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Slate Islands, Scotland
The Slate Islands are an island group in the Inner Hebrides, lying immediately off the west coast of Scotland, north of Jura and southwest of Oban. The main islands are Seil, Easdale, Luing, Shuna, Torsa and Belnahua. Scarba and Kerrera, which lie nearby, are not usually included.
The underlying geology of the islands is Dalradian slate, which was quarried widely until the mid-20th century. Quarry working began in 1630 and at the turn of the 20th century, the quarries were yielding some eight million slates every year.
The Garvellachs lie to the southwest.
Unlike some of Scotland's larger archipelagos such as Orkney and the Outer Hebrides, which are distant from other islands and also have their own local authority, the Slate Islands have no formal definition. The islands from which the slate that gives rise to the name was quarried on a substantial commercial basis are Easdale, Belnahua, Luing and Seil. The website of the Slate Islands Heritage Trust also prominently lists these islands as their remit although other sources are slightly more inclusive.
According to the Gazetteer for Scotland these islands "include Luing, Seil, Shuna, Torsay, Easdale, Belnahua and Fladda". W. H. Murray in The Companion Guide to the West Highlands of Scotland goes so far as to say: "Seil and Luing, Shuna, Torsa, Belnahua and many others are collectively known as the Slate Islands." Torsa is a tidal island, joined to Luing at low tide. From a geological perspective Shuna has "no workable slate", although limestone was once worked there. The neighbouring islands to the west, Lunga and Eilean Dubh Mòr, are constituted of quartzite, "Scarba conglomerate" and other rocks that lack a commercial value.
It therefore seems reasonable to conclude that this collective noun includes the commercially quarried Easdale, Belnahua, Luing and Seil, plus their larger and relatively recently inhabited close neighbours of Shuna and Torsa with the "many others" being the smaller uninhabited islands and skerries in their immediate vicinity. This then excludes Lunga and Eilean Dubh Mòr and their own outliers that lie to the west of Luing, between Scarba and The Garvellachs.
The main islands of the group are as follows.
Torsa was inhabited until the 1960s. Belnahua had a significant population during the height of the commercial slate quarrying there but in 1914 quarry work ceased, the island was completely abandoned and it has been uninhabited ever since.
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Slate Islands, Scotland
The Slate Islands are an island group in the Inner Hebrides, lying immediately off the west coast of Scotland, north of Jura and southwest of Oban. The main islands are Seil, Easdale, Luing, Shuna, Torsa and Belnahua. Scarba and Kerrera, which lie nearby, are not usually included.
The underlying geology of the islands is Dalradian slate, which was quarried widely until the mid-20th century. Quarry working began in 1630 and at the turn of the 20th century, the quarries were yielding some eight million slates every year.
The Garvellachs lie to the southwest.
Unlike some of Scotland's larger archipelagos such as Orkney and the Outer Hebrides, which are distant from other islands and also have their own local authority, the Slate Islands have no formal definition. The islands from which the slate that gives rise to the name was quarried on a substantial commercial basis are Easdale, Belnahua, Luing and Seil. The website of the Slate Islands Heritage Trust also prominently lists these islands as their remit although other sources are slightly more inclusive.
According to the Gazetteer for Scotland these islands "include Luing, Seil, Shuna, Torsay, Easdale, Belnahua and Fladda". W. H. Murray in The Companion Guide to the West Highlands of Scotland goes so far as to say: "Seil and Luing, Shuna, Torsa, Belnahua and many others are collectively known as the Slate Islands." Torsa is a tidal island, joined to Luing at low tide. From a geological perspective Shuna has "no workable slate", although limestone was once worked there. The neighbouring islands to the west, Lunga and Eilean Dubh Mòr, are constituted of quartzite, "Scarba conglomerate" and other rocks that lack a commercial value.
It therefore seems reasonable to conclude that this collective noun includes the commercially quarried Easdale, Belnahua, Luing and Seil, plus their larger and relatively recently inhabited close neighbours of Shuna and Torsa with the "many others" being the smaller uninhabited islands and skerries in their immediate vicinity. This then excludes Lunga and Eilean Dubh Mòr and their own outliers that lie to the west of Luing, between Scarba and The Garvellachs.
The main islands of the group are as follows.
Torsa was inhabited until the 1960s. Belnahua had a significant population during the height of the commercial slate quarrying there but in 1914 quarry work ceased, the island was completely abandoned and it has been uninhabited ever since.