List of freshwater islands in Scotland

This table includes all of the freshwater islands that exceed 35 hectares (86 acres) in size and/or are populated.

Inchlonaig and Inchcruin^{[Note 5]} are classified by the National Records of Scotland as "inhabited islands but had no usual residents at the time of either the 2001 or 2011 censuses."^[19] It is likely that Eilean Aigas and Contin Island are inhabited, at least from time to time as well, although they were not listed as such by the Census in 2001^[20] or 2011.^[19]

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Loch Awe is Scotland's longest loch and abounds with islands and crannógs. Several of the islands are, or have in the past, been inhabited; there are two castles and the remains of a chapel on the islands.^[21] Inistrynich, Eilean na Maodail, Eilean Dubh and Liever Island are all promontories as opposed to islands despite their names. The loch's water levels have fluctuated so some of them may have been islands in recent history, as the promontory on which Kilchurn Castle stands once was.^[22]

There may be up to sixty islands in the Loch Lomond including Inchmurrin, the largest freshwater island anywhere in the Britain and Ireland, and Inchconnachan, which has hosted a small population of Red-necked Wallaby since at least 1975.^[23][24] The isolated strongholds of Lochindorb Castle and Loch an Eilein Castle were once in the hands of the 14th century nobleman Alexander Stewart, the infamous "Wolf of Badenoch".^[25][26] There are numerous unnamed small islands in mainland lochs, including those where the water level has been artificially raised by the creation of dams for the production of hydro-electricity. This process has created new islands that would previously have been small eminences.^[27]

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Although there are many crannógs in the lochs of the Inner Hebrides there are relatively few substantive, naturally occurring islands and of those that exist many are unnamed.^{[Note 8]} By contrast there are innumerable small islands in the estimated 7,500 lochs of the Eilean Siar,^[2] only a small proportion of which are named by the Ordnance Survey.^[29]

The Orkney and Shetland archipelagos to the north are similarly lacking in freshwater islands. Law Ting Holm, now attached to Mainland Shetland, was the location of the national þing, or Norse parliament of Shetland.^[30]

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No part of Scotland is more than about 80.4 kilometres (50 mi) from the sea^[35] and as a result Scotland's rivers are neither very wide nor long (although Scotland has many substantial salt water estuaries called firths). The below are islands in freshwater, or where indicated, occasionally reached by high tides and in brackish water.

Broch of Clickimin was an islet in Loch of Clickimin just west of Lerwick in Shetland that is now attached to mainland Shetland by a stone causeway.^[38] Similarly, 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) to the northwest Law Ting Holm was an islet in Loch of Tingwall attached to mainland Shetland by a submerged stone causeway but with changing water levels of the loch it is now a promontory. Although thought to be the site of last þing held in Shetland it has never been excavated.^[39]

There are several former islands in the Tay, created by natural silting and artificial reclamation including: Big Island, Bloody Inches near Murthly, North Inch and South Inch in Perth, Richards Islands, Sleepless Inch and The Inch near Inchtuthil.^{[Note 18]}

• Battle of the North Inch
• Loch Gorm Castle on Eilean Mòr in Loch Gorm, Islay
• Mugdrum Island, which lies in tidal waters in the Firth of Tay.
• List of islands of Scotland
• List of lochs in Scotland
• List of rivers in Scotland
• Scottish island names
• Waterfalls of Scotland