A vision of Britain through time
A vision of Britain from 1801 to now.
Including maps, statistical trends and historical descriptions.
A vision of Britain through time
A vision of Britain from 1801 to now.
Including maps, statistical trends and historical descriptions.
Benbecula (Gael. beinn-na-faoghail, ` mountain of the fords '), an island of South Uist parish, Outer Hebrides, Inverness-shire. It lies between the islands of North and South Uist, being separated from the former by a sound 3½ miles broad, containing a number of small islands and islets, from the latter by a channel ½ mile broad in the narrowest part, and dry at low water. It has a somewhat circular outline, about 8 miles in diameter. Its shores are indented with almost innumerable baylets and headlands; its general surface is low flat land, torn into shreds by intersections of the sea, and by a multitude of inland lakelets; and its soil is so sandy and barren as to yield but a very scanty sustenance to the inhabitants. 'The sea here,' says Dr Macculloch, 'is all islands, and the land all lakes. That which is not rock is sand; that which is not mud is bog; that which is not bog is lake; that which is not lake is sea; and the whole is a labyrinth of islands, peninsulas, promontories,bays, and channels.' Yet, though little better than a patch of wilderness, half swamped in ocean, Benbecula was an ancient property of the chiefs of Clanranald, had once a nunnery, and still has remains of an old baronial castle. Much land, since about the year 1830, has been reclaimed from a state of moss; and great attention is given to the raising of live stock and to fishing. A missionary of the royal bounty has a church on the island; where also is a Roman Catholic church (1790;300 sittings). Mrs Gordon's Female Industrial School, with accommodation for 218 children, had (1879) an average attendance of 79, and a grant of £69,3s. 6d. Pop. (1841) 2107, (1861) 1485, (1871) 1563; of registration district (1871) 1651, (1881) 1781.
(F.H. Groome, Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882-4); © 2004 Gazetteer for Scotland)
| Linked entities: | |
|---|---|
| Feature Description: | "an island" (ADL Feature Type: "islands") |
| Administrative units: | South Uist ScoP Inverness Shire ScoCnty |
| Place names: | BEINN NA FAOGHAIL | BENBECULA |
| Place: | Benbecula |
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