5620 x 3733 px | 47,6 x 31,6 cm | 18,7 x 12,4 inches | 300dpi
Data acquisizione:
20 giugno 2010
Ubicazione:
Isle of Eriskay Outer Hebrides, Inverness-shire, Highland. Scotland
Altre informazioni:
Although only a small island (about 2.5 x 1.5 miles), Eriskay has many claims to fame that have made the island well-known far beyond the Hebrides. It is associated with the traditional Hebridean song, the Eriskay Love Lilt; with the Eriskay pony and the Eriskay jersey (made without any seams). It is the real Whisky Galore! island: it was just off Eriskay that the SS Politician ran aground in 1941 with its famous cargo. On August 2, 1745 the small frigate le Du Teillay landed Bonnie Prince Charlie with his "seven men of Moidart" on Eriskay to start the 'Forty-Five Jacobite Rising. An important early documentary film, Eriskay: A Poem of Remote Lives, made by a German traveller, Werner Kissling, was set on the island. There is a well-stocked shop in Eriskay, a community centre and the Politician Lounge Bar (named after the ship which serendipitously ran aground and famously provided the island with a generous supply of free whisky). The Roman Catholic church of St. Michael's sits on a hill overlooking the main village on Eriskay. It celebrated its centenary in 2003, having been built by Father Allan MacDonald in 1903. The site of the old church is marked by a memorial garden with a statue of the Virgin Mary, overlooking the Sound of Barra. Eriskay is traversed by a number of mountain paths and tracks, and has just a single motor road. The first stretch of that road was built in 1935, funded through proceeds from the first showing in London of the Werner Kissling film. In 2009 the excellent natural harbour of Acarsaid Mhòr - a deep sea loch on the east coast, nearly dividing the island in two - the previous primitive quay facilities were greatly extended and modernised, and the vehicular access greatly improved. Some smaller fishing boats continue - at least if the tides and weather are favourable - to use the shelving bay at Haun (from the Viking for 'harbour' - but scarcely with sufficient shelter to constitute a harbour in practice). Acarsaid Mhòr is also use
