Summer Isles

The Summer Isles (Scottish Gaelic: Na h-Eileanan Samhraidh, pronounced [nə ˈhelanən ˈs̪ãũɾɪ] (listen)) are an archipelago lying in the mouth of Loch Broom, in the Highland region of Scotland.

For other uses, see Summer Isles (disambiguation).

Summer Isles

The Summer Isles from Ben Mòr Coigach
Summer Isles
Location within the Highland council area
Population0 [1]
OS grid referenceNB992067
Council area
Lieutenancy area
CountryScotland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townULLAPOOL
Postcode districtIV26
Dialling code01854
PoliceScotland
FireScottish
AmbulanceScottish
UK Parliament
Scottish Parliament

Geography

Tanera Mòr is the largest island and was the last one to remain inhabited.[1] It was formerly home to an Atlantic salmon fish farm, some rental holiday homes, a café and a post office, which operated its own local post and printed its own stamps since 1970 until 2013, but a new set is planned for 2016.[2][3] The island has no roads, and the only recognisable path goes around the Anchorage, the sheltered bay on the east side of the island. Boats sail to the island from Achiltibuie and Ullapool.[4]

Other islands

Conservation

The islands are part of the Assynt-Coigach National Scenic Area, one of 40 in Scotland.[5]

Frank Fraser Darling, an important figure in the development of Scottish conservation, lived on Tanera Mòr for two years in the 1930s. His book, Island Years (published 1940), records his time in the Summer Isles, painting Priest Island as a place of great beauty as well as great wildlife.[6]

Literature, film, and music
  • The Summer Isles feature in a novella of the same name by Ian R. MacLeod[7]
  • The fictional Summer Isle, Cladach Duillich (Sad Shore), features in the 1977 Desmond Bagley novel "The Enemy".
  • The third movement of a guitar suite, "The Great Western Road," on the album of the same name by Tim Slemmons, is entitled, "III. Evening in the Summer Isles."
  • The pagan island of "Summerisle" featured in the motion picture The Wicker Man (filmed in 1973 & directed by Robin Hardy) is sometimes mistakenly associated with this archipelago, but in actuality The Wicker Man was filmed around Newton Stewart in Dumfries and Galloway.[8]

Summer Isles Philatelic Bureau

Since 1970 the Summer Isles Philatelic Bureau has been issuing stamps of the islands for tourists who place them on mail to be carried to the nearest GPO Post Box on the mainland.[9][10]

Culture

The musician Mairearad Green grew up in Achiltibuie on the Coigach peninsula, overlooking the Summer Isles. She has released an album entitled "Summer Isles"[11]

View south, over Altandhu and in Loch an Alltain Duibh, of the Summer Isles. Isle Ristol is in the foreground with Eilean Mullagrach to the right

See also

References
  1. Kane, Jenny (20 November 2014) "Last permanent residents leave Summer Isles for the mainland". The Herald. Glasgow.
  2. Campsie, Alison (18 October 2016). "The stunning stamps of the Summer Isles". The Scotsman. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
  3. http://www.summer-isles.com/stamp-archive.asp
  4. "Summer Isles website". Retrieved 15 December 2007.
  5. "National Scenic Areas" Archived 2017-03-11 at the Wayback Machine. SNH. Retrieved 30 March 2011.
  6. "Priest Island". RSPB. Archived from the original on 18 October 2008. Retrieved 15 December 2007.
  7. Steven H Silver. "review of I R MacLeod book". Retrieved 15 December 2007.
  8. The Wicker Man (1973) filming locations movie-locations.com. Retrieved 1 August 2008.
  9. "Modern British Local Posts CD Catalogue, 2009 Edition". Phillips. 2003. Archived from the original on 5 September 2008. Retrieved 8 December 2008.
  10. "The Post Office" Archived 2008-12-02 at the Wayback Machine summer-isles.com. Retrieved 8 December 2008.
  11. http://www.mairearadgreen.co.uk/about-mairearad/
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