List of freshwater islands in Scotland

A field of yellow flowers in the foreground, with a dark blue lake beyond. A wooded island in the lake has a white structure of two storeys at centre and there are green and brown hills beyond. There is a small cluster of houses on the distant hill slope at right.
Loch Leven Castle island, where Mary, Queen of Scots, was imprisoned in 1567.[1]
A black-and-white map showing the sinuous shape of Loch Lomond, which contains numerous islands in the southern portion.
A map of the 1800s showing the islands of Loch Lomond

The freshwater islands in Scotland include those within freshwater lochs and rivers – including tidal areas, so the islands may not always be surrounded by freshwater. It has been estimated that there are at least 31,460 freshwater lochs in Scotland and that 1.9 per cent of the land surface is covered by freshwater. The distribution has a north-west to south-east gradient, with the highest concentrations occurring on the islands of the Outer Hebrides.[2][Note 1]

The more notable freshwater islands include Lochindorb Castle Island, Loch Leven Castle Island, St Serf's Inch and Inchmahome, each of which have had a role to play in Scottish history.[1][4][5][6] Inchmurrin, the largest freshwater island in the British Isles, is in Loch Lomond, which contains thirty or more other islands.[7][Note 2]

Various names are used repeatedly. "Inch" or Innis is a Scots word that can mean 'island' (although it is also used for terra firma surrounded by marsh). Similarly, Eilean is the Gaelic for 'island'. A common suffix for offshore islands in the north of Scotland is "-holm", derived from the Old Norse holmr, meaning a 'small and rounded islet'.[12][13][14] This list excludes artificial crannógs and the numerous small freshwater islands with no recorded name.[Note 3][Note 4]

  1. ^ a b Coventry (2008) p. 154
  2. ^ "Botanical survey of Scottish freshwater lochs" Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine SNH Information and Advisory Note Number 4. Retrieved 1 January 2010.
  3. ^ "Inchmahome Priory" Archived 2010-04-07 at the Wayback Machine Mysterious Britain. Retrieved 26 April 2010.
  4. ^ "Lochindorb Castle" Canmore. Retrieved 28 April 2010.
  5. ^ Barrow, G.W.S. (2003) "The Judex" pp. 57–67
  6. ^ "Inchmahome Priory" Historic Scotland. Retrieved 28 April 2010.
  7. ^ "Loch Lomond Islands – Inchmurrin". Loch Lomond.net. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 23 August 2007.
  8. ^ "Loch Lomond Islands" Archived 2009-11-18 at the Wayback Machine loch-lomond.me.uk. Retrieved 23 January 2010.
  9. ^ For example, "Loch lomond" Archived 2011-07-22 at the Wayback Machine goxplore.net Retrieved 29 April 2010.
  10. ^ "The Loch" Loch Lomond.net. Retrieved 23 January 2010.
  11. ^ "The islands on Loch Lomond " visit-lochlomond.com. Retrieved 28 April 2010. Archived May 13, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  12. ^ Mac an Tàilleir (2003) various pages.
  13. ^ For example, Haswell-Smith (2004) pp. 96, 104, 375.
  14. ^ Fellows-Jensen, Gillian "On dalr and holmr in the place-names of Britain" Ramsdale.org. Retrieved 29 April 2010.
  15. ^ "Crannogs" BBC. Retrieved 23 January 2010.


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