Soay, St Kilda

Soay

Scottish Gaelic name	Soaigh
Old Norse name	Sauðey[1]
Meaning of name	island of sheep[1]
Location
Soay Soay shown within the Outer Hebrides
OS grid reference	NA064014
Coordinates	57.83°N 8.63°W / 57.83; -8.63
Physical geography
Island group	St Kilda
Area	99 ha (245 acres)
Area rank	150= [2]
Highest elevation	Cnoc Glas 378 m (1,240 ft)
Administration
Council area	Outer Hebrides
Country	Scotland
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Demographics
Population	0
References	[3][4][5]

Soay (Scottish Gaelic: Soaigh) is an uninhabited islet in the St Kilda archipelago, Scotland. The name is from Old Norse Sauðey, meaning "island of sheep". The island is part of the St Kilda World Heritage Site and home to a primitive breed of sheep. Excluding Rockall, it is the westernmost point of the United Kingdom.

Geography

Soay lies some 40 miles (64 km) west-northwest of North Uist in the North Atlantic It is about 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) north-west of Hirta, from which it is separated by the narrow Sound of Soay, which is only about 500 metres wide. Two sea stacks, Stac Shoaigh (Soay Stac), 61 metres (200 ft), and Stac Biorach, 73 metres (240 ft), lie between. The island covers about 96.8 hectares (239 acres) and reaches a height of 378 metres (1,240 ft), the cliffs rising sheer from the sea.

The island is formed of a breccia of gabbro and dolerites and is a single mountain peak rising from the sea-bed, without Ice-Age erosion.[6]

The St Kilda archipelago

Along with the rest of the archipelago, Soay is owned by the National Trust for Scotland, managed by NatureScot as a nature reserve and is included it the St Kilda World Heritage Site.[7] It is unlikely that this island ever had permanent habitation. Men from Hirta would stay for a few days while gathering wool.[8]

Wildlife

Feral Soay sheep are a relict population of the first sheep brought to northern Europe around 5000BC. They were kept for their wool, which was plucked, not shorn, and made into tweed. Only occasionally were the sheep killed for meat.[6] When the neighbouring island of Hirta became uninhabited, Soay sheep were introduced there too, and more recently they have become widely kept elsewhere as a livestock animal. Another somewhat less primitive breed, the Boreray, lives on another island in the group.

The island's cliffs hold breeding colonies of many seabirds, including gannet, fulmar, storm petrel, Manx shearwater, razorbill, great skua, Leach's petrel and puffin.

Gallery

• 
  Soay in mist
• 
  Soay from Hirta
• 
  Soay and Hirta from Stac an Armin
• 
  Soay sheep
• 
  Steep pasture
• 
  Sound of Soay
• 
  Soay in the mist
• 
  Freshly fallen scree

See also

• List of islands of Scotland
• History of St Kilda
• List of outlying islands of Scotland
• Lítla Dímun, a similar island in the Faroes, formerly home to a similar breed of primitive sheep.

Footnotes

1. Gammeltoft 2006, p. 25.
2. Area and population ranks: there are c. 300 islands over 20 ha in extent and 93 permanently inhabited islands were listed in the 2011 census.
3. 2001 UK Census per List of islands of Scotland
4. Haswell-Smith 2004, p. 321.
5. Ordnance Survey. OS Maps Online (Map). 1:25,000. Leisure.
6. Haswell-Smith 2004, p. 322.
7. "World Heritage Sites Protected Areas Programme - St Kilda". Archived from the original on 5 July 2007. Retrieved 22 July 2007.
8. "Soay Overview". Gazetteer for Scotland. Retrieved 22 July 2007.

References

• Gammeltoft, Peder (2006). "Scandinavian influence on Hebridean island names". In Gammeltoft, Peder; Jorgenson, Bent (eds.). Names through the Looking-Glass. Copenhagen: C.A. Reitzels Forlag.
• Haswell-Smith, Hamish (2004). The Scottish Islands. Edinburgh: Canongate. ISBN 978-1-84195-454-7.

57°49′44″N 8°38′0″W