Scalpay, Outer Hebrides

Mac an Tàilleir (2003) suggests the name derives from "ship island" from the Norse.^[7] However, Haswell-Smith states that the Old Norse name was Skalprøy, meaning "scallop island".^[1]

Scalpay is around 4 kilometres (2+1⁄2 miles) long and rises to a height of 104 metres (341 feet) at Beinn Scorabhaig. The area of Scalpay is 653 hectares (2+1⁄2 sq mi). The main settlement on the island is at the north, near the bridge, clustered around An Acairseid a Tuath (North Harbour).

The bedrock of northwest and of southeast Scalpay is Archaean gneiss belonging to the Lewisian Complex. Across the centre of the island is a band of mylonite and protocataclasite associated with the Outer Hebrides Thrust Zone. Some restricted occurrences of amphibolite and ultramafic rocks are also present. A number of tholeiitic dykes of Tertiary age cross the island with a NW-SE alignment. Scalpay is largely free from superficial deposits apart from an area of peat in the northeast. ^[8][9]

The island is peppered with small lochans. The largest of these is Loch an Duin (Loch of the Fort) which has a tiny island in it, with the remains of the fort still visible. Eilean Glas, a tiny peninsula on Scalpay's eastern shore, is home to the first lighthouse to be built in the Outer Hebrides.

Scalpay's nearest neighbour, Harris, is just 300 metres (1,000 feet) away across the narrows of Caolas Scalpaigh. In 1997, a bridge from Harris to Scalpay was built,^[10] replacing a ferry service.

In 1746, Charles Edward Stuart fled to Scalpay after his forces were defeated at the Battle of Culloden.

Scalpay is home to many Gaelic singers and psalm precentors. The island used to have more than 10 shops over 30 years ago but due to lack of people and work, the last shop closed in 2007. There also used to be a salmon factory, which was a major local employer from 2001 until its closure in 2005. In the spring of 2009, local newspapers reported that the factory was to reopen as a net washing facility to support the local fish farming industry. In 2012, the Scalpay community bought and opened a community shop/café, Buth Scalpaigh.^[11]

Photographer Marco Secchi lived on Scalpay for few years between 2002–2008 and documented life and landscape of the Outer Hebrides.

In 2011 the island's owner, Fred Taylor, announced that he proposed handing over the land to the local population. One proposal was that the island would be owned by a local development trust; under another proposal it would form part of the larger North Harris Trust, itself community owned.^[12] Islanders voted to accept the gift and assume community ownership of the island. They will go into partnership with the North Harris Community Trust to run the island.^[13]

In 2001, the island had 322 people, whose main employment was fish farming and prawn fishing. By 2011 the population had declined by 9% to 291^[14] whilst during the same period Scottish island populations as a whole grew by 4% to 103,702.^[15] In 2022 the population was recorded as 282.^[3]

The island is home to two Presbyterian churches, the Free Church of Scotland and the Free Church of Scotland (Continuing).

• List of islands of Scotland
• Ailein Duinn