Soay

A historical perspective, drawn from the Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical and Historical, edited by Francis H. Groome and originally published in parts by Thomas C. Jack, Grange Publishing Works, Edinburgh between 1882 and 1885.

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Soay, an island of Bracadale parish, Skye, Inverness-shire, lying SW of Loch Scavaig, and S of Minginish, from which it is separated by a strait, called Soay Sound, 5¾ furlongs to 1 ³/₈ mile wide. The island is 3 miles long from NE to SW, and 1 ⁷/₈ mile in extreme breadth; but it is nearly bisected by two bays, indenting it on opposite sides. Its surface is low and broken, and nowhere rises to an elevation of more than 455 feet; and its coast is bold and rocky, and generally presents to the surge perpendicular cliffs of 60 or 70 feet in height. Its rocks present an alternation of red sandstone and greywacke traversed by trap. Pop. (1841) 113, (1861) 129, (1871) 120, (1881) 102.

An accompanying 19th C. Ordnance Survey map is available, or use the map tab to the right of this page.

Note: This text has been made available using a process of scanning and optical character recognition. Despite manual checking, some typographical errors may remain. Please remember this description dates from the 1880s; names may have changed, administrative divisions will certainly be different and there are known to be occasional errors of fact in the original text, which we have not corrected because we wish to maintain its integrity. This information is provided subject to our standard disclaimer