The Deserted Hebrides

Based on extensive research the opening section provides a general overview of the evidence to try and determine the extent and nature of human settlement and the time and reason for desertion. The difficulties of interpretation and identification are highlighted with examples drawn from detailed studies of a range of islands. The central section provides a comprehensive gazetteer of over 200 deserted Hebridean islands, grouped by geographical area from Argyll and Bute, through the Inner Hebrides, Skye and the Western Seaboard to the Outer Hebrides and their outliers. The entries for the more established island communities include considerable new and original research on such familiar islands as St Kilda as well as on several of the lesser known islands. These detailed accounts are accompanied by a wide selection of archive photographs of former island communities and families. Many of these have never been published before. Drawing on this survey the final section considers the issues, which lie behind the final decision to abandon an island and the complex topic of desertion itself.The pattern of desertion is then examined by outlining its pace of desertion and the profile of relocation. Finally the cultural symbolism of the deserted Hebrides is considered, within the iconic resonance of these islands within contemporary culture, the ownership of the cultural capital of the deserted Hebrides and the interpretation of this cultural legacy on the new and ambiguous terrain of heritage.