Information AboutNorth Rona |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT NORTH RONA | |
| islands of the outer hebrides | |
| rona, north | |
| national nature reserves in scotland | |
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Rona (or '''Rònaidh''' in Gaelic ) is a remote Scottish Island in the North Atlantic . Rona is often referred to as '''North Rona''' in order to distinguish it from South Rona . It has an area of 120 ha and a maximum height of 116 m.Boyd, John Morton. (1986). ''Fraser Darling's Islands''. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 0-85224-514-9 The island lies 71 km (44 miles) north north east of Butt Of Lewis and 16 km (10 miles) east of Sula Sgeir at . More isolated than St Kilda , it is the remotest island in the British Isles to have ever been permanently inhabited. Due to the island's remote location and small area, it is omitted from many maps of the United Kingdom. HISTORY Rona is said to have been the residence of Saint Ronan in the Eighth Century . The island continued to be inhabited for many hundreds of years. However the entire population of thirty died shortly after 1685 after an infestation by Rat s, probably the Black Rat ''Rattus rattus'', which reached the island after a shipwreck. The rats raided the food stocks of barley meal and it is possible the inhabitants starved to death, although Plague may have been a contributory factor. The rats themselves eventually starved to death, the huge swells the island experiences preventing their hunting along the rocky shores.Fraser Darling, F. & Boyd, J.M. (1969) ''Natural History in the Highlands and Islands.'' London. Bloomsbury. Pages 73-4 It was resettled, but again depopulated by around 1695 in some sort of boating tragedy, after which it remained home to a succession of shepherds and their families, until 1844 when it was deserted. Sir James Matheson , who bought Lewis in 1844, offered the island to the Government for use as a penal settlement. The offer was refused. Although farmers from , who, a post-mortem subsequently showed, had each fallen ill and died during the winter. The island was occupied temporarily in 1938-1939 by Frank Fraser Darling with his wife Bobbie and their son Alasdair, while they studied the Grey Seal s and the breeding Seabird s. The island still boasts the Celt ic ruins of St Ronan's Chapel . It is owned by Scottish Natural Heritage , and managed as a Nature Reserve , for its important Grey Seal and Seabird colonies. These include the European Storm-petrel and the larger Leach's Storm-petrel , for which North Rona is an important breeding station. Rona and Sula Sgeir form the most remote and least-visited National Nature Reserve in Britain. Scottish Natural Heritage - ''In the Lap of Wild Ocean'' . Retrieved 28 June 2007 In ''Island at the edge of the world'', the poet Kathleen Jamie describes a recent visit to the island. Island at the edge of the world BIBLIOGRAPHY
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