estate of Harris until 1779, when the Harris lands, together with the islands of St. Kilda and Berneray, were sold to a near relative, Captain Alexander MacLeod. In 1790 they were inherited by his son Alexander Hume (MacLeod) who sold St Kilda separately in 1804, and the remainder passed in 1811 to his grandson Alexander Norman MacLeod. In 1834 the bankrupt Estate of Harris was sold to the Earl of Dunmore.
In 1856 Ensay, Pabbay and some small islets were sold to Archibald Stewart (1789-1880), tacksman of Eilanreach in Skye. Archibald died on Ensay and left his Estate to his nephew John Stewart (1826-1899) who was described as "JOHN STEWART, Scorrybreck, formerly at Duntulm, Proprietor of Ensay" when he was examined at the Napier Commission Hearings in Portree on May 23, 1883.
John Stewart left the estate to his son William (1852-1907), who was a military officer and Secretary of the Piobaireachd Society. John's younger son Donald Alexander Stewart (1856-1935) of Lochdhu, was already the tenant for the grazings, and continued so after his brother's death in 1907.
William's will was complicated. He gave the property to his nephew George Fraser(b. 1884), a son of his sister Isabella Fraser (1854-1904) on condition that he adopt the name "William Stewart". He also gave a life-rent of the property to his recently widowed sister Jessie Scott (1859-1930) and his unmarried sister Jane (1850-1933). About 1931 there was a minor change to the property when the medieval chapel near Ensay House, restored by Jessie Scott about 1909-10, was made over in her will to the Diocese of Argyll and the Isles of the Episcopal Church of Scotland.
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Ensay, Outer Hebrides
Ensay (Gaelic Easaigh) is a currently unpopulated and privately owned island in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. The island lies in the Sound of Harris, between the islands of Harris and Berneray. The name originates from the Old Norse for Ewe Island. It has nothing to do with the Gaelic for Jesus, "Iosa," as sometimes stated.
Although the island has had no permanent population since the 1930s, it is still used for summer grazing. The small chapel of Christ Church is maintained, and services are held biannually. The island is classified by the National Records of Scotland as an inhabited island that "had no usual residents at the time of either the 2001 or 2011 censuses."
The town of Ensay in Victoria, Australia, was named after this island by one of the early settlers, a Scotsman named Archibald Macleod: "This same Macleod named "Ensay" after the home of his aunt, who was married to Campbell of Ensay, with whom, I believe, Archibald Macleod, who named both Orbost and Ensay in Gippsland, frequently stayed when a lad, and probably had happy memories of the little island."
The island shows signs of Stone Age habitation, with a prominent standing stone. Human bone from a burial in a midden site near the Manish Strand has been dated to the range 1000-820 BCE. It has a share of the general history of Harris, though it is not covered in the standard work by Bill Lawson. In 1549 Sir Donald Monro, High Dean of the Isles,visited the island and wrote of "ane Ile callit Enisay, quhairin Mccloyd of Harey hes a dwelling place, ane fair mayne land, weill inhabite and manurit [= cultivated] ane mile lang, half mile braid". It was also described by Martin Martin in 1716: "BETWEEN Bernera and the main Land of Harries lies the Iſland of Enʃay, which is above two miles in Circumference, and for the moſt part arable Ground, which is fruitful in Corn and Graſs: there is an old Chappel here, for the uſe of the Natives; and there was lately diſcover'd a Grave in the Weſt end of the Iſland, in which was found a pair of Scales made of Braſs and a little Hammer, both which were finely poliſh'd."
The MacLeod chiefs of Dunvegan in Skye held Ensay and other islands as part of the lands of the Estate of Harris until 1779, when the Harris lands, together with the islands of St. Kilda and Berneray, were sold to a near relative, Captain Alexander MacLeod. In 1790 they were inherited by his son Alexander Hume (MacLeod) who sold St Kilda separately in 1804, and the remainder passed in 1811 to his grandson Alexander Norman MacLeod. In 1834 the bankrupt Estate of Harris was sold to the Earl of Dunmore.
In 1856 Ensay, Pabbay and some small islets were sold to Archibald Stewart (1789-1880), tacksman of Eilanreach in Skye. Archibald died on Ensay and left his Estate to his nephew John Stewart (1826-1899) who was described as "JOHN STEWART, Scorrybreck, formerly at Duntulm, Proprietor of Ensay" when he was examined at the Napier Commission Hearings in Portree on May 23, 1883.
John Stewart left the estate to his son William (1852-1907), who was a military officer and Secretary of the Piobaireachd Society. John's younger son Donald Alexander Stewart (1856-1935) of Lochdhu, was already the tenant for the grazings, and continued so after his brother's death in 1907.
William's will was complicated. He gave the property to his nephew George Fraser(b. 1884), a son of his sister Isabella Fraser (1854-1904) on condition that he adopt the name "William Stewart". He also gave a life-rent of the property to his recently widowed sister Jessie Scott (1859-1930) and his unmarried sister Jane (1850-1933). About 1931 there was a minor change to the property when the medieval chapel near Ensay House, restored by Jessie Scott about 1909-10, was made over in her will to the Diocese of Argyll and the Isles of the Episcopal Church of Scotland.