Isle of Arran

The Isle of Arran (Scots Gaelic: Eilean Arainn) is the largest island in the Firth of Clyde (430 km²). It is in the unitary council area of North Ayrshire. In the 2001 census it had a resident population of 5,058.

Geography

The island lies in the Firth of Clyde at . The main village on the island is Brodick (an Old Norse name meaning "broad bay") to which the main ferry to the mainland connects. Brodick Castle is a seat of the Dukes of Hamilton.

Arran has many mountains in the north. The highest of these is Goat Fell at 874 metres. The south of the island has many raised beaches and tall sea cliffs. The island is sometimes referred to as "Scotland in miniature", as it is divided into "Highland" and "Lowland" areas by the Highland Boundary Fault which runs northeast to southwest across Scotland. The island is a popular destination for geologists, who come to see intrusive igneous landformse such as sills and dykes. Most of the northern part of the island is a batholith, as seen in the satellite photo.

There are three main roads on the island; the coast road circumnavigates the island, while the String and the Ross both cut across the hilly interior at different points.

Villages on Arran

Blackwaterfoot
Brodick, the main village
Catacol ("gully of the cat")
Corrie
Kildonan, the most southerly village
Kilmory
Lamlash
Lochranza ("loch of the rowan trees")
Machrie
Pirnmill
Sannox ("the sandy one")
Shiskine
Whiting Bay

Islands surrounding Arran

Arran has three smaller satellite islands;

Holy Isle lies to the east opposite Lamlash
Pladda lies off Arran's south coast
Tiny Hamilton Isle lies just off the Arran shore around 1.2 kilometres north of Holy Isle.

Eilean na h-Airde Baine off the south west of Arran at Corriecravie is more of a skerry than an island and, in any case, is connected to Arran at low tide.

History

There are many stone circles and standing stones dating from neolithic times, including the standing stones on Machrie Moor and the Giant's Graves above Whiting Bay. St. Molio's Cave has wall carvings which are evidence of a rare Pictish script.

It is likely that along with Bute, Arran was once the home of a Brythonic speaking people. However, the Gaels spread to the island from their adjacent kingdom of Dál Riata and replaced the older language with their Goidelic tongue. Later the island, along with the vast majority of the Scottish islands, became the property of the Norwegian crown. As a result, many current place names on Arran are of Viking origin. Haakon IV of Norway visited the island in 1263 en route to the Battle of Largs.

St. Columba and St. Ninian are said to have stayed on Arran, and there are other Irish connections, e.g. a stone circle named Fingal's Cauldron. Nearby is the 34 metres deep King's Cave where Robert the Bruce is said to have taken shelter.

Transport

Arran is connected with the Scottish mainland by two Caledonian MacBrayne ferries:

Brodick to Ardrossan, Ayrshire, from the east coast of the island.
Lochranza to Claonaig, Argyll,from the north of the island.

A third ferry route connects Lamlash to neighbouring Holy Isle during summertime.

In summer the paddle steamer PS Waverley calls in at Brodick on regular cruises.

Economy

The main industry for the island is tourism, but farming and forestry are other important industries. Successful local businesses include:

Arran Distillery, situated in Lochranza and built in 1995, is the newest whisky distillery in Scotland.
Arran Brewery, situated in Cladach, produces Arran Blonde beer, alongside other premium ales which are sold throughout the UK.
Arran Aromatics, produces a range of toiletries on site which are sold throughout the UK.
Creelers, adjacent to Arran Aromatics, a seafood restaurant with locations in Arran and Edinburgh.

The main tourist spot on the island is the imposing Brodick Castle, owned by the National Trust for Scotland. Another interesting site is the twelve apostles of Catacol, a row of 12 small whitewashed cottages along the shoreline. The upper window facing the sea is different in each one. The theory behind this system was that the wife at home would be able to signal to her husband out fishing in the bay with a candle at the window. The husband would be able to identify who was being signalled by the shape of the window.

Trivia

The Scottish First Minister, Jack McConnell, is from Arran.
Lochranza Castle was used as the model for the castle in the Tintin adventure The Black Island.
There are 42 red post boxes on the Isle of Arran
The Bishop of Man and Sodor refers to the sodor or southern isles, Arran being one, which used to belong to the bishop's see.
The island has two species of tree, the Arran Whitebeams which grow nowhere else in the World.
The Gaelic dialect of Arran died out when the last speaker died in the 1970's.

External links

Arran seen from space, NASA

Islands of the Clyde | North Ayrshire

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